Innovative Designs for Enhancing Achievements in Schools (IDEAS)

This presentation is intended to enable principals, teachers and school

communities to make a decision about application for a place in the IDEAS

process.

IDEASA developmental project of the

Leadership Research Institute, University of Southern Queensland

in collaboration with the Department of Education and the Arts,

Queensland.

The IDEAS Vision

To inspire IDEAS schools to engage in a journey of self-discovery which will ensure that they achieve sustainable excellence in teaching and learning.

What is IDEAS?

• A process for positioning schools for the future• A process of enhancing learning outcomes by valuing

the work of teachers and their classrooms• A process that enables alignment between the work of

teachers in classrooms and the school’s strategic purpose

What might your school gain?• An enhanced focus on the practice of teaching• A heightened sense of identity and purpose through

the development of a distinctive schoolwide pedagogy• Alignment with systems initiatives, enabling the

school to articulate its uniqueness and emphasise classroom achievements and successes

• A strengthening of the school’s professional community

Who is involved?

• Teaching staff• The school community• The broader school community

IDEAS — A Homegrown Innovation

Mid 1990 The search for links between school-based management and improved student outcomes

USQ/ EQ create the Research-based Framework

1997– 1998 The BIGWIGS pilot in the Warwick District

USQ creates the 4D process (now ideas)

1999 Extended trial in forty-nine state schools throughout Queensland

Clarification and redevelopment of the ideas process

2000 The Murrumba Cluster Initiative

Refinement of Research-based Framework and teacher leader roles

2001 EQ/USQ memorandum of understanding Extension of IDEAS 2001-2003

IDEAS expands to include schools beyond the local context ….

• 2002/2003 Australian Government (DEST) supports a National Trial involving 12 schools in three Australian school jurisdictions (WA, NSW and ACT)

• 2003/2004 Development of Clusters in Toowoomba, Cairns, Rockhampton and Brisbane coordinated by a local state school district facilitator

• 2004/2005 Research project established with National Institute of Education (NIE) in Singapore – tracing the implementation of IDEAS in three schools in Singapore (Marymount Convent, West Grove Primary and Woodlands Secondary College)

IDEAS expands to include schools beyond the local context ….

• 2005 – present:• 4 Queensland school clusters located in Greater

Brisbane, Laidley District, North Queensland and Toowoomba;

• 22 Schools in Victoria;• 10 schools in Western Australia;• 10 schools in Sydney CEO;• 10 schools in Toowoomba CEO; • 15 schools in Canberra CEO; and• 2 independent schools in Canberra.

IDEAS: Key Components • An Aligned Organisation - The Research-based

Framework (RBF) for Enhancing School Outcomes• The ideas process• Parallel leadership• Three-dimensional Pedagogy (3-D.P.)

IDEAS is based on significant research from America, Australia and Hong Kong

There are five compelling research conclusions …

1. American Research

“The most successful schools were those that used restructuring tools to help them function as professional communities. That is, they found a way to channel staff and student efforts toward a clear, commonly shared purpose for student learning; they created opportunities for teachers to collaborate and help one another achieve the purpose; and teachers in these schools took collective — not just individual — responsibility for student learning. Schools with strong professional communities were better able to offer authentic pedagogy and were more effective in promoting student achievement.”

Newmann and Wehlage 1995

2. Australian Research Professor Peter Cuttance, University of Sydney states:

“International and Australian research has now conclusively demonstrated that differences in the effectiveness of classroom practice are about four times more important than differences between schools in explaining the variation in achievement among students ...

… A large proportion (40%) of the variation in student learning outcomes is associated with variation in the quality of teaching in individual classrooms, compared to a small proportion (10%) that is attributable to difference between schools …

… the remaining 50% of variation in student learning outcomes is associated with differences between students (differences in ability, attitudes, esteem, aspirations, disposition to work, etc).”

