Report on International Group Study Visit to

							  Report on SCIPD International Group Study Visit to




          New Teachers’ Centre

         University of California

                       Santa Cruz

                      October 14-20, 2007




Janet Leicester
Head Teacher
Earnhill Primary School
Chester Road
Greenock
PA16 OTT
jal784@inerclydeschools.org.uk
December 2008
                                 Section A
Context

Earnhill Primary School is the result of an amalgamation of Springfield
Primary and Larkfield Primary in August 04. I took up post (initially in an
acting capacity) in January 05. The school serves an area of high deprivation
and is due to amalgamate again with Ravenscraig Primary and move into a new
school build in early 2010. This five and a half year period will represent a
period of considerable change, not withstanding the demands for change of a
Curriculum for Excellence. The continuing professional development of all
staff is key to providing excellence in learning and teaching for our pupils
where staff can experiment, evaluate and reflect on their teaching and
participate in professional dialogue. A new depute (previously a class
teacher) took up post in August 06 providing a further need for quality staff
development.

Prior to becoming Head Teacher at Earnhill during 03/04 I was the
Authority trainer for mentors of probationary teachers, planning and
delivering in-service to support mentors in their role. Towards the end of
the session I was also involved in facilitating the in-service programme for
probationers and making visits to mentors and probationers in schools. I
found this work highly enjoyable and stimulating and an area which continues
to interest me. I believe the probationary scheme to be one of the most
successful elements of the McCrone agreement and providing teachers who
are confident, enquiring, enthusiastic lifelong learners is vital to Scottish
education. Inverclyde has been committed to providing quality provision of
CPD for probationers as well as training and supporting mentors

As part of my commitment to developing the capacities of all staff I
attended a four day coaching course although have not, as yet completed the
diploma. I was approached by the local authority to coach a candidate for
the new Scottish Qualification for Headship flexible route involving modules
at Stirling University. This has provided an interesting experience: as the
pilot has evolved so the expectations, roles and materials to support have
evolved. I am now also supporting my depute who is undertaking the standard
route.
The group study visit to the New Teachers’ Centre therefore came at a time
when I was keen to develop my coaching/mentoring skills. Initially following
amalgamation the focus was on improving behaviour and attainment.
Increasingly we were now able to be more outward looking and received the
Scottish Education One Scotland Anti-sectarianism Award jointly with
Sacred Heart Primary in 2007. I was encouraging the staff to ‘go global’
with their teaching so it was appropriate that I, too, take a global dimension
to developing my leadership and professional values.

Objectives

      To develop my coaching and mentoring skills
      To learn through an international context
      To reflect and take part in professional dialogue regarding practice
      observed in Santa Cruz
      To identify improvements in my own or my school’s practice to impact
      on staff’s professional development and therefore improve learning
      and teaching
      To reflect on the comparison between the Santa Cruz programme and
      Inverclyde’s induction programme

                                  Section B
Evidence and Activities

The commitment and vision of Ellen Moir and her staff at the New Teachers’
Centre is startling, especially having grown out of discussions around Ellen’s
kitchen table. The central element is to bring the ‘brightest and the best’
teachers out of school for between two and three years to mentor new
teachers. This is backed by ongoing weekly CPD, the ‘Friday Forum’, for the
mentors and a parallel structure – the FSA for everyone: new teachers,
mentors and school leaders. This contrasts starkly with our own system
where mentors have 0.1 FTE in which to mentor, frequently juggling teaching
commitments, management responsibilities, cover issues, behaviour issues
and more. with the desire to provide quality uninterrupted mentor time. The
mentor training is now severely cut, dealing with the processes rather than
ongoing enhancement of skills. Whilst our own mentors doubtless do develop
as a result of mentoring the impact of two/three years honing the art of
coaching/mentoring within the context of school improvement was evident in
the statistics of mentors quickly achieving leadership posts both in
California and beyond.

One speaker commented ‘a lot of people are asleep doing what they do every
day well, or very well.’ Much of our improvement agenda is led by evaluating
strengths and identifying areas for improvement. What would the impact be
of identifying, as suggested, an area of strength and making it even better,
or is this a luxury we just don’t have time for?

Following in-service, led by mentors, the new teachers selected further
development activities from a ‘choice board’ moving through a cycle of
inquiry:
   o Seminar/course
   o Self assessment
   o Action plan
   o Time to implement
   o Further reflection and professional dialogue
   o Revised/extended action plan
   o Time to implement
   o Further reflection.
The training by itself was not enough. How often as head teachers do we pay
for courses, and the associated supply cover, and there is little lasting
impact or change as a result? Could this type of cycle enhance the link
between teacher’s self evaluation and CPD activities and improve the impact
on teaching and learning?

