The role of research when experience rules:

insights from longitudinal and comparative study of

beginning teachers' learning

Dr Katharine BurnDepartment of Education

A personal journey: doing, reading, using research

As a mentor in a new partnership scheme

As a Head of Department responsible for my colleagues’ professional learning (and part-time Master’s student)

As an educational researcher interested in the what and how – and from whom – of beginning teachers’ learning

As a university-based subject tutor – concerned about identified weaknesses in history education

As an external examiner of a part-time Master’s programme intended to equip Chartered Teachers to lead professional enquiry

As the editor of a professional journal seeking to integrate insights from history teachers, academic historians and history education research.

A personal journey

As a mentor in a new partnership schemeAs a Head of Department responsible for my colleagues’ professional learning (and part-time Master’s student)

A personal journey ReferencesAs an educational researcher interested in the what and how – and from whom – of beginning teachers’ learning

Hagger, H., Burn, K., Mutton, T. & Brindley, S. (2008) Practice makes perfect? Learning to learn as a teacher, Oxford Review of Education, 34 (2) 159-178. Mutton, T., Burn, K & Hagger, H. (2010), Making sense of learning to teach: learners in context, Research Papers in Education, 25 (1) 73-91.

Developing Expertise of Beginning Teachers (DEBT project)

3 year longitudinal study tracking student teachers into NQT year and 2nd year of teaching

The DEBT projectDeveloping Expertise of Beginning Teachers

Focus What and how are beginning teachers learning?- as reflected in their accounts of practice (planning, teaching and evaluation) - as stated in claims about learning in relation to that lesson- as described in more general reflections on their learning- as reflected in their actual practice (video)

Sample Recruited 36 student teachers from two institutions (Oxford and Cambridge) - 12 each in English, Maths and Science. 24 followed into teaching. 17 full sets.

DataObservations & Interviews

PGCE year: 4 practice interviews (+ start & yr end)NQT year: 3 practice interviews (+ yr end)2nd year of teaching: 3 practice interviews (+ yr end)

The DEBT projectDeveloping Expertise of Beginning Teachers

Focus What and how are beginning teachers learning?- as reflected in their accounts of practice (planning, teaching and evaluation) - as stated in claims about learning in relation to that lesson- as described in more general reflections on their learning- as reflected in their actual practice (video)

Sample Recruited 36 student teachers from two institutions (Oxford and Cambridge) - 12 each in English, Maths and Science. 24 followed into teaching. 17 full sets.

DataObservations & Interviews

PGCE year: 4 practice interviews (+ start & yr end)NQT year: 3 practice interviews (+ yr end)2nd year of teaching: 3 practice interviews (+ yr end)

Source Explanation Proportion

Experience Learning attributed to the experience of a specific lesson (usually the one observed)

72.7%

Other in-school sources 19.0%Feedback From the mentor or regular class teacher following

observation of a lesson taught by the student teacher

4.9%

Advice From the mentor (or regular class teacher) given in advance of planning

4.1%

Reflection Conscious review of the student-teacher’s practice focused on a specific issue or concern (often conducted some time later, or ranging across several lessons)

3.4%

Experimentation

Deliberate trial of a new teaching strategy conceived of as a conscious experiment

2.7%

Observation The student-teacher’s observation of experienced teachers’ teaching

2.6%

Marking Monitoring or review of pupils’ written work after the lesson

0.5%

University sources 2.6%University input

Advice from the tutor offered either during taught sessions in the university or on visits to school

1.5%

School-based tasks

Specific teaching or investigative tasks set as part of the jointly planned curriculum programme

0.8%

Literature Ideas derived from reading research or professional literature

0.3%

Unspecified No indication as to how the learning had, or would, come about.