3. ARC Research of Crowther et al: Processes that Enable School Improvement

Successful school revitalisation: the IDEAS way

Crowther & Andrews, ARC Research Report (2003)

Australian research (cont.)

“… in a study of selected Australian schools that initiated and sustained significant improvement in student achievement it was conclusive that parallel leadership activates three processes that enable improvements to occur. The processes are schoolwide learning, culture building and a schoolwide approach to pedagogy.”

(Crowther, Hann & McMaster, 2001)

4.Cooperative Research Project — Victoria 1998Caldwell (1998) stated that the benefits of school improvement relate to improved curriculum and learning, curriculum support and initiatives, planning and resource allocation, more focused objectives and school purpose, professional and personal benefits.

5. Whole structure strategy — Cheng 1998Cheng generated a whole structure strategy for teacher effectiveness that encompassed affective, cognitive and behavioural domains and extends across individual, group and school levels.

There needs to be a congruence in school processes that enables mutually supportive roles, consistency in values and compatibility of technologies and culture.

OUTCOMES

ProfessionalSupport

OUTCOMES

This research-based framework is grounded in extensive research in schools. All these elements need to align for significant success to occur.Infrastructual

Design

Key component: The Research-based Framework for Enhancing School Outcomes

3-DimensionalPedagogy

StrategicFoundations

CohesiveCommunity

The Principle of Alignment in the Research-based Framework

“This principle asserts that schools that have generated both depth and integration across the elements of the organisation [Research-based Framework] have been found to produce enhanced sense of identity and greater capacity to pursue high expectations for student achievement”.

(Crowther et al. 2001)

Alignment …..

An organisation is like a tune: it is not constituted by individual sounds but by the relations between them.

(Drucker, 1946, p.26)

A Research-based Framework for Enhancing School Outcomes (LRI IDEAS Team, April, 2002)

Using the Framework — comments from schools

• An IDEAS school establishes its own benchmarks for the RBF elements and future outcomes.

• Schools working with IDEAS have used the RBF for strategic planning.

• The Framework is an interesting concept. The more you use it the more layers you uncover to help explain and understand the complexities of school life.

• Teachers readily interact with the dimensions of the Framework. It is highly discussible.

Key component: The ideas process

initiating: How will we manage the process? Who will facilitate the process? Who will record our history of the journey?

discovering: What are we doing that is most successful? What is not working as well as we would like it to?

envisioning: What do we hope our school will look like in the future? What is our conceptualisation of schoolwide pedagogy?

actioning: How will we create a tripartite action plan? How will we work towards the alignment of key school elements and processes?

sustaining: What progress have we made towards schoolwide pedagogy? What school practices are succeeding and how can we expand them?

The five phases of the ideas process

The ideas process:• recognises the equivalence of teacher leadership and principal

leadership in achieving school success;• acknowledges that school improvement can only occur if two

concurrent and inter-related processes are in place — strategic planning and a process to create school wide professional learning;

• requires the management of the process by a representative school team;

• provides for school-based facilitation with USQ/DETA support;• requires schools to manage their own resources e.g. time; and• encourages schools to operate in a ‘no blame’ culture.

IDEAS Principles of PracticePrinciple 1: Teachers are the key

Principle 2: Professional Learning is key to professional revitalisation

Principle 3: Success breeds success

Principle 4: Alignment of school processes is a collective school responsibility

Principle 5: No Blame

Key component: parallel leadership “Our research is conclusive that shared responsibility for school outcomes, involving teachers and principals in mutualistic leadership relationships, is a vital key to successful school improvement.”

Frank Crowther 2001

“Parallel leadership is the central concept – the principal can step outside the safety zone and teachers learn leadership skills that enable them to influence others.”

Lesley Bath, Teacher Leader, Walkervale State School

Parallel leadership: Recognises the capability of teachers as leaders and emphasises principals’ strategic roles and responsibilities • It is based in three values:

• mutual trust and mutual respect;• shared sense of purpose; and• allowance for individual expression.

• It is conducive to improved school outcomes.

IDEAS Teacher leaders reflect ...“Teacher leadership underpinned the successful development of our schoolwide pedagogy. My role has been to provide expertise, to enthuse and to work with teaching teams to integrate our vision and schoolwide pedagogy into the core business of teaching and learning at our school”

Leasa Smith, Currimundi State School

“The ideas process has given the teachers the opportunity to have valued input into the future direction of the school.”

Deborah Boesten, Beerwah State High School.

The role of the principal in nurturing parallel leadership

• Communicates a clear strategic intent• Incorporates the aspirations and views of others• Poses difficult-to-answer questions• Makes space for individual innovation• Knows when to step back• Creates opportunities from perceived difficulties• Builds upon achievements to create a culture of

successCrowther, Kaagan, Hann & Ferguson (2002)

Principals reflect on parallel leadership …“I had to be prepared to ‘live and breathe’ the vision and values that were emerging in the staff development. I had to demonstrate trust by nurturing the good work of the IDEAS process.

I had to step back and let others take the lead. For example, the middle school teachers were given the responsibility for building the curriculum in a shared situation... they were given the responsibility and developed parallel leadership.”

(Principal, Beerwah SHS, 2003)

Principals reflect on parallel leadership…“Lesley (Facilitator) has emphasised the centrality of Teaching and Learning in IDEAS and this has enabled us to get to the point where Literacy is our focus.”

Michael Fay, Principal, Walkervale State School.

“I saw IDEAS would provide opportunities for staff to engage in a process of school improvement. I was able to step back and let others take the lead but I also needed to open up dialogue about our preferred future. Also as circumstances changed I was able to reorganise resourcing to bring in new staff and provide time and space for the sharing to happen.”

Richard Wilkinson, Currimundi State School.

Key roles in the process• School based facilitators• School IDEAS Management Team (ISMT)• IDEAS Support Team (IST)• IDEAS Core Team

Optimal school achievement occurs when:

• teachers and administration team share leadership responsibilities;

• the school’s vision is clearly focused on shared, concrete aspirations;

• school development emphasises the creation of schoolwide pedagogy and the alignment of vision and schoolwide pedagogy; and

• systemic services are available when required to support school priorities.

IDEAS School Management Team

• Composition: Preferably a voluntary representative group including the facilitator, a scribe and other stakeholders including classroom teachers, administration, middle management and parents.

• This group provides:• Representation (represents the community in the process);• Communication (documents the process, prepares and

publishes the reports, provides information and readings);• Planning (facilitates workshops and develops an action plan

for the process);• Networking (with other schools and districts);• Advocacy (on behalf of teachers and students); and• Development (of teacher leaders).

School-based facilitator(s) reflect on their role

“My role has been to inform the staff on the process and steer the process … to keep the momentum going. My greatest challenge was to engage the staff in the process.”

Janelle Amos, Pine Rivers State High School

“Not everyone got involved. A critical mass of us have created new images and symbols that have changed how we think of ourselves. The ISMT became a sorting strategy before staff meetings. Staff meetings have become forums for sharing successes.”

Walkervale State School ISMT

A Cluster Coordinator comments..“As a cluster coordinator I have observed members of the cluster develop a growing realisation that together they can learn from sharing experiences in working with IDEAS.

In cluster meetings and informally, the IDEAS school-based management team members have shared their successes, their frustrations and their challenges and in so doing they have inspired each other!”

Stephen Bell Toowoomba Schools with IDEAS 2003-2004

A principal reflects …

“The IDEAS Project reinforced for me the need to promote a culture of teacher leadership in order to achieve real long-term reform where it matters — that is, in the classroom. To achieve improved student learning outcomes, teachers need to be engaged in professional dialogue about their teaching. The role of facilitator is key and that person needs to be enthusiastic, influential and assertive.

