pro

coherence.pdf

Overview

Our team has been immersed in ‘whole system change’ for the past few years in Ontario, Canada; California; Australia and New Zealand; and elsewhere. Our main mode of learning is to go from practice to theory, and then back and forth to obtain more specific insights about how to lead and participate in transformative change in schools and school systems.

In this workshop we take the best of these insights from our most recent publications: Stratosphere, The Professional Capital of Teachers, The Principal, Freedom to Change, and Coherence and integrate the ideas into a single set of learnings.

The specific objectives for participants are: 1. To learn to take initiative on what we call 'Freedom to Change’. 2. To Understand and be able to use the ‘Coherence Framework’. 3. To analyze your current situation and to identify action strategies fro making

improvements. 4. Overall to gain insights into ‘leadership in a digital age’.

We have organized this session around six modules:

Module I Freedom From Change 1-4 Module II Focusing Direction 5-10 Module III Cultivating Collaborative Cultures 11-14 Module IV Deepening Learning 15-22 Module V Securing Accountability 23-30 Module VI Freedom To Change 31-32 References 33

Please feel free to reproduce and use the material in this booklet with your staff and others.

2015

Freedom From Change

Shifting to the Right Drivers

Right Wrong

§ Capacity building

§ Collaborative work

§ Pedagogy

§ Systemness

§ Accountability

§ Individual teacher and

leadership quality

§ Technology

§ Fragmented strategies

Freedom:

If you could make one

change in your school or

system what would it be?

What obstacles stand in

your way?

What would you change? What are the obstacles?

Trio Talk:

§ Meet up with two colleagues.

§ Share your choice and rationale.

§ What were the similarities and differences in the choices?

Module 1

The Concepts of Freedom § Freedom to is getting rid of the constraints.

§ Freedom from is figuring

out what to do when you

become more liberated.

Seeking Coherence § Within your table read the seven quotes from Coherence and circle the one you like the best.

§ Go around the table and see who selected which quotes.

§ As a group discuss what ‘coherence’ means.

Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems

Fullan, M., & Quinn, J. ( 2015). Corwin & Ontario Principals’ Council.

# Quote

1. There is only one way to achieve greater coherence, and that is through purposeful action and interaction, working on capacity, clarity, precision of practice, transparency, monitoring of progress, and continuous correction. All of this requires the right mixture of “pressure and support”: the press for progress within supportive and focused cultures. p. 2

2. Coherence making in other words is a continuous process of making and remaking meaning in your own mind and in your culture. Our framework shows you how to do this. p. 3

3. Effective change processes shape and reshape good ideas as they build capacity and ownership among participants. There are two components: the quality of the idea and the quality of the process. p.14

4. … that these highly successful organizations learned from the success of others but never tried to imitate what others did. Instead, they found their own pathway to success. They did many of the right things, and they learned and adjusted as they proceeded. p.15

5. Most people would rather be challenged by change and helped to progress than be mired in frustration. Best of all, this work tackles “whole systems” and uses the group to change the group. People know they are engaged in something beyond their narrow role. It is human nature to rise to a larger call if the problems are serious enough and if there is a way forward where they can play a role with others. Coherence making is the pathway that does this. p. ix

6. What we need is consistency of purpose, policy, and practice. Structure and strategy are not enough. The solution requires the individual and collective ability to build shared meaning, capacity, and commitment to action. When large numbers of people have a deeply understood sense of what needs to be done— and see their part in achieving that purpose—coherence emerges and powerful things happen. p. 1

7. Coherence pertains to people individually and especially collectively. To cut to the chase, coherence consists of the shared depth of understanding about the purpose and nature of the work. Coherence, then, is what is in the minds and actions of people individually and especially collectively. p. 1-2

Freedom From Change

The Coherence Framework

Securing Accountability

Focusing Direction

Deepening Learning

Cultivating Collaborative

Cultures

Leadership

Module 1

Notes:

Focusing Direction

Purpose Driven: Quick Write

Clarify your own moral purpose by reflecting and recording your

thoughts about these four questions using the quick write protocol:

§ What is your moral purpose?

§ What actions do I take to realize this moral purpose?

§ How do I help others clarify their moral purpose?

§ Am I making progress in realizing my moral purpose with

students?

