Week 27 - The Broader Professional Context

CONTEMPORARY TRENDS
What is a “trend”?
According to Visser and Gagnon (2005), the term “trend” refers to the statistically observable change or general orientation of a general movement (Visser & Gagnon, 2005; Karataş et al,2016). And these changes would have impacts within the field or wider environment (Wilson, 2012).
What is happening in a global context?
One of the trends that both US National Intelligence Council’s (2017) “Global trends: The paradox of progress” and KMPG International’s (2014) “Future State 2030” point out is technology advancement is accelerating and affecting every aspect of society. In education, it is reflected by the ubiquitous presence of digital technologies integrated into the learning and teaching space.
Why do you need to know about this?
In the era of globalisation, your professional context is no longer confined within the boundaries of a local community. Over the last decade, technology has moved so swiftly that teachers are increasingly connected across a variety of platforms and in a variety of settings.
21st century learners are digital device and platform users. Their learning goes beyond passive receipt of knowledge towards actively seeking knowledge and their learning extends beyond the classroom walls to the digital learning environment. These changes in learning behaviour are a global phenomenon and not confined to a specific country or region. It is within this interconnected world that your context of practice needs to be able to respond to changes in technology and new educational paradigms.Understanding global contemporary trends will help you see the bigger picture your practice is situated within and the trajectory your practice should be heading toward.

THIS WEEK’S ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY
Activity 3: Trend influencing education in New Zealand or internationallyCreate a blog post where you first analyse one trend that is influencing or shaping NZ or international education that you find most relevant to your practice.Then, critique and evaluate practice in the context of different audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives.Following these 3 steps may help:
Step 1: Identify one trend that is most relevant to your practice:Read one or more of the following resources:
Page 6-28 of US National Intelligence Council’s (2017) “Global trends: The Paradox of Progress”
Page 14-21 of OECD’s Trends Shaping Education 2016
Or other resources in the related media and/ or from your own search
Use these following questions to guide your thoughts:
What trend captivates your attention? Why?
What is the relevancy the trend have to your practice?
Step 2: Analyse the trend:
Once you have identified the trend you aim to investigate more, locate the relevant part in the aforementioned materials that discuss more depth about the trend. Or search for other supporting resources.Use these following questions to guide your thoughts:
What the statistical data or resource tell about the identified trend?
How do or would the identified trend influence the education system?
Or come up with your own questions.
Step 3: Critique and evaluate practice in the context of different audiences (local, national and/or international) and their perspectives.Understanding the impact of the trend on the education, you now should examine how your local community OR NZ education system OR other international education systems respond to the trend. Use these following questions to guide your thoughts:
What responsibility do education systems have in teaching students about the potential changes and challenges the trend would bring?
How might the curriculum be delivered to equip the students with adequate competencies to cope with or adapt to the trend?
Or come up with your own questions.

Notes:
KPMG Australia. (2014, May 22). Future State 2030 - Global Megatrends.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im5SwtapHl8

 

The RSA.(2010, Oct 14). RSA Animate - Changing Education Paradigms.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Pearson. (2013, April 26). Global trends: The world is changing faster than at any time in human history.[video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdZiTQy3g1g

Adams Becker, S., Freeman, A., Giesinger Hall, C., Cummins, M.,and Yuhnke, B. (2016). NMC/CoSN Horizon Report: 2016 K-12Edition. Austin, Texas: The New Media Consortium. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2016-nmc-cosn-horizon-report-k12-EN.pdf


National Intelligence Council. (2017). Global trends: The Paradox of Progress. National Intelligence Council: US. Retrieved from https://www.dni.gov/files/images/globalTrends/documents/GT-Main-Report.pdf
The rich are aging, the poor are not. 

Working-age populations are shrinking in wealthy countries, China, and Russia but growing in developing, poorer countries, particularly in Africa and South Asia, increasing economic, employment, urbanization, and welfare pressures and spurring migration. Training and continuing education will be crucial in developed and developing countries alike. 

The global economy is shifting. 

Weak economic growth will persist in the near term. Major economies will confront shrinking workforces and diminishing productivity gains while recovering from the 2008-09 financial crisis with high debt, weak demand, and doubts about globalization. China will attempt to shift to a consumer-driven economy from its longstanding export and investment focus. Lower growth will threaten poverty reduction in developing countries. 

Technology is accelerating progress but causing discontinuities. 

Rapid technological advancements will increase the pace of change and create new opportunities but will aggravate divisions between winners and losers. Automation and artificial intelligence threaten to change industries faster than economies can adjust, potentially displacing workers and limiting the usual route for poor countries to develop. Biotechnologies such as genome editing will revolutionize medicine and other fields, while sharpening moral differences. 