The role of the principal is to nurture an environment where teachers are encouraged and feel safe about sharing what works and what does not work and to provide ongoing support for the facilitator.”

Janelle DeakinPrincipal, Pine Rivers State High School

A principal reflects:

“The IDEAS research-based framework provided a scaffold for reflection on the elements which are critical to establishing world’s best practice in schools. When combined with the comprehensive data provided by the Diagnostic Inventory and the ideas process we were able to conduct meaningful dialogue within the school community about school cohesiveness, school community, classroom pedagogy and school policies, practices and procedures.

The process has enabled Currimundi to embark on a most exciting  school visioning experience. We now provide exciting and challenging curriculum experiences which are reflective of our school vision “Riding the Waves to Success”  and are understood and owned by our school community. The IDEAS project has enabled Currimundi to indeed “Ride the Waves to Success.”

Richard Wilkinson, Currimundi State School

The IDEAS Support Team:

• perceives successes are the impetus for school improvement;

• views leadership as a shared responsibility (parallelism) and it is a creative process; and

• recognises a unique professional relationship between educators who work in schools and in universities – where the IDEAS support team work with schools to assist the school community to establish a desired future.

The role of the IDEAS Support Team• To engage school communities through processes of

analysis and reflection, decision and action at key junctures in the process, namely:

• Establishment;• Interpretation of diagnostic inventories;• Conceptualisation of schoolwide pedagogy; and• Implementation design.• To cultivate ownership of the process by the school staff.

The IDEAS Core Team as a resource:

• Expert advice — in the interpretation of diagnostic inventories, creation of schoolwide pedagogy and development of action plans; on-site meetings with IDEAS School Management Teams (ISMT), school staff, community.

• Training of facilitators — orientation seminars, cluster workshops.

• Resourcing — facilitation folder, research articles, online advice.

Systemic Connections in Queensland – linking to QSE—2010• Productive Pedagogy• Professional Standards for Teachers• New Basics• Differentiation• School Planning and Accountability Framework• Community partnerships

Systemic Roles

• Acceptance of nominations for participation

• Administration

• Quality assurance, linking IDEAS to systemic priorities

• Accreditation upon successful completion of the ideas journey

Criteria for nomination for IDEAS

• Time commitment of 4 semesters (2 years)• School acceptance of responsibility for its own

revitalisation with external support and facilitation• Acceptance of the principle of parallel leadership• Time allowance for facilitation and IDEAS School

Management Team activities• Budget allocations

The USQ IDEAS Core TeamResearchers, Authors and Consultants:IDEAS National Director - Dorothy Andrews

IDEAS Strategic Advisor - Frank Crowther

IDEAS Specialists - Marian Lewis, Mark Dawson, John McMaster

Support Team:Joan Conway, Allan Morgan, Shauna Petersen,

Jenny Lewis

The DETA IDEAS Team

Principal Project Officer – IDEAS - Sharon Taylor

IST Facilitators from the 1998–2005 IDEAS Project schools

The IDEAS Alliance Core Team

From left: Professor Frank Crowther, Helen Starr (DETA), Dr Marian Lewis, Mark Dawson, Assoc. Prof. Dorothy Andrews, John McMaster. Inset: Sharon Taylor (DETA)

For further information, please contact:Assoc. Prof. Dorothy AndrewsDirector - Leadership Research Institute and National Director of IDEASUniversity of Southern QueenslandPhone: (07) 4631 2346 Email: andrewsd@usq.edu.au

Sharon Taylor Principal Project Officer - IDEASDepartment of Education, Training and the ArtsPhone: (07) 4616 9161Email: sharon.taylor@qed.qld.gov.au

Acknowledgements

This PowerPoint presentation was initially prepared by Dr Dorothy Andrews, University of Southern Queensland Leadership Research Institute IDEAS Team, October, 2005.

Many thanks for contributions from members of the LRI and critical comments from IDEAS Facilitators, IDEAS Support Team Members and Department of Education, Training and the Arts personnel.