Share your thoughts with other members of your team and discuss

themes that emerge.

Focusing Direction

§ Purpose Driven § Goals That Impact § Clarity of Strategy § Change Leadership

Deepening Learning

Securing Accountability

Cultivating Collaborative

Cultures

Leadership

Module 2

What is my moral purpose?

What actions do I take to realize this moral purpose?

How do I help others clarify their moral purpose?

Am I making progress in realizing my moral purpose with students?

Focusing Direction

Clarity of Strategy § Successful change processes are a function of shaping and

reshaping good ideas as they build capacity and ownership.

§ Clarity about goals is not sufficient. Leaders must develop shared

understanding in people's minds and collective action. Coherence

becomes a function of the interplay between the growing

explicitness of the strategy and the change culture. The two

variables of explicitness of strategy and quality of the change

culture interact creating four different results.

Change Quality Protocol

1. Superficiality

When the strategy is not very precise, actionable or clear (low explicitness) and people are comfortable

in the culture, we may see activity but at very superficial levels.

2. Inertia

This quadrant represents the history of the teaching profession—behind the classroom door, where

teachers left each other alone with a license to be creative or ineffective.

Innovative teachers receive little feedback on their ideas, nor do these ideas become available to others

and isolated, less than effective teachers get little help to improve.

3. Resistance

When innovations are highly prescribed (often detailed programs bought off the shelf) but culture is

weak and teachers have not been involved sufficiently in developing ownership and new capacities, the

result is pushback and resistance. If the programs are sound, they can result in short term gains

(tightening an otherwise loose system), but because teachers have not been engaged in shaping the

ideas or the strategy there is little willingness to take risks.

4. Depth

A strong climate for change with an explicitness of strategy is optimal. People operating in conditions of

high trust, collaboration, and effective leadership, are more willing to innovate and take risks. If we

balance that with a strategy that has precision, clarity, and measures of success, changes implemented

will be deep and have impact.

Module 2

Change Quality Quadrant

Change Climate (vertical axis):

§ Describes the degree to which a culture supports change by

fostering trust, nonjudgmentalism, leadership, innovation, and

collaboration.

Explicitness (horizontal axis):

§ Describes the degree of explicitness of the strategy, including

precision of the goals, clarity of the strategy, use of data, and

supports.

Change Quality Protocol

1. Brainstorm individually all the changes you are implementing in

your school or district and place each idea on a post-it along with

your initial.

2. Consider evidence of explicitness of the strategy and the strength

of the culture for each initiative. Mark the post-it as belonging to

quadrant 1, 2, 3 or 4.

3. When the first two steps are completed, all peers should place their

post-its on the quadrants at the same time.

4. Review each post-it looking for similarities or differences. Discuss

the evidence that led to the placement.

5. Select two or three important changes and discuss:

§ What is effective/ineffective about the explicitness of the

strategy?

§ What is effective/ineffective about the culture for change?

Focusing Direction

Three Keys to Maximizing Impact

The Lead Learner: The Principal’s New Role

To increase impact, principals should use their time differently: they

should direct their energies to developing the group.

The Principal’s New Role To lead the school’s teachers in a process of learning to improve their teaching, while learning alongside them about what works and what

doesn’t.

Module 2

Notes:

Cultivating Collaborative Cultures

Within-School Variability

§ Variability of performance between schools is 36%, while variability

within schools is 64%. —OECD (2013)

Turn and Talk § Read the excerpt from John Hattie and discuss what the meaning of ‘within school variability’ is.

Introduction

Hattie, J. (2015). What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise, pp. 1-2, Pearson.

The Largest Barrier to Student Learning: Within-School Variability

If we are to truly improve student learning, it is vital that we identify the most important barrier to such

improvement. And that barrier is the effect of within-school variability on learning. The variability between schools

in most Western countries is far smaller than the variability within schools (Hattie 2015). For example, the 2009

PISA results for reading across all OECD countries shows that the variability between schools is 36 per cent, while

the variance within schools is 64 per cent (OECD 2010).

