Introduction to OER4Schools
The OER4Schools Professional Learning Resource
Review of homework
Leadership for Learning – Introduction
Reading (11 min). Read the following text.
Leadership for Learning is a way of thinking, doing, communicating, working, and reflecting about educational leadership in schools for the singular purpose of promoting the activity of learning.
Five principles of Leadership for Learning are as follows:
- Focus on learning
- Conditions for learning
- Learning Dialogue
- Shared Leadership
- Shared Accountability
In this unit you will explore the five LfL principles in practice with a view to contributing your own ideas about Leadership for Learning through interactive learning opportunities.
This unit adopts the principles of LfL within its curriculum and pedagogy: creating the conditions for learning at a pace, time, and level of interaction of your own choosing.
You will have opportunities for discussing and sharing ideas about your learning and the learning experience.
LfL is not something that can be implemented or done-to a school or imposed on a person. LfL provides a framework that creates an opportunity for change; for expanding leadership capacity in schools and improving the quality of learning.
What is LfL? Introduction to LfL: It's all around
Leadership for learning is happening all around you.
If you know what to look for you will see elements of LfL in classrooms and schools, in your own community, and even in the setting in which you might be working through this unit!
You may be wondering, “If Leadership for Learning is all around me already, why am I doing this unit?” Well … the short answer is that even though the LfL principles describe common attributes of many classrooms and whole schools, they are not present, coordinated or sustained at levels that support consistently positive learning effects.
Objectives
The objectives of this session are to:
- Explore a metaphor for describing how we can start to ‘see’ Leadership for Learning in classrooms and schools
- Identify and explore the 5 LfL principles
- Watch a teacher in action, and see if some or all of the 5 LfL principles can be identified.
Practical: Seeing is believing
Let’s start by considering a few ideas about LfL, its 5 principles, and how we might observe and identify these in classrooms and schools.
We like to think about ‘seeing’ the LfL principles by using what we have come to call an ‘LfL Lens’ or set of ‘LfL Lenses’. What do we mean by lens? We use a familiar image of spectacles or glasses to depict or serve as a useful metaphor for clarifying what we mean by an LfL Lens.
Stimulus (11 min). What do you think we mean by an LfL lens as illustrated by the spectacles or glasses metaphor?
Pedagogy: Think, Pair, Share
THINK: Suggest each person works independently for 1 minute and identifies/thinks of 1 -3 responses/contributions. Participants make a note of each (mentally, or preferably, written down to support recall and reference).
PAIR: In pairs, participants discuss and compare ideas.
SHARE: The whole group comes together, with each pair contributing one or two ideas from their discussion.
Sample responses: “It helps you see things differently”, “An LfL lens makes you focus on LfL”, “It’s a way of describing how we look at the world differently depending on our attention or interests.”
Practical: The five lenses
Let’s take our metaphor of the LfL lens a step further, and suggest that there are 5 different LfL lenses (spectacles) needed in order to ‘see’ all 5 LfL principles:
- Focus on learning
- Conditions for learning
- Learning Dialogue
- Shared Leadership
- Shared Accountability
Consider the 5 LfL Lens and their usefulness for focusing on learning practices.
- What are the kinds of things you might see in a classroom if you were looking through the LfL lens ‘Focus on Learning’?
- What are the kinds of things you might see in a classroom if you were looking through the LfL lens ‘Conditions for Learning’?
- What are the kinds of things you might see in a classroom if you were looking through the LfL lens ‘Learning Dialogue’?
- What are the kinds of things you might see in a classroom if you were looking through the LfL lens ‘Shared Leadership?
- What are the kinds of things you might see in a classroom if you were looking through the LfL lens ‘Shared Accountability’?
You can use the following background reading to help you understand these terms.
Pedagogy: Jigsaw (or small group plenary) - creating and sharing 'expert' knowledge.
Extending the lens metaphor from the previous exercise, create five groups each focusing on one LfL principle to discuss “what are the kinds of things you might see…”. Either jigsaw, creating new groups with 'expert' envoys from each of five LfL principle groups, Or representatives from each group share with everyone in plenary. Identify natural overlaps and links across the 5 LfL principles and re-direct new questions back to the group for elaboration. This is a purely exploratory exercise, with no incorrect answers.
Use the background reading to explain the terms.
Focus on Learning
- Everyone is a learner
- Learning relies on the effective interplay of social, emotional and cognitive processes
- The efficacy of learning is highly sensitive to context and to the differing ways in which people learn
- The capacity for leadership arises out of powerful learning experiences
- Opportunities for leadership enhance learning
Conditions for Learning
- Cultures nurture the learning of everyone
- Everyone has opportunities to reflect on the nature, skills and processes of learning
- Physical and social spaces stimulate and celebrate learning
- Safe and secure environments enable everyone to take risks, cope with failure and respond positively to challenges
- Tools and strategies are used to enhance thinking about learning and the practice of teaching
Learning Dialogue
- Practice made explicit, discussable and transferable
- Active, collegial inquiry focussing on the link between learning and leadership
- Coherence through sharing of values, understandings and practices
- Factors that inhibit and promote learning are examined and addressed
- Link between leadership and learning is a concern for everyone
- Different perspectives explored through networking with researchers and practitioners
Shared Leadership
- Structures support participation in developing learning communities
- Shared leadership symbolised in day-to-day flow of activities
- Everyone encouraged to take a lead as appropriate to task and context
- Everyone’s experience and expertise is valued and drawn upon as resources
- Collaborative activity across boundaries of subject, role and status are valued and promoted
Mutual Accountability
- Systematic approach to self-evaluation embedded at every level
- Focus on evidence and its congruence with core values
- Shared approach to internal accountability is a precondition of external accountability
- National policies recast in accordance with school's core values
- Choosing how to tell own story while taking account of political realities
- Continuing focus on sustainability, succession and leaving a legacy
Thinking ahead, you are probably already wondering why we don’t simply put all the LfL lenses together, in one! This way we could see all the 5 LfL principles at once in classrooms and schools.
Consider the Figure above.
- What do you think might be the benefits of combining all LfL lenses into one?
- What do you think could be the drawbacks of looking at classrooms and schools with a single, combined lens?
Pedagogy: Debate preceded by snowballing and prioritisation.
SNOWBALL AND PRIORITISATION: Firstly create two groups, one considering the ‘benefits’ and the other the ‘drawbacks’ of looking at practice through a single combined lens.
In each group the process proceeds in stages: people first work independently, then in pairs, then two pairs join to create a four, then two fours join to create an eight and so on, until each of the two groups has ‘snowballed’ together.
At each stage, the task is: (a) to think about the benefits or drawbacks (depending which half of the whole group) of looking at practice through a single combined lens, and (b) to prioritise them into the top five items. Prioritisation should be achieved through dialogue to reach consensus. Once the snowball has brought together everyone considering each of the aspects (benefits / drawbacks), only three items should be prioritised.
DEBATE: Each half-group considers their agreed top three items and draws together the arguments for each point in preparation for the debate. Moderate a turn-by-turn debate about the benefits and drawbacks of observing/reviewing classrooms and schools through a single, combined lens.
Sample responses: Participants will understand that there are benefits of focussing on one thing (one LfL principle) at a time: “Focusing on one of the 5 LfL principles really helps to identify the specifics of practice”. Participants will also acknowledge that people, classrooms, and schools are complex, and begin to recognise that the LfL principles don’t naturally occur in isolation of the others. A global view is also an essential component of observing the effects of practices in action.
Application of LfL lenses to a classroom situation
Let’s try putting this idea of looking at classroom teaching and learning through an LfL lens into practice.
We are going to watch a short teaching/classroom video.
Before we do, choose only 1 LfL lens that you will use as your ‘critical lens’ to ‘see’ the practices in this classroom. By choosing your 1 LfL lens, you should only ‘see’ and note down those things that your lens helps you to focus on.
For example, if you choose, ‘Conditions for Learning’, then try looking only for those things that you believe contribute to promoting conditions for learning in the video.
It is helpful if different participants choose different lenses so at least 2 are represented.
Pedagogy: ‘Table mats’ to record observation and reflection (2s or 3s)
Invite participants to work in 2s or 3s, and prepare a ‘table mat’ for recording. Each group has a large piece of paper, in the middle of which they draw a quadrant (if pairs) or a triangle (if 3s) big enough to record the outcomes of the group discussion. Divide the outside area of the paper into half or third (to match the group size).
Agree which LfL principle each group will adopt as their critical lens for watching the video.
As they watch the video, participants make notes in their outside area of the table mat.
After watching, participants share their observations and reflections, and together agree the salient points of the lesson from the perspective of their chosen LfL principle to record in the central area of the table mat.
Emphasise that there are no wrong answers, and groups should try their best to focus their attention using their chosen LfL lens.
Extension: The table mats could be collected and displayed for whole group, firstly comparing any that focused on the same LfL principle, then comparing those that used differing lenses. Exploration of the similarities and differences is likely to reinforce the understanding that using a single lens brings specific aspects of a lesson into sharper focus, and that the five principles are interrelated and overlap.
OK, watch the video now, wearing your chosen LfL spectacles!
VIDEO
Is a bat a bird?
Is a bat a bird?
[[]], Template:Fullurl:, Duration: 4:18
Whole group discussion (11 min).
- Was there a supportive environment for pupil participation and dialogue in this lesson? If so, how did the teacher achieve this?
- How did she help pupils to work out whether the bat was a mammal? Did this discussion move their thinking forward?
- What did you think about teacher control and pupil learning in this video clip?
- How would you manage something similar in your classroom? How would you encourage pupil talk without losing too much control?
LfL across the OER4schools programme
LfL is not only an effective framework for exploring others teaching and learning, it is also very useful for reflecting upon your own learning pathways. Consider all of what you have learned in the sessions leading up to this point in the programme. Did your workshop facilitator and/or the materials ‘focus on learning’, create the ‘conditions for learning’, promote and enable ‘learning dialogue’, provide opportunities for ‘shared leadership’ and ‘mutual accountability’?
Also, using the 5 principles, why not consider evaluating yourself, your own involvement and contribution to increasing the learning capacity throughout the programme for you and your colleagues?
LfL is an effective way thinking about your learning, the learning around you, and how you can go about improving learning capacity.
Reflecting and Sharing your Learning
You now understand that LfL is all about learning. It is about seeing the component parts that contribute to creating learning and leadership opportunities in classrooms, schools and communities.
By seeing things differently, through the 5 LfL lenses (or all at once with a combined lens when you are ready to give it a try) we are better able to understand what it is we do as practitioners in support of the activity of learning.
It is through knowledge and insights of the leadership for learning principles that we are able to reflect upon and share our experiences and understandings with our colleagues.
Practice using the LfL lenses when you are back in your own settings, or even when you are watching others in the act of teaching and learning.
HOMEWORK
1. Take time to think about the course, your own learning and how you both contributed to and were supported in your learning. Use the LfL framework to organize your mental and audio reflections, enabling you to return to our next session with 5 categories that will help you shape your discussion with your peers.
2. Please undertake a 30-minute peer observation, where you explore aspects of a colleague’s principles and practices using the LfL lenses. You can choose to use just one lens, or more than one – whichever you feel is most appropriate for the exercise. We suggest that if you use more than one lens, that you configure your notes in sections – perhaps even dividing your note taking paper into labelled, headed sections prior to the observation. That way you can jot down elements you observe under each heading in your prepared framework.
We won’t be surprised if you report back that certain LfL headings are observed more often than others. If you find this to be true, consider proposing an explanation for this to your colleagues at our next session and what you might suggest we can learn from your findings.
Acknowledgement
This page was authored primarily by Stephen Jull, drawing on collaborative work with Sue Swaffield and John MacBeath of the Centre for Commonwealth Education, University of Cambridge.
