The Journal of the Hatton Teaching School Alliance The Feedback Edition Volume 4 RPS AND RESEARCH – Working together, researching together; creating and sustaining excellence together Journal of the Hatton Teaching School Alliance Message from the editors: Feedback is one of the most time consuming, but important aspects of a teacher’s professional life. Feedback is also the aspect of teaching that research can have a substantial impact on. Earlier in my career, I followed marking policies without questions, having endless conversations with pupils in books and writing comments as long as the assessments themselves! Now, it appears that the tide is turning and it feels as though there is a change in the air away from large amounts of teacher writing that looks effective and moving towards strategies that support teacher workload and pupil pro- gress, which are effective. Dylan William tells us that good feedback causes thinking and that helps learners to understand their mistakes and improve next time. In some ways, schools have forgotten this basic principal of feedback and I passionately hope that a more research focused approach in schools will bring us back to this central purpose. This edition of the journal explores different aspects of feedback, our guest writings are Nikki Kai- ser and Mark Enser, who have kindly allowed us to publish their blogs about feedback, our interview is with the brilliant Professor Toby Greany from the Institute of Education, UCL. Our very own Ke- ren Gunn has written a piece about feedback based on a piece of Action Research she has undertak- en using one of her classes and Gavin Stanger has written a review of Daisy Christodoulou’s well- known Making Good Progress? As well as this, I have conducted a small scale survey about the use of blogs in teacher’s professional lives. How have they helped us progress as teachers and what should we be wary of using them? If you are interested in writing a piece for the journal in future please contact me [email protected]. We are always looking for writers to review books, share their research or write reflective pieces about their practice. Claire Bishop Keren Gunn Vicki Cook Assistant Principal, Director Senior Assistant Principal, Research Co-Ordinator of Research and Humanities Teaching School Lead Lily Hawkins Nick Salisbury Assistant Teaching School Leader Vice Principal; Teaching and Learning 2 Gill Howland—BELMAS Gill has extensive experience across a wide range of educational leadership roles. After beginning her career in industry, she moved on teaching and leadership positions in schools and in further and higher education, focusing particularly on post 14 education and co directing a three year project on 14-19 progression. She was a member of the Government's Advisory Board on 14-19 education, and led the conception and development of the first 14-19 collegiate in the country. Her senior leadership positions have included Local Authority Chief Education Adviser, Executive Director of Learning and Skills Councils in Stoke and Staffordshire, and Birmingham and Solihull, and Executive Pro Vice Chancellor (Academic) at Staffordshire University. Gill is currently the Chair of the British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society. She is Chair of Governors of one of the most improved academies nationally, and governor of a Derbyshire primary school. Gill was previously Deputy Chair of CILT, the National Centre for Languages, Deputy Chair of YMCA Training and Board Member of North Staffordshire YMCA. She has chaired a number of regional and sub regional collaborations focusing on regeneration through education. Throughout her career, Gill has championed education as the key means of opening opportunities to people. She has always chosen to work in disadvantaged areas and has a track record in educational improvement and widening opportunities. Sam Strickland—Principal of The Duston School Sam Strickland began his teaching career as a history teacher at Wootton Upper School in Bedfordshire having completed his PGCE in Secondary History at the University of Cambridge. Sam’s career quickly accelerated, becoming a Head of History and Classics. With an aptitude for Teaching and Learning and Assessment for Learning, Sam then moved on to become a Lead Professional in these fields and worked for the North Beds SCITT Consortium. Sam has also had educational resources and research published, most notably for History Today and Classroom Resources. He has also delivered courses nationally for Philip Allan. In 2008 Sam became an Assistant Head at Hitchin Girls’ School in Hertfordshire where he had responsibility for the Sixth Form and led a Post 16 consortium arrangement within Hitchin. In 2011, Sam became Vice Principal at Brooke Weston Academy in Corby. He directly oversaw student care, the Sixth Form, the curriculum and served as the safeguarding lead for the entire Brooke Weston Trust. Whilst working for the Brooke Weston Trust, Sam also served as the lead facilitator for NPQSL, working for Inspiring Leaders. In 2015, Sam was the Acting Associate Principal of Brooke Weston Academy and oversaw GCSE and A Level results which have received commendation from the DFE, Nick Gibb and the SSAT. In 2016 Sam was seconded to Corby Technical School to help guide the school in its first year of GCSE examination results and to establish a Sixth Form. He is now the Principal of The Duston School. 3 Interview with In addition to undertaking research, I do a lot of work with schools and other stakeholders here Professor Toby and abroad which is broadly aimed at trying to Greany from the ensure that our research makes a difference to Institute of policy and practice. The nature of that work can vary quite widely, but one example is the Education, UCL work I have led over the past couple of years to develop and run leadership programmes for Professor Toby Greany is based the UCL Institute of CEOs and senior leaders in MATs, including the Education as Professor of Leadership and Innovation. Trust:ED MAT Team Leadership Programme that He has previously worked as Director of Research we run with Deloitte. and Policy and the National College for School Leadership and has worked for the Design Council as well as Special Advisor to the Education and Skills Select Committee between 2005-6. He has written numerous renowned publications exploring curriculum innovation, collaboration and partnerships across schools and leading innovation and evidence- informed leadership. What first sparked your passion for educational research? Your research looks into the way in which After university I taught abroad for 4 years and networks and collaboration can influence then did a Masters in adult literacy. My plan at leadership and professional development in the time was to work in international schools. As a MAT and Teaching School development, but I took a job in London for a Alliance, what might this look like for us? year working for a charity called the Campaign Networks have become a lot more significant for for Learning. I ended up working there for 9 schools in England in recent years, because they years! I stayed because I loved it, in particular a can offer access to the information, skills and 5-year action research project that I ran with expertise that can help them to respond schools across the country looking at the impact effectively to policy change and to develop the of teaching pupils how to learn. I worked with capacity of their staff. I’ve seen some really Professor Steve Higgins, who was then at powerful examples of how school to school Newcastle but is now at Durham University, and networks and support can move knowledge it really sparked my interest in research and the around and help staff to grow – and in the links between evidence, policy and practice. process that collaborative work can also help to build trust and shared values. But I’ve also seen What does your role at the IOE entail? Which is examples where the networks are less strong – your favourite aspect of your job? either because one school tries to dominate or is My main role as a professor is to undertake seen to be benefitting at the expense of others, research, which is really the aspect of the role I or because the leaders involved aren’t able to get enjoy most. Over the past 4 years my main beyond their personal differences and articulate research has focussed on trying to understand the wider benefits for staff and children from how schools and school leaders are responding deep collaboration. At root I think it comes to the government’s ‘self-improving school down to how leaders understand what makes a system’ agenda – the report is due next spring. school successful. 4 If you see the heart of a great school as being the INSET sessions as well as the ways in which quality of teachers and teaching, and if you think evidence informs wider conversations about the best way to improve the quality of teaching is change, learning and improvement. Making that to expect teachers to engage in a continuous part of the culture comes down to leadership. process of sharing and reflecting on their There’s no doubt that time is under huge practice, via structured collaborative processes pressure in schools and that teachers are but also drawing on rigorous evidence and extremely busy, but I think that even in schools external expertise, then you are likely to where the culture is less well established, understand why networks are important! individual teachers and teams can commit to making it part of how they work. For some teachers using research to inform their practice feels like another ‘job’ to do when they are already feeling overworked.