Ideas and Identities are driving a wave of exclusion.

 Growing global connectivity amid weak growth will increase tensions within and between societies. Populism will increase on the right and the left, threatening liberalism. Some leaders will use nationalism to shore up control. Religious influence will be increasingly consequential and more authoritative than many governments. Nearly all countries will see economic forces boost women’s status and leadership roles, but backlash also will occur. 

Governing is getting harder. 

Publics will demand governments deliver security and prosperity, but flat revenues, distrust, polarization, and a growing list of emerging issues will hamper government performance. Technology will expand the range of players who can block or circumvent political action. Managing global issues will become harder as actors multiply—to include NGOs, corporations, and empowered individuals—resulting in more ad hoc, fewer encompassing efforts. 

The nature of conflict is changing. 

The risk of conflict will increase due to diverging interests among major powers, an expanding terror threat, continued instability in weak states, and the spread of lethal, disruptive technologies. Disrupting societies will become more common, with long-range precision weapons, cyber, and robotic systems to target infrastructure from afar, and more accessible technology to create weapons of mass destruction. 

Climate change, environment, and health issues will demand attention. 

A range of global hazards pose imminent and longer-term threats that will require collective action to address—even as cooperation becomes harder. More extreme weather, water and soil stress, and food insecurity will disrupt societies. Sea-level rise, ocean acidification, glacial melt, and pollution will change living patterns. Tensions over climate change will grow. Increased travel and poor health infrastructure will make infectious diseases harder to manage. 

The Bottomline 

These trends will converge at an unprecedented pace to make governing and cooperation harder and to change the nature of power—fundamentally altering the global landscape. Economic, technological and security trends, especially, will expand the number of states, organizations, and individuals able to act in consequential ways. Within states, political order will remain elusive and tensions high until societies and governments renegotiate their expectations of one another. Between states, the post-Cold War, unipolar moment has passed and the post-1945 rules based international order may be fading too. Some major powers and regional aggressors will seek to assert interests through force but will find results fleeting as they discover traditional, material forms of power less able to secure and sustain outcomes in a context of proliferating veto players.

OECD. (2016) Trends Shaping Education 2016, OECD Publishing, Paris. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/trends_edu-2016-en (this publication can be read online by following its DOI’s hyperlink)




OECD (2016) discusses how trends are an extremely important part of education as it informs our idea the future holds and helps us better understand the changing face of education. It is said that looking at trends is not a science as trends that were once important may not be important in the future. Rather it is a way of broadening our horizons. They look at five different trends; globalisation, the future of nation-state, are cities the new countries, family matters, and a brave new world.

Week 26 - Your Professional Context

SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS OF THE COMMUNITY, SCHOOL CULTURE AND PROFESSIONAL ENVIRONMENTS

What are socioeconomic status of the community, school culture and professional environments?According to the American Psychological Association (APA), the socioeconomic status of a family is “a combination of education, income and occupation” (APA, 2016). The socioeconomic status of a community reflects the collective background of the families residing there.
Stoll (1998) defines school culture along three dimensions, the relationship among its members; the organisational structure including the physical environment and management system; and the learning nature. Some internal and external factors that shape a school's culture include the school's history, the students' socio-economic background, external contexts such as national educational policies, and societal changes (Stoll, 1998).
The OECD (2015) measures the school environment based on instruction time, student-teacher ratio, teachers’ salaries and teachers’ working time.


Why do you need to know about this?Stoll (1998) places the importance of understanding school culture as the starting point for leading change towards school improvement. The organisational culture is an invisible powerful force that influences the members’ behaviour. Hongboontri and Keawkhong (2014) show that the school culture impacts on teachers’ beliefs and instructional practices, but this relationship is also reciprocal. Your relationship with your teaching community builds a sense of belonging. For example, the reason social networking is so successful is because it enables people to feel a sense of connectedness and belonging.
Stoll (1998) points out that the socioeconomic background of a school’s students influences its culture. The varied needs, expectations and even pressure from the community towards schools is thought to be linked to the socioeconomic level of the community. In addition to school culture, professional environments are considered a factor that impact on the professional practice. Kraft and Papay (2014) suggest that professional environments are related to improvement by individual teachers.


THIS WEEK’S ASSESSMENT ACTIVITYActivity 2: Current issues in my professional context
Create a blog post where you critically analyse issues of socioeconomic factors, school culture and professional environments in relation to your practice.
Following these steps may help:

Step 1: Identify the socioeconomic status of the community, organisational culture and professional environments.
Use the following questions to guide your thoughts:
Is there any statistical data that indicates the socioeconomic status of your school’s community? What does it tell you about the characteristics of the community?
What is the culture that the school is striving for? How is it manifested?
How would you describe the professional environment in your school?

Step 2: