Learning Teams - The Next Generation

The original team members from 16 schools in the Musselburgh and Prestonpans clusters have certainly set the ball rolling.

They presented their findings to colleagues in their clusters at the end of November in two very innovative and interactive inservice sessions.
This was well received and the feedback has been very positive. The team have just completed questionnaires about the impact the work has had on their practice and how they will take it forward in their schools.
Watch this space for the results …… it will make interesting reading and have a major impact on future learning & teaching within our authority.
The team members are all to be congratulated for their open mindedness, willingness to “have a go” and honesty of response.
They all see an improvement in their teaching and their students’ learning.
Many have already shared within their schools and established a learning team culture.
All the headteachers in phase 1 schools committed to supporting this initiative and we will look forward to hearing from them about progress in their schools later in the session.
Also many members of the team want to continue meeting in an after school capacity to keep that support and sharing going.
Well done!

Our next generation of learning teams members met for the first time on 30 November.
28 teachers from another 15 East Lothian schools started their learning team experience with Shirley Clarke, one of educations leading lights in formative assessment practice.
Shirley has set up many learning teams south of the border and in the United States but this was her first ever Scottish team.
St Andrew’s day then was the perfect time for such a group to begin.

The team will be involved in a one year action research project.

The aims of the project are :

· To form a learning team of teachers as action researchers, with an expectation that they will experiment with formative assessment in-between the project days and feedback their findings
· To update teachers on recent, significant research findings which underpin effective formative assessment
· To support teachers in reviewing and modifying existing practices and developing their professional confidence and expertise in the field
· To share and celebrate achievement

From the first day’s input all 28 teachers will be trying out aspects of learning objectives, success criteria and effective questioning within their classrooms.
Each teacher will keep a learning journal as a record of things they’ve tried and an evaluation of how different aspects have worked.
Each person will be at a different starting point and will take one area to make a start on.

The first day went well and gave everyone something to think about.

In addition to these groups we have had spin offs from the project.

Preston Lodge High school have set up their own learning team within the school.
The support for learning staff in the Prestonpans cluster have set up their own learning team to address concerns and ways to best engage the youngsters who fall within that “20%”.
They have met twice and are finding the experience both professionally stimulating and very beneficial to their teaching.

Hopefully we will have many more of these “happenings”!

Stay tuned it to see the progress of these groups. The next meeting with Shirley Clarke is not till June.
In the meantime we have a few members of the original team preparing to keep a weblog so you can share in their experiences.

Useful websites – apart from this one!

www.shirleyclarke-education.org
www.dfes.gov.uk
www.qca.org.uk