Abstract:

At Lakes Grammar – An Anglican School in New South Wales, Australia, student data obtained from formative and summative assessments indicated a need for radical improvement. The most effective way to gain this was to change the professional culture of the teachers to one of “collaborative expertise”. John Hattie claims that “the greatest influence on student progression in learning is having highly expert, inspired and passionate teachers and school leaders working together to maximise the effect of their teaching on all students in their care”. With funding and consultancy from the Association of Independent Schools NSW (AISNSW), Primary teachers planned and implemented several cycles of lesson study. “During ‘lesson study’ teachers formulate long term goals for student learning; collaboratively work on ‘research lessons’; and revise the lessons…in response to student learning”. At Lakes Grammar this involved teachers in “grade teams, led by a Stage Leader, meeting once per semester to collaboratively plan, design, implement, observe, evaluate and refine lessons for a unit of work on responding to and composing text based on quality literature”. After each teacher taught the jointly planned lesson, the team reviewed the lesson, analysed the evidence of its impact on student learning and refined the lesson for the next teacher to teach it. The lesson was improved by this process and the teachers learned from each other. The needs of students in each of the three classes were also considered in the planning. For example, refinements during the lesson study cycles led to incorporation of higher-order thinking strategies that were aimed at students who were plateauing in the middle bands. Evidence of impact included work samples, student feedback and recorded teacher observations. Work samples were checked against state-wide standards and were mapped to the NSW Literacy Continuum. Improved student engagement was evidenced by an “observable depth of student focus, student-to-student interaction and concentration”. The lesson study cycles also resulted in increased rigour and challenge as teachers analysed work samples and observed students during their learning. Lesson study is supported by a schoolwide change in professional culture at Lakes Grammar as recommended by the Centre for Education Statistics and Evaluation (CESE). CESE makes several other recommendations for effective teacher collaboration. Lakes Grammar is implementing these recommendations as teachers are opening their classrooms to one another through peer observations, peer coaching, meeting with professional learning partners and working in professional learning groups. External expertise via the AISNSW consultants ensured that best practice models were shared with the staff. All these practices are focused on students’ needs and improving learning outcomes.

Keywords:

Collaboration, learning, lesson study, improvement.