There are many causes of this variance within schools, but I would argue that the most important (and one that we

have some influence to reduce) is the variability in the effectiveness of teachers. I don’t mean to suggest that all

teachers are bad; I mean that there is a great deal of variability among teachers in the effect that they have on

student learning. This variability is well known, but rarely discussed, perhaps because this type of discussion would

necessitate potentially uncomfortable questions. Hence, the politics of distraction are often invoked to avoid

asking them.

Cultivating Collaborative Cultures § Culture of Growth § Learning Leadership § Capacity Building § Collaborative Work

Deepening Learning

Securing Accountability

Focusing Direction

Leadership

Module 3

Overcoming Variability Through Collaborative Expertise

There is every reason to assume that by attending to the problem of variability within a school and increasing the

effectiveness of all teachers there will be a marked overall increase in achievement. So the aim is to bring the effect

of all teachers on student learning up to a very high standard. The ‘No Child Left Behind’ policy should have been

named ‘No Teacher Left Behind’.

This is not asking teachers and school leaders to attain some impossibly high set of dream standards; this is merely

asking for all teachers to have the same impact as our best teachers. Let’s consider some analogies: not all doctors

have high levels of expertise, and not all are in an elite college of surgeons; not all architects are in royal societies;

and not all engineers are in academies of engineers. Just because a doctor, architect or engineer is not a member

of these august bodies, however, does not mean that they are not worth consulting. They may not have achieved

the upper echelon, but they will still have reached a necessary level of expertise to practise.

Similarly, the teaching profession needs to recognise expertise and create a profession of educators in which all

teachers aspire to become members of the college, society or academy of highly effective and expert teachers.

Such entry has to be based on dependable measures based on expertise. In this way, we can drive all upwards and

not only reduce the variability among teachers and school leaders but also demonstrate to all (voters, parents,

politicians, press) that there is a ‘practice of teaching’; that there is a difference between experienced teachers and

expert teachers; and that some practices have a higher probability of being successful than others. The alternative

is the demise of teacher expertise and a continuation of the politics of distraction.

So, my claim is that the greatest influence on student progression in learning is having highly expert, inspired and

passionate teachers and school leaders working together to maximise the effect of their teaching on all students in

their care. There is a major role for school leaders: to harness the expertise in their schools and to lead successful

transformations. There is also a role for the system: to provide the support, time and resources for this to happen.

Putting all three of these (teachers, leaders, system) together gets at the heart of collaborative expertise.

§ Human Capital

§ Social Capital

§ Decisional Capital

What has a greater impact on teaching and learning?

§ Teacher appraisal?

§ Professional Development

§ Collaborative Cultures

Cultivating Collaborative Cultures

School Cultures § Talented schools improve weak teachers

§ Talented teachers leave weak schools

§ Good collaboration reduces bad variation

§ The sustainability of an organization is a function of the quality of

its lateral relationships

Freedom To Means § Autonomy & Cooperation

Balancing Autonomy & Cooperation

§ If you choose

being on your

own you lose the

human

connection

necessary for life.

§ If you succumb to

the extreme of

being absorbed

in a group, you

lose your identity.

Struggle between Autonomy and Cooperation

§ Countries granting schools independent status freer from

traditional bureaucracies find pockets of innovation among a larger

number of pockets of failure.

§ What is needed for success is to combine flexibility with

requirements for cooperation.

Forms of Cooperation § Building collaborative cultures

§ Participating in networks of schools or districts to learn from each

other

§ Relating to state policies and priorities

Groupthink § …situations where groups are cohesive, have highly directive leadership, and fail to seek external information. Such groups

strive for unanimity, failing to consider alternative courses of

action.

Module 3

Point & Go? Meet up with a colleague from another table group.

§ Discuss a time you were part of groupthink. What impact did it

have on the group and you personally?

§ What is the power of autonomy?

§ How do you balance autonomy and cooperation?

Notes:

Deepening Learning

Stratosphere

Deep Learning Competencies

§ The 6C’s provides an advance organizer for thinking about Deep

Learning Competencies as identified by New Pedagogies for Deep

Learning. The placemat organizer can be used to activate prior

knowledge about the 6C’s or to look for examples of the 6C’s

using video exemplars.

Exciting new learning needs to be:

§ Irresistibly engaging

§ Elegantly efficient

§ Technology ubiquitous

§ Steeped in real life problem solving

§ Involves deep learning

STRATOSPHERE

Deepening Learning

§ Clarity of Learning Goals § Precision in Pedagogy § Shift Practices Through

Capacity Building

Focusing Direction

Securing Accountability

Cultivating Collaborative

Cultures

Leadership

Module 4

The 6C’s Protocol § Form groups of six with each peer assigned one of the 6C’s.

§ Review the descriptors of the six deep learning competencies. Each

group member will take one competency and provide an example

of what that competency might look like and sound like in practice

or how it is being developed in their classroom or school.

§ Share the examples within the group of six.

§ Select a video of classroom practice and analyze it for examples of

how the six deep learning competencies are being developed. Use

the same graphic organizer to record evidence.

§ Discuss ways to incorporate one or more competencies in future

learning designs.

The 6C’s Protocol

1. Communication § Coherent communication using a range of modes

§ Communication designed for different audiences

§ Substantive, multimodal communication

§ Reflection on and use of the process of learning to improve communication

2. Critical thinking § Evaluating information and arguments

§ Making connections and identifying patterns

§ Problem solving

§ Meaningful knowledge construction

§ Experimenting, reflecting, and taking action on ideas in the real world

3. Collaboration § Working interdependently as a team

§ Interpersonal and team-related skills

§ Social, emotional, and intercultural skills

§ Management of team dynamics and challenges

4. Creativity § Economic and social entrepreneurialism

§ Asking the right inquiry questions

§ Considering and pursuing novel ideas and solutions

§ Leadership for action

5. Character § Learning to learn

§ Grit, tenacity, perseverance, and resilience

§ Self-regulation and responsibility

§ Empathy for and contributing to the safety and benefit of others

6. Citizenship § A global perspective

§ Understanding of diverse values and worldviews

§ Genuine interest in human and environmental sustainability

Deepening Learning

The 6 C’s of Learning Goals

Communication

Creativity

Critical Thinking

Character

Collaboration

Citizenship

Module 4

My Learning

Deepening Learning

Fullan, M., & Quinn, J. (2015). Coherence, pp. 95-96. Corwin & Ontario Principals’ Council.

My Learning

The first element refers to the need for students to take responsibility for their learning and to

understand the process of learning, if it is to be maximized. This requires students to develop skills in

learning to learn, giving and receiving feedback, and enacting student agency.

§ Learning to learn requires that students build metacognition about their learning. They begin to

define their own learning goals and success criteria; monitor their own learning and critically

examine their work; and incorporate feedback from peers, teachers, and others to deepen their

awareness of how they function in the learning process.

§ Feedback is essential to improving performance. As students make progress in mastering the

learning process, the role of the teacher gradually shifts from explicitly structuring the learning task,

toward providing feedback, activating the next learning challenge, and continuously developing

the learning environment.

§ Student agency emerges as students take a more active role in codeveloping learning tasks and

assessing results. It is more than participation; it is engaging students in real decision-making and a

willingness to learn together.

Deepening Learning

My Belonging

The second element of belonging is a crucial foundation for all human beings who are social by nature

and crave purpose, meaning, and connectedness to others.

§ Caring environments help students to flourish and meet the basic need of all humans to feel they

are respected and belong.

§ Relationships are integral to preparing for authentic learning. As students develop both

interpersonal connections and intrapersonal insight, they are able to move to successively more

complex tasks in groups and independently. Managing collaborative relationships and being self-

monitoring are skills for life.

My Aspirations

Student results can be dramatically affected by the expectations they hold of themselves and the

perceptions they believe others have for them (see also Quaglia & Corso, 2014).

§ Expectations are a key determinant of success, as noted in Hattie’s research. Students must believe

they can achieve and also feel that others believe that. They must codetermine success criteria and

be engaged in measuring their growth. Families, students, and teachers can together foster higher

expectations through deliberate means—sometimes simply by discussing current and ideal

expectations and what might make them possible to achieve.

§ Needs and interests are a powerful accelerator for motivation and engagement. Teachers who tap

into the natural curiosity and interest of students are able to use that as a springboard to deeply

engage students in tasks that are relevant, authentic, and examine concepts and problems in

depth.

Teachers, schools, and districts that combine strategies to unlock the three elements in their students

will foster untapped potential and form meaningful learning partnerships.

How good is your school at addressing the three ‘mys’?

