Effective Teachers…Innovative Researchers, Learners…

The Grattan Institute’s Ben Jensen has completed a fascinating report – for an ex-teacher! – on what works best and how it is implemented in the education systems of Shanghai, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea. ‘Catching up: learning from the best school systems in East Asia’.

What Do These Systems Do?

These systems have five steps:

1) They provide high quality initial teacher education. In Singapore, students are paid civil servants during their initial teacher education. In Korea, government evaluations have bite and can close down ineffective teacher education courses.

2) They provide mentoring that continually improves learning and teaching. In Shanghai, all teachers have mentors, and new teachers have several mentors who observe and give feedback on their classes.

3) They view teachers as researchers. In Shanghai teachers belong to research groups that continuously develop and evaluate innovative teaching. They cannot rise to advanced teacher status without having a published paper peer reviewed.

4) They use classroom observation. Teachers regularly observe each other’s classes, providing instant feedback to improve each student’s learning.

5) They promote effective teachers and give them more responsibility for learning and teaching. Master Teachers are responsible for improving teaching throughout the system.

Four Australian Schools Stand Out For Their ‘Turnaround Learning’

In facing up to disadvantage the report notes four Australian schools, in particular, who are following similar collaborative paths:

• Holroyd High in Sydney’s southwest. See PWF article What Matters: How Kids Learn And Genuine Collaboration
• Sunshine College in Melbourne’s western suburbs
• Ravenswood Heights Primary in Launceston
• Ellenbrook Primary north of Perth

A Policy/Classroom Disconnect Exists In Many Countries eg Australia

The Report states the OECD’s 2008 finding that there is large gap between policy objectives and results in the classroom in many education systems. In particular:

• Mentoring and induction programs are often poor. Most countries, including Australia, have such programs. Yet new teachers say they often fail to provide constructive feedback based on classroom observations. They are disconnected from student learning
• Teacher development is often not suited to teachers’ needs. One-off courses are common even though teachers believe, and the evidence shows, that longer-term individual and collaborative research has the greatest impact on student learning
• Effective teaching is not recognised. Nearly three-quarters of teachers – and 90% of Australian teachers – say they would receive no recognition if they improved the quality of their teaching or were more innovative in the classroom
• Feedback to improve teaching is often poor. Nearly half of teachers report that appraisal of their work has little impact on their teaching and is largely just an administrative exercise

Good to recognise great teaching