Conference Agenda

Purpose

In this session, we introduce frame shifting, an approach developed in the context of a school-university partnership to help experienced educators address persistent teaching dilemmas. The frame shifting approach entails the re-interpretation of a dilemma using a different domain of teaching as a frame, allowing the teacher to explore new strategies for a solution using this new view. Frame shifting can also be applied by school leaders, teacher educators, and researchers.

When frame shifting, teachers consider their dilemma differently by relating it to three domains of teaching (Kennedy-Lewis, 2012):

1. Relationships: Sustained patterns of interaction among individuals in the class;

2. Classroom management: Rules, routines, and teacher behaviors that structure teaching and learning;

3. Curriculum and instruction: The content taught and activities used to support students’ learning.

For example, a teacher we worked with first framed students’ unruly behavior at the beginning of class within the domain of classroom management because she presumed the dilemma stemmed from having lenient rules. However, since the behavior persisted despite tightening her rules, frame shifting was a useful approach. We coached her to reframe the dilemma within the domain of relationships by exploring whether students were unruly because they did not feel connected to her, and within the domain of curriculum and instruction by exploring whether students did not understand or care about the class warm-up. After shifting the frame, she practiced building stronger relationships with students and making warm-up activities more relevant to students’ lives, strategies that improved the start of class in ways that adjusting rules alone did not.

While using this approach during the partnership, we recognized the need for educators to have three foundational habits of mind when frame shifting (Costa & Kallick, 2008):

1. Habit of Deliberate Interpretation: Separating observation from interpretation in order to view a situation more clearly.

2. Habit of Asset Identification: Combating deficit-thinking by identifying and focusing on students’ assets.

3. Habit of Personal Attribution: Engaging self-efficacy and personal responsibility for solving the teaching dilemma.

Session Format

We will begin with a 12-minute presentation introducing the domains of teaching, frame shifting, and habits of mind. Participants will then complete an interactive exercise to engage with these concepts.

Educational Importance

Frame shifting propels educators to solve persistent dilemmas by changing their views in ways that open up different possible solutions. How teachers think about and respond to dilemmas cannot be divorced from considering how race, culture, and other social groupings affect teaching and learning (Ladson-Billings, 2017; Milner, 2013). We examine these issues as we discuss teaching dilemmas as powerful opportunities for implementing approaches that can lead to social change. Developing the habits of mind and the skill of frame shifting empowers educators to tackle dilemmas throughout their careers, which could improve student learning and job satisfaction.

Connection to Theme

This session illustrates how university researchers can leverage research to improve educators’ practices. We will model specific content we have used in professional learning with practicing teachers. 

Objectives or purposes of the session

During this innovate session participants will explore their own and others’ lived experiences of staffrooms in education settings. Staffroom users can create habits, cliques, and community. Staffrooms can feel physically or emotionally inclusive or excluding. The session will reveal the hidden curriculum of staffrooms and provide an opportunity for reflection, dialogue and re-imagining.

Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice

Staffrooms may have overlooked potential as sources of teacher wellbeing and learning, professional solidarity and a sustainable workforce. However, the research evidence indicates that there is a loss of staffroom space and reduction in use in many education settings, due to reallocation of existing space to other purposes, the designing out of staffrooms in new buildings and the reduction of document-based communication. In terms of professional learning environment staffrooms can recreate cultures of micro-management or can encourage more exploratory thinking.

The format and approach(es) that will be used in the session to engage participants in the exploration of the area of practice

This will be an interactive session of provocations interspersed with staffroom ‘chatter’. We will reflect on how staffrooms can be places of professional formation, solace and collaboration. Participants will be invited into a part-planned and part-responsive session. There will be opportunities to consider the potential of staffrooms, to reflect on research evidence and connect with each other as social learners.

There will also be an exhibition of photographs which have been used to elicit reflections on staffrooms from over 70 educators working in a range of roles, across different international settings and diverse education phases.

Participants will be invited to add their own image-elicited reflections.

Connection to the conference theme

Quality professional learning can happen by design and can also occur in the interstices of school communities. Much of what is now planned for and programmed in terms of induction, coaching, collaboration and knowledge mobilization does (or used to) exist in staffrooms. However, staffrooms are not always inclusive spaces, and can be overlooked in terms of their possible positive value or constraining influences on professional learning. Viewing staffrooms as creating a hidden curriculum of professional learning offers new ways to explore the realities of the drive to build momentum and sustain quality in educational improvement.

Objectives or purposes of the session

This session explores how we at the Center for Technology and School (CTSC), based in Teachers College, Columbia University, partner with educators through an asset-based, and interactive approach to professional development (PD) in order to build inclusive, authentic inquiry-driven, project based learning (PBL) experiences, units, and curricula for diverse student populations.

During the first 30 minutes, we will share our approach to PD, informed by decades of research at CTSC, and brought to thousands of teachers around the world. We will explain how and why PBL provides critical opportunities for minoritized students to address real-world problems, and in doing so, build their agency as global change makers. We will emphasize that while most PD tends to only passively involve teachers and provide general tools, our sessions are interactive and contextualized, and draw upon teachers’ assets. We will explain how and why educators must experience inquiry and collaboration in order for their designs to authentically support student inquiry. In the second 30-minute session, we will walk attendees through a condensed version of our PD, in which they will begin to design a project-based learning experience. In the last 30-minute session, we will guide participants through a reflective discussion to explore how our PD process and PBL design approach connects to their own professional goals.

Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice

Our theory of action offers practitioners and leaders a process for developing more just and equitable education for all students. In order for educators to create learning opportunities that are responsive to students’ background and contexts, elevate student voice and assets, and highlight student agency -- PD with educators must reflect those qualities as well. This approach is critical during a time when multiple global crises call for all young learners to collaboratively innovate and problem-solve across social, racial, gendered, and economic lines toward a more just and equitable world. Without educators who have themselves experienced real-world inquiry and collaboration, students are not as likely to be equipped to answer that call.

Format and approach

We will be offering interactive sessions that can be accessed virtually and in-person. We encourage the use of technology, and that participants bring devices, though this is not required for participation.

Connection to the conference theme (and sub theme)

We believe that all students, particularly those from communities challenged by racialized divestment, need meaningful inquiry opportunities in order to become self-directed learners and grow as leaders for global change. Effective teacher learning includes a focus on inclusive and culturally responsive practices that address the diverse needs of their students, including those from different cultural backgrounds, with disabilities, or with varied learning styles. The learning sciences and adult learning theory support active learning, teacher choice, social connectedness, constructive feedback, contextualized learning, and opportunities to reflect. When teachers are able to engage in collaborative, asset-based inquiry, their students are more likely to experience a sense of empowerment, develop critical thinking skills, and actively participate in their own learning process.

The purpose of this session is to explore the potential of expanding horizons for school leadership professional learning through business leadership collaborations.

The educational importance of this innovative practice lies in the potential of utilising a readily available resource to build school leadership capability. Principals are appointed for the leadership of learning; how might they be supported in their strategic leadership? Aotearoa | New Zealand’s Springboard Trust has for 15 years scaffolded school leader’s learning. By partnering with key corporate organisations across New Zealand, principals have strengthened their leadership practice to lift student outcomes.

Over this time learning has been transferred between the education system and the business world. Volunteer business leaders gain an understanding of what drives schools and school leaders. Learning is reciprocal. This collaborative partnership provides a large volunteer pool, extending our organisation’s reach.

To clarify the context, New Zealand's 2850 primary and secondary schools are self-managing entities, with the principal answerable to their Board of Trustees and responding to national Ministry of Education policy decisions. The wide geographic distribution of schools across the country also means there are huge differences between schools, from small, rurally remote schools with rolls sometimes less than eight students, to large campuses catering for more than 2,500 students. Each of these schools is governed by a Board of Trustees, elected from the local community, who appoint the principal. For principals, leading in this context requires skills in effective strategic leadership, building partnerships with their communities and having a strong focus on equity.

Understanding what it means to lead strategically through the knowledge and resources of their business leader counterparts has enabled school leaders to gain confidence and courage in their leadership decision making. Guided by their business partner, school leaders use specific tools and resources which they adapt to their specific educational context. The role of the business partner is interchangeably coach and mentor, while the principal leads the education approach. Business partners in turn gain real insights into the way schools operate and focus on community. Their partnership focus is upon developing the principal’s strategic leadership skills and knowledge, and supporting clear, insightful planning for schools, in doing so school effectiveness improves.

The session format includes sharing of slides that briefly describe the collaborative partnership model as well as viewing short video clips where the perspectives of the cross- sector volunteers and the school principals respond to the question “What was the impact for you working/learning in a cross-sector collaboration?”

Conversation will be generated through the initial information shared and the video clips of school and business leaders speaking about the impact of the cross-sector partnership. The following questions may be used to structure conversation:

• What risks does this model raise for you?

• What do you see as the advantages of this approach for your context?

Purposes of the session:

The purpose is to explore the implementation of leadership competencies within a Master of Education in Educational Leadership (MEDL) program at Vancouver Island University in British Columbia (BC), Canada and articulate how these guide the program redesign, implementation, and assessment.

The goal was to redesign the program to build graduate students’ capacity to know themselves as learners and leaders, and to participate in actions that contribute to educational change.

To support this process, faculty co-created a curriculum that included Big Ideas and Competencies that reflect the transformation in curriculum in K-12 systems in local jurisdictions (BCME, 2017; BCPVPA, 2019) and worldwide (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009; Voogt & Pareja, 2012; OECD, 2018b; European Commission, 2018).

Examples include, “Leadership is ethical, urgent & courageous in ambiguous, dissonant environments” and “Influencer: Acknowledges the influence of power and privilege; actively works towards greater equity”. Graduate students are required to use these competencies as a reflection tool. A further step that supports learning is the development of an ePortfolio incorporating scholarly writing and artifacts of learning and leadership. As a result, learning progression shifts from a static linear perspective to a dynamic model with students on their own path with “different types of assessments for different purposes” (OECD, 2019).

The intention is for graduates to leave the program as educational leaders who are deeply reflective, agentic, transformational leaders with strong skills in utilizing research for school improvement, equity and inclusion.

Educational importance for theory, policy, research, and/or practice

A shift towards equity-oriented, competency-based education is one of the main responses (Schuwirth & Ash, 2013) to calls for educational transformation in order to prepare students for the 21st century (i.e., OECD, 2016, 2018a, 2018b; Phillips & Schneider, 2016). The shift is widespread in Canada, and elsewhere (CMEC, 2018, 2020). Competencies are defined as “related sets of skills, knowledge and dispositions” (CMEC, 2020, p. 2) and competency-based education is a “system that focuses on competencies as educational aims that can be reached and assessed” (CMEC, 2020, p. 2). Recently the OECD has developed the Learning Compass (2019) which defines three “transformative competencies” that students need to “thrive in our world, and shape a better future” (p. 16).

Format or Approaches:

To engage participants in rich conversations around the notion of developing leadership competencies by sharing successes and challenges, exploring student artifacts, and inviting critical feedback.

Connection to the conference theme

In recognizing the important link between school improvement, effectiveness and professional development for teachers and leaders, redesigning a MEDL program around leadership competencies addresses insight and innovation by shifting “attention away from “time on subject” or “process of instruction”” (CMEC 2020, p. 2). The redesign is an innovation in current leadership education that aligns with the current movement towards competency-based education that includes global awareness, citizenship, and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education (UN, n.d.), by building capacity that supports teacher and school leader development, and by extension educational system change, that promotes equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, and social justice.

Objectives

Reckoning with glaring inequities and injustices in student opportunities to learn uncovered by the pandemic, scholars argue that we seize the moment as an opportunity to reimagine public education for all students globally (Nasir, Bang, & Yoshikawa, 2021). The challenge for education systems is that they are working from structural arrangements that created and reproduced the very inequities they now seek to redress, and any change efforts from outside of systems must play out in interaction with these same structural arrangements. Employing imagination as a research method (Levitas, 2013), this Innovate session will examine opportunities for building capacity for equitable teaching and learning by comparing system (re)building across several countries. Nine panelists, all part of a global network focused on systems and equity, studying several different countries (Canada, England, Iceland, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and the United States) will deliberate and debate around three core questions:

1. How are education systems defining equity and social justice, and which stakeholders have a voice in these deliberations?

2. What system and non-system strategies motivate and mobilize education system (re)building for equity and social justice?

3. How is capacity for equitable teaching and learning constituted/defined similarly and differently both within and among education systems globally?

By systematically comparing similarities and differences across systems in different countries in their efforts to build more equitable opportunities for children to learn and develop, this panel will imagine new ways of how systems might build capacity for more equitable teaching and learning for all children.

Importance

The goal of this panel is to generate multiple ideas and conceptions of education system building for equitable access to ambitious learning and holistic development that can inform the work globally. Together, the panelists will expand theoretical frameworks and reimagine methodological approaches for research on education system (re)building for equity, as well as guiding policy and practice. Panelists will strive to ensure that emerging frameworks from their deliberations will be sensitive to the unique circumstances of education systems globally rather than imposing Western-centric models.

Format

The panel will be organized so that each of the panelists will have the opportunity to provide a brief response to the questions. This will be followed by a brief reflection by each panelist focused on one key cross-system comparison suggested by the comments of other panelists. The remainder of the session will involve a structured engagement of the audience with the ideas presented by panelists. Rather than an open Question and Answer session for panelists, the session chair will pose a focused question based on the deliberations among panelists, that will invite audience members to respond to a particular issue(s), that emerged from deliberations among panelists, using their own work in a particular education system. This organization will allow for a more focused engagement with the audience.

Connection to Conference Theme

This session directly connects with the conference sub-theme of leading schools and education systems that promote equity, diversity, and social justice.

Purpose and Theoretical Framework

The Teacher Training Center (TTC) provided three years of contextualized, equity-centered professional development (PD) to instructional coaches, teachers, and principals focused on a student engagement method (SEM). They provided ongoing feedback to instructional coaches and teachers, meeting with them in a pre-conference, giving real-time suggestions, and debriefing in a post-conference. Additional services were tailored to help principals support SEM implementation. This study explores implementation of the coaching model in five underperforming schools in an urban US district.

We use sensemaking theory to describe how key implementers—district leaders, principals, coaches, and teachers—make sense of and implement the coaching model. Prior research has demonstrated that principals and coaches can act as critical sensegivers during program implementation (Coburn, 2005; Coburn & Woulfin, 2012); this study expounds on the sensemaking literature to show that a systemic approach that activates all sensegivers in the service of implementation is key to improving teaching and learning.

Methods and Data Source

This study analyzes various data, including surveys, coaching observations, teacher focus groups, and documents (e.g., school improvement plans). In 2021-22, coaches completed 323 coaching cycles for 91 teachers across 5 schools. Observations accounted for how closely the teacher conformed to expectations associated with SEM, while surveys and focus groups captured reactions to the coaching model. We used a sensemaking lens to deductively and inductively code data to isolate the institutional, individual, and social factors contributing to sensemaking (Spillane et al., 2002).

Findings

Coaches act as critical sensegivers, so they need adequate knowledge and time to commit to their roles. Coaching, and its necessary shift to a culture of continuous improvement, has been well-received by teachers and principals. One teacher shared that because coaching is received by everyone, not just “when something goes wrong,” it develops a growth mindset. Almost 60% of coaching focused on SEM, rather than a different pedagogical method, suggesting teachers’ commitment to implementation. Principals appreciate that coaching is aligned to school priorities, and they value having a coach they can “bounce ideas off.” Coaching on the use of this strategy provides common language and a unified message in each school. This coaching model is not isolated: it is embedded in an intensive and focused change initiative adopted by the district. Coaches, school, and district leaders activate to ensure that teachers have the resources and support they need to improve instruction and classroom management.

Significance and Connection to Conference Theme

Coaching is essential to improving teaching and learning, so it is worth exploring how a school district implements a new coaching model. Although the coordinated approach is clear to the district, the need for various initiatives to support change is not always evident for teachers, so leaders must consistently communicate the “why” behind initiatives as well as the ways in which they overlap to support systemic change. Our focus on better understanding the implementation of quality coaching aligns directly with the conference’s theme on “quality professional education for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement.”

This proposal reports on over 20 years of research findings from Australian case studies that focus on successful school leadership as part of the International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP) and follows ISSPP methodology protocols. It draws upon findings from five Tasmanian, eighteen Victorian and one Northern Territory multiple perspective case studies of successful primary, secondary and special school principals. At each school, data collected included interviews with the principal, senior teachers, teachers, students, parents and school council members and document analysis. The case studies cover government, Catholic and independent schools. The research focused on successful school leadership rather than effective schools. Successful school leadership includes a wide range of student and school outcomes rather than a narrow range of student academic achievements.