§ My learning (scale 1-10) = __________

§ My belonging (scale 1-10) = __________

§ My aspirations (scale 1-10) = __________

Reflect on what you can do to accelerate meaningful learning partnerships with students in you school.

Module 4

Deepening Learning

Students, Computers, and Learning

§ Countries that invest more heavily in ICT do less well in student

achievement.

—OECD, 2015

Early Insights about Leadership for NPDL: Direction, Letting Go, Consolidating

§ A cycle of trying things and making meaning

§ Co-learning dominates

§ Leaders spent a lot of time listening, learning, asking questions

§ Leaders help articulate what is happening, and how it relates to

impact

§ The role of tools is to provide focus and shape without

suffocating context

§ Ultimately you need people to take charge of their own learning

in a context of individual and collective efficacy

Module 4

Notes:

Securing Accountability

Sec uring Ac c ountability

Accountability

Fullan, M., & Quinn, J. (2015). Coherence, pp. 110-111. Corwin & Ontario Principals’ Council.

Simply stated, accountability is taking responsibility for one’s actions. At the core of accountability in

educational systems is student learning. As City, Elmore, Fiarman, and Teitel (2009) argue, “the real

accountability system is in the tasks that students are asked to do” (p. 23). Constantly improving and

refining instructional practice so that students can engage in deep learning tasks is perhaps the single

most important responsibility of the teaching profession and educational systems as a whole. In this

sense, accountability as defined here is not limited to mere gains in test scores but on deeper and more

meaningful learning for all students.

Internal ac c ountability occurs when individuals and groups willingly take on personal, professional, and collective responsibility for continuous improvement and success for all students (Hargreaves &

Shirley, 2009). “ p. 110-111

External ac c ountability is when system leaders reassure the public through transparency, monitoring, and selective intervention that their system is performing in line with societal expectations

and requirements. The priority for policy makers, we argue, should be to lead with creating the

conditions for internal accountability, because they are more effective in achieving greater overall

accountability, including external accountability. Policy makers also have direct responsibilities to

address external accountability, but this latter function will be far more effective if they get the internal

part right.

Securing Accountability

§ Internal Accountability § External Accountability

Focusing Direction

Deepening Learning

Cultivating Collaborative

Cultures

Leadership

Module 5

Coherence: The Right Drivers in Action for Schools, Districts, and Systems

Fullan, M., & Quinn, J. ( 2015). Corwin & Ontario Principals’ Council, pp. 117-118.

# Quote

1. Accountability is now primarily described as an accountability for student learning. It is less about some test result and more about accepting ownership of the moral imperative of having every student learn. Teachers talk about “monitoring” differently. As they engage in greater sharing of the work, they talk about being accountable as people in the school community know what they are doing and looking to see what is changing for students as a result. And as they continue to deprivatize teaching, they talk about their principal and peers coming into their classrooms and expecting to see the work [of agreed-upon practices] reflected in their teaching, their classroom walls, and student work. (Anonymous, personal communication, November 2014)

2. Teachers and administrators talk about accountability by deprivatizing their practice. If everyone knows what the other teacher or administrator is working on and how they are working on it with students, it becomes a lot easier to talk about accountability. When everyone has an understanding of accountability, creating clear goals and steps to reach those goals, it makes it easier for everyone to talk and work in accountable environments. (Elementary principal, personal communication, November 2014)

3. We are moving to define accountability as responsibility. My district has been engaged in some important work that speaks to intrinsic motivation, efficacy, perseverance, etc., and accountability is seen as doing what is best for students . . . working together to tackle any challenge and being motivated by our commitment as opposed to some external direction. (Superintendent, personal communication, November 2014)

4. I do believe that a lot of work remains to be done on building common understanding on the notion of accountability. Many people still believe that someone above them in the hierarchy is accountable. Very few take personal accountability for student learning and achievement. There are still those who blame parents and students’ background for achievement. (Consultant, personal communication, November 2014)

5. In one school, the talk about accountability was pervasive as the school became designated as underperforming. The morale of the school went down significantly, and the tension was omnipresent at every meeting. The team switched the conversation to motivation, innovation, and teamwork and the culture changed. The school is energized and the test scores went up in one year. The team is now committed to results and continuous improvement. (Consultant, personal communication, November 2014)

Securing Accountability

T hree Step Interview

1. Form teams of three and letter off A, B. and C.

2. Read the excerpt on ‘Accountability’ from Coherence above and the

five quotes. Think about the responses to the questions below.

3. Begin the cycle with person A as the Interviewer, B as the

Respondent and C as the Recorder using the Advance Organizer.

4. Provide five minutes for each Respondent to respond and then

continue the cycle until all participants have been interviewed.

Question Person A Person B Person C

1. How would

you distinguish

between

Internal and

External

Accountability?

2. Describe

strategies your

school/district

uses to build

Internal

Accountability?

3. What steps

will you take to

ensure the

effective

implementation

of External

Accountability?

Module 5

Know T hey Impac t Turn and Talk:

§ Read the excerpt from John Hattie. What does your school

specifically do to develop a culture of evidence?

Know They Impact!

Hattie, J. (2015). What Works Best in Education: The Politics of Collaborative Expertise,

pp. 15-16. Pearson.

The model advanced here is that the school leader is responsible for asking on a continual basis about the impact

of all the adults on the learning of the students. Of course, I am not forgetting that the students are players in

improving their learning. But that is the bonus, the compound-interest component. What is requested is that

school leaders become leaders in evaluating the impact of all in the school on the progress of all students; the

same for teachers; and the same for students.

School leaders need to be continually working with their staff to evaluate the impact of all on student progression.

Leaders need to create a trusting environment where staff can debate the effect they have and use the information

to devise future innovations. And leaders need to communicate the information on impact and progression to the

students and parents. Schools need to become incubators of programs, evaluators of impact and experts at

interpreting the effects of teachers and teaching on all students.

In short, we need to develop an evaluation climate in our education system.

Experience has shown that ten- to twelve-week cycles of evaluation are about optimal. Fewer weeks tend to lead

to over-assessment or insufficient time to detect change; more weeks and the damage or success is done. We

should know this and react appropriately. It does mean asking teachers to be clear about what success or impact

would look like before they start to teach a series of lessons.

Of course, this must start by asking the questions, ‘Impact on what? To what magnitude? Impact for whom?’

Evaluating impact requires analyses of what a year’s growth looks like, and it is likely it may differ depending on

where the student begins in this growth. Evaluating impact asks schools and systems to be clearer about what it

means to be good at various disciplines, to be clearer about what a year’s progress looks like and to provide staff

with collaborative opportunities to make these decisions.

This is the hardest part of our work, as teachers we have been so ingrained to wait and see what the students do,

to see which students attend and then to pick out examples of successful progress. Our alternative model asks that

teachers be clearer about what success would look like and the magnitude of the impact, and we ask them to

prepare assessments to administer at the end – before they start teaching. The bonus of this latter preparation is

that it ensures that teachers understand what success is meant to look like before they start teaching, and it

increases the likelihood that teachers communicate these notions of success to the students.

There is also a need to include the student voice about teacher impact in the learning/teaching debates; that is, to

hear the students’ view of how they are cared about and respected as learners, how captivated they are by the

lessons, how they can see errors as opportunities for learning, how they can speak up and share their

understanding and how they can provide and seek feedback so they know where to go next. As the Visible

Learning research has shown, the student voice can be highly reliable, rarely includes personality comments and,

appropriately used, can be a major resource for understanding and promoting high-impact teaching and learning.

Securing Accountability

Developing a c ulture of evidenc e

Janet Clinton and I have used the theories of empowerment evaluation to spell out many of these mind frames (in

Clinton and Hattie 2014). Empowerment evaluation is based on the use of evaluation concepts, techniques and

findings to foster improvement. It increases the likelihood that programmes will achieve results by increasing the

capacity of stakeholders to plan, implement and evaluate their own programmes. We argued that we need to

teach educators:

§ to think evaluatively;

§ to have discussions and debates in light of the impact of what they do;

§ to use the tools of evaluation in schools (such as classroom observations of the impact of teachers on students,

interpreting test scores to inform their impact and future actions, and standard setting methods to clarify what

challenge and progression should look like in this school);

§ to build a culture of evidence, improvement and evaluation capacity-building;

§ to develop a mind frame based on excellence, defined in multiple ways, and for all;

§ and to take pride in our collective impact.