7.0%

Research Learning attributed to the process of talking through their teaching in response to the interviewer’s questions

0.4%

Orientations towards learning from experience in the PGCE Year

Dimension Orientation

Orientations towards learning from experience in the PGCE Year

Dimension Orientation

Aspiration More easily <- - - - -satisfied with their own achievement

- - - - - -> High aspirations both

as learners and teachers

Intentionality Reactive <- - - - -

- - - - -> Deliberative

Frame of reference

Tendency to rely <- - - - -exclusively on their experience of classroom teaching

- - - - -> Using other sources to shape and make sense of their experience

AspirationOrientation

Satisfaction with current achievemente.g. “If I’m honest I’m looking to the end now of the course now , and thinking it’s nearly all over. Just going through it, going through the motions, I suppose.”

Aspirational in terms of their own and their students’ learninge.g. “I think if you protect their emotional well-being in the classroom you will get more learning out of them. They will start to learn, they will feel comfortable and confident enough to learn. You have got to keep working on building an environment in which they feel safe to learn.”

IntentionalityOrientation

Reactive e.g. “I’m not learning through a conscious effort—just through experience … which may or may not be useful for the future.”

Deliberative e.g. “At the moment, because I’m training, I can take a lot of time over working out what I want to be like and what I want to do and deliberately try new things – and make mistakes! “

Frame of referenceOrientation

Exclusive reliance on the experience of classroom teachinge.g. “You’re going in and you’re doing something. If it doesn’t go to plan … you’ve got to do something, rectify it and carry on. And I think that’s something you could only learn from being on your own … So that’s the main way I’m learning at the moment. Just being on your own and having to do it.”

Drawing on range of sources to shape and make sense of experience e.g. “The analogy I use in teaching is a bit like having all these kind of bubbles in the air, and you’re constantly drawing on all of them. You’ve got the school influence here and then you’ve got the college influence here and the theoretical bit and the core studies and the subject studies bits all mixed in with that, and then you have got your own experience of teaching and your own personal experiences. So you are constantly kind of drawing on all these bubbles, drawing them down, drawing on different elements.”

A conducive environment for learning: the teachers’

views• opportunities to observe other teachers’

lessons• observation of their own teaching• collaborative planning• support for classroom experimentation• responsibility for specific development

work focused on teaching and learning

Some forms of INSET

Not performance management

The relationship between learners and their contexts

Unhelpful Helpful ← Orientations towards → learning from experience

← C

onte

xts

for

→ p

rofe

ssio

nal l

earn

ing

Poor environment

Conduciveenvironment

Bridget

Lindsay

Hanif

Maths English Science

Jane

Matt

Anita

Katherine

Brian

Liz

Rob

Gill

Stewart

Hannah

Sunil

Jim

Rhiannon

Adam

How were the teachers positioned as learners?

Unhelpful Helpful ← Orientations towards → learning from experience

← E

nviro

nmen

t for

→ p

rofe

ssio

nal l

earn

ing

Poor environment

Conduciveenvironment Hanif

Brian

Adam

‘flourishing’

‘stunted’‘wilting’

How were the teachers positioned as learners?

Unhelpful Helpful ← Orientations towards → learning from experience

← E

nviro

nmen

t for

→ p

rofe

ssio

nal l

earn

ing

Poor environment

Conduciveenvironment

‘creating a micro-climate’

Lindsay

(Action) research as a means of promoting more helpful orientations

Dimension OrientationAspiration

the extent of their aspirations for their

own and their pupils’ learning

Satisfactionwith current level of achievement

Aspirational both as learners and teachers

Intentionalitythe extent to which learning is planned

Reactive Deliberative

Frame of referencethe value ascribed to looking beyond their

experience - and deeply within it - in

order to make sense of it.

(Learning about and from pupils)

Exclusive reliance on the experience of classroom teaching

Drawing on a range of sources to shape and make sense of experience (including the pupils)

A personal journey ReferencesAs an educational researcher interested in the what and how – and from whom – of beginning teachers’ learning

Burn, K. and Mutton, T. (2013) Review of ‘research-informed clinical practice’ in Initial Teacher Education, Paper commissioned by BERA Inquiry into Research and Teacher Education, presented at BERA, University of Sussex, 2-4 September

• Oxford Internship Scheme• Professional Development Schools; Teachers for A New Era (USA, Scotland)• Melbourne Master of Teaching• Realistic or authentic teacher education (Netherlands)• Teachers as researchers (Finland)

Since teaching involves a process of ‘clinical reasoning’ (rather than pure technical skills or the systematic application of prescribed procedures) effective development of such reasoning depends on close integration (interweaving) of theoretical and practical insights - a single tightly integrated programme

A personal journey ReferencesAs a university-based subject tutor – concerned about identified weaknesses in history education

Burn, K. (2007) 'Professional knowledge and identity in a contested discipline: challenges for student teachers and teacher educators', Oxford Review of Education 33 (4), 445-467.