Overall, the findings showed that successful principals demonstrated personal qualities, a set of common leadership practices, key behaviours, strategic interventions and capacity building that helped them achieve positive school outcomes. Successful principals were able to understand and effectively work within a complex set of contextual layers that encompassed their work environment. We have found that our successful principals are less constrained by context and are able to work within and across constraints. All the principals were able to lead change by innovating for school improvement.

In the paper, we will outline the personal qualities, leadership practices, behaviours and interventions of successful principals from our findings. More importantly for this presentation, we also intend to focus on the principals’ capability to initiate and implement change for school improvement. We classify our Victorian case studies into three levels of innovation. Principals were identified as either using incremental, transformational or disruptive practices to lead innovation. Principals in schools that were categorised as ‘incremental’ attempted to consolidate school improvement through incremental change and embedding the change into teaching and learning. Leaders in the schools in the ‘transformational’ change category used leadership practices that were mildly disruptive. The change was strategic and focused on individual, professional, organisational, and community capacity building strategies. School improvement interventions were centred on school and community needs and priorities. They were able to build professional development and appraisal; set priorities based on data about performance; and communicate purpose, process and performance. Schools in the disruptive category witnessed a dynamic change. Principals in this category transformed almost every aspect of the school. We identify seven disruptive practices that characterise these principals’ relentless orientation to change.

Finally, we will pull all our research altogether into a model we call an open systems model for school student and school improvement. The model attempts to integrate our findings to try to make sense of the relationship between the various aspects to show the complexity and interrelationship of the factors described in the findings. The paper connects to the conference theme because successful principals build teachers' professional and individual capacity to improve teaching and learning to improve student outcomes academically and more broadly.

Whilst enhancing the wellbeing of students has been a priority for many governments, the same cannot be said of teacher wellbeing, given the scarce research in this area. The current study examined how much factors such as having a wellbeing policy, wellbeing CPD, management caring about staff, having wellbeing on staff meeting agenda, and support strategies in place predict teachers’ personal wellbeing, after controlling for age. A total of 293 teachers participated in the study, most of whom were females (69.5%), from a range of second level schools located in both rural and urban areas across all four provinces in Ireland. The Mental Health Continuum Short Form (MHC-SF) was applied to measure wellbeing. The results indicated that only two factors (i) putting support strategies in place, and (ii) school leaders caring about teachers, predicted teacher wellbeing. The implications of the study are discussed along with recommendations for policy and future research.

The aim of this paper is to describe a school district’s exploration of system change using an inquiry model. This model demonstrates how leveraging different layers of the system and resources within the system can create opportunities for change.

In the pursuit of dynamic system change, educational leaders face the challenge of leveraging existing structures, optimizing available resources, and transforming constraints into opportunities for growth. This paper explores the journey of the Richmond School District in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, where the implementation of the Spirals of Inquiry Framework (Halbert & Kaser, 2013 & 2022) has been instrumental in driving sustained educational change over the last several years. With the district's strategic plan for 2020-2025 well underway, the focus lies on identifying effective organizational and instructional strategies and layering those strategies to facilitate system evolution.

With a layered approach that addresses a single big idea, namely "how we use inquiry to create and sustain system change," educators at different levels of the system tailor their approaches to match the specific needs of their educational context. Many teachers engage in Inquiry Grant projects to deepen their learning and improve their pedagogy. Schools engage in an inquiry to tell the story of their school and develop a focus for learning each year. By gathering data through engaging with students via a scanning process that asks meaningful questions, the responses are then used to support growth and change effectively by connecting to the existing structures, such as the curriculum.

Several foundational qualities have emerged as key drivers of success in school communities that make a significant difference for learners (Halbert & Kaser, 2022). These qualities include clarity of purpose and alignment with broader objectives, persistent curiosity manifested through active questioning and attentive listening, a growth mindset that believes in continuous improvement, a commitment to equity by proactively addressing barriers to success, and collaborative teamwork within schools and across communities. In the Richmond School District, the work of educators is deeply embedded in these foundational qualities due to growing and embedded engagement in the Spirals of Inquiry processes.

We also know that adaptive expertise plays a crucial role in enabling system change. By thinking evaluatively about the impact on student outcomes, seeking deep knowledge to make a greater difference, engaging in metacognitive thinking, fostering collaboration, and acting responsively and systemically, educational leaders can effectively navigate the complexities of change (Timperley & Twyford, 2021). By consistently posing the question, Have we made enough of a difference to student learning?, educators are invited to examine their processes, ask students questions, engage in professional learning and reflect on their practice to meaningfully meet the needs of their learners.

The hunger for genuine processes of change is evident across educational systems, and the need for system leaders has never been greater in a post-pandemic world. By leveraging existing structures, optimizing available resources, and embracing constraints as opportunities for growth, educational leaders in the Richmond school district are creating and sustaining system change that fosters equity, supports student success, and prepares learners for an evolving world.

In 2018, Ireland’s (then) Department of Education and Skills committed to developing a framework to evaluate the impact of teachers’ professional learning (TPL) (Department of Education and Skills, 2018). This paper describes that framework and practical lessons learned. The aim was to develop a research-based TPL evaluation framework, sufficient to evaluate the breadth of available TPL.

The need to evaluate TPL impact is widely recognised (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2019; Guskey, 2000; Kirkpatrick, 1994). Despite some criticism, considerable attention has been given to using “level models” for this purpose (Coldwell & Simkins, 2011; Guskey, 2000; Kirkpatrick, 1994). However, some have argued that such models give inadequate consideration to the TPL’s incorporation of known effective features (Merchie et al., 2018). Compen et al. (2019) present a TPL evaluation model that comprises: contextual factors; key features of professional development; teacher quality; teaching behaviour; and student learning. The Compen et al. (2019) model provides the basis for Ireland’s TPL evaluation framework.

The project to develop a TPL evaluation framework (and supporting materials) ran from 2018 to 2023. With a budget in excess of €300k and overseen by a Steering Group, the project included:

- Desk-based research, including a systematic review of TPL evaluation frameworks

- A primary, post-primary and special school teacher survey

- TPL provider and learner consultation

- A case study of a specific TPL opportunity

- Development of the framework

This paper describes the TPL evaluation framework, linking to earlier project phases and reflecting on the development process.

Ireland’s framework comprises Context; Key features of TPL; Teacher outcomes; and Student, school or system outcomes. While the framework provides for all TPL to have teacher outcomes, not all TPL has outcomes for students, schools or the system. New elements introduced include the addition of “access, administration and data collection” as a key TPL feature and the inclusion of “reflective practice” as a teacher TPL outcome.

Work on this project highlights the need for a shared understanding from the outset of the meaning and purpose of a framework (Fynn et al., 2020; Nilsen, 2015), the potential role of a participatory negotiation process in determining the purpose of evaluation (Liket et al., 2014), and challenges in ensuring shared ontological perspectives in TPL evaluation (Coldwell & Simkins, 2011).

The framework is timely in Ireland, given the September 2023 launch of a new integrated provider for TPL. For wider policy and practice, a key contribution is the recognition in the framework that teachers undertake TPL for both their own benefit and to benefit students, schools and the system. The addition of “access, administration and data collection” and “reflective practice” as features to evaluate supports the development of theoretical models underpinning TPL evaluation.

Themes are: evidence-informed policy that respects and promotes teacher professionalism; and impact of research/policy/practice collaboration and partnerships. The framework recognises teachers as agentic professionals, balancing individual, school and system TPL priorities. The development process was characterised by a collaborative approach, involving multiple highly engaged stakeholders, thus highlighting the positive impact of effective collaboration on the system.

The importance of school self-evaluation (SSE) as a school improvement mechanism has been acknowledged by increases in the number of countries with legal requirements for schools to conduct self-evaluation. Despite the provision of a range of support to schools to encourage their engagement with SSE, many implementation challenges have been highlighted in research from various jurisdictions, where SSE has been introduced. The provision of professional development (PD) to schools is a common response to such challenges, yet there is a dearth of research into the models of PD that might best support schools to apply the learning and address the common implementation issues that have been identified in the literature. This action research study explored a PD intervention for teachers leading SSE in Irish post-primary schools. The findings explored the experiences and perceptions of staff from 15 of the schools involved, and in particular focused on the features of the intervention that supported participants to apply the learning, by leading the SSE process in their respective schools. The findings indicate that this model of PD for teachers leading SSE may offer some useful solutions to the ongoing challenges experienced by schools in relation to SSE.

This paper sets out an original conceptual framework for place-based professional learning by teachers and schools in contemporary education systems. The framework has been tested and refined through a study of ‘local learning landscapes’ for teacher professional development in England.

Ensuring that all teachers and schools engage in high-quality Continuing Professional Development and Learning (CPDL) has long been a policy priority in school systems worldwide, given evidence that this is associated with improvements in children’s outcomes (Cordingley et al, 2015). Most recent research in this area has focused on evaluating formal professional development programmes and interventions provided by external (i.e. non-school) organisations (Sims et al, 2020). However, in practice, much professional learning takes place informally, through professional conversations and joint practice development activities, often facilitated by networks and learning communities as well as online (Hargreaves, 2010).

Meanwhile, in many systems globally, school leaders have been granted increased autonomy, for example taking on responsibility for the recruitment and professional development of staff. In these contexts, traditional place-based providers of CPDL, such as Local Authorities, have generally been rolled back, while school leaders have been encouraged to draw on a wider marketplace of CPDL provision (Steadman and Ellis, 2021). These developments might create space for agency and innovation in CPDL, but they also present risks in terms of coherence, quality and equity. For example, some schools and teachers might not engage due to a lack of capacity or awareness.

In this context, the conceptual framework sets out six core features of a ‘local learning landscape’:

• Local lens: Geographic localities do not have any intrinsic coherence unless the professionals who work there choose to imbue it.

• Many linked systems: Each local landscape is composed of multiple organisations and networks which might link together more or less tightly and in more or less formal ways.

• Professional learning: Individuals engage in formal and informal learning, both within their schools and through local and non-local networks as well as via formal courses and provision.

• Practices, tools and routines: Where professionals share practices (including theories and language), tools and routines, this can facilitate individual and collective learning.

• Bridging boundaries: Some individuals operate beyond their immediate organisation or context, helping to move knowledge and expertise around the locality.

• Sense making: Relevant leaders come together periodically to identify and tackle shared issues, taking time to explore underlying causes and to shape collaborative action.

The framework was developed by the authors informed by overlapping bodies of literature: socio-spatial theory; complexity theory; and organisational learning theories. It was tested and refined through empirical research across three localities in England (authors, 2023).

The paper introduces the framework and shares key findings from the study in England, using these to illustrate barriers to, and enablers of, coherence, quality and equity in CPDL for teachers in contemporary school systems. It argues that the framework offers a significant contribution to policy, practice and research in this area.

There have been numerous attempts to relate teaching development to teaching practice. However, little is known about how mentors of future teachers in Chile have used their school experiences to create university course syllabi and change or adapt their methodologies. In fact, their voices remain severely underrepresented in the design of national curricula, university modules, and teacher development courses. This research aims to address this gap by presenting a joint critical autoethnography of two Chilean female English language teachers who have experience in public schools and currently teach in tertiary education. Data were collected via a duoethnographic approach, a methodology that presents and analyzes two juxtaposing dialogic narratives to provide detailed, critical, and autobiographical accounts of both teachers' experiences regarding central issues in professional development. Drawing upon sociocultural theory, this study explores the sociocultural factors that influence mentors' incorporation of school experiences in course design and methodology adaptation. The findings highlight the benefits of experienced school teachers serving as mentors in teaching programs, as they can offer student teachers opportunities for deep reflection to address classroom realities and challenges often overlooked in university curricula. These critical reflections and interpretations of theory and practice in pedagogy can inform teacher education and re-conceptualize future pedagogical practices, where contextualized discussions and analysis of diverse student characteristics and contexts, as well as professional identity, workplaces, and voices of student and in-service teachers, play a central role in the design of teaching programs in Chile.

Introduction

This proposed presentation will reflect on the impact of a successful and award winning critical literacy project, conceived and designed by Dr Donna Hazzard. The project has been carried out in Northern Ireland primary and post-primary schools annually, from 2017 to present. In the academic year 2021 - 2022, approximately 120 schools and over 9,000 pupils participated.

Methodology

This study adopted a qualitative research design. Research methods included questionnaires to participating teachers supported by several semi-structured interviews. Data was analysed and coded thematically.

Impact

The impact of the Young News Readers Critical Literacy project is reflected in its ongoing success. Since its conception in 2017, this Northern Irish project has been taken up annually by approximately 120 primary and post-primary schools, involving 9,000 Key Stage Two and Three children and young people.

Findings

Though data shows varying levels of knowledge and understanding of critical literacy, this innovative critical literacy project is having a positive impact on teachers’ engagement with the nebulous and complex concept that is critical literacy.

The data signals a philosophical assertation and commitment among some participants to transform pedagogy to empower children and young people by equipping them with the knowledge, behaviour and skills needed to recognise power relations in their everyday lives. Participants communicated the need for a curriculum and classroom practice that is grounded in the lives of students, critical in its approach to the world, hopeful, joyful, kind, academically engaging and rigorous. All of which are key attributes of having a critical literacy perspective.

Future goals

As a transformative pedagogy, critical literacy has potential to develop tendencies and sensibilities that will help create active, critically conscious citizens. Our goal is to develop and extend engagement with critical literacy across schools in Ireland and beyond.

The inclusion of diversity-oriented play materials (DPM) in Early Childhood Education (ECE) is a requirement of internationally utilized quality rating scales (e.g. CLASS, ECERS) and licensing regulations (NAEYC, 2019; Sakai et al, 2003). DPM include racially diverse dolls, kitchen/food items, musical instruments, and international dress-up clothes (NAEYC, 2019; Sakai et al. 2003). As US ECE programs tend to receive low Cultural Awareness and Promoting Diversity scores (Sakai et al, 2003; Sanders & Downer, 2012), the inclusion of DPM is criticized as insufficient, favoring pedagogical approaches to reduce inequality (Durden et al. 2015; Suoto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018). In the micro context of dramatic play, children reenact everyday life, including reproducing macro systems of power and oppression (Vygotsky, 1978; Rogers et al., 2021; Velez-Agosto et al., 2017). Without appropriate professional development (PD), ECE may inadvertently reinforce macro systems of oppression (Iruka et al., 2020; MacNevin & Bermin, 2017). This paper investigates how ECE teachers integrated new DPM into classroom activities after receiving anti-bias training, how DPM prompted conversations about diversity, and PD needed to promote equity in ECE.

Methods

Data was collected as part of a Research Practice Partnership within a university affiliated ECE program in the United States. The teachers (n=32, M 28-years) were predominantly female (91%), English home-language (69%) and of diverse (63% person of color, 37% White/non-Hispanic). Teachers participated in a full day anti-biased PD and were given new DPM including multilingual blocks, international musical instruments, kitchen/household items, and global fabrics and textiles. To explore teachers’ engagement with DPM and application of anti-biased PD, an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design used an online-survey followed by semi-structured interviews.

Results

Teachers reported children were very/interested (70%) in the DPM and that there was an increase (56%) in conversations related to equity and diversity. Some (37%) of teachers only provided access to DPM in free-play settings, while (49%) both allowed access to DPM in free-play and included them in planned anti-bias pedagogical practice at least 2-3 times per week.

Qualitative data indicated that the DPM sparked new modes of dramatic play, promoted inclusion among children from non-White backgrounds, and garnered positive approval from parents. “I took out the play clothes and she brought these wonderful, these different fabrics from Africa and I just put them like different scarves. And yeah, you see the play has like changed.” Teachers noted the insufficiency of simply including new DPM, highlighting the importance of dialogue. Teachers requested explicit training in using DPM to promote equity without reinforcing societal bias.

Educational Importance and Connection to Conference Theme

Inclusion of diversity-oriented play materials is a necessary, but insufficient, approach to leverage ECE as a mechanism to reduce inequality. ECE teachers have varying degrees of comfort and training in implementing anti-bias pedagogy, which could contribute to the reinforcement of structural inequality through children’s dramatic play. ECE professional development programs and quality rating scales must include a more specific focus on anti-bias pedagogical strategies (Escayg, 2019; Iruka et al., 2022).

Early childhood education (ECE) is one of the most challenged contexts when it comes to discussions of critical topics that address inequities such as race and racism with young children (Sanders & Farago, 2018). ECE has been seen as the antidote to address systemic inequities children face through the use of multicultural pedagogy embedded within Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) (Escayg, 2019; NAEYC, 2019). Though DAP provides a necessary developmental perspective, its historical underpinnings reflect the values of White middle-class Americans, which may blind ECE providers from understanding the profound impacts of racism (Suoto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018), leading to ineffective engagement with children and their families (Bouette et al., 2011). This race evasive approach leaves families to bear the responsibility to teach others about their lived experiences, while also advocating for their children of color (Sanders & Downer, 2012). This study investigates early childhood educators' perceptions on the role of families and providers to support children’s development of cultural diversity and exploring the ways they are engaging with families on diversity topics.

Methods

We conducted a Research Practice Partnership study to address racial bias and anti-racist pedagogy within a university affiliated ECE program. Participants included 32 teachers of 0-5 years-olds. The teachers predominantly identified as women (91%) and their mean age was 38 years. 69% identified English as their first language, 63% identified as a person of color, and 37% identified as White/non-hispanic. To explore teachers’ engagement with anti-racist pedagogy, an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design used an online survey followed by semi-structured interviews to extend emergent themes from the survey (Chen et al., 2009; Guyton & Wesche, 2005; Taylor & Sobel, 2001).

Results

Quantitative findings demonstrate that the majority (76%) of educators believe that families and ECE providers have an equal responsibility in supporting children’s awareness of cultural diversity and bias. Educators were evenly split across feeling confident (18% consistently confident, 32% usually confident) and beginning confidence (37% somewhat comfortable, 13% not yet confident) when engaging with families around culture and diversity topics. Qualitative findings demonstrate that while educators found that open communication was most effective for building trust and maintaining relationships with families from different backgrounds, they tended to focus on inviting families to contribute to the curriculum.

Implications and Connection to ICSEI Theme

ECE programs must move away from focusing on families as educators, to focusing on families as learners in an inclusive, bidirectional process of supporting children’s development, thereby, addressing and promoting social justice and equity. Educators need to better understand the diverse families that they are working with, including their lived experiences, goals, and expectations so that families feel connected to the learning process (Iruka et al., 2020). ECE must be a resource for helping families to become more knowledgeable about the education system by combating myths, discussing parental rights, and identifying school processes that can support their children. Anti-racist ECE recognizes the racial history of ECE, the strength of families, and systematically addresses discrimination and bias to provide opportunities for all children to thrive (Iruka et al., 2022).

Using data from an ongoing research practice partnership (RPP), we share a set of curricular outcomes focused on anti-bias education from early childhood educators and university researchers. This presentation focuses on two research question(s) that highlight RPP outcomes.

- --How are early childhood educators (ECE) incorporating anti-bias and anti-racist materials into their curriculum following multiple years of professional development?

- --How do the curriculum changes at the early childhood centers represent how teachers are blending developmentally appropriate practices with anti-bias frameworks?

The RPP has developed professional development activities including two full-day teacher institutes, multiple teacher reading groups, identifying useful webinars and online seminars and conferences, and developing one-on-one mentoring between center administrators and ECE. During COVID-19 shelter-in-place, the teachers began writing curricula using National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) four goals of anti-bias education: identity, diversity, justice, and activism. Teachers created the “Mykala Doll” activity which allows children to ask the doll questions about her brown skin color, curly hair, favorite things, and family and community affiliations. Units also included children participating in a school supply drive for homeless children and partnering with Scholastic INC who donated a book for every pair of pajamas the children collected during the pajama drive.

We relied heavily on established anti-bias (Derman-Sparks et al., 2019; Souto-Manning & Rabadi-Raol, 2018) and new anti-racist pedagogy scholarship (Escaygu, 2019; Wright, 2021) to analyze the curricular changes from the past three years. Material documents and artifacts were collected from the centers with the permission of the administration. The researchers were an integral part of the professional development series and continue to interview individual and focus groups of educators at the centers. Data Sources are material documents, such as lesson plans and newsletters to parents and families, and curricular artifacts of children’s work. We also introduce recent interview data from ECE educators who have participated in the RPP.

Through participation in the RPP educators became more intentional with incorporating social justice content and racial, cultural and social identity development in classrooms ages 9 months to four years old. This intentional planning included teachers generating lessons that include families as partners, but did not rely on families to initiate cultural activities. Activities around holidays and cultural events remain important; however, educators have developed lessons that are not attached to calendar events, therefore normalizing anti-bias curriculum as everyday practice and institutional culture.

While the conceptual literature focused on anti-racist education gains prominence in early childhood conversations (Escayg, 2020; Muller, et al.,2022; NAEYC, 2020), the empirical research documenting anti-racist education practices and children’s outcomes in early childhood remains scant. Education practitioners, including those who collaborated in the RPP, desire examples and models of practice. In order to develop equity models of practice in ECE, researchers and practitioners working in collaborative spaces need more professional development models and examples of practice (Wright, 2021). The outcomes of the professional development series have enhanced the center’s effectiveness and improvement towards equity-minded ECE.

This study aims to analyze the effect of gender gap determinants and biases on collaborative work among students from public and private universities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, which are crucial areas for sustainable development in Chile and the world.

The main research question of this paper is: How do the determinants of the gender gap and gender biases influence collaborative work among male and female students from public and private universities in STEM university careers in Chile?

The literature has highlighted gender stereotypes as a shared set of beliefs about the attributes characteristic of members of a social category (Greenwald & Lai, 2020). These stereotypes of agency (associated with men) and communal traits (associated with women) are internalized early on and affect identity, interests, self-efficacy, and motivation in formal and informal learning environments(Fine, 2018; Meltzoff & Cvencek, 2019). Thus, the issue of the gender gap in STEM poses significant challenges for women, as they are hindered by misconceptions about their creative abilities, limiting their access to those careers. Stereotypes describe and prescribe, affecting human behavior and well-being (Etheridge & Spantig, 2022), as individuals constantly adapt to the norms attributed to them by society, leading to group interactions that either enhance or inhibit collaborative work in biased environments.

As a methodology, this study employs a student-centered mixed-methods design. This allows for a comprehensive understanding of the research topic, considering both qualitative experiences and quantitative measurements. The instruments used include semi-structured interviews; psychometric scales on factors of the gender gap, mental health, and university well-being; the Implicit Association Test (IAT), and a collaborative work task. These instruments have been carefully selected to capture diverse perspectives and gather relevant data for a comprehensive investigation.

The findings of this interdisciplinary study in educational research explore the impact of gender biases on collaborative work within university environments. The results reveal that implicit gender biases and factors related to the gender gap negatively affect collaborative performance. The study highlights the importance of promoting equity, inclusion, and social justice in educational systems to foster sustainable development. Ultimately, this research deepens our understanding of how gender stereotypical beliefs influence collaborative endeavors.

The purpose of this poster session is to generate a discussion about how school leaders can create environments that enable staff and students to act together to create community within their school.

This poster session links to the individual paper titled ‘Re-imagining School Leadership around an Agential Ethic of Care’. The two submissions complement each other, and could also be considered in isolation. This poster has been created against the back-drop of the climate crisis and other urgent global challenges that require us to learn to work, and live, together (UNESCO, 2015; Leadbeater, 2016; Booth, 2018). Like the paper, it holds that school environments can function as important relational, emotional and ethical learning spaces, as well as offering invaluable sources of support and relationship growth for both staff and students.

The first part of this poster draws upon my first year of doctoral study, in which I critiqued and combined agency, care and community, to introduce an agential ethic of care as a promising ethical bedrock for participatory school environments. An agential ethic of care elevates our capacity to act together in care, and my research considers emergent possibilities from collaborative caring in schools (Noddings, 2012; Higham and De Vynck, 2019; Owis, 2022).

The poster will then draw upon initial findings from the first term of a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project in a school in England. This PAR project will begin by inviting staff and students to reflect collectively on agency, community and care within their school, before co-creating a team of researchers to research, and act, together in care. The poster will invite discussion around how we might learn from the lived experiences of care, community, and agency, within English state school environments. It will also invite discussion around the barriers to and opportunities for co-creating community that have emerged from the first term of this project.

The poster seeks to engage leaders, researchers and policymakers in a collaborative discussion around what community might look like in our schools, and why co-creating community is important. Drawing upon queer theory, this discussion invites us to re-think together what ‘good’ in education actually means, and to recalibrate our system around the moral imperatives of the present day (Ahmed, 2010; McCann and Monaghan, 2019; Higham, 2021, 2021; Tannock, 2021; UNESCO, 2021, 2021). In our discussions by the poster, we will reflect, interactively, upon what a school environment that enables and empowers school populations to live, care, and act together, might look or feel like. We will then reflect together on how researchers, practitioners and policymakers might implement our collective re-imaginings. Our collaborative discussions will feed into the paper session on this theme.

Indigenous students require positive school environment where meaningful learning ought to be there to minimise myriad challenges. Therefore, Orang Asli student’s school environment should be culturally responsive and equipped with students centred activities or providing constructively designed curriculum and pedagogy. This study sought to extend the knowledge of culturally responsive school leadership practises which relevant and responsive to Orang Asli students through the lens of theoretical framework crafted by Muhammad Khalifa (2018) titled Culturally Responsive School Leadership. The aim of the proposed study is to examine and to understand the real-world application of leadership practices that are relevant and responsive to Orang Asli students in Malaysia. This study will also include the often-voiceless voices of Orang Asli students, parents and community leaders to gain a deeper understanding of the process and experience of engaging in culturally responsive school leadership. The study will explore (1) how do school leaders, teachers, parents and community leaders envision culturally responsive school environment; (2) what do the school leaders and teachers perceive as supporting or hindering the progress of Orang Asli schools towards creating a culturally responsive school environment; (3) how do the students perceive their teachers practices in the classroom align with their culture; and (4) to what extent, do teachers and students demonstrate culturally responsive behaviors' in the classroom. A basic qualitative study with is the proposed research design for this study, and the data will be collected through semi-structured interviews, focus group interviews and classroom observations. This qualitative research is designed to gain in-depth knowledge about how is the principal’s leadership is culturally responsive towards the school environment that will improve the quality of education received by the Orang Asli community in Malaysia hence reducing the dropout rates in Orang Asli schools.

Abstract

Government-funded normal student's university education struggles to meet expectations. We used content analysis and interviews to collect data. Research found that the core problem lies in the lack of clarity of the subjects of the undergraduate training process for those with multiple roles, and the clarification of the main responsibilities may effectively solve the problem.

Aims and Objects

1.How to improve the university education and career planning of state-funded normal students?

2.What skills does the training program convey that government-funded normal students should develop?

3.What are the shortcomings of the current training system and how to improve it?

Data and Methods

1.Data source: Six normal universities directly under the Ministry of Education in China selected 102 training programs for publicly-funded normal students, covering 15 subjects.

2.Methods: Content analysis method and Interview method.

Results and Finding

- Government-funded normal students' self-positioning dilemma: is it a comprehensive exploration for students? Or is it teacher specific skill development?

1.The number of general electives is insufficient and the subjects covered are limited.

2.The proportion of teachers and students in professional skills class is high, and the practice time of single students is limited.

3.The educational practice time is short, and the educational technology practice is insufficient.

Analysis and discussion

1.Governments: strengthen student aid and increase the allocation of funds for teacher education.

2.Universities: reduce the capacity of practical classes, and clarify the ideas of general education + professional courses + teacher education characteristic courses.

3.Internship institutions: set up internship training programs to provide more open classes and internship teaching opportunities.

Conclusion

The deep reason for the dilemma of cultivating Government-funded normal students, who also assume three roles simultaneously: undergraduate students, normal students and students of specific majors, is that the main body is unclear, and the effective clarification of the main responsibilities of schools, colleges and internship institutions is the way to solve the problem.

The purpose of this study is to identify how the role of Cooperating Teacher (CT) as mentor can be used most effectively to support the student teacher (ST) in their school placement and promote teacher learning for both the CT and ST and contribute to the development of democratic pedagogical partnerships between schools and Initial Teacher Education (ITE) providers.

Research questions:

What form should the role of the Ct as a mentor take in order to best support teacher learning?

How can this role be supported and developed through democratic pedagogical partnership between teachers and ITE providers?

What are the implications for the role of CT as mentor if they also take on the role of assessing the student teacher?

Perspectives

The role of mentoring is being examined through the lens of social constructivist theory and an interpretivist stance has been adopted to understand and evaluate the role of CT as mentor during ITE. Particular emphasis is placed on theorists Vygotsky, Lortie, and Brookfield to explore the role of the mentor as a more knowledgeable other, the effect of mentors on the reflective practice of the student teacher, and the potential of the role to overcome teacher isolation and foster teacher learning through collaborative practice.

Methodology

This qualitative, intervention based, study is underpinned by the principles of educational design research (EDR) and seesk to build capacity in CTs to mentor STs on their school placement and to support CTs to act as “in-house” assessors of STs through a mentoring module tailored to the needs of CTs in Ireland.

Methods

Initial survey to create a profile of the purposive sample.

Semi-structured interviews

Policy content analysis.

Expected or preliminary results

The research will likely highlight the importance of supporting and developing the role of CTs as mentors through democratic pedagogical partnerships between teachers and ITE providers.

The study is expected to examine the implications of CTs taking on the additional role of assessing STs. Preliminary results may suggest that careful consideration should be given to ensure that the dual role does not compromise the mentorship relationship and that appropriate support and training are provided to CTs for fair and effective assessment.

Importance

The role of mentoring in the continuum of teacher education has been firmly established over the past decade in Ireland through its inclusion as a cornerstone of policies published by the Teaching Council. However, the role of CTs is frequently “ad hoc, under-resourced and under-utilised” (Farrell, 2020), there is a hesitancy of teachers to formally assess student teachers (STs) that they also work alongside (Smyth et al, 2016), and conceptually the role of mentor is highly contested.

Connection to the conference theme

This research acknowledges the complementarity and synergy between ITE and CPD for teachers. By exploring the role of CTs as mentors, the study recognises the importance of ongoing support and development for both STs and CTs, highlighting the need for a cohesive and comprehensive approach to professional education.

Objective and Focus

Fostering whole-person formation is a fundamental responsibility of PK-12 schools across secular and religious, public and private school sectors (Mansilla & Schleicher, 2022). Internationally, faith-based schools provide important models of how to organize teaching and learning in manners that explicitly embrace this responsibility. This roundtable paper presents a research practice partnership (RPP) with three networks of Catholic schools in the United States with espoused commitments to whole person formation.

Framework

The goal of this RPP is to develop materials to support educators across public and private sectors in developing innovative and transformative approaches to critical formation. The concept of formation captures the purposes of education broadly construed as holistically promoting students' growth. This includes attending to academic, socioemotional, and ethical, moral, and spiritual dimensions of personhood (Wortham et al., 2020). When shaped by critical consciousness - both personally (Jacobson & Mustafa, 2019) and systemically (Seider & Graves, 2020) - schools’ efforts in formation confront inequity, marginalization, and oppression.

Methods and Evidence

This RPP engages twelve focal schools in three networks: the Two-Way Immersion Network of Catholic Schools (TWIN-CS), the Nativity-Miguel Coalition (NMC), and the Jesuit Schools Network (JSN). TWIN-CS comprises over two dozen elementary schools fostering bilingualism and biliteracy (AUTHOR, 2019). NMC comprises fifty middle schools enrolling students from low socioeconomic backgrounds and supporting them through high school and college (Fenzel & Monteith, 2008). JSN comprises ninety middle and secondary schools with commitments to global partnerships; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and inquiry and creativity (Jesuit Schools Network, n.d.). Evidence includes archival documentation, surveys, interviews, and observations.

Findings

Preliminary findings suggest that the foundation for fostering critical formation is articulating a coherent, expansive philosophy of education. The coherence provides grounding for members of the school community. Being expansive encourages attending to the whole person - attending to intellectual, social and emotional, physical, and spiritual dimensions. In each of the three networks, we see a clear articulation of a holistic approach that reflects the particular focus of the network.

A second preliminary finding is that fostering critical formation entails strategically embedding this philosophy of education throughout the teaching and learning environment in a purposefully fractal manner. This fractal pattern infuses the philosophy into the teaching and learning environment in an intentional way- from the classroom instruction to the co-curricular activities to the informal spaces. This fractal pattern also applies across stakeholders - from students to educators to families.

Significance

This RPP encourages educators to interrogate how schools and school systems articulate and pursue their purpose and how leadership develops a shared understanding of this purpose among all stakeholders. It suggests that to advance critical formation, schools and school systems should explicate a robust mission and create processes and policies that enact it. Core practices from schools in this project - such as the use of rituals and the explicit partnership with families and community members - can be adapted to public, secular contexts.

Connections to Conference Theme

This project models how to catalyze professional learning across school sectors.

In primary education, students develop both academic, social and emotional skills. Throughout education, students should acquire skills to manage ups and downs in life, also known as life skills. Life skills can be considered as a part of school effectiveness and improvement for professional development for teachers and school leaders because this focus highlights the school’s mandate to educate and form students as future active citizens in a diverse world. Developing life skills equips students to manage personal and practical challenges in everyday life and life in the future. In Norway, ‘life skills’ was recently implemented as an interdisciplinary topic in the curriculum to prevent increasing mental health issues among children and young people (Ministry of Education and Research, 2017).

There is limited research about life skills in primary education in a Norwegian context, therefore the purpose of the study is to identify, map, review, and summarize existing research on this topic, both in a national and an international context. The aim is to explore existing research related to definitions and understandings of life skills in primary education. An inclusive learning environment is a significant precondition when teaching students about life skills. Therefore, another aim is to investigate what perspectives related to inclusion and diversity are included in the definitions and understandings of life skills. The research question is: How is ‘life skills’ defined and investigated in research? The study utilized a qualitative research design, with a scoping review as a data collection method. To analyze the data, a thematic analysis was conducted to categorize the different definitions and understandings related to life skills in primary education. The preliminary results show that ‘life skills’ is a complex concept including many different aspects. The findings imply that the life skills term in a Norwegian context differs from the international understanding of the term. Results suggest that the life skills term in the Norwegian curriculum is linked to long-term prevention work and lifelong learning, rather than the international understanding leaning more towards life skills as a short-term solution against problem related behavior.

Research on definitions and understandings of life skills in primary education can contribute to high quality teaching and learning in a way that promotes holistic pedagogy through interdisciplinary thinking. Leveraging research and data on life skills enhances professional education by outreach to teachers, school leaders, and other stakeholders, with a main focus on students’ learning and well-being.

We believe “ownership of learning” to be a key concept in improving individual or collective learning and development of students, teachers, and school leaders. Therefore, the research group developed various active forms of discussion that will support the posterpresentation at ICSEI 2024. The group is highly interested in the public’s response to the concept definition, the model and presuppositions concerning “ownership of learning”.

The international congress ICSEI 2024 provides us with a unique possibility to accelerate and intensify our research and to start an international community for ownership of our student in the school all over the world. The model will be shared, refined and improved in the poster session. The group is also, very much looking forward to collect new ideas and insights from other participants. It is a matter of mutual receiving and sharing of ideas. We invite participants in our poster stand to discuss how Policymakers, Politicians, Practitioners; students, teachers, school leaders/principals can work together to enhance the development of ownership in their schools. This tool can be helpful to start the conversation with your students, teacher, school organization and researchers about ownership. We hope we can start with an international community about ‘We Own The School’. Goal is to share and learn from each other about organizing ownership for students in our different schools and different parts in the world.

See also our English website: www.studentownership.com

During the first stages of our research the team refined the definition and the taxonomy of ownership model with the characteristics of the six types of schools. They examined behavior of students, teachers and the organizational properties to be able to evolve the model into a tool to enhance the understanding of the concept of ownership of learning. The next stage focuses on the ownership experience of the student. It aims to measure the qualitative aspects of the personal experience of ownership. Here characteristics derived from aspects of “deep learning”, “flow” or a “growth mindset” is used. Eventually, this is related/connected to the school-type that the student is engaged in. The Research question: What is the relationship between the various types of ownership in schools (as perceived by all stakeholders in the school) and the ownership experienced? The research uses a variety of instruments; for example, in-depth interviews, quantitative data collection and the analysis of relevant information before and after playing the game. A research likes this brings about the issue of subjectiveness. The experience of the ownership of learning is difficult to measure. Our questionnaire for students is a crucial tool which we will triangulate with the game and in-depth interviews. We will combine the quantitative and qualitative aspects of research to establish the connection between individually experienced ownership of learning and the characteristics of the indicated type of school.

The focus of our SOL foundation has been on educational culture. During previous ICSEI sessions we were able to share our thoughts and practices on how to identify the educational culture of a school or a school system. Using the theoretical framework of John Macbeath, we developed a table game that can be played by all the participants of the school community: students, teachers, and school leaders. The game is not only an excellent tool to stimulate a debate on ownership, but it also generates data about how the whole school community thinks about ownership of learning. Is the school a formal, a pragmatic, a strategic, an incremental, a competent or a cultural school? The result of the game is then used to produce graphs and charts that help the specific school define the direction it wants to follow.

OECD (2020) point at teachers and institution leaders are at the heart of high-quality Vocational education and training (VET). Companies needs skilled labor, at the same time VET-schools have major challenges in recruiting VET-teachers to educate and train skilled workers. In a report for 2021 OECD states: Teachers in VET need to have a unique combination of pedagogical and industry-specific skills and knowledge that allow them to effectively teach vocational theory and practice to students. Moreover, as students in VET are often more diverse than in general education programs, VET teachers play a key role in motivating students and overcoming barriers to learning. Leaders of VET institutions manage complex organizations that often involve close ties with local stakeholders and require smart investment in tools and technologies for teaching a diverse set of VET program. The paper is based on a project involving four countries; Norway, Finland, Germany, and Turkey, and aims to create a research-based model to recruit and retain VET teachers in school.

The aim of the project it to develop new and innovative models to recruit new teachers and enhance the attractiveness of being a VET teacher. The model will also benefit industry/companies in their work with supervising their apprentices and recruitment of future labor.

The model is based on review of literature on recruitment, education and retention of VET-teacher (In English, Norwegian, Finnish, German and Turkish journals), network mapping, survey and previous experiences among the four partners. The model is developed in Norway, and will be adjusted to other countries context in the next phase of the project.

Steps in developing the model:

• Selection of partner institution – focusing om recruitment and in-service education within; building and construction, and technical and industrial production.

• Establishing a cross-sectoral group for the development of the model

• Use networks as a consultative body to test model and implementation opportunities and the willingness to enter into this type of co-operation on the recruitment and training of new vocational teachers.

• Refine model based on feedback

The paper will present a model based on collaboration in a school-university-companies-partnership, and how they facilitate that skilled workers in companies can be recruited and qualified for part-time positions as vocational teachers and at the same time have a large part of their position in the company. This creates a win-win situation for all partners. The outcome for the companies is skilled workers who have pedagogical competence that contributes to better supervision of apprentices in their own company. The school get VET-teachers who are constantly updated on what is happening in the profession. Teacher education facilitate in service training adapted to the everyday life of the skilled workers who are recruited into part-time positions as vocational teachers. Vocational students in schools will have direct relations to working life because more teachers have positions both as teachers in schools and skilled workers in companies.

The Project is directly linked to the theme of the conference - seeking quality professional education in the context of school effectiveness and improvement, within VET-education.

Teachers work in positions of authority and trust. Teaching is complex intellectual work and complex relational work (Buchanan, 2020). Standards and ethics are core to what it means to teach, and teaching is rooted in highly specialist knowledge and skills. These features of the profession have, in many jurisdictions, meant that becoming a teacher is formed through quality professional education in higher education institutes in partnership with assessed school experience and being and growing as a teacher is underpinned by an ongoing commitment to professional learning and personal development.

Communities rightly trust their teachers and the route to becoming, being and growing as a teacher is often supported by a framework of professional standards to guide personal and professional development as well as ensure the maintenance of high standards, the status of teaching and therefore trust in the profession. This framework often starts with guiding entry to the profession, includes mandatory requirements for qualifying as a teacher and maintaining associated registration, and may also include a developmental structure for continuing professional education and development, including expectations for individuals undertaking teacher leader positions.

Frameworks to support teacher professionalism require appropriate checks and balances with the aim of ensuring that those who profess to belong to the teaching profession should. This includes considering how respective agencies and bodies work together in relationships of responsibility to maintain and enhance teacher professionalism and therefore ensure trusted teaching.

There can be a tendency to look out from an existing system to gather information about how other countries maintain their frameworks to ensure trusted teaching. Looking outwards is an important tool for system learning, however there is a need to take full account of the historical, contextual and governance factors implicit in the ‘home’ area to ensure any future change coherently outlines requirements and opportunities for the individual teacher.

This session brings together teaching and education registration and regulation bodies from three UK jurisdictions (Ireland, Scotland and Wales). An overview of each area’s framework for ensuring trusted teaching is provided with key differences, barriers and opportunities highlighted with the aim of exemplifying core features implicit in ensuring a trusted teaching profession. Themes include ethics, values, professional standards, how breaches of trust are managed, trusted system leadership, commitment to ongoing teacher learning and teacher education. The contextual factors implicit in each system in support of registration and regulation will be highlighted to scaffold participants' discussion related to the barriers and levers to the professional status of teachers and therefore the enhancement of trusted teaching for school effectiveness and improvement.

Teachers play a critical role in student learning and school and system improvement (Muijs et al., 2014). Teacher shortages – and other issues relating to compromised teacher capacity, capability, and efficacy – can have long-term, detrimental consequences for educational outcomes and national agendas. While many educational systems are implementing policy and practice reforms that aim to attract, retain, and develop high quality teachers (European Commission/ EACEA/ Eurydice, 2021), research focusing on how human resource policy reforms are designed and enacted within educational system contexts are limited (e.g., Tournier et al., 2019). This Innovate session outlines an approach to whole of system reform, which involves the design of evidence-informed architectures that work in concert to maximise opportunities for teachers to continue to grow professionally and progress their careers in personalised ways, given teaching, specialist, and leadership career tracks. Our session encourages participants to draw upon insights from their own educational contexts to engage in structured collegial discussions on aspects of these interrelated architectures. Our collective interpretive lens for the session will be the OECD’s (2019) conceptual framing that brings together HR policies and staff working environments, individual and collective capacity and capability building, and effective leadership, teaching, and learning (p. 48).

In high-performing systems, “teachers see teaching as a meaningful, rewarding career that demands ongoing development of knowledge and skills” (National Center on Education and the Economy, 2020, p. 12). Alongside robust benchmarking of the mechanisms that such systems use to build a strong teaching profession, our approach to reform involves establishing a deep understanding of the educational system – that is, existing policies, practices, perspectives, and workforce profiles – as well as characteristics of local labour markets and the broader political and sociocultural milieu. Understanding of the educational context and international good practice enables us to work agentically with system leaders and stakeholders to enact policy reforms that generate the very conditions that allow teacher motivation and learning to flourish (Fullan, 2014).

Our team comprises educational and human resource researchers and practitioners, who collaborate on large-scale policy reform projects. Across three presentations, we aim to illuminate design features of key system architectures, including (1) a school classification taxonomy that, in combination with an equitable school funding system, sees teachers and other resources deployed more effectively in schools, (2) a school organisational structure that is responsive to schools’ complexity and needs (3) a multidirectional teacher career progression model and balanced rewards scheme, and (4) a teacher professional appraisal system that articulates with a growth-oriented, career-long competency framework and targeted professional learning and career development opportunities. These interrelated architectures are designed to recognise impactful teachers and leaders, match individuals to responsibilities that align with their competencies and career aspirations, and increase flexibility and pathways, given options within and across tracks and schools of varying complexity. Long-term, it is anticipated that these architectures will support increased teacher competence, learning, motivation, and retention within the system and profession.

Introduction:

In ancient Greece an Agora was an open space that served as a meeting ground for various activities of the citizens. From philosophers to merchants, from statesman to travellers, an Agora hosted a community that was willing to learn from each other. A learning community that emphasises on intrinsic motivation, autonomy and psychological ownership. With this idea in mind a new perspective on Dutch national education was born in 2014: a concept called Agora-education. Currently there are over 20 schools that work with this new perspective on the educational paradigm, including primary and secondary education. Also internationally, Agora spreads its wings with establishments in Curacao, Poland and Belgium. Newspaper the Guardian named Agora ‘one of the 21 brilliant ideas to remake the world’.

Objective:

What is the vision of Agora and what is the role of leadership in relationship to capacity building and learning efficiency? During this innovate session you will find out in an interactive and engaging way how Dutch society and science put their hands together to measure professional culture and school improvement within a new paradigm that reshapes the context of school, hoping to inspire international representatives and therefore to increase inclusion and equity amongst students and professionals.

Context and connection to the conference theme:

The traditional concept of what school is like, has to be put aside when you enter an Agora-school. Curiosity is, namely, the starting point of all learning. At Agora students work with so-called challenges (learning objectives) that are being monitored and evaluated by coaches within small core groups of max. 15 students. Students set up their own challenges, with their own intrinsic need as the beginning of their learning process, being constantly inspired by the other actors of the learning community and outdoors. Therefore there are no subjects being taught. Neither are there tests or grades. Also, students design their own working space in which they feel comfortable to learn and owner for the purpose of learning efficiency. This is a radical answer to the paradigm that has classically been implemented and seen as the model for enhanced school effectiveness.

The role of the coach and the school leader plays a key role in the pedagogical development of the student in order to actually enhance learning efficiency and stimulate psychological ownership. This role will be further explained and discussed with the latest scientific data, including qualitative-empirical studies and evidence-based learning.

Format and approach:

By using an engaging work form to start a discussion panel in small groups, divided over the amount of participants, participants will have the opportunity to share their own experiences within their cultural frame to share insights on professional culture and leadership. Therefore, we hope to establish an international cross-pollination between school actors to address the paradigm swift in northern European countries, or at least, to propose a new modelling perspective on the education paradigm.

School improvement should be at the heart of every educational institution. One of the key factors in facilitating school improvement is undoubtedly professional learning and development. As highlighted by Hargreaves and Fullan (2013), professional capital, a combination of human capital, social capital and decisional capital, “has a fundamental connection to transforming teaching every day” (p.36). Professional capital ultimately ensures that the moral purpose of the educational institution is met - that of outstanding teaching and learning. As argued by Creemens and Kyriakides (2010), “the ultimate criterion for a successful improvement effort is concerned with its impact on learning and the learning outcomes” (p.14).

Chiswick House School and St Martin’s College is an independent school in Malta, catering for over 1600 students between the ages of 2 and 18. As part of its School Improvement Plan in 21/22, the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) identified the need to increase learner engagement through more collaborative approaches in the Middle School, specifically Year 7 (ages 11-12). Plans were made to reach this target by providing deep and connected learning experiences that would ensure the learners’ internalisation of the concepts, skills and competencies at hand whilst enhancing our 8Cs: Collaboration, Communication, Critical Thinking, Creativity, Compassion, Confidence, Contribution and Commitment. The SLT and staff members co-constructed the notion that, Project-Based Learning (PBL), in an adapted form, would be an appropriate approach to reach these goals. During the proposed innovate session, targeted at sharing this innovative practice with practitioners and school leaders, the process through which change was acquired using effective professional development methods will be presented and discussed. Two consultants were brought in to support the project through their expertise and knowledge. During the same year, professional learning opportunities were planned to take different forms. The initial meetings outlined the characteristics of PBL. Educators identified that a major challenge in connecting learning in a secondary school setting was that they had no visibility of the learning outcomes that were being covered in the different learning areas. To provide this visibility, a software was used. In a collaborative manner, educators started to identify learning outcomes that could be taught in a connected manner and result in a project created by the learners. They chose the name Connected Learning Project for this endeavour. Projects were developed by the educators and the role of the experts in the field changed since they began to act as mentors during the second year of implementation (22/23). The whole process was considered as action research. Lesson study took place, and the educators were engaged in a reflective process to identify the strengths of their projects and any areas for improvement. Opportunities to share their projects and reflective logs with others were given so that they could be inspired further for other projects. Finally, the session will provide an overview of how the professional learning opportunities transformed the teaching and learning process by reporting the impact of this project on both young and adult learners.

Purpose of the session and educational importance

Student wellbeing, equity, and performance are at risk in many countries, also because of the recent pandemic (Hamilton & Gross, 2021; Dutch Education Inspectorate, 2023; Mælan et al., 2021; Nordahl et al. 2021). Data use can help overcome this challenge. Using data can lead to improved educational decision making, teaching, and subsequently student learning (Lai et al., 2023). Although many studies focus on educators’ data use, students are rarely actively engaged (Jimerson, Cho, & Wayman, 2016; Kennedy & Datnow, 2011). Involving students in data use can help to understand and address educational problems schools are facing (Mitra, 2004; Yonezawa & Jones, 2007). Furthermore, student involvement in data use can contribute to developing data literacy amongst students, a core competence in today’s society (OECD, 2019). In many countries, therefore, there is an increased focus on student involvement (in data use). For example, in Norway, the core curriculum and education act addresses democracy and participation and quality development in which students should be involved. Existing data use models (e.g., Schildkamp et al., 2018; van Geel et al., 2016; Lai and McNaughton, 2016), often focus on educators using data in Professional Learning Networks (PLNs). However, these do not include students as active data users.

The purpose of this session, therefore, is to explore with the audience what models and activities for data use with active student involvement could look like.

Formats and approaches for engaging participants

As a preparation for the innovate, we compared and contrasted different data use models from the literature (e.g., Schildkamp et al., 2018; van Geel et al., 2016; Lai and McNaughton, 2016, Nordahl, 2016) and integrated these into the PULSE model consisting of the following phases: (1) Problem definition; (2) Possible sustaining factors; (3) Collection and analysis of data; (4) Interpretation and conclusions; (5) Action plan and implementation; (6) Evaluation and revision. In a workshop with five schools for primary and secondary education we discussed how to involve students in the use of data. For example, regarding the first phase, participants suggested that school leaders and teachers should first narrow down the topics and goals and then together with students decide what to focus on, to develop a shared goal.

In the innovate, we will further discuss student involvement in the phases. After a brief presentation of the purpose and background, we will present the PULSE model. The audience will then discuss and work on one or two phases of the model (in groups), developing ideas of how to take into account an active role of students. We will use A3 papers on tables per group of (3-4) participants to elaborate ideas. We will conclude the session with a plenary discussion of outcomes.

Connection to the conference theme

By participating in data use interventions in PLNs with an active role for students , targeting the quality of education in collaboration with teachers and school leaders, schools will be able to enhance their effectiveness in improving both students’ social and cognitive competence.

The effectiveness of a school system can be assessed not only by the quality of education it delivers but also by its ability to mitigate educational inequality and ensure equity (Nachbauer & Kyriakides, 2020). In this regard, it is crucial to first sketch an overall picture of the trends and patterns of educational inequality across school systems. We conducted research to identify how global educational inequality has changed over time. We focused particularly on educational outcomes to provide a fuller picture of the tangible effects of school systems across different societies/nations in terms of educational equality. The research questions were:

•What are the global trends in inequality in educational outcomes?

•What are the patterns according to the multi-index for measuring inequality in educational outcomes?

•Are the patterns of educational outcomes, as represented by the inequality indices, similar worldwide, or are there notable variations?

Regarding our research questions, cross-national comparison research highlights that countries have made significant efforts to reduce educational inequality, and some progress has been reported (e.g., Baker & LeTendre, 2005) whereas a recent meta-analysis shows that educational inequalities are more pronounced in higher-income countries (Kim et al., 2019). This mixed picture is because the measures of inequality vary as well as the period of analysis covered by research is different.

To address the issues in existing studies, we adopted a multi-index approach to measuring educational inequality and covered the period of analysis more comprehensively. Specifically, we created five standardized indices of educational inequality, each ranging from 0 to 1. These indices include commonly used measures such as 1) variance in academic achievement explained by family SES and 2) the Gini coefficient using academic achievement. The indices also include three more measures: 3) the proportion of students achieving a basic level within a country/society, 4) the difference in scores between the top and bottom groups within a country/society, and 5) the proportion of students from the bottom 25% of SES among the top 25% of academic achievers (i.e., showing resilience of low SES students). We used mathematics test scores measured by PISA from 2003 to 2018, encompassing six different time points.

Results show that inequality in educational outcomes remain substantive. Specifically, during the period from 2003 to 2018, overall inequality in educational outcomes slightly intensified. The R-square showing the relationship between SES and academic achievement slightly decreased whereas the other four indices remained the same or showed an upward trend, indicating either no improvement or worsening of educational inequality. As far as PISA 2018 is concerned, the global trend of educational inequality has more similarities, characterized by the striking difference in the proportion of students achieving a basic level of academic proficiency (i.e., proficient level 2 by PISA) among the countries; in countries with higher overall inequality, the proportion of students reaching a basic level of academic proficiency was lower.

In conclusion, this study is significant in that it empirically presents the global trends in educational inequality from multiple inequality lenses, thereby highlighting areas needing further improvement.

In the highly stratified German educational system the transition to secondary school is crucial for students´ educational pathways. Teachers’ give an enrollment recommendation based on students´ performance for a secondary school-track after grade four. This recommendation is not binding and 15% of students attend a higher school-type than recommended.

Given the importance of the transition it is alarming that this decision is still highly associated with students´ social background (SES) (Boudon, 1974; Broer, 2019). Also deviations from teachers´ recommendation are biased due to parental motives of status attainment and opportunity costs. As higher family support among high-SES students is anticipated, teachers’ assess students´ potential to be successful at the academic track differently (Neugebauer, 2010). Even though research showed that about 70% of students who attended an academic-track school without an academic-track enrollment recommendation (ATER) were successful (Pfost et al., 2018), little is known about success factors. Referring to Wigfield and Eccles’ (2000) expectancy-value theory, motivational factors like students´ expectation of success or extrinsic motivation promote educational attainment (Ditton et al., 2019). Being potentially malleable it is promising to assess the role of motivational factors to buffer against educational inequalities (Wang & Finch, 2018).

Thus we investigated whether SES (parental education and occupation), opportunity costs (financial burden and learning stress) and motivational factors (expectation of success, perceived idealistic parental aspirations, value of education and performance-related motivation) are of specific relevance for the educational attainment of incorrectly assessed students (obtained an Abitur (Higher School Certificate) without ATER.). We used four measurement points from the German National Educational Panel Study (NEPS, SC3) starting in Grade 7 in Winter 2012/13 (N=2,671 students; M=10.4 years, SD=0.85, 48.2% female) (NEPS Network, 2021).

A MANOVA was conducted comparing students with and without ATER who obtained Abitur. Furthermore, group-comparing structural equation models (SEM) were specified comparing all students in our sample by the recommendation received in terms of their educational attainment. Value of education and performance-related motivation were modelled latently, reliabilities were good. Furthermore we controlled for a set of competence-related measures, gender, school-type, and language spoken at home.

The MANOVA revealed higher SES and motivation among students who obtained Abitur with ATER, while students without ATER scored higher on learning stress. SEMs showed that SES (especially parental education) was more relevant for students without ATER. Motivational factors (especially expectation of success) were important in both groups, but more relevant for students with ATER.

Findings underline the importance of SES – especially for students without ATER parental education is key to educational attainment meaning another disadvantage for low-SES students. In general motivation is relevant for educational attainment of all students.

Relating to the conference theme the following practical implications arise: Aiming to reduce educational inequalities, including the institutional level and the role of the teacher is necessary. Providing teachers’ feedback on the accuracy of their enrollment recommendations is promising to enhance students’ educational attainment. Also longer learning together or a higher flexibility in changing school-tracks should be discussed. On the individual level fostering all students´ motivation is important.

Purpose – In Australia, under the National Assessment Plan, educational accountability testing in literacy and numeracy is annually undertaken with one million students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 to monitor student achievement and inform policy. This is undertaken through high-stakes testing through the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests. Since 2008, NAPLAN improvements have focused on how the results are publicly reported, but it still continues to draw criticism for its narrow scope and negative impact on students. This small-scale study aims to highlight the views of students across Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 who sat for the NAPLAN test in 2023 and their experience of sitting the new online adaptive version of this test as well as their perception of its usefulness in their learning.

Research question – What perceptions do students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9 have of the importance of NAPLAN tests within their own learning?

Context – Changes to the NAPLAN in 2023, included introducing earlier testing in March, and improved reporting methods. Over 2022-23, the Australian government aims to provide $26.4 billion to states and territories to support school education under its Quality Schools arrangements. The NAPLAN, as a system-level tool indicates the effectiveness of this return on investment. The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority claim NAPLAN 2023 will assist teachers in providing targeted learning support, including challenging high-performers and identifying students who need support. This suggested diagnostic ability will be available for students and schools when results come out in July this year. They suggest the test will assist schools in mapping individual student progress, identifying strengths and weaknesses in teaching programs and setting school goals for further improvement in literacy and numeracy. NAPLAN results are transparently reported since 2008 on the MySchool website, positioning it as a high-stakes test meeting public accountability and confidence in Australian schooling. However, practitioners and researchers have advocated against this test’s negative impact on equitable teaching and learning across Australian schools.

Methods – This study used an open-access, quantitative survey tool to identify Australian students' perceptions of the usefulness of this test in their learning. This novel approach, securing student voice on a large-scale test, was the first of its kind in Australia, even though substantial research has been done on NAPLAN's impact on students, schools and teachers.

Evidence – Over 500 students took part in this study and provided their views on the NAPLAN test. This data is being analysed to understand its usefulness as perceived by Australian students who undertake NAPLAN four times during the duration of their school years.

Educational importance – The findings provide student-level first-hand insight into the effectiveness of this test. The findings may provide recommendations for improvements to NAPLAN test administration, reporting and data use in schools.

Connection to the conference theme – The findings may inform educational systems through leveraging research and data on student perceptions of NAPLAN for better inquiry, insight, innovation and professional learning on using the data from these tests at the student and teacher level.

Research question

How can rubrics be converted into transcripted grades in an equitable manner?

Objective

This paper offers tools and insights for developing equitable grading systems aligned with schools' pedagogical philosophies. Two case studies illustrate successful grade conversion methods, promoting equitable grade distributions and empowering students.

Context

Case study 1: School A - An international project-based learning (PBL) school that prioritizes student autonomy and engagement. The grading system relies on 3-point rubrics, which are converted into letter grades for transcripts.

Case study 2: School B - A traditional Brazilian school following the National Common Core Curriculum (BNCC), with a rigorous academic environment. Rubrics were used to evaluate an interdisciplinary project, which were then converted into points and incorporated into the overall grading system.

Method and techniques

In School A, each course employs 4 concept rubrics (Advanced, Proficient, Developing, and Not yet) to assess outcomes. Previous boundaries were set for converting these rubrics into letter grades. However, this approach had limitations. For instance, receiving a "Developing" in any outcome restricted the maximum achievable grade to a B. This resulted in a skewed distribution of final grades and generated frustration among students and teachers, shifting their focus away from the learning process.

To address these challenges, a new formula was developed (doesn't fit here)

In School B, the interdisciplinary project was assessed using 4-point rubrics, at the end summing 1 point to the students' final grades. There were a total of 5 rubrics, one for individual assessment and four for group assessment. The individual rubric accounted for 0.5 points, while the four group rubrics combined accounted for the other 0.5 points. If a student achieved a perfect score, they would receive a total of 8 points (4 from the individual and 4 from the group rubrics). This value of 8 points was considered equivalent to 1 point in their final grade. To calculate this proportion, this was performed:

Individual rubric +(Group Rubric 1 + Group rubric 2 + Group Rubric 3 + Group Rubric 4)/4)/8

This would result in how much would be summed in their final semester grade on the disciplines.

Data

The data for School A pertains to the final grades of students during the 2022-2023 school year.

The data for School B represents the points that were added to students' final grades for the second semester of 2018.

Graph 1: School's A grades for Math 9th grade

Graph 2: School's A student count of all subjects of 10th grade students

Graph 3: School's B grade distribution.

Conclusion

In summary, this article explores innovative grading solutions that align with pedagogical philosophies, emphasizing holistic student assessments over letter grades. It presents successful case studies from School A and School B, demonstrating the positive impact of new grading methods.

In conclusion, the article highlights the importance of refining grading methodologies to meet evolving educational demands, promoting fair and effective assessments that empower students on their learning journeys.

Objective: This research studies how 69 mandated networks of five Local Services of Public Education (SLEP in Spanish) define a common purpose with their participants and analyze the relationship between their purpose and the development of collaborative practices to strengthen systemic improvement.

Research questions: How are the purposes of mandated networks of the new public education administration in Chile defined? What is the collective coherence of different mandated school networks among their diverse members? How do the defined purposes of mandated networks relate to their main collaborative activities?

Theoretical framework and context: Educational networks are defined as at least two educational organizations working together to achieve a common purpose (Muijs, West, & Ainscow, 2010). It has been emphasized that a key element for the successful functioning of an educational network lies in having a clear, meaningful, and shared purpose among its members (Armstrong & Ainscow, 2018; Chapman, et al., 2016; Rincón-Gallardo & Fullan, 2016). The implementation of the new system to administrate public education in Chile mandates the development of school networks. School leaders have received these networks positively (Uribe et al., 2019). However, a study conducted in 2018 indicates that networks are coordinated from hierarchical approach, which has hindered their appropriate connection with the interests and challenges of their participants (González et al., 2020). It is relevant to determine whether in recent years these networks have undergone improvement in their collective activities, from a hierarchical to a more horizontal and distributed leadership, specifically in how their purposes are defined and shared, and if these purposes are related to its members' expectations and challenges.

Methods, techniques, and data sources: This is a mixed methods study (Greene, 2007). A questionnaire to analyze the purpose, activities, and functioning of school networks validated in Chile (Authors, 2019) was involving 69 networks with a total of 398 responses. An analysis of the functioning and coherence of the network purposes was conducted, then 8 networks were selected as cases based on their good functioning. In each case, an interview with their facilitator, and two observations of the network meeting were conducted.

Findings: The findings show that out of the five SLEPs, only two have a majority of their networks with a high level of coherence regarding their purpose. In the other three SLEPs, networks have a medium level of coherence and only one SLEP has a low level of coherence. Only three selected cases exhibit a high coherence and the remaining five are characterized by a medium level of coherence. The main activities include presentations by the facilitators, followed by successful projects presented by their members. There is a presence of inquiry groups within some networks, focused on educational practices, although to a lesser extent, which seems to be related to the higher coherence of their purposes. These findings are relevant for educational systems for the design of mandated school networks and can be used to support the continuing professional development of educators, and for networks to support collaborative systemic school improvement.

Exploring the Inception and Growth of Two Professional Learning Networks in Africa: An Ethnographic Case Study of Inception and Growth from Africa Voices Dialogue and Morocco

Abstract This paper presents an ethnographic case study that explores two innovative models of professional learning networks (PLNs) in Africa: Africa Voices Dialogue (AVD) and Inventors' Playground (IP). The existing literature on PLNs in Africa is limited and tends to focus on specific geographic regions. Therefore, using an ethnographic approach, this study aims to transcend territorial boundaries within Africa and between Africa and the rest of the world by examining how AVD and IP exemplify outward-looking PLNs through their missions, visions, values, and actions.

The study documents the inception of AVD and IP, their navigation of early growth challenges, and their sustained evolution driven by a shared mission to enhance teaching and learning through collaboration. Additionally, the study explores how these emerging networks practice resilience in the face of uncertainty and foster resilience among their network members.

The researchers of this study actively participated in AVD and IP as participant observers. They combined their personal reflections on the establishment and growth of these PLNs with inputs from members and participants through content and artifact analysis, surveys, and interviews. The analysis of the collected data sheds light on the milestones achieved by AVD and IP, as well as the extent to which their actions and development prospects contribute to the strengthening of PLNs and the improvement of teaching and learning.

This research not only fills a gap in the understanding of PLNs in Africa but also carries significant policy and practical implications. From a policy perspective, the study aims to garner support for PLNs as a means of peer-to-peer support that cultivates teachers' commitment to continuous improvement in instructional practices. At a practical level, the study acknowledges the issue of professional isolation, which is prevalent in Africa as well as in other industrialized nations. Nurturing PLNs within and across schools can alleviate this isolation and enhance collaboration, particularly in an era where teacher leaders who bridge professional boundaries and engage students, families, and communities in virtual support systems are crucial for improving learning outcomes.

This study holds value as it traces the evolution and development of learning networks in an understudied geography and context. It serves as a reflection of the transformative potential of PLNs, emphasizing concepts such as agency, experimentation, grit, resilience, learning, and mastery for teachers and learners alike.

Objectives

Literacy coaching is an international phenomenon, but there is a lack of sufficient research on the role of literacy coaches’ leadership at the system level, particularly in the Chinese education context. In the Chinese school system, literacy coaches are called jiaoyanyuan (teaching research officers), and they aid in-service teachers. Literacy coaches in China are considered teacher educators and researchers, and they may impact school policies and curriculum design (Zhang & Yuan, 2019). Because studies about literacy coaches’ leadership roles are limited and incomplete (York-Barr & Duke, 2004), the purpose of this study is to explore the leadership roles of literacy coaches at the system level in China. This study will contribute to educational leadership theory and the educational policy cycle in China and to the international literature at large.

Research questions

The main research question of this study is: How do literacy coaches enact system-level leadership in Chinese education system reform？

Theoretical framework

Literacy coaches, working as system leaders, may bring positive changes to school systems (Timperley, 2008). Scholars believe that educators’ capacity construction plays a significant role in their professional growth, and it is important for literacy coaches to become system managers (Fullan & Knight, 2011). As a system leader in a school, a literacy coach may improve teacher leadership (Guiney, 2001). Literacy coaches can work as change agents to foster the learning environment in schools (Saphier & West, 2010). Since many literacy coaches have a good professional relationship with teachers, a variety of teachers are willing to implement curriculum changes under literacy coaches’ supervision (Coburn & Woulfin, 2012). In addition, coaching activities can promote school staff’s learning experiences, which may influence students’ achievement (Killion et al., 2012). Moreover, literacy coaches are an excellent tool for teacher capacity construction because they are involved in teacher assessment systems (Woulfin & Rigby, 2017).

Methods and data sources

A qualitative research method was used in this study. Nine well-experienced literacy coaches were selected through the snowball method to take part in interviews, and each interview lasted for 45 to 90 minutes. Then, the data were analyzed through comparative analysis.

Findings

According to the data analysis, literacy coaches can perform as system leaders through promoting professional teaching improvement, launching educational evaluation transformation, conducting curriculum development, enacting learning leadership, and promoting academic research and projects in Chinese education system improvement.

Significance

This research theoretically provides empirical evidence of how literacy coaches enact system-level leadership to promote education system improvement. It therefore enriches the international literature on this topic.

Connection to the conference theme

Through exploring how literacy coaches perform in system-level leadership roles, the quality of professional education will be enhanced. This will promote school effectiveness and improvement.

Objectives, purpose, problem of practice:

What meaningful, purposeful connections does history provide for adolescents? Interesting learning is often left until post-secondary education (Mitra, 2020). It is the belief that students require a level of sophistication in a discipline before they can access the more complex elements; the work presented here belies this assumption, highlighting emerging learners delving into the complexity of research, contributing to a database aligned with a national Casualty Identification Program.

Placing high school students in the role of historian (Sandwell, 2012; Barton and Levstik, 2004), two Canadian school boards invested in a multi-faceted approach to learning history that seeks to place the human experience of the Great War as the catalyst for learning.

Research question or focus:

How can real-time, world-centred education connect teacher professional development and student learning in a dialogue between the past and present?

Techniques and approach to inquiry:

- employing Peter Seixas and Tom Morton's "Big 6 Historical Thinking concepts" (2013) with students conducting primary evidence research of First World War soldier service files as the skill-building method;

- encouraging students to learn as historians (Clark, 2012), engaging in the human element of the past to personalize and make connections to their present;

- implementing a responsive professional development (Katz, Earl, & Jafaar, 2009) where teachers and students engage in a continuous learning experience (City, Elmore, Fiarman & Teitel, 2009; Sears, 2011) to address skills gaps in both teachers and students (Barton & Levstik, 2004)

- showcasing student artefacts in public, community-connected exhibitions that span local, provincial, national, and international contexts (Osborne, 2003; Biesta, 2022);

Theoretical Framework:

Considering notions of "deep learning", Biesta's (2022) conceptual framework of "world-centred education" acts as a bridge between personal and social transformation. A student as an "'I' in the world", must learn and be pointed towards something greater than themselves, something greater than my education to our collective education. In becoming a historian charged with a life now represented by a service file, a student finds connection with the past, and an obligation to bring focus, attention, commemoration and memory to that life in a manner that they uniquely provide. Students evolve into Gardner’s synthesizing mind (2022), crystallizing the past with the present, a life lived with a life being lived, and a story left untold to tell.

Focus:

Outlining an integrated approach to teacher professional development using the student learning experience as the means to professional learning. Drawing on case studies from local, provincial, and national contexts, the paper will explicate connections across change leadership, pedagogical transformation, and reveal innovation in learning that engages learners uncovering stories of diversity as the means to learning history.

Methods, Data, and Impact:

- a digital archive of student artefacts created in response to the project that evidences new literacies, and directions for learning writ large.

- explicit links between professional learning, student learning, and recognized experts in the field that are connected to the student work.

- student and teacher interviews documenting real-world learning on teaching practice.

Schools are increasingly complex organisations and research on leadership in schools is capturing this complexity (Harris & Jones, 2017; 2022; Ziebell et al., 2020). Whilst leadership from principals remains important and continues to be studied (Louis, et al., 2010; Grissom, et al. 2021), there is now significant research that explores middle and teacher leadership (Bryant et al., 2020; Harris, 2021; Harris & Jones, 2022; Lipscombe et al., 2021; Tian et al., 2016). There is also an expectation that teachers have an organisational leadership role, and there is a burgeoning research focus on teacher leaders (Wenner & Campbell, 2017; York-Barr & Duke, 2004) to the point that this has surpassed research on middle leaders (Harris & Jones, 2017). At the initial teacher education (ITE) level, teacher preparation programs are now beginning to include leadership subjects to better prepare new teachers for these increased leadership expectations (Acquaro, 2019). It is, therefore, timely to consider the leadership work and the leadership demands on new teachers in their first years of teaching.

This study sought to understand the leadership demands beginning teachers face through their first years of work through exploring what new teachers are asked to do, and actually do, in terms of leadership practices, and any influence this may have on their career aspirations. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews of 20 recent graduates of teacher education programs from one Australian university who were in their first to fourth year of teaching. Interviews were conducted online and later transcribed and then coded to build thematic understandings.

Early findings from the study highlight early-career pressure from schools for beginning teachers to take-on leadership responsibilities in addition to developing their teacher expertise. Findings revealed that by the time early-career teachers (ECTs) were in their third or fourth year, they had been asked to apply for a formal leadership role, or were already acting in one. As a result of fragile work security in the sector, those ECTs who had been or were on contracts described how they accepted leadership roles in the hope that this would lead to more secure and permanent work. The study has also captured the leadership work that ECTs self-initiated as part of their desire to support students and their schools.

The scope and significance of this study fits within the Educational Leadership Network and is closely linked with the following conference sub-themes:

• Exploring the evolving research and evidence base for leadership education and capacity building;

• Policy and practice learning to support teacher and school leader development.

Several Western countries are facing a shortage of school leaders, in some cases coupled with high turnover rates. Increasing job satisfaction and professional success could help mitigate this situation as there is evidence that individuals who are objectively successful (criteria like salary) and feel subjectively successful (criteria like personal career satisfaction) are more likely to stay in office (Stumpf, 2014). Furthermore, international findings point to the relevance of qualification and mentoring measures for the success and satisfaction of school leaders (Yirci et al., 2023).

Using the jobs demands-resources model (Bakker & Demerouti, 2007) as orientation, this study sought to assess the impact of various factors on the career success of school principals in Germany and to contrast the findings with evidence from the international context. The following research questions and hypotheses guided our research:

1. What relationships can be identified between qualification measures and mentoring and objective career success?

2. What correlations can be identified between qualification measures and mentoring and subjective career success?

H1: Qualification measures show a connection with objective and subjective career success.

H2: Mentoring correlates with objective and subjective career success.

H3: Professional experience correlates with subjective and objective career success.

H4: Career success is different for different groups of people.

The population for the survey comprised all school principals at general education schools in Germany. In this group, a randomly selected sample of N=405 school principals, representative of Germany, was surveyed using a standardized online questionnaire. Scales were derived mainly from international instruments like PISA (OECD, 2013), TALIS (OECD, 2018) and PIRMS (Hallinger & Wang, 2015). Data was analyzed using MPlus 8.3 (Muthén & Muthén, 2019). Both latent correlation and latent regression analyses were used for the dependent variable objective as well as subjective career success. Sequential modeling was chosen for this purpose: The basic model 1 examined the influence of (organizational) support measures on the professional success of school principals; model 2 additionally took factors of (objectified) human capital into account, while model 3 also took various socio-demographic factors into account. To test the stability of the model parameters, a fourth model was calculated in each case, in which various context variables were also taken into account that could have an influence on the dependent variables. Missing data was imputed for all variables in the data set and then used to estimate the final correlation and regression models.

The results point to a small link between perceived (subjective) success, mandatory in-service training and additional university qualifications. However, no statistically significant correlation could be found between income and qualification measures and mentoring. Female principals appear to have a lower income than male principals, even after controlling for a sizeable number of possible covariates. Compared to international contexts (OECD, 2018), the connection between professional development measures and (subjective or objective) career success seems to be underdeveloped. Further analysis and contrasting with the international evidence will allow us to provide hypotheses of effective measures that increase the chances of objective and subjective success (and relevant contextual elements).

Purpose

This year’s congress explores how teaching and learning are supported in ways that “respect and promote” teacher professionalism. Evidence-informed instructional initiatives can fail to support teacher professionalism if teachers are asked to implement practices that they perceive as a mismatch for their contexts, particularly as a characteristic of effective teachers is their ability to tailor instruction to the needs of their students (Parsons et al, 2018). Attending to the relational capacity of actors in the culture and climate in which they do their work is of primary importance to understand instructional transformation amidst sometimes conflicting organizational goals (Author, 2019a).

Focus

This study is rooted in a research-practice partnership (e.g., Penuel & Gallagher, 2017) between a university and school district in the United States aimed at supporting the district’s goals of fostering a collaborative professional culture and increasing student-centered instructional practices. After observing evidence of sustained progress toward both these goals over four years (Authors, in preparation), this study asks: What aspects of a collaborative culture support instructional transformation?

Methods

Data for this mixed-methods study are drawn from yearly (2019-2022) semi-structured interviews with all eleven principals in the district and ten teachers and instructional coaches, as well as from yearly surveys of all teachers, principals, and district leaders. Interviews were coded using both a priori and inductive codes (e.g. Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006) to understand the collaborative and innovative culture of the schools and district and the experiences of educators in transforming instruction. Findings were triangulated using multilevel analysis of survey scales measuring collective involvement and distributed leadership (Author, 2019b) and beliefs and experiences with student-centered instructional practices (Author, 2021).

Findings

Instructional change efforts did not unfold as anticipated by district leaders, but a shift toward student-centered instruction did occur. Participants faced challenges in their efforts toward instructional transformation, requiring a high degree of innovation on their part. Rather than pushing for change to unfold in planned ways, the collaborative culture of collective involvement in the district provided space for educators to adapt the district’s plans in ways that met the goal of student-centered instruction in novel ways. Quantitative analysis supports the finding that leadership structures supported these efforts, showing growth over time in student-centered instructional practices correlated with collective involvement. Taken as a whole, the study demonstrates how educators, supported by a district orientation toward distributed leadership, could adapt instructional initiatives for their contexts in unanticipated ways that met the goal of increasing student-centered instruction.

Implications

These findings outline the supportive role collaborative innovation structures can play in fostering instructional change through teacher professionalism, and the power of research-practice partnerships in helping education systems move toward these goals. Asking educators to “buy into” or “implement” instructional change efforts ignores the crucial innovations that educators undertake to adapt resources to their contexts. This study demonstrates how concerted efforts to promote a culture of educator collaboration via collective leadership support the unexpected ways instructional improvement unfolds in context.

Providing quality staff development in a centralized education system: teachers' perspectives regarding school principals' role

Amal Alsaleh and Munirah Alajmi

Objectives

It is the purpose of this paper to describe how principals support quality staff development for teachers in a centralized Kuwait public school system, and the challenges confronted influence decision-making about staff development.

Research questions:

• How does the principal support quality staff development in Kuwait's centralized sytem?

• What challenges do school principals face when making decisions about teacher staff development?

Study context

Kuwait has implemented a number of educational changes to improve school quality and meet 21st century needs. The new comprehensive school reform program updates curricula, improves teacher training programs, promotes e-learning and digital resources, and emphasizes critical thinking and creativity. Education in Kuwait is highly centralized and supervised by the Ministry of Education, which establishes curricular standards, develops educational policy, and ensures quality throughout the system.

The Kuwaiti educational system has encountered quality issues based on international assessments such as TIMSS and PISA. Teachers' performance is one of Kuwait's main concerns. There have been studies that question the quality of teacher training and professional development programs. Teachers lacking adequate training and development may be unable to engage students effectively and promote deep learning due to a lack of pedagogical skills and strategies. By examining the role of school principals in enhancing effective professional development in schools , this study may shed light on the barriers and challenges facing school principals and teachers in creating positive learning environments and ultimately support the government's efforts to improve educational quality.

Methods:

A qualitative open-ended interview was conducted with 16 public school teachers. Inductive analysis was followed to generate themes and sub-themes. Findings indicate that all school principals support staff development in various ways. The results also indicated fragmented and unsustainable teacher staff development programs. The participants clarified several forms of staff development that are related to departmental leadership practices at school, such as teachers' visits, department meetings, and subject-based discussions. Participants also clarified that principals still face challenges such as lack of autonomy, inadequate educational resources, fragmented policies, and high workloads

Data sources/evidence

Semis structural interviews were conducted to 16 teachers working in public schools in Kuwait.

Educational importance of this research or inquiry for theory, practice, and/or policy

There was an in-depth examination of how staff development practices are implemented in Kuwaiti centralized schools, and what role the principals play in providing quality staff development to the teachers. The results may be useful for improving practices in other international centralized systems.

Connection to the conference theme

The topic of the conference focuses on the importance of quality professional education in the context of schools, so it is highly relevant to the conference theme.

Focus of Inquiry and Connection to Conference Theme

Connecting to the ICSEI 2024 theme of ‘quality professional education,’ this paper explores how science teacher learning is shaped by distinctive features of a science museum, including practicum experiences in galleries, interning in youth programs, courses co-taught by museum scientists; and doing research alongside museum scientists. This paper responds to the ICSEI sub-theme “policy and practice learning to support teacher and school leader development,” by shedding light on features of teacher education programs that may be particularly effective in preparing teachers for equitable science teaching in public schools.

Theoretical/Conceptual Perspectives

We draw upon two theoretical frameworks in the design of our teacher education program and our research within it (Authors, 2022). A sociocultural theoretical framework (Vygotsky, 1978) reflects our view of teacher learning as an interactive process of participation in a science community (Lave & Wenger, 1991); and a critical theoretical framework asks that we acknowledge that science is not neutral; rejecting deficit views; and incorporating a systemic view of inequality and injustices (Milner, 2010; 2021).

Data/Method

Data are drawn from a case study of a 15-month teacher education program that prepares Earth science secondary teachers in a large, urban intensive city, housed in a science museum. Data include interviews with program students, observation of program meetings and courses, as well as program documents. Additional data from ongoing evaluations, and findings from published research by program scientists and educators, supplements the case. Using these data, we explore what residents learn in order to enact equitable science teaching. We identify features of the setting of a science institution that play an especially important role in strengthening teachers’ science instruction and equitable work with youth.

Findings

The case study points to four distinctive features of learning in a museum that support teachers’ learning to teach science:1) an eight week “science practicum” involving preservice teachers in conducting research with active scientists; 2) early teaching experiences in museum galleries; 3) fieldwork in museum-based afterschool youth programs and 4) a co-teaching model in which science courses are taught by educators and museum scientists. These contributed to teachers’ heightened ‘science identity’; stronger grasp of science practices for geology; a heightened appreciation of and knowledge about local Earth science phenomena; and asset-based views of youth. For example, the science practicum provided science resources they could use in their classrooms, strengthened knowledge about how scientists do their work and helped counter views of science as ‘not neutral’, and strengthened their ability to communicate with students about complex science concepts.

Educational Importance for Practice and Theory

This case study reveals how a program’s features can support preservice teachers to learn ambitious and equitable science teaching. While few teacher education programs take place in a museum or a cultural institution that can support subject-specific learning; this study points to ways that teacher education programs can take advantage of informal science institutions and their resources. This study shares principles that other teacher education programs can draw upon to inform their work preparing teachers.

Problem statement

Value-added models (VAM) are widely used around the world to monitor school effects of schools’ effectiveness (Leckie & Prior, 2022). In multilevel VAM, students’ current achievement is regressed on (at least) prior achievement, the school effectiveness estimate, i.e., the value-added (VA) estimate, being the school-level residual. However, measurement error on prior achievement can lead to attenuation bias and to biased schools’ VA-estimates: the VA-estimates of high prior-achieving schools are overestimated while the effectiveness of school serving low prior achievers is underestimated (Kane, 2017; Perry, 2019).

This study investigates how ability estimators of prior achievement can affect the school-level VA-estimates. Three VAM are studied: simple value-added (VA) models, and contextualized VAM controlling for students’ sociodemographic features (CVA-A) and also for schools' prior achievement (CVA-B) (Leckie & Prior, 2022).

The investigated ability estimators rely on Item Response Theory (IRT) measurement models: weighted-likelihood estimates (WLE), expected a posteriori (EAP) and plausible values (PV). These estimators have different properties. For instance, WLE overestimate ability’s variance while EAP underestimate this variance (Lechner et al., 2021; Monseur & Adams, 2009; Wu, 2005); in multilevel models, the estimated variance components can also be affected by the estimator choice (Monseur & Adams, 2009). Furthermore, Schofield et al. (2015) showed that, when using PV as an independent variable in a regression model, biased estimates can arise if the conditioning model used to procure PV is not compatible with this regression analysis model. In the continuity of these findings, this study investigates how these ability estimators for prior achievement can affect schools’ estimated effect.

Methodology

A simulation study is conducted to investigate the influence of several prior achievement estimation methods on school residuals. The ability estimators are WLE, PV and EAP. The latter two rely on Bayesian approaches and are estimated without conditioning or conditioned on contrast coding for schools or on schools mean prior achievement (in order to account for school differences), with or without other conditioning variables.

Multilevel VA, CVA-A and CVA-B models are investigated: the bias in the correlations between the school-level residuals in each prior-ability estimate condition and (a) schools’ mean prior achievement and (b) schools’ true residuals, is analyzed. Attention is also paid to the estimated model parameters. Several test lengths for assessing prior achievement are explored; true values of current achievement and of the covariate (for CVA models) are used.

Results

Results show that using an improper ability estimator of prior achievement can bias the correlation between school prior achievement and school residuals in VA and CVA-A models. Bayesian ability approaches with conditioning variables can recover this correlation and the specification of the IRT conditioning model is discussed. This correlation is also less affected by the ability estimator choice in CVA-B models than in CVA-A and VA models, as they control for school mean prior achievement.

Inadequate prior achievement estimates can therefore lead to misleading school effects. Researchers’ choice should rely on the specification of their VAM and on the properties of ability estimators.