Empowerment evaluation helps to cultivate a continuous culture of evidence by asking educators for evidence to

support their views and interpretations and to engage in continual phases of analysis, decision-making and

implementation.

Note to Self How would I describe our evidence based culture?

Module 5

Freedom as Learning Feedback: A Gold Mine of Potential Growth

1. People don’t like feedback and want to be free from it.

2. Feedback is one of the key interacting simplifiers for individuals and

groups wanting to change.

3. To think in terms of active seeking means to think first and foremost

in terms of what receivers of feedback need and can do.

4. Giving and taking feedback are both challenging.

Feedbac k Forum Meet up with another colleague from a different district. Use the following questions as the basis for your discussion

§ Think of a time when you received powerful feedback. Why was it

powerful? What did you learn from it?

§ What are the challenges of giving feedback?

§ Describe feedback that inspires growth.

Notes

Securing Accountability

Freedom To World § If we recast its role, feedback can become one of the most powerful forces for the betterment of the individual and the organization.

Best Advic e § Take a risk and seek feedback, both because you will be worse off if you do nothing and because you will learn from it.

C ultures that Value Feedbac k

T urn and T alk Does our organization have a culture to support providing/receiving feedback?

What, if anything, could we do to improve the culture for feedback?

Freedom To: Ac c ountability

If you are seeking feedback and using feedback as an opportunity to

learn with respect to important goals, you are already on the path of

accountability: a willingness to accept responsibility for your own

actions.

Module 5

Notes:

Freedom to Change

Exploration vs Engagement

§ What’s out there?

§ Who should we partner with

—Pentland, 2014

C riteria for Effec tive Networking

1. A small number of ambitious goals (pre-school to tertiary)

2. Leadership at all levels

3. Cultures that produce ‘Collective Efficacy’

4. Mobilizing data and effective practices as a strategy for

improvement

5. Intervention in a non-punitive manner

6. Being transparent, relentless and increasingly challenging

—Rincón-Gallardo & Fullan, in press

New Zealand:

Joint Initiative Agreement

Read the Joint Initiative Agreement

§ What do you like about it?

§ What questions do you have?

§ Discuss implications for your work.

—Rincón-Gallardo & Fullan, in press

New Zealand Education Institute, Ministry of Education

Following up to Working Party Report

Working Party Report – O verarc hing Princ iples

1. Children are at the centre of a smooth and seamless whole of educational pathway from earliest learning to

tertiary options.

2. Parents who are informed and engaged are involved in their children’s education and part of a community

with high expectations for and of those children.

3. Teachers and education leaders, supported by their own professional learning and growth, and those of their

colleagues will systematically collaborate to improve educational achievement outcomes for their students.

4. Teachers and education leaders will be able to report measurable gain in the specific learning and

achievement challenges of their students.

5. Teachers and leaders will grow the capability and status of the profession within clearly defined career pathways for development and advancement.

Key Learnings From the Working G roup Were:

1. Self-identified Communities of Learning should form around clear learner pathways from early childhood to

secondary education and may, over time, extend to include tertiary learning.

2. Each Community of Learning’s purpose is to enhance student achievement for educational success as set out

in the Vision of the National Curriculum documents; and the Community of Learning should define its own

achievement challenges, learning needs and areas of focus that enable it to support that purpose.

Module 6

3. Self-identified Communities of Learning should form around clear learner pathways from early childhood to

secondary education and may, over time, extend to include tertiary learning.

4. Each Community of Learning’s purpose is to enhance student achievement for educational success as set out

in the Vision of the National Curriculum documents; and the Community of Learning should define its own

achievement challenges, learning needs and areas of focus that enable it to support that purpose.

5. Each Community of Learning will be able to use data, evidence and research to target their efforts and

resources and demonstrate impact on the learning growth of its students.

6. Each Community of Learning should determine its own leadership and teaching, collaboration and support

functions that align with its achievement challenges, making the best use of its own and new resourcing. Some

leadership and teaching roles and their functions will be required for all Communities of Learning; other

functions may be particular to the Community.

7. Any appointment to a leadership role with the required functions will be made by the Community of Learning

in conjunction with an external professional adviser.

