Week 29: Law and Ethics in Teaching

As a teacher with over 20 years experience, there have many many changes since I first began teaching, many related to the introduction of the Internet to our lives and all the extra requirements that come with that (such as the amount of time spent replying to emails). The other big difference is the emphasis on testing, goal setting, and individual education plans.

In my experience, my workload is much larger than it was when I first started teaching. I feel that the above reasons have had an enormous impact on teachers' workloads. I know that I can't compare across schools, but looking at my current school, the workload is increasing yearly, as new ideas are implemented, but very little is taken away from the expectations/requirements.

As a teacher, I feel more and more stressed, and more and more disillusioned about a career I chose out of passion. I have loved teaching, and I still do, but now I feel like an administrator who does some teaching on the side. Colleagues from other schools tell me that they feel the same way.

What are the outcomes for me?

• I feel like a terrible mother and wife - I put my family on the backburner to my deadlines.
• I'm not as fit and healthy as I'd like to be.
• I have no hobbies as any spare time is spent working.

CC: https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewleddy/5540168094

The ethical dilemma for me is the question of whether it is right for schools to demand so much from their teachers, that in order for them to meet the requirements, they are unable to have a balanced life away from work.

Employment New Zealand defines this balance as, "Work-life balance is about effectively managing the juggling act between paid work and the other activities that are important to people. It's about work not completely crowding out the other things that matter to people like time with family, participation in community activities, voluntary work, personal development, leisure and recreation. It is sometimes called working flexibly."

As teachers, should we expect to have a work-life balance? Article 24 of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights says that, "Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay." (n.d.) Although our collective contract enshrines our right to limited work hours, our workplaces demand more of us, and in my experience, teachers who work fewer hours, to have a balance are often seen as 'lazy' and are discriminated against.

Is the issue addressed in either the current or draft NZ Code of Ethics? No. The emphases are placed on the students, their whānau and the schools - there is nothing to address the physical and mental health of teachers.

NZCER Chief Researcher Dr Cathy Wylie wonders if a threshold has been reached and teachers can’t physically sustain working more hours, week in, week out, and manage other commitments such as study and family. “Teaching is very intensive work.” (Blaikie, 2016, para. 32)

When I have raised the workload issue with senior leaders, I have been made to feel that I can't cope, that I'm not professional enough and that I'm a complainer. I believe that this has contributed to my missing out on promotions.

In March this year, Amesbury School's Principal, Lesley Murrihy, wrote that teaching is propped up by the goodwill and sacrifice of its workers. I believe she is right when she describes teaching as a straw house that will fall down if we don't take care of our teachers, reducing stress and increasing their work-life balance.

For me, without a change, I will be finding a way to teach that doesn't leech away my physical and mental health.

References

Blaikie, J. (2016, July 14). Workload: The Problem is the Problem (not you). Retrieved from http://www.ea.org.nz/workload-the-problem-is-the-problem/

Education Council. (2017 draft). Draft Code of Professional Responsibility and Standards for the Teaching Profession. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/sites/default/files/Our%20Code%20Our%20Standards.pdf

Education Council. (n.d). The Education Council Code of Ethics for Certificated Teachers. Retrieved from https://educationcouncil.org.nz/content/code-of-et…

Murrihy, L. (2017, March 15). A Sustainable Future in Education. Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/sustainable-future-education-lesley-murrihy

Starting employment. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from https://www.employment.govt.nz/workplace-policies/productive-workplaces/work-life-balance/

Universal Declaration of Human Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved June 17, 2017, from http://www.un.org/en/universal-declaration-human-rights/

uLearn Keynote 4: Karen Spencer

Blog post copied below

“One should never bring a knife to a gun fight, nor a cookie cutter to a complex adaptive system.” — Jarche, (2013)

Educators are designers of learning. Architects of experiences. Creators of discovery. We spend our careers searching for the best way to solve the wonderful problem of how to help young people learn and grow and thrive. It is second nature to seek solutions and to do so at a fair clip! Building planes while they fly is our speciality.

