Professional Learning and Development:

Best Evidence Synthesis

Helen Timperley, Aaron Wilson and Heather Barrar

Learning LanguagesMarch 2008

Introduction

Professional learning

opportunities

Teacher interpretation and utilization of targeted

understandings and skills

Teacher outcomes: change in practice no change in practice

Student learning outcomes: improved not improved

Student interpretation and utilization of targeted

understandings and skills

Student learning

opportunities

The Black Boxes of Teacher and Student Learning

Main Research Question

• What kinds of professional learning opportunities for teachers result in an impact on student outcomes?

Why limit the synthesis to studies with student outcomes?

• A professional development provider walks into a school …….

• Delivers a workshop• Supports teachers with ongoing observations

and feedback • Teachers successfully implement • Student achievement

DROPS

Leadership BES (Robinson, Hohepa & Lloyd)

Leadership Dimension Effect size

Establishing goals and expectations Average ES = 0.35

Strategic resourcing Average ES =0.34

Planning, coordinating and evaluating teaching

Average ES =0.42

Promoting and participating in teacher learning & development

Average ES =0.84

Ensuring an orderly & supportive environment

Average ES =0.27

Methodology and Theoretical Framing

The Process of Selecting Core Studies

Analysis of Student Outcomes•Adequacy of methodology

•Significance of impact

Core Studies•Medium to high methodology

•Substantive quantitative and/or qualitative outcomes

•Medium to broad range

Supplementary Studies•Medium to high methodology but low or no impact on student outcomes

•Lower methodological adequacy but with substantive outcomes

Mapped onto theoretical framework Used to inform synthesis

Characteristics of Professional Learning Associated with Medium/High Impact For Particular Contexts

▪Formal educational policies/curriculum ▪Prevailing discourses▪School organisation

Wider social context

The professional learning context▪People and practicalities▪Professional learning goals

Responses of diverse teacher learners/communities

Impact on diverse student learners

Content of the professional

development/learning opportunities

Activities constructed to promote the

learning

Learning processes

Mapping the Studies

• 97 studies analysed against 84 characteristics - 90%+ inter-rater reliability • Treated theoretical framework as neutral • Short description for each characteristic

entered onto an Excel spreadsheet• Lots of blanks

Synthesis StructureSummary of findingsSeparate syntheses for:• Mathematics• Science• Literacy• Reframing social constructions of studentsSpecific topics:• Multiple roles of assessment• Leadership• Professional learning communities• Secondary schools• The role of personal teacher theoriesCase studies

Reflection activity

In small groups, discuss one example of effective or ineffective professional development you had as a teacher (or similar),using the questions as a guide.

Overview of Findings

The Context of Professional Learning and Development

Voluntary or Compulsory?

• Neither who initiated the professional learning opportunities nor whether they were voluntary or compulsory was associated with particular outcomes for students

• What was more important was that teachers engaged in the learning process at some point.

Effective Contexts

• Extended time and frequent contact was necessary but not sufficient

• External expertise was typically necessary but not sufficient

• Prevailing discourses challenged• Not necessarily school-based• Opportunities to participate in a professional

community of practice• Active school leadership in school-based

cases.

Active School Leadership

•Effective leaders:

– Organised a supportive learning environment

– Participated in the learning with teachers – Provided alternative visions, targets and

goals for student outcomes and monitored them

– Developed the leadership of others.

The Content of Professional Learning• Reflected a view of teaching as a complex

activity• Different aspects of teaching & learning

integrated in a coherent manner• Aligned theory with practice• Established clear links between teaching and

learning outcomes • Assessment used to focus teaching and

enhance self-regulation• Sustainability rarely reported.

Integrating different aspects of content

Children show

improved learning

Teachers learn new

approaches and ways of

assessing these

Teachers recognize the improved learning through the new

assessment skills and tools

Teachers commitment to the new approach grows and they seek

further learning

Teacher Learning Activities

• All core studies employed a variety of activities • Apart from listening to those with expertise, no

single type of activity was common to all studies

• No individual activity stood out as more effective than others across studies or within particular categories

• Every type of activity that was associated with positive outcomes, was also associated with low or no impact.

Alignment of Activities to Content

• There was a clear alignment between the intended learning goals and the activities

• Individual activities often served multiple purposes

• Activities served to develop teachers’ understanding of the relationship between their teaching and student learning

• Providers engaged with teachers’ own theories of practice.

Typical Sequence of Professional Learning Opportunities

Front-loading of new learning

Repeated opportunities to revisit and refine new knowledge

Activities to translate new knowledge into practice

Range of activities to refine new

practice in classrooms

Catalyst or rationale to engage

Teacher learning processes

• Changing practice in substantive ways is difficult• Specific teacher learning processes were usually implied rather than specified•Teachers’ responses were also more often implied than specified.

New Understandings

• All core studies involved teachers developing new understandings and extending their skills through becoming aware of new information

• Some new understandings were consistent with current positioning

• Others created dissonance with current positioning

• A few developed enhanced regulation of own and others’ learning.

What knowledge and skills do our students need?

What knowledge and skills do we as professionals

need?

What has been the impact of our changed

actions? Deepen

professional knowledge and

refine skillsEngage students in new learning experiences

Teacher inquiry and knowledge-building cycle to promote valued student outcomes

Conclusions

• If we are to be more sophisticated in how we approach teacher professional learning then the theoretical and empirical literatures need to be brought more closely together

• Alongside this we need more sophisticated theories of how to promote the professional learning of teachers.