8. Successful collaboration changes and evolves, and Communities of Learning must have sufficient flexibility to

enable this rather than limit it.

9. In recognising these factors, each Community of Learning will access its own and new resources to support the

attainment of its goals.

10. A Community of Learning’s success will be dependent on ‘whole of Community of Learning collaboration’.

Therefore, allocation of sufficient time and resources to support participants in the Community of Learning is

critical.

11. The parties commit to undertake further work on Māori, Pasifika, Early Childhood Education, Support Staff,

Special Education and Professional learning and Development to build on the work begun in the Working

Group in the next and final stage of the Joint Initiative Development. The parties acknowledge this may lead

to additional changes in future collective agreement bargaining rounds.

12. Leadership, teaching, collaboration and support roles within Communities of Learning should align with career pathways for principals, teachers, support and specialist staff to ensure continuous development of leadership

and teaching capacity.

Leadership from the Middle

§ Where is the coherence—where is the glue?

We find it “in the middle”.

What Ac tions are you going to take home as a result of this workshop?

References

Fullan, M. (2011). Choosing the wrong drivers for whole system reform. Seminar Series 204. Melbourne: Center for Strategic Education.

Fullan, M. (2013). Great to excellent: Launching the next stage of Ontario’s education reform. www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/reports/FullanReport_EN_07.pdf

Fullan, M. (2013). Stratosphere: Integrating technology, pedagogy and change knowledge. Toronto: Pearson.

Fullan, M. (2014). The principal: Three keys to maximizing impact. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

Fullan, M. (2015). Freedom to change: Four strategies to put your inner drive into overdrive. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Fullan, M., & Donnelly, K. (2015). Evaluating and assessing tools in the digital swamp. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree Press.

Fullan, M., & Quinn, J. (2015). Coherence: The right drivers in action for schools, districts, and systems. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin; Toronto, ON: Ontario Principals’ Council.

Fullan, M., & Rincón-Gallardo, S. (in press). Developing high quality public education in Canada: The case of Ontario. In F. Adamson, B. Astrand, & L. Darling-Hammond (Eds.), Global education reform: Privatization vs public investments in national education systems. New York, NY: Routledge.

Fullan, M., Rincón-Gallardo, S., & Hargreaves, A. (2015). Professional capital as accountability. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 23(15), 1-18.

Hargreaves, A. & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school. New York: Teachers College Press.

Hattie, J. (2015). What works best in education: The politics of collaborative expertise. London, UK: Pearson.

Kirtman, L., & Fullan, M. (2015). Leaders who lead. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL). (2015). Retrieved from www.NPDL.global

November, A. (2012). Who owns the learning? Preparing students for success in the digital age. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Nunan, D. (2003). Practical English language teaching. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. (2013). Teachers for the 21s century: Using evaluation to improve teaching. Paris, France: Author.

Pentland, A. (2014). Social physics: How good ideas spread—the lessons from a new science. New York, NY: Penguin.

Quaglia, R.J., & Corso, M.J. (2014). Student voice: The instrument of change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.

Rincón-Gallardo, S., & Fullan, M. (in press). Essential features of effective networks and professional collaboration. Journal of Professional Capital and Community.

Michael Fullan,OC, is professor emeritus at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He

served as special adviser in education to Ontario premier

Dalton McGuinty from 2003 to 2013, and now serves as one

of four advisers to Premier Kathleen Wynne. He has been awarded honorary doctorates from the

University of Edinburgh, University of Leicester, Nipissing University, Duquesne University, and the

Hong Kong Institute of Education. He consults with governments and school systems in several

countries around the world.

Fullan has won numerous awards for his more than thirty books, including the 2015 Grawemeyer

prize with Andy Hargreaves for Professional Capital. His books include the best sellers Leading in a

Culture of Change, The Six Secrets of Change, Change Leader, All Systems Go, Motion Leadership,

and The Principal: Three Keys to Maximizing Impact. His latest books are Coherence: The Right

Drivers in Action (with Joanne Quinn), Evaluating and Assessing Tools in the Digital Swamp (with

Katelyn Donnelly), Leadership: Key Competencies (with Lyle Kirtman), and Freedom to Change.

Special thanks to Joanne Quinn and Eleanor Adam for their training design contributions.

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