This paper reports on the on-going research project called Professional Identity for Khmer Teachers (PIKT). In all education settings the challenge of enhancing teaching capability to achieve better learning outcomes is complex and multifaceted. In the context of early grade education in Cambodian schools, this is especially the case. Cambodian education is like the ‘perfect storm’ of challenges.

The authors are part of the PIKT research collaboration seeking to find new ways to improve the quality of teaching in Cambodia. The collaboration involves SeeBeyondBorders, a non-government organization concerned with teacher development in Cambodia; the Department of Policy, a research and think-tank within the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports; Phnom Penh Teacher Education College as provider of the new full 4-year degree course for primary teacher training and the Centre for Education and Lifelong Learning at National College of Ireland.

The research goals of the PIKT project may be characterized in terms of three broad areas of inquiry. First, to identify an appropriate framework to facilitate early grade Cambodian teachers to enhance their classroom practice. Second, to devise a workshop with associated resources to support teachers to enhance their classroom practice in line with the framework. And third, to further develop the practical research skills and capabilities of the collaborating partners so that the work can continue in the future. The 28-month project commenced in September 2022 and will continue through to the end of 2024.

The PIKT project is investigating how teachers in Cambodia and specifically the Battambang region, can be enabled to improve their teaching practice and engage in a path of professional development. It focuses on the tasks and challenges of building teacher professional identity; how teachers see themselves and how this may change over time. Teacher professional identity is a core enabler for a wider framework of teaching capability and competence. Effective teaching requires a disposition for enhancement of practice in a continuous cycle of professional improvement.

PIKT uses design-based research to develop and deliver customized workshops with associated materials, to enhance teacher professional identity and build teacher agency in implementing positive changes to classroom practice in primary schools.

As part of the design-based research process, 25 volunteer participant teachers were observed in class and this data, together with teacher interviews, and a ‘school in community’ profile, enabled the research team to design and deliver a culturally and contextually appropriate workshop for the teachers. We report on the project to date as it has completed the first iteration of design and workshop delivery.

Insights from PIKT contribute to our understanding of the essence of teacher professional identity and how, despite difficult circumstances, teachers in Cambodia are well motivated to improve the lives and education outcomes of their students. The research also provides new insights on what's happening in Cambodian schools as it fosters further collaboration between Irish, international, and Cambodian researchers.

The elite as a social group has been scarcely studied globally (Gaztambide-Fernández, 2006). By elite schools, we mean educational institutions that act by social closure and intergenerationally reproduce their privileges and ways of life (Bourdieu, 1989; Kenway & Koh, 2013-Gessaghi, 2015).

The educational policy context in Chile leaves elite students without guaranteed children's rights. The Quality Assurance Law (No. 20529, 2011), the Violence Law (No. 20536, 2011) and the Inclusion Law (No. 20845, 2015) are applied differentially in these schools. They are not obliged to guarantee violence-free environments, students' participation in governance bodies, and to meet the national academic standards required by the Ministry of Education. The research aimed to explore the national academic performance of elite schools and students' perceptions of rights concerning participation, respect for self-identity and violence-free environments.

Methods: A mixed-methods design was developed with a qualitative multiple-case study approach (4 cases). The quantitative phase develops a descriptive analysis of national databases in reading and mathematics outcomes and personal and social development index. The qualitative phase contemplates the analysis of institutional documents and semi-structured individual and group interviews (20 interviewees).

Results: The main findings show that 13,032 primary and 4,415 secondary education students have lower performance in reading and mathematics than the national average. In other words, if we apply the law regulating schools that receive state funding, 25 schools should be closed, and another 85 should receive support to improve their performance. Furthermore, the analysis of the multiple case studies shows the presence of a managerial and persuasive curriculum, that is, a curriculum that privileges science and mathematics to the detriment of the humanities and the arts. This curriculum orients university choice towards four specific higher education careers (law, medicine, industrial engineering and commercial engineering). This type of curriculum has also been reported by international research. Besides, it is noted that the right to live in an environment free of violence and to express one's identity is the responsibility of the student and his/her family, not the educational institution. Thus, one school has no psychosocial support, and the parents must support their children's processes with external specialists. In another school, students blame themselves for being bullied. Moreover, dynamics of silence concerning situations of violence are identified, which are reinforced by an experience of hegemonic masculinity; and the tension around the right to participate, to be heard and to have a say. Interestingly, parents strongly influence the educational project and determine which activities can be carried out by the student centres in which teachers are hired and dismissed. The choice of activities and teachers has a strong ideological bias; in the case studies, three schools are characterised by conservative and one by progressive positions.

Educational importance: We discuss the lack of protection of children's rights in elite schools. Owners are protected by neoliberal principles for freedom of teaching. Consequently, Chilean legislation tends to show a more robust regulation of public schools than private ones, overlooking the protection of rights for these students.

For immigrant-origin youth, social capital is a valuable resource to cushion challenges, including unwelcoming contexts of reception and discrimination (Dika & Singh, 2002; Portes & Rumbaut, 2014; Stanton-Salazar, 2011). Social capital is the resources embedded in social relationships (Lin, 2001). Schools are essential to forming peer social capital that can positively impact opportunities and outcomes beyond adolescence. Therefore, this study addresses the question: Why and in what ways do immigrant-origin middle school students mobilize their sources of peer social capital in the U.S. and Switzerland?

Connection to Conference Theme

While school leaders’ and teachers’ role in supporting student learning is well established, less is known about how they shape students’ peer social capital formation and mobilization. It is crucial for teachers’ and school leaders’ training and professional development to also address the social side of schools.

Theoretical Framework

Social capital, and particularly peer social capital, provides various forms of informational, social, emotional, and academic support (Dika & Singh, 2002; Enriquez, 2011; Goldstein, 2003; Portes & Rumbaut, 2014; Reynolds, 2007; Straubhaar, 2013).

Structures, such as school climate, policies, and student diversity, affect immigrant-origin students’ opportunities for social capital (Lin, 2001; Taher et al., 2017). Further, for social capital mobilization (i.e., putting one’s social resources to use), adolescents must choose to use them (Lin, 2001). The other person’s demographic background (e.g., having the same gender or race/ethnicity) and virtues (e.g., trustworthiness, integrity) have been shown to matter when youth mobilize social capital (Reynolds, 2007; Stanton‐Salazar & Spina, 2003; Straubhaar, 2013).

Methods & Data

Twenty-two immigrant-origin middle school students were interviewed (14 from two schools in the Western U.S. and eight from a school in Switzerland). Each student was interviewed 3-4 times about their support networks, friendships, and school experiences, resulting in 41 hours of semi-structured interview data. These data were analyzed inductively and with a set of a priori codes.

Findings

This study confirmed (a) trust/ friendship was a prerequisite for the mobilization of peer social capital (i.e., asking a peer for help and support); (b) proximity (e.g., being (seat) neighbors, attending the same classroom), similar interests, and shared demographics were relevant in building and maintaining friendships. Further, the study adds nuance. First, while some demographics were relevant across contexts (i.e., gender, language), others’ relevance differed in intensity (i.e., race/ethnicity in the U.S. and immigrant background in Switzerland). Second, students in all three schools valued integrity in their friends but assessed integrity based on different measures. While educators’ verdicts and school suspensions were frequently referenced to determine who would be a “bad friend” in the U.S., they were not in Switzerland.

Importance for Theory, Practice, Policy

This study adds nuance to the literature by highlighting how the broader context shaped immigrant-origin youths’ social capital mobilization. The study also has implications for practice and policy, as it showed how, for example, the impact of school policies and disciplinary measures might go beyond students’ access to learning opportunities and shape their peer social capital (i.e., label them as “bad friends”).

Problem of Practice

Schools and school systems do not effectively provide students labeled with disabilities equitable opportunities to learn in mainstream classrooms (Ainscow et al., 2019). Moreover, the marginalization of these students is compounded by other dimensions of identity (e.g., race, ethnicity, home language) (AUTHOR, 2020).

Research Focus

This project addresses this problem of practice by focusing on the core question: How can a school system engage in a research practice partnership with a university to support systemic transformation that advances effective, accessible, and inclusive education?

Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework grounding this research practice partnership (RPP) is the sociocultural learning theory of communities of practice (AUTHOR 2023; Wenger, 1998). Educational leaders - from individual schools to networks of schools - can promote organizational transformation by productively and innovatively leveraging communities of practice (AUTHOR 2013; 2016).

Modes of Inquiry

Research-practice partnerships (RPPs) offer a promising approach to structuring resources to support these educational leaders by helping them navigate sociocultural and organizational differences (Penuel & Gallagher, 2017). This project describes an emergent RPP between one public school district in the United States and a university.

Evidence

This paper analyzes (a) historical documentation to explore correlations amongst district-level special education policies, school-level service delivery models, and school-level student learning outcomes, and (b) interviews, observations, and documentation to show how the shift in special education policy at the district-level is affecting school-level service delivery models.

Findings

We are finding that district-level policy efforts to advance equitable opportunities to learn failed to lead to effective service delivery models within schools to provide effective, accessible, and inclusive education for students labeled with disabilities as well as across other dimensions of identity. We developed a working theory of action to confront this longstanding problem in a novel manner. Over the first year this RPP seeded a constellation of three communities of practice:

- An RPP Design Team, comprising five individuals (three from the district (central office administrators) and two from the university (one core faculty, one core research assistant), serves as the hub.

- School-based Inclusion Planning Teams are empowered to implement the theory of action in an adaptive manner in their local context.

- A cadre of regional inclusion coaches act as brokers between the Design Team and the Inclusion Planning Teams.

Significance

We are learning lessons about shaping the architecture of these communities of practice in manners that optimize organizational transformation. This project illustrates ways to productively leverage networking amongst actors who are positioned in disparate organizations. A desire to collaborate and a recognition of a common problem are not enough. A clear theory of action coupled with flexible structures to implement this iteratively are needed.

Connections to Conference Theme

Supporting systemic transformation to advance effective, accessible, and inclusive education, this RPP connects directly to the conference focus on professional learning that improves school effectiveness. Further, it aligns with the subthemes of (a) improvement efforts that are collaborative and sustainable and (b) promoting equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, and social justice.

Well-being or positive mental health is important during all stages of a person’s growth and development, but especially during childhood and adolescence (Hargreaves & Shirley, 2021). Despite this, it is not always evident what well-being might mean in an educational context or how educators can best support well-being or mental health in an environment predominantly focused on cognitive development and achievement. Hargreaves and Shirley (2021) suggest that educators are more “likely to grasp the value of well-being when it’s not there, when we witness all the signs of being ill instead” (p. 28). The moral imperative belongs within the school system to create conditions that address mental health promotion for all students and minimize conditions that contribute to or exacerbate mental illness in children and youth.

In this project, we build upon recommendations from the Alberta Child and Youth Well-being Action Plan (2022) and the Government of Alberta's Mental Health in Schools Pilot initiative to develop a mental health evaluation framework that will engage and support school leaders, classroom teachers, and school-support staff in the implementation of school-based mental health initiatives. This framework is also intended to be utilized by school authority leaders as part of their ongoing quality assurance and continuous improvement of mental health supports and services.

A convergent mixed methods design was used to create the mental health evaluation framework through examining the current landscape of mental health supports and services in schools in Alberta. Data was collected through a review of 60 government-funded mental health pilot project proposals, an environmental scan of relevant organizational websites and documents to describe current mental health supports and services and their evaluation, and a review of scholarly and grey literature to identify indicators of effective practice for a robust mental health continuum of supports and services. In addition, as members of the research team we worked in collaboration with representatives from the community which formed the Community Partner Engagement Committee, consisting of: (a) members of Indigenous communities, (b) school superintendents, (c) principals, (d) teachers and other school staff involved in supporting and promoting mental health (e.g., school counsellors), and (e) families and individuals with lived experience in mental health conditions. We drew on the extensive research on enabling conditions (Rickinson et al., 2022), implementation drivers (Sims & Melcher, 2017), and impacts (CASEL, 2020), as well as stories gathered through dialogue with our community partner advisory (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Analytic Framework for the MHSP Proposals

Previous research on the effectiveness of school-based mental health promotion has recognized that there is a tendency towards individualized, short-term, discrete approaches that focus on symptom change rather than reworking problematic relationship patterns or confronting structural inequalities (O’Toole, 2017). This study offers a unique perspective on improving school effectiveness through purposeful dialogue between government, policymakers, academic researchers, educators, and the wider school community resulting in the development of a mental health evaluation framework that will support school leaders and educators in the implementation of mental health initiatives through a systemic approach.

This paper offers a model to support the scaling of Special Assistance Schools, that are increasingly popular in a post-covid world, through targeted coaching and a professional development framework with clear aspirational expectations. Whilst research into these schools has increased in the last few years, the focus tends to be on the impact on students rather than the leadership structures that enable the work (Brunker & Lombardo, 2021; Corry et al., 2022) . We will present how a School Principal of an Independent, fee free, inner-city Melbourne Special Assistance School (sometime referred to as a flexi school), worked in an intentional way to identify and rapidly build capacity in her middle and senior leadership team.

Doing education differently, has become the rally cry of 21st century educational leaders. Human centred, Innovative, Enterprising and Entrepreneurial are key words are scattered through glossy prospectuses and across school websites. The reality is for most educational institutions, despite two years of enforced experimentation in pedagogy and learning environment, business as usual with little real change in how schools operate beyond some specialised programs (Watterston & Zhao, 2023).

The flexi-school context is a high-pressured environment, with numerous critical incidents, teaching, educational intervention and wellbeing staff work together; as part of a multi-disciplinary team to create learning opportunities for young people who are disengaged from the traditional system of education. The Principal was keen to develop an organisational focus through a lens of aspirational futures for the students, often a challenging task in a space that attracts staff who focus on care and acceptance, rather than growth and learning. She knew there would need to be change the culture and expectations of both staff and the students in order to make the necessary shift. As an experienced school leader, the Principal knew she couldn’t implement and sustain change alone.

Using a dialogical and reflective process, we collaborated to combine bespoke leadership training and individual coaching, enabling the Principal to identify, recruit and build a middle and executive leadership team able to support a distributed leadership model and her change agenda. Through moving away from a flat, almost non-existent leadership structure, to one with clear and tiered responsibilities, the school was able to develop a culture based on clear expectations of learning, grow and care, offering a robust and relevant curriculum for students. Succession planning was actioned and opportunities for shadowing and learning from the internal school experts exists for professionals from a myriad of professional backgrounds – education, social and youth work and allied health.

The process of an intentional leadership development process, that includes targeted coaching and tailored leadership awareness offers significant benefits for school leaders with a strong improvement, high expectations and master plan for growth and expansion.

Working in partnership with external expertise in educational leadership and coaching supports change, enables rapid pace setting and benefits the career trajectories of aspiring and emerging, middle and senior leaders which furthers the improvement agenda of the school and offers a model for other similar settings.

In what ways can enquiry-based leadership professional learning programmes support participants to influence wider policy as well as to lead change in their contexts?

The Education Scotland Professional Learning and Leadership Directorate supports education professionals to make a difference for learners, families and communities through access to a wide range of leadership professional learning opportunities.

The Directorate is committed to ensuring the best possible leadership at all levels across Scotland’s education sector. Our suite of leadership programmes empower educators at all levels of the education system to lead effective change for the benefit of the learners in their contexts. All of our programmes are designed to provide transformative professional learning opportunities which enhance the capacity of participants to lead, and respond to, change in their contexts.

Our leadership professional learning programmes are informed by Scotland’s national model of professional learning (Education Scotland, 2023) which emphasises ‘learning by enquiring’ as a key feature of effective learning for educators. Our programmes seek to support participants to develop an enquiring stance (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 2009) through transformative professional learning (Kennedy, 2014).

Each of our programmes supports participants to learn by enquiring, but the approach taken differs between offers. The Educator Leadership Programme, which is designed primarily for practitioners, enables participants to reflect on their practices and engage in practitioner enquiry. Similarly, the Middle Leaders Leading Change programme supports middle leaders in schools to develop the use of an enquiring stance when planning and leading change in their contexts. Our Excellence in Headship offer to experienced headteachers includes opportunities to create positive change through collaborative enquiry. The Building Racial Literacy programme is for those interested in becoming anti-racist educators and leaders, those seeking to develop their confidence and skills in challenging racism and in identifying and implementing anti-racist behaviours and processes in their everyday practice.

All of our programmes, including those outlined, support participants to lead through enquiry in their context. Increasingly, this learning is also being used to influence the policy environment which these educators operate within. For example, participants on the Educator Leadership Programme are encouraged to publish their learning online which can then be shared locally, regionally and nationally. Headteachers engaging in collaborative enquiries through Excellence in Headship synthesise and share their learning as think pieces which are then communicated directly to policy makers. The activism arising from many of the participants who have completed the Building Racial Literacy programme is a particularly interesting example of the agency which can be empowered through transformative professional learning.