And therein lies the fundamental conundrum for the modern educator.

For what we are increasingly coming to understand, through contemporary educational research related to learner-centred experiences, is that there are no swift solutions, no silver bullets and no quick fix solutions.

And there never will be.

Darn it.

To be adaptive is ‘future-focused’

Gilbert and Bull (2015) remind us that if we want to create learner-responsive experiences, and also foster flexibility and ‘processing power’ so our young people can generate their own solutions, we also need to be ready to work in this way; “a future-oriented education system must be led by teachers who are adaptive, intellectual adults, not “consumers” of ideas, or followers of models and templates developed by others” (p. 3).

The ability to adapt our expertise is one of the capabilities that defines educational fluency. Such educators “tend to spend a greater proportion of their solution time trying to understand the problem to be solved as opposed to trying out different solutions” (Hattie, 2011, p. 6).

As educators, when we identify unexpected anomalies in our data or when we hear that something is not working, we rush to solve the problem with what we believe is our best solution. It is likely to be based on our own considerable experience — and the best will in the world.

Even when we know that we do this, we still find ourselves falling back to solution-seeking. It is challenging when we are surrounded by stories of other educators who appear to have found the solution (particularly the answer to ‘the future’!). In a recent professional session with a large group of principals, we identified a plethora of ‘solutions’ happening across our schools – coding, open classrooms, inquiry learning, BYOD, beanbags – all introduced with the absolute best of intentions, based on what we could see others doing across the sector.

Think ‘theories’, not ‘solutions’

And yet — what we must remind ourselves continually is that each and every one of these ideas is just a theory, an informed idea based on our own experiences and the experiences of others.  But because education – indeed, knowledge itself –  is mutable and complex, we must hold these ideas lightly, understand that what worked today may not work tomorrow, what worked for one school or student may not work for us. The minute we become wedded to a certain idea, we fail to adapt to the urgent and changing needs in our community.

As professionals it is important to not only hold ideas lightly – but hold the line around what is most likely to make a difference for our own learners and their communities. We need to adopt a robust approach to innovation and inquiry so that the introduction of new ideas is done in ways that help us stay curious about their impact. This approach might be termed ‘adaptive design’ (Bernstein & Linsky, 2016) and it offers us a way to combine deep, rigorous change leadership and innovative design processes.

So, I offer the following five notions as a way to help us all hold our ideas lightly:

1. Future focused ‘solutions’ are just someone else’s good idea

Behind every intervention is a theory of change – and that theory is “just a set of ideas about what is leading to what” (Timperley, 2011). These may often be based on years of research, but not always. It is our responsibility to understand why we think an approach will make a difference based what underpins it. Just because someone else is talking ‘growth mindset’ or ‘collaborative spaces’ doesn’t mean this will automatically suit the needs of the learners in our own community

2. Strive for an ambitious curriculum

Our curriculum documents in Aotearoa – the New Zealand Curriculum, Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and Te Whāriki – all offer excellent starting points for driving innovation. Comparison with OECD reports (such as The Nature of Learning, 2010) that have been published since these curricula were introduced only serve to highlight that our national guidelines are still world-leading in the way they offer us permission to innovate learning.  ERO has highlighted that our challenge now is to focus on ensuring that the future focused values and vision intended by the curriculum documents drip off the walls for our learners every day (ERO, 2016).

3. Innovate from an informed position

How can we resist jumping to conclusions about what we ‘believe’ will work? Crucially, we must remember that these beliefs drive our actions. So, learning conversations that are structured to resist making assumptions and invite views from all involved parties are vital. Double loop learning and Model 2 (Argyris and Schon, 1978) approaches can be useful to guide these co-constructed conversations.

It is useful to think of achievement or attendance data as a ‘canary in the coalmine’, offering just a first glimpse at where we might focus our attentions. Having everyone look across data, without prejudice, can serve to invite multiple theories to the table, as well as make biases visible.

For example, a Community of Learning that has identified an issue in numeracy could look to any number of theories of change to address the issue – do we change the maths curriculum? provide professional learning for teachers? introduce a ‘growth mindset’ approach to learning conversations? clarify learning goals?….each one may work – so a collaborative, co-constructed review drawing on research and expertise is needed to settle on which approach(es) might work best.

4. Define your strong signals

It is well known that we seek to find evidence to prove our strongly held values and beliefs. This ‘confirmation bias’ means that not only do we tend to read data in a certain way but we jump to solutions that reflect our own experiences and view – and then look for proof that they have worked!  How often have we inquired into our practice only to emerge convinced that what we have tried was successful? How do we know if an idea is working for our learners?

Before we test or pilot any new idea, sit down with colleagues, look at the research behind the idea and decide on two-three ‘strong signals’ that are most likely to indicate that our idea is effective. These strong signals will add a rigor to the introduction of initiatives and invite you to stay curious about your impact, to not become too wedded to an idea that might not be working.

At the heart of these signals should be what our learners are telling us. Let’s move on from ‘student voice’ as something to be done occasionally – and shift into a partnership space with young people and their communities so we can continuously strive to understand and empathise with what is or is not working for them. Test together.

5. Test lightly and collaboratively

Be courageous. Prepare to give up and walk away from interventions that are not working for your learners or fail to realise the school vision. It is useful to remember that our long held theories about ‘what works’ are definitely incomplete and possibly wrong!

Be guided by your strong signals and move through cycles of inquiry swiftly. Hold those ideas lightly and work together to innovate with rigour and curiosity.

Video Karen used:

My World My View - Long Version 

Promoting and assessing value creation in communities and networks:a conceptual framework

Global competency for an inclusive world

uLearn Breakout 6: Enhancing thought-full classroom dialogue - Karen Boyes

1. Classroom Environment - how we set up our classroom and what goes on in it.

The fear of failure is driving most students. In NZ, students can also be scared of success (tall poppy syndrome).

Tri-Une Brain (three in one brain)

Develops in order (red, blue, and then green)
We also react to things in that order (1st panic, then reason). Can happen in reverse (eg unlocking your front door when the phone rings inside - suddenly panic and you fall apart trying to unlock the door).

25yrs old is when empathy develops (also
deteriorates with age).


Turning fear into fun - students who laugh more, lern more, Dr David Sousa.

If students take risks, thank them for taking the risk (whether right or wrong). Don't play 'guess the answer in the teacher's head'. Too stressful for students. When everyoe tries, say 'thank you' to each of them. Even after you've had the right answer, keep going, then when they've stopped say, 'let's go back an look at...' (with the answer you wanted).

2. Teacher Technique

Managing impulsivity (getting students to think before the event/answering).

Wait time:
The average teacher waits one second afte asking a question - not long enough to think. After one second, the teacher either calls on a student, moves on to another question or answers it themselves. Recommendation is to wait 8 - 10 seconds. Think, pair, share is good here.

3. Listening Sequence

Pause
Paraphrase
Probe
    - Inquire
    - Clarify

In activity, the music was put on loud - it made it harder to concentrate. We needed to adjust how we spoke (leaning forward, raising our voices, gestures, looking at the person); we need to teach students those strategies.

4. The Power of Langauge

Be aware of language - when we use good vocab, students use great language too.

Labeling thinking skills and processes (eg what is the meaning of compare and contrast (a lot of students don't know the differnce between the two words).

