Principles of Learning and Teaching – Case Studies

Geelong Midlands Cluster - PoLT Action Plan

The Geelong-Midlands Cluster is a Phase 3 Schools for Innovations and Excellence cluster; Robyn Anderson was appointed as cluster educator at the beginning of 2005.

What is PoLT?

At the beginning of 2005 the newly formed cluster decided to introduce the Principles of Learning and Teaching P-12 (PoLT). The cluster educator and most Principals attended the regional PoLT information sessions. The challenge would be to use the training and information provided to schools to implement PoLT in our cluster.

The cluster was fortunate to have a member who had participated in the PoLT trials in 2004 and had an understanding of the process, of unpacking the Principles, component mapping and subsequent professional development modules. It was decided that since the PoLT process would be used as a major component of the cluster reform and data collection, that all middle years teachers would be component mapped and all middle years students would be surveyed.

Who was trained

Our cluster consists of one secondary and six primary schools with some of the primary schools being quite small. Initially we planned to train one teacher from each cluster school, for that person to be the PoLT coordinator and to assist in the component mapping and professional development delivery. This was impractical for the smaller schools, particularly those having only one middle years teacher. The decision was therefore made to train a core team of middle years coordinators, one from the each of the two larger primary schools and two from the secondary college, and the cluster educator. The middle years coordinators from each school would assume the role of PoLT coordinator for their school.

A major focus of the program was introducing PoLT to teachers and using the Principles as a lever for pedagogical improvement. The PoLT team ran an introductory session for all the staff in each cluster school to explain the Principles, the PoLT process, and to enlist volunteers to participate in the program.

What is component mapping? How did we do it?

Component mapping is a reflective process designed to build a profile of each teacher's practice. It involves a 45 minute discussion between the coordinator and the teacher to identify a position on each component of the Principles that best describes the teacher's practice. The aggregated data from the component mapping enables the PoLT coordinator to build up a picture of what is happening across the school, identify the staff expertise and knowledge they can draw on and pinpoint areas of general need.

As the year progressed and understanding of PoLT grew, several schools decided to undertake the component mapping process with their whole staff rather than just the middle years teams.

The trained PoLT coordinators and cluster educator component mapped over 60 teachers. Cluster funded time release was given for this process, however, many teachers opted to do the component mapping interview in their preparation time. At the beginning of each interview the process and the privacy of the information collected were explained in great detail and permission was sought before the interview continued. The coordinators were specifically trained in this process to ensure it was confidential, non-judgemental and that we had a shared understanding of the Principles and their components

Student surveys were conducted by the PoLT coordinator in each school using both the "PoLT Student Perceptions Survey" and the "PoLT Student Learning Survey." We found the surveys were not appropriate for P-2 students.

What did we do with the data?

The component mapping process and student surveys generated a great deal of data. The cluster educator set up and maintained central files for all the data. The teacher component mapping data was entered by the cluster educator only for security of privacy, whilst student data was entered by several means; the cluster educator, some school PoLT coordinators and an administrative support person employed by the cluster for two days.

Files were created for each school with each teacher's component mapping data appearing as a separate sheet within that file. Student perceptions data was compiled as a file for each teacher. Graphs were made clearer by including descriptors on the axes. Whole school and cluster graphs were also produced.

Individual teacher graphs along with their class graphs were produced by the cluster educator, sealed in envelopes and distributed directly to the teachers.

But what do these graphs mean?

Data analysis sessions were run by the cluster educator and PoLT coordinators for staff in each school. The whole school data was analysed in these sessions, which then flowed on as an example for teachers to interpret their own results. Teachers had the opportunity to ask questions about their own data discreetly either at these meetings or at a later stage.

These data analysis sessions were used to identify strengths, areas for improvement and differences in perceptions between teachers and students on particular components. The emphasis in these discussions was always that these results were perceptions and should be interpreted as such, which seemed to allay teachers' concerns. A question matrix (Word - 31Kb) was used as a framework for the analysis and discussion.

So how did we change our practice?

The analysis of the data in each school gave the PoLT team the information required to draft a cluster action plan at Day 3 of training, which was subsequently customised and endorsed at each school. Of the six Principles, our cluster identified Principles 2 and 5 as priorities, starting with Principle 1 as a basis for the other Principles.

During the 2 days of PoLT professional development (PD) training the team was able to plan for the delivery of the PD modules. It was decided to deliver Module 1 (Principle 1) to each school individually and then focus on continuing this through action research. Principles 2 and 5 would be delivered cross-cluster at a later stage, (in reality this may be 2006). The PD session for Principle 1 included a discussion of what Principle 1 was about and what it meant to teachers and students within their classrooms. It then continued to investigate what aspects of the principle teachers felt they did well and what could be improved.

Teachers were then introduced to the idea of action research. Action research is a form of self-reflective systematic inquiry by teachers on their own practice. Using the techniques of research, teachers draft questions, collect data, analyse data, and act on what they learn. It is a cyclic or spiral process which alternates between action and critical reflection.

Teachers in the cluster drafted inquiry questions and planned a project based on Principle 1 which would be completed by the end of the year. In subsequent sessions strategies were developed to investigate, inform and support the individual action research projects.

So what have we learnt?

Certainly PoLT has provided a common language of pedagogy. Many teachers have claimed that the content of the principles and their components "contain nothing new, but what's new is that it's written down". When teachers examine the principles and associated components they readily identify them as good practice.

PoLT has provided a framework and language base from which the cluster can plan pedagogical reform. Bell Park North Primary School has incorporated principles as a framework for their performance and development process and professional learning plans. They have also reinforced for teachers the difference and relationship between pedagogy and content which has been particularly relevant as teachers have begun working with the Victorian Essential Learning Standards.

The PoLT information and PD sessions have included much discussion on what each principle means and how it can be applied in the classroom. These discussions have proved to be very stimulating and productive, reinforcing that the journey is just as important as the destination.

Appendices

• Question matrix (Word - 31Kb)
• Action plan- work in progress (PDF - 202Kb)
• Action Research Plan (PDF - 26Kb)

Want to know more?

Robyn Anderson
Cluster Educator, Geelong Midlands Cluster
Email: anderson.robyn.m@edumail.vic.gov.au