I want Earnhill to be a professional learning community at all levels. We need
to internalise reflection and evaluation and increasingly – impact. I was
concerned by the mixture of uses of the terms mentoring and coaching.
Coaching, I believed, left the coachee to drive the direction of the
improvement agenda with the coach supporting but not leading and requires
no specific knowledge, experience or expertise in the field on the part of
the coach. Mentoring usually involves an experienced member of staff
supporting/demonstrating but not necessarily leading continual improvement.
In the school setting mentoring/coaching without goals will not bring about
sufficient change. The standard for full registration (SFR), the Standard
for Qualification for Headship (SQH) and HGIOS 3 (particularly QIs 5.2-
5.5) provide tools for evaluation, but is the evaluation robust enough, and
does it have sufficient impact on learning and teaching? Whilst probationers
and their mentors are fully aware of the standard many established
teachers may never have read it. At the time of my visit to Santa Cruz there
was no induction programme for new head teachers in Inverclyde, however
now, new deputes and head teachers are assigned a mentor. In addition a
Leadership Development Officer has been appointed.

The visits to schools in Santa Cruz had considerable impact upon the group.
We were astounded by the lack of use/availability of up to date ICT
especially when considering the location close to ‘silicon valley’. There was a
stark contrast between the displays which are the norm in Scottish primary
schools and the level of display in the primary schools we visited. There was
considerable interest in the way we are developing a Curriculum for
Excellence from the New Teachers’ Centre, which was in comparison to the
prescribed day by day programme of lessons being delivered in the school we
visited. Failing pupils did extra maths and language and their access to the
wider curriculum was reduced. However the standard of coaching we
observed was outstanding. The two coaching sessions observed were with a
very experienced mentor and two new teachers with quite diverse needs.
One new teacher having very real problems within her school and suffering a
crisis of confidence was still able to leave the session having felt she had
found possible solutions and had a clear idea of what she would work on in
the forthcoming week. The mentor was almost at the end of the session
which had focussed on weaknesses rather than strengths but still found the
‘entry point’ where he could help the new teacher find a way to make
changes. The need to develop quality coaches/mentors that do not skim the
surface but can ‘dig deeper’ for reasoning is vital.

The key to the development of the mentors was the ‘Friday Forum’. The
ethos of nurturing and valuing staff was evident in the way meetings were
run. A variety of hot and cold drinks were available and always some form of
snack – an opportunity to ‘munch and mingle’. Those attending meetings were
encouraged to get up and move around, get a drink or have a toilet break as
needed, and this happened without interruption to events. Each session
started with ‘problem posed, problem solved’. Mentors had a regular coaching
partner with whom they shared successes and helped each other find
solutions to problems through this coaching conversation. These were
recorded on the Collaborative Assessment Log which was the same format as
used by the mentors on their visits to new teachers. This log provides a
clear structure to the mentor conversation and is linked to the California
Standards for the Teaching Profession. The sessions continued with
presentations and ended with opportunities to bring up issues. All therefore
contributed and took ownership. There was a clear focus on learning with a
tightly controlled brief time for ‘managing’ – something I am striving to
emulate in staff meetings, keeping the ‘business agenda’ to a minimum and
devoting most of the time to developing/reflecting on learning and teaching
and our improvement agenda.

The Collaborative Assessment Log is backed by a small bank of Formative
Assessment Tools to which mentors direct new teachers to develop their
teaching. The in-service provided for new teachers is very much linked to
these tools. Problem posed problem solved was powerful tool, how could I use
this in my own school setting?




                                 Section C
Evaluation and Impact

With so much to reflect on I produced an Action Plan (Appendix 1) on my
return. Having evaluated progress to date there are areas which are ongoing
and some still to be achieved or re thought.
Coaching isn’t enough – did I want to take forward the diploma? I wanted to
develop a coaching culture rather than individual coaching. I need to make
sure that all staff have real meaningful opportunities to discuss their work
and develop the professional dialogue of learning and teaching. Am I adding
depth and challenge to my ‘conversations’ following classroom visits or just
being superficial? What is the impact and what evidence do I have of
improvement in learning and teaching?



                                 Section D
Further Action

The notion of a coaching culture within a learning community fits well with
the current position schools find themselves in developing a Curriculum for
Excellence. I believe that not only the tasks we undertake at Earnhill but
the way in which they are undertaken will underpin our success. Enquiring
staff, willing to take risks and evaluate and reflect on initiatives will move
forward with confidence to improved learning experiences. Staff welcome
the opportunity to visit and work with staff in other establishments and
across sectors, building learning communities; my role as head teacher is to
facilitate this, providing ‘opportunities to grow’. I believe in the notion of
developing leadership at all levels – pupils and staff, and this is reflected in
the recognised strength of our pupil voice and also in the number of staff
working on pilots, working parties and committees, leading developments,
both within school and within the authority.

The ‘bigger picture’ of developing leadership at all levels was for me the
biggest impact of my visit to Santa Cruz. The idea of nurturing our
‘brightest and best’ teachers in Scotland as mentors for new teachers is
appealing and also the parallel development of mentoring head teachers.
Concentrating on the really good as well as areas for development has
parallels with a Journey to Excellence Parts 1 and 2 – taking the very good
and making it excellent.

      ‘The stakes are high. Every day, we wager the future of this country
      on our teachers. We are daily entrusting the dreams of our young
      people to those who teach them. Whether those dreams are delayed,
      denied or fulfilled is ours (as leaders) to decide’.
                           ‘No Dream Denied’
                           National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, January 2003