Teach the thingking words in from the curriculum document (eg verify, observe etc)

5. Thinking (metacognition): monitoring our thinking

Think Aloud Problem Solving:


6. Questioning and Problem Posing

Test for Mensa gets changed ever 10 years, because peope are becoming more intelligent

Questioning with intention

Unproductive questions:
seek verification,
are closed,
are rhetorical questions,
are defensive (why didn't you complete your homework?),
agreement questions

Productive questions:
Invitational questions (women lover tone, men quieten)
Plurals (eg. What are some of your goals? - easier to answer than what is one of your goals?)
Tentatives - what might be some factors that would cause....? What could...? What hunches....
Invitational stems - given what you know about....
Limiting presuppositions - why were you unsuccessful (assumes that you were unsuccessful)
Empowering presuppositions

Compose a question intended to invite thoughtful dialogue about a topic you may be teaching next week...
Criteria:
Invitation stems
Plurals
Tentative language
+ve presuppositions

As you reflect on this year, what are some of the ways you could approve your Berkley experience?

Tutor Teacher Course Pt 2: Twilight Session

What?

A neat book to remind us about perspectives.

Available at The Book Depository






Beginning Discussion:
Thinking about the learning with our PCTs
Share successes and celebrations since our last workshop - why did these happen? What made them become celebrations/successes.

Real growth in their confidence.

Conversations

Difficult...

When others believe we are working for mutual purpose, that we care about their goals, interests, and values, then we have the basis for good dialogue.

Find a shared goal and you have both a good reason and a healthy climate for talking.

Patterson, Grenny, McMillan

Conversations that are tough, difficult, fierce, tricky, hard, stressful?

Those adjectives can make it worse than it needs to be. We're setting ourselves up into a negative headspace before hand.

Instead, call it an 'important' conversation.

"If it's important, then it's important to have the conversation" Joan Dalton

Positive...

Using Evidence and being specific:
I noticed...
I watched...
I noted...
I observed...
I saw...
I heard...

These are evidence-based

NOT: I think... because it is judgement

So What?

Tal

What now?

Talk to Hayley about my busyness.  Tell her to come to me when she needs something - just plonk herself in my classroom.

Course: Tutor Teachers as Mentors

Facilitator: Sharon Ross
Literary Consultant
sross985@gmail.com

What?




P 06: The impact of  teacher's practice on ākonga learning, achievement, and well-being is central to the appraisal process.

Overarching statements

1. Teachers play a critical role in enabling the educational achievement of all ākonga/ learners 1.
2. The Treaty of Waitangi extends equal status and rights to Māori and Pākehā. This places a particular responsibility on all teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand to promote equitable learning outcomes.
3. In an increasingly multi-cultural Aotearoa New Zealand, teachers need to be aware of and respect the languages, heritages and cultures of all ākonga.
4. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the Code of Ethics / Ngā Tikanga Matatika commits certificated teachers to the highest standards of professional service in promoting the learning of those they teach

Information for all teachers to refer to about the teacher standards:

Name change:
Provisionally Certified Teachers (PCTs)

Roles and Requirements of Mentor Teachers:

Pages 17 and 18 of Guidelines of Induction and Mentoring and Mentor Teachers above.

Includes professional and personal roles.  This may include using data gathered and also personal support such as 'maintain their enthusiasm'.

Support and Guidance:

Suited to your PCT's needs. Discussed on pages 25 & 26 of Guidelines of Induction and Mentoring and Mentor Teachers above. 

Page 10 of A Mentor Teacher Guide gives tips for meeting with mentored teachers.  Good ideas for recognising success and rewarding improvements in practice.  Page 11 gives guidelines for how t support a mentored teacher.

The book also has some examples of observation sheets that could be used.





Observations:

I liked these questions because they will be good for H when I'm working with her, but also good for me to think about when I'm writing feedback from observations.

After observations, give them your feedback and make a time to discuss it (within 24 hours). There is an observation feedback sheet on p.22 of A Mentor Teacher Guide.

"Allow the mentored teacher to start the follow-up discussion. What did they think went well? Do they agree with your feedback? What do they think are the next steps for them as a teacher and for their students? What feedback was particularly important for them? Why?

