Continuing Professional Development: Innovative Practice in a Context of Tumult and Constraint...
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Continuing Professional Development: Innovative Practice in a Context of Tumult and Constraint Teacher Education Advancement Network Day Special Educational Needs: Changing Perspectives 13 th January 2012 Christopher Robertson
Continuing Professional Development: Innovative Practice in a Context of Tumult and Constraint Teacher Education Advancement Network Day Special Educational
Continuing Professional Development: Innovative Practice in a
Context of Tumult and Constraint Teacher Education Advancement
Network Day Special Educational Needs: Changing Perspectives 13 th
January 2012 Christopher Robertson
Slide 2
Outline I will refer to practice that is based on some of my
direct recent experience and that of schools, teachers and local
authority services I work with. In doing this I want to highlight
the value of collaborative practice. Exemplification will focus on
continuing professional development (to avoid overlap with other
presenters from the University of Cumbria and the excellent
practice they will comment on). I will include some grit in the
presentation to reflect the context in which continuing
professional development takes place.
Slide 3
Inclusion: a retrospective We have got on to slippery ice where
there is no friction and so in a certain sense the conditions are
ideal, but also, just because of that we are unable to walk. We
want to walk: so we need friction. Back to the rough ground! Ludwig
Wittgenstein
Slide 4
Inclusion: a radical overhaul? We are like sailors who on the
open sea must reconstruct their ship but are never able to start
afresh from the bottom. Where a beam is taken away a new one must
at once be put there, and for this the rest of the ship is used as
support. In this way, by using the old beams and driftwood the ship
can be shaped entirely anew, but only by gradual reconstruction.
Otto Neurath
Slide 5
Theory Henri Lefebvre in The Production of Space argues that
space [e.g. the space in which schooling takes place] is a social
product, or a complex social construction based on values, and the
social production of meanings - which affects social practices and
perceptions. Lefebvres argument implies the shift of the research
perspective from space to processes of its production; the embrace
of the multiplicity of spaces that are socially produced and made
productive in social practices; and the focus on the contradictory,
conflictual, and, ultimately political character of the processes
of production of space. [The space in which continuing professional
development is produced] The social production of space is
commanded by a hegemonic class as a tool to reproduce its
dominance.
Slide 6
Change is in the air and on the ground* Ideological change
Inclusive education policy Broader education policy and the concept
of autonomous schools Parents as choice makers and in control
Front-line services Voluntary and community sector (VCS)
involvement, leading or selling... Economic change * Reference here
is to change in England
Slide 7
This word cloud offers a visual representation of the main
themes of the SEN Green Paper. The larger the word, the more
heavily it features Inclusive education?
Slide 8
Living in interesting times Fast forward... 6 months, 3 years
navigating... without a map
Slide 9
Exemplification 1: Government funded SENCO CPD Partnerships
that are genuinely collaborative involving local authority (LA)
advisory service personnel, the university and schools: planning,
teaching and learning, monitoring, reviewing and evaluating (micro,
meso, macro perspectives) Face-to-face teaching and learning
(alongside blended/online activities) with time and space to work
with - and learn from - peers in the same professional role
(consistently well evaluated), acknowledging professional isolation
and context specific concerns (e.g. no time to carry out SENCO
duties) Working with joint cohorts from neighbouring LAs (with
different policy and organisation of provision)
Slide 10
Government funded SENCO CPD (continued..) Reflecting on and
critically appraising policy and practice, in relation to, for
example the over identification of needs narrative the end of
individual education plans the deployment of teaching assistants
whispers loosely based on research (cascade / dissemination)
Achievement for All as a good value project purchase or commonsense
approach Reflective writing as a counterbalance to an outcomes
focused and potentially prescriptive programme of study
(assignment) Development projects* that are personally meaningful,
professionally relevant and shared with peers (assignment) *need to
know > readiness > problem centred > with a balance of
internal and external motivators
Slide 11
Exemplification 2: Networked learning and support The
SENCO-Forum e-discussion group providing rapid response help and
advice in real time and the real world (I need to do a presentation
at the staff meeting on Thursday about provision management help
wanted; I am on an interview panel to appoint new TAs what
questions should I ask?; Im a SENCO in a primary school with 560
pupils. How much non-contact time am I entitled to?) Local SENCO
networks that use bottom up rather than top down agendas and
meeting/activities that draw on practitioner experience and
knowledge rather than external expertise (this has a place)
Relevance or otherwise of higher education involvement?
Slide 12
Exemplification 3: Schools and support services Cinderella is
not invited to the ball! Struggling to manage budget cuts (are they
valued front line services?) Need to trade services in a system
that is opened up to competition with independent providers,
special schools (including academies and free schools) Need to work
in competition with other services a school may wish to buy, for
example educational psychology and advisory services including
those run by voluntary and community sector organisations Relevance
or otherwise of higher education Involvement? ,
Slide 13
A clear and effective framework for outreach, in-reach and
support In addition to any frameworks already in use it might be
worth reviewing and adapting Quality Standards for Services (DCSF,
2008) The Quality Standards cover 16 dimensions of support and
outreach organised under 2 headings: o outcomes standards o service
management and delivery standards. The standards are designed to be
used as suggested markers against which services provided can be
evaluated
Slide 14
A SENCO (Inclusion Lead) perspective SENCOs may, when using the
Quality Standards: want to consider whether their school or setting
has sufficient access to services want to identify how service
support and guidance has contributed to improved outcomes, or how
they think it might do so in the future wish to reflect on the
nature of support, whether they think is sufficient, and how it
impacts on individual learners challenge and support services to
work in ways that they consider to be most effective in classroom
contexts wish to contribute to discussions about how to disseminate
advice to teachers and teaching assistants and to collate feedback
for services on collaborative support practice wish to be included
in a self-evaluation feedback cycle and to share their views on
specific aspects of it have important things to say about capacity
building and how this needs to be balanced against work overload
and the over delegation of responsibilities.
Slide 15
Reflection The examples outlined are drawn from a context where
there is a strong compliance and technical orientation, a high
level of prescription and overload and this needs to be worked with
rather than ignored, but there may also be a need for supportive
subversion (e.g. ensuring/enabling new to role SENCOs to achieve
required outcomes in a professional training programme). The
examples may also raise issues about the binary distinction between
teaching and research and whether we need to make space for
activity between these in universities.
Slide 16
Returning to teachers... Guy Claxtons emphasis on slower ways
of learning seems to me to be particularly important and involves:
immersion (just looking, messing about); imagination (mental
rehearsal); intuition (letting your mind go soft and allowing
things to come to you); as well the more familiar intellect are at
the heart of this approach.