Burn, K., Childs, A. and McNicholl, J. (2007) 'The potential and challenges for student teachers' learning of subject specific pedagogical knowledge within secondary school subject departments', The Curriculum Journal 18 (4), 429-446.

Collaborative action research with mentors

but ….

A personal journey ReferencesAs a university-based subject tutor – concerned about identified weaknesses in history education

Burn, K. (2007) 'Professional knowledge and identity in a contested discipline: challenges for student teachers and teacher educators', Oxford Review of Education 33 (4), 445-467.

Burn, K., Childs, A. and McNicholl, J. (2007) 'The potential and challenges for student teachers' learning of subject specific pedagogical knowledge within secondary school subject departments', The Curriculum Journal 18 (4), 429-446.

• Needs to be accepted that all teachers are learning (and that continuing to learn doesn’t prevent you from leading others)

• Value to student teachers - and of student teachers in tackling real problems of concern to experienced teachers - drawing on different kinds of knowledge and engaging in practical theorising and carefully structured professional experimentation

• Need for mentoring departments (not just mentors) – to lead and learn

A personal journey ReferencesAs an external examiner of a part-time Master’s programme intended to equip Chartered Teachers to lead professional enquiry

Reeves, J. and Fox, A. (2008) Practice Based Learning: Developing Excellence in Teaching, Dunedin Academic Press.

• The value of collaboration in equipping teachers to go on (leading) learning

• The importance of learning about the collaborative process and how to manage it(as well as about the process of engaging in professional enquiry)

• The value of using naturally occurring data• The interplay between ‘data analysis’ and

good assessment for learning

A personal journey ReferencesAs the editor of a professional journal seeking to integrate insights from history teachers, academic historians and history education research

Teaching History

• The scope for carefully framed teacher research to move beyond reductive measures of learning

• The extraordinary capacity that teachers have to create powerful professional knowledge through rigorous enquiry into the pedagogical challenges they face.

ExamplesCounsell, C. (2011): Disciplinary knowledge for all, the secondary history curriculum and history teachers' achievement. Curriculum Journal, 22 (2), 201-225.

Conway (2006) What they think they know: the impact of pupils' preconceptions on their understanding of historical significance. Teaching History, 125, 10-15.

Foster, R. (2011) Passive receivers or constructive readers? Pupils’ experiences of an encounter with academic history, Teaching History, 142, 4-13.

• Working out how to use sources as evidence to answer historical questions not to evaluate source

• Exploring how an entirely new dimension ‘historical interpretation could be made meaningful at Key Stage 3

• Examining students’ preconceptions – of the concept of historical significance• Exploring how Year 9 students might engage with academic history – and how

they understood the nature of historical argument

• The extraordinary capacity that teachers have to create powerful professional knowledge through rigorous enquiry into the pedagogical challenges they face.

In summary• Focused on experience• Promoting higher aspirations: focus for improvement (might

well have to begin with understanding of the issue so not necessarily ‘action’ research

• Promoting a deliberative orientation: hypothesis testing• Widening the frame of reference: drawing on sources beyond

the classroom but also within the classroom• Integrating different sources of knowledge together• Taking pupils’ perspectives (existing understandings and

experience of learning into account from the very beginning) • Addressing shared problems and generating shared knowledge

– in departments in which all teachers are seen as learners• Attending to the process of collaboration and not merely to

those of professional enquiry• As far as possible using naturally occurring data• Broadening teachers’ conceptions of ‘assessment for learning’