Setting up successful observations is straightforward, but it does require preplanning (to contract the purpose of the observation) and follow up.

Effective feedback: 

• "Affirms, informs, and guides future learning (ELP 2003 p. 84 or ELP 2006 p.86)
• Constructive
• Based on evidence - data, planning, ....
• "Causes thinking to occur" - William
• Keep as evidence

Be aware of the support required:
Sometimes it is enough for the mentor to be available. At other times it may be necessary to explicitly explain a process, step by step.

Keeping records:
Guidelines for induction and Mentoring (above) p.10
Preactising Teacher Criteria (above) p.07
A Metor Teacher Guide (Deirdre Senior) p.09

Online support/examples of record keeping:

• http://traintheteacher.me/graduating-teacher-standards-e-portfolio/ (click on 'here' at the end)
• https://sites.google.com/site/rtcacoltham/
• https://sites.google.com/site/nzteacherreflections/home
• http://elearning.tki.org.nz/Professional-learning/Practising-Teacher-Criteria-and-e-learning

Induction and Mentoring in your setting - an analysis of needs:

So what?

For me, the biggest point was validation - for the first term, much of H's release time was spent fighting fires - meeting testing and camp requirements.  I was feeling like I hadn't spent enough time doing observations. However, during this workshop, I came to realise that that was okay.  H was burdened by a huge testing regime and needed to complete a lot of camp preparations.  Now that those things are done, I can turn my attention to a programme of mentoring.

What now?

I need to work out H's release times and look at her goals so we can plan a mentoring programme that will meet her needs.

What?

Yesterday when I was walking the dog, I read this sign properly for the first time. I really liked the Whakatauki (proverb) at the bottom.

Tou rourou, toku rourou, ka ora te Iwi

With your contribution, and my contribution, we will thrive

This sums up teaching for me beautifully.  The end 'product' of education should be a well-rounded person, who is happily contributing to society.  I believe that nobody can achieve this on their own; that to thrive, a student needs support from a variety of sources, including:

• Parents 
• Teachers
• Siblings
• Wider family
• School
• Peers
• Other teachers across the school
• Sports coaches
• Music Teachers
• Community group leaders
• Tutors
• Society as a whole

And not to be forgotten: The STUDENT themselves

Although not exhaustive, this list serves to remind us the role we play in a student's upbringing. 

So what?

Although the role of a teacher is extremely important, we need to remember that we are a cog in a giant wheel.  The importance of the teacher's role will change depending on the student's background and the quality of their support network.

And me?

What does this mean for me...not only will I need to take into account a student's background, but I also will need to ensure that I keep in close contact with students' families. All students' cultures will be important too, as the support they will be receiving will often be influenced by their background.

Warm Fuzzies

What?

Every now and then something happens which makes us feel valued, which is a wonderful feeling.  I am feeling exhausted today, but I've just received this email from Greta Dromgool (our science teacher, who is on leave for two terms), and it felt really good.

"Hi Kathryn,

I hope that I have conveyed this in some small way already, but I would like you to know how thankful I am for the work you have done to support Science at Berkley. Thank you for keeping an eye out for the wonderful Rochelle, for all your many, many hours ensuring Science Fair was a success (and wasn't it just!), and all the times you have shown enthusiasm in meetings, or replying to my emails.

Looking forward to working with you again next year.

Greta"

So what?

This has shown me the power of well-chosen and well-timed words.  I often think appreciative thoughts of people, but often the time comes and goes in busyness and they get forgotten.  What I have learned from Greta is that it is important to share this appreciation with others. Just like it did for me, I may provide someone for support, just when they need it.

Class Twitter Account

Today I read this blog post.  It made a lot of sense to me.  Up to this point, I have been using Twitter as a place to keep up to date on teaching happenings and finding articles to read for my professional learning development.  This article has shown me about the usefulness of having a class twitter account. This year is nearing its end, so I will set up a new twitter account to start next year with for my new class.