By Shehla Rahman, Assistant Head of Science and SSAT accredited Lead Practitioner, Aston University Engineering Academy (AUEA)
My role at AUEA has developed over the years, from Subject Lead for Chemistry, Assistant Head of Science and latterly as a Teacher Effectiveness Enhancement Programme (TEEP) lead coach and accredited SSAT Lead Practitioner. I have recently been successfully reaccredited as an SSAT Lead Practitioner.
My passion for teaching and learning was re-inspired firstly by TEEP, an evidence-informed teaching and learning framework and training programme. This helped me improve the quality of teaching and student focused learning within my own practice. Then, via coaching and the Lead Practitioner accreditation programme, I began supporting the practice of my colleagues. One of the primary foci for improvement has been around unpacking the learning process with colleagues across subject areas, ensuring that the pedagogical principles are clear and adapted to suit the different approaches of teachers and support staff.
To gain SSAT LP re-accreditation, I built a portfolio of impact, centred around teacher reflection on the learning process. In the main, peer observation of lessons is challenging so I wanted to provide a packaged solution to colleagues to enable them to reflect on their lessons and share these selected reflections with others in a culture of collaboration where the ‘rising tide lifts all boats’. My work focused on use of video capture software across both buildings at AUEA. Last academic year we went from 15-20% classroom coverage to 100% coverage. I needed to work collaboratively with our team, the video software company and another local school who had greater experience with using the equipment.
My main driver for enhancing reflection and sharing of practice through video capture was that I found that lots of the evidence of good teaching practice was ephemeral; thus, logging in a tangible manner proved difficult sometimes. Using the system to record lessons and parts of lessons, gaining feedback and colleagues’ reflections helped to gain the evidence teachers needed to effect real change in their practice, that led to embedded habit changes.
This work also linked to my role as Embedding Formative Assessment (EFA) Programme Lead. As part of the TLC (Teacher Learning Community) colleagues are required to plan for improvements in practice that are then observed by their peers, feeding back into the TLC meetings. The video capture system, and importantly how I had made this accessible and convenient for staff to utilise, was a key part of building the picture of improvements needed to embed formative assessment across AUEA.
The EFA programme has allowed me to help colleagues to strip back lessons and training to focus more on the steps students should take after an assessment and has allowed me to support staff development holistically. LP accreditation helped me to focus attention on how my work with EFA and TEEP could help build my portfolio of impact.
The work of Dylan Wiliam which is a cornerstone of the EFA programme, has been paramount in supporting my journey as an LP; looking at the journey of the learner from where they were, where they are and finally where they need to be while developing strategies and characteristics to support this journey.
Our work with EFA has led to AUEA becoming an EFA Ambassador school.
I have now supported other staff on the beginning of their journey as an aspiring LP and led them through my journey providing advice on how to collate data as you go along rather than at the end.
I have been able to link themes from my LP experience into my ECT mentor role which helped me transition across the two years from mentor to coach. With successful completion of his ECT year, I have seen my mentee go from strength to strength and gain great confidence in his teaching and dissemination of skills and knowledge in his lessons.
My journey as an LP has allowed me to draw links between my teaching skills and TEEP, EFA and NPQLTD. It has developed my skills in using research-based literature to develop high quality teaching and learning. Working with the video capture company has been a great way to meet new people, network with other schools (which helped inform LP standard 10: Networking to lead), but has also resulted in me delivering training both in house and abroad. I will be delivering a session at the Future of Education Show in Manchester in March and in UAE in November.
The LP accreditation process is a great tool to look back on your journey as a teacher, focus on the key aspects and their impact on the students. Often as teachers, we become so lost in the day-to-day routines that we have little time to celebrate and acknowledge the positive things we have done to support and develop our staff and students. Having the ten standards of the LP process means that staff are able to home in on all the amazing things that they do almost without realising. Moreover, looking at the criteria as a starting point, guidance for impact measurement, rather than set ‘rules’ means staff from various backgrounds, subjects and key stages can apply themselves to it and become recognised, valued and celebrated as a change agent in education.
References
Embedded Formative Assessment by Dylan Wiliam
Wiliam, D., & Thompson, M. (2007). Integrating assessment with instruction: what will it take to make it work? In C. A. Dwyer (Ed.), The future of assessment: shaping teaching and learning (pp. 53-82). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
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