Effective leadership is consistently identified as a key factor in achieving positive educational outcomes for children and young people (Waters, Marzano and McNulty, 2003; Hamilton, Forde and McMahon, 2018) and the leadership professional learning offer from Education Scotland is designed to support this in Scotland. However, as we enter a period of significant reform it is important to consider the extent to which the learning arising through these programmes can also be used to inform and influence policy making at all levels.

The persistent challenge of addressing disparities in educational outcomes based on student demographics such as family income, language and immigration status spans international contexts remains a focus of educational improvement efforts, worldwide. This comparative study explores how the state of Bavaria, Germany has addressed the problem of inequitable educational outcomes and what kind of policies and institutional or structural changes are underway to address these problems compared with California at the state and local levels of the system.

This roundtable discussion will focus on a comparative research project exploring education policy, research and practice in Bavaria and California to answer the question: How do education policies in different international contexts address educational inequities and how can professionals at different levels of education systems learn from each other to address those inequities? We will aim to specify each context exactly, and then to “distinguish the conceptual, structural and operational aspects from each other” (King, 1975) by examining the similarities and differences between California education policy and the policy Bavaria.

In July 2023 we are visiting education policy scholars at host universities, education policy leaders in ministries of education, education lawmakers in Bavarian Parliament and local schools. Our approach will illuminate system needs at more than one level of the system, recognizing that state policy makers are more likely to be concerned with the effects of broad policies and programs, while teachers and administrators may seek site level insights (Bradburn, 1990) through interviews, field notes and descriptive data from observations and discussions. While in Bavaria, we will visit to one primary serving immigrant students and to one vocational school.

We, along with members of parliament, Bavarian university faculty and colleagues in the Ministry of Education, have identified important similarities and differences in our states. Following are examples that have significant implications for school improvement, quality education and equity in both states:

1. In Bavaria early tracking is now seen as somewhat limiting of some students' opportunity and there is an interest in changing this practice, not unlike how some districts in California are evaluating and increasing access to college and career coursework.

2. Both states are experiencing significant teacher shortages and are urgently interested in addressing that need.

3. Bavaria has a strong, internationally recognized, internship initiative for secondary students supported through strong partnerships with private industry; a promising model.

Our study will document how international collaboration contributes to the field of education scholars, applied researchers, system leaders, and policy makers in different contexts and how collaboration serves as a form of professional learning (Spillane, 2006). Our project aligns with the conference theme by adding to the growing body of evidence that demonstrates the impact of research/policy/practice collaboration on improving the effectiveness of education systems. Our research plan centers on purposeful equity-focused dialogue between politicians, policymakers, academic researchers, educators and the wider school community.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the ways in which a U.S. district-university partnership developed, implemented, and attempted to sustain two “network improvement communities” (NIC) aimed at improving two district-wide problems: 1) students’ mathematical reasoning, and 2) central office leaders’ understanding of student and adult social-emotional learning. Given the recent rise in district-university partnerships and NICs as mechanisms for school improvement (Bryk, Gomez, & Grunow, 2011; Farrell et al., 2021; Gomez, Biag, & Imig, 2020; Joshi, E., Redding, C., & Cannata, 202; LeMahieu et al.,2017; Russell, et al, 2017; Sanchez, Burnam, & Zaki, 2019;), we aimed to understand perspectives of multiple stakeholders engaged in this work - university faculty, central office leaders, school leaders, and teachers.

More specifically, we asked: What are the benefits and limitations of a district-university partnership utilizing network improvement communities to address problems in a large, urban school district? How do stakeholders’ perspectives about the benefits and limitations differ by role within the partnership and NICs?

We draw on organizational learning to investigate these questions, noting that NICs are designed to solve particular problems, but not designed to increase their own effectiveness as organizations (Argris & School, 1997; Mintrop & Zumpe, 2019; Redding & Viano, 2018; Sandoval & Van Es, 2021; Yurkofsky et al., 2020). Our methodological approach, described below, allowed us to contribute to the organizational learning of both the partnership and NICs themselves.

We conducted three rounds of semi-structured interviews to gather perspectives of stakeholders in different roles throughout the partnership. We analyzed findings from interviews conducted at three timepoints during the partnership – rather than only at the end - and shared those findings with partnership stakeholders at each timepoint. Findings were used to generate actionable recommendations for improving both the partnership and the NICs, with the larger goal of impacting district-wide mathematical reasoning and social-emotional learning.

Early results, based on interviews with 19 participants, indicated buy-in around the use of the NICs to facilitate change, but frustration around the slow pace of the work. Furthermore, a culture of distrust and compliance within the district acted as a barrier to both the NICs and the partnership itself.

This study connects to the conference subtheme of “leading improvement collaboratively and sustainably” by examining the use of two network improvement communities within a district-university partnership as mechanisms by which to lead improvement within a large, urban school district. Given the prevalence of district-university partnerships designed to support high quality teaching and learning, there is a need to understand the process by which partnerships are developed and implemented, as well their potential benefits and limitations.

In this paper, we will present preliminary findings from a qualitative interview study that sheds light on the experiences and perceptions of school leaders who are implementing a design-based school improvement approach in schools serving disadvantaged communities (SSDC). This study is part of a larger school improvement and research initiative involving a total of 200 SSDCs all over Germany.

We have been conducting an in-depth three-year workshop with leaders from 21 SSDCs since fall 2022. Following a design-based approach, the leaders learnt how to identify specific interventions, test them in practice, evaluate, and, if necessary, adjust them. Additionally, the workshop offers impulses from contemporary education research, and leaders reflect on the schools' development process at a peer level in professional learning communities.

Schools serving disadvantaged communities often face numerous challenges that hinder students' educational success. These challenges encompass a wide range of factors, such as a shortage of (trained) teachers, high staff turnover, limited learning time, lack of basic materials, or a culture of low expectations (e.g., Muijs et al., 2004; Darling-Hammond, 2014). Consequently, it is not surprising that SSDC are often identified as requiring improvement (Klein, Young & Böse, 2021).

To effectively address these multifaceted issues, it is crucial to adopt an approach that not only ca-ters to the unique needs of SSDC (Harris & Chapman, 2004; Hopkins et al., 2014) but also enables them to collectively address these issues on an ongoing basis, thereby enhancing their organizational capacity for improvement (e.g., Marks & Louis, 1999; Hopkins & Reynolds, 2001).

In contrast to school improvement approaches that prioritize standardized solutions and overlook the unique contexts and needs of individual schools, the design-based approach (Mintrop, 2016) aims to leverage the collective expertise of school-based stakeholders (e.g., school leaders, teachers, students). It encourages them to become active agents in transforming their schools, engaging in a collaborative and iterative process that fosters innovative problem-solving and promotes data-based reflection.

The goal of the paper is to analyze the processes of change and development initiated by the design workshop, both within schools and in terms of leaders' competences. To achieve this, we employ a longitudinal qualitative research design. We are conducting problem-centered interviews with school leaders who have actively embraced the design-based school improvement approach, as well as analyzing artifacts such as worksheets containing root causes of behavioral patterns or driver diagrams.

The interviews aim to provide insights into the implementation process of the design-based approach, the challenges encountered, and the perceived impact on continuous school improvement. To achieve this, the interviews will be conducted at three different time points, transcribed, and systematically analyzed following the procedure of Qualitative Content Analysis (Mayring, 2022).

The preliminary results of the interview study suggest that the design-based approach is a novel method for addressing school issues for the majority of school leaders. However, it appears that they have varying degrees of success in implementing the approach within their schools.

The study's findings contribute to the growing but limited knowledge on design-based school improvement in socially disadvantaged areas.

Research Questions

Taking account of the impact of leading during the COVID-19 global pandemic in Scotland:

In what ways do newly-appointed headteachers in Scotland perceive that their engagement in the Into Headship programme has influenced and continues to influence their leadership development in leading their school community?

1. Which aspects of participants’ leadership growth, sense of identity and related application of this understanding do they recognise to have been influenced /continue to be influenced (directly and/or indirectly) by engaging in the IH programme and in which ways?

2. Which aspects of participants’ leadership growth, sense of identity and related application of this understanding do they feel, have been/ are subject to other influences, contextual factors and other learning and in which ways?

Abstract

As part of the author’s doctoral research, this is a qualitative study of six newly-appointed headteachers in Scotland who have recently completed the mandatory headship qualification "Into Headship".

In order to better understand the influences of the Into Headship programme, the study explores how former participants’ leadership continues to develop and recognises that there are multiple influences which are significant to each participant’s ongoing leadership development.

There are currently very few studies in the Scottish context that seek to deeply analyse the influences of the Into Headship programme, or studies that seek to do this over an extended time period. Therefore the study outcomes potentially offer insights on the influences of headship preparation for policy makers and colleagues leading headship preparation programmes in Scotland and elsewhere.

Adopting narrative approaches, the author conducted three semi-structured interviews with each headteacher over a period of 12 months asking participants to critically reflect upon their perceptions of the multiple influences on their leadership development, including the Into Headship programme.

Engaging in critical reflection, critiquing policy and educational literature, networking and developing an enhanced understanding of leading strategic change were typically reported as lasting influences of the Into Headship programme.

Participants reflected that their own values and beliefs about leadership were highly influential as well as aspects relating to their personal and professional identity. Also significant was the influence of other people who shape their ongoing development over time. The multiple experiences and learning prior to, during and after their time engaging in the Into Headship programme were also seen as highly influential on their leadership.

Each participant was appointed to their first headship during COVID-19 school closures. All participants reported that leading during COVID-19 in a new context and role impacted significantly on their transition to headship. They reflected upon how they led their school communities during this time and how prepared they felt to meet the inherent challenges for school leaders at this time.

Study Blogspace

https://sites.google.com/view/eddstudyblogspace/home?authuser=0

We propose a Roundtable Session for the ICSEI 2024 Network of Professional Learning Network,, focusing on the theme of leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, and diversity. Our session will revolve around the topic of "Growing Community" and will center on an inquiry project that seeks to address two fundamental questions:

1. Can every parent identify two educators who are listening with curiosity and empathy and truly believe in their children?

2. What are we learning, and why is it important for fostering equity, inclusion, belonging, and diversity?

As a diverse group of educators with varied areas of interest and responsibility, ranging from early years to inclusive supports, as both school based and district leaders, we recognized the interconnectedness of our work. We realized the exponential growth and potential impact that could arise from our catalytic affiliation.

Our collective scan allowed us to reflect on the environment before COVID and the subsequent impacts on family engagement. It became apparent that there is a prevailing sense of lingering anxiety and distress from COVID and high levels of compassion fatigue among school staff, who have been constantly pivoting to meet students' needs. Overwhelm and a misalignment between families and schools has hindered the establishment of trusting relationships and our efforts to support learners.

By intentionally growing community networks and affiliations through collaborative inquiry, we are addressing these challenges and creating school environments where families feel a deep sense of belonging, trust, and connection. By inviting everyone to the table and elevating the voices of families, stakeholder groups and rightsholders, our inquiry is enhancing equity, inclusion, belonging, and diversity within our schools and community.

During our session, we will share how the PATH process, (PATH is an acronym for Planning for Alternative Tomorrow’s with Hope), allowed us to develop a vision and framework for actionable steps toward our goal. We will share the key insights of our inquiry and explore some of the barriers and misalignments that we are striving to overcome as we continue our journey. Over the coming months, we will create a toolkit which will assist schools with examining their values and beliefs, and guide them toward actionable steps that will rebuild relationship and connection with their broader community. Our Toolkits will be reflective of the stories we gather, the strengths of our school communities, and the changes we want to see as we move forward. Healing our community requires adaptive expertise, and we are mindful of the importance of proceeding both mindfully and collaboratively.

By maintaining a focus on what is both possible and positive, our continued inquiry will enable us to build on our strengths, and grow the community we want to become.

An abundance of international research literature informs that peer-coaching in education has the power to foster the creation of professional learning communities which support contextualised professional learning, cultivate shared learning environments and develop a purposeful sense of interconnectedness which nourishes human connection and teacher development. Underpinned by these overarching principles, an innovative pilot project introducing teacher-to-teacher coaching to Irish primary and post-primary schools, with ongoing action research, will illuminate a culturally responsive and readily transferable model for teacher peer coaching with the real potential to be scaled up systemwide. The essential aim of the project is to investigate the implications of implementing peer coaching as a tool to encourage, support, and sustain deep collaboration and connectedness among teachers in the Irish education system. This will be achieved through training teachers in the fundamentals of peer-coaching enabling them to actively practise skilled collaborative coaching with colleagues; creating an interconnected culture where teachers observe each other’s teaching practice; teaching and supporting teachers to conduct pre and post professional conversations on the learning processes observed during their lessons; support teachers to formally reflect on their experiences and learning from the overall collaborative coaching process. Commencing in early spring 2022 using a qualitative research design, this project will utilise a series of surveys and in-depth semi-structured interviews with the participants from the pilot schools along with a number of focus groups at pertinent points during the project. The intention is to gather data at multiple stages over a proposed 18 month period subsequent to the introduction of a peer-coaching pilot scheme in each participating school. The findings of this research project are anticipated to support the development of coaching cultures throughout Irish primary and post-primary schools through the emergence of a bespoke coaching model: Collegial Partnership Coaching (CPC). The potential transferability of the model to other school contexts will be continuously informed by the ongoing pilot programme and associated active research. Recent research highlights a lingering, historical reticence imbued within teachers’ dispositions towards meaningful collaborative endeavours. This study is intended to expose the full potential of peer-coaching in education to act as a vehicle for sustainable individual and organisational improvement. This can be realised through extensive on-site Professional Learning in Irish schools involving the reconstruction of learning and teaching in classrooms; the personal and professional growth of educators; and ultimately, the sustainable improvement of student learning outcomes. This project and its associated research astutely aligns with the ICSEI 2024 conference theme. The aim of this research is to create an innovative format for world-class education provision for educators in Ireland and beyond. Like everything we do in education, it is firmly rooted in the desire for enhanced school effectiveness and improvement. The long-term vision for CPC is the positioning of peer-coaching as an active vehicle for change to help re-imagine professional learning in every school in the country.

Keywords: Peer coaching; collaboration; coaching culture; learning and teaching; partnership coaching model.

LGBTQ+ children and families are integral parts of classrooms around the globe. However, little is known about whether and how they are included or supported in curriculum, policies, and pedagogy - especially in early childhood settings. In 2023, over 700 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in the United States, and 64 of the 193 countries in the United Nations still criminalize “same-sex acts.” In these divisive times, teachers and administrators worldwide are grappling with how to support LGBTQ+ youth and families in schools. By conducting a systematic literature review spanning the globe, this paper asks: How - and to what end - are LGBTQ+ children and their families included and supported in early childhood education settings?

Queer theory offers educators a lens “through which educators can transform their praxis” (Meyer) and allows us to interrogate cisheterosexism in schools. Trans epistemology, from which we (trans people) come to know ourselves and transform narratives (Nicolazzo), offers a tool for critical analysis of pedagogical practices. Ecological systems theory can be used to examine LGBTQ+ inclusion in the micro/meso/exo/macro/chronosystem (Bronfenbrenner).

I conducted a systematic literature review, an “explicit and reproducible method for identifying, evaluating and synthesizing the existing body of completed and recorded work” (Fink) with “clarity, validity and auditability” (Booth, Papaioannou & Sutton, 2012). I developed a rigorous search strategy, set inclusion/exclusion criteria, and searched education and social science databases. All results (1687) were imported to Covidence for title and abstract screening, full text review, and extraction.

The literature review is intended to be complete by fall quarter and serve as the basis for my dissertation proposal. I have synthesized several themes, including: a lack of teacher preparation programs that educate on LGBTQ+ identities/issues; the lack of LGBTQ+ inclusion stemming from teacher ignorance, parent/community pressures, and local policies; and the major vehicles of inclusion for LGBTQ+ children and families being diverse literature/curriculum, increased teacher training, and codifying protective laws. Each relates to the congress theme recognizing the “complementarity and synergy between initial teacher education and continuing professional development for teachers and school leaders'' and touches on curriculum, professional development/training, and policy.

The impacts of a supportive and affirming school environment cannot be understated. Less than half of LGBTQ+ youth identify school as a safe place and 45% considered attempting suicide in the past year (Trevor Project). Teachers spend upward of 40hrs/week with students and can have an enormous impact on their development and feelings of support. This literature review offers insight into shifting both practice and policy to be more inclusive of LGBTQ+ youth and families.

This paper is relevant to the ICSEI theme of “leading schools and education systems that promote equity, inclusion, belonging, diversity, social justice…” as LGBTQ+ children and families are often absent from teacher preparation programs and erased from professional development, especially in early childhood. The call for proposals notes the importance of international perspectives, and the literature review touches on inclusion policies and practices from the United States, Ireland, Australia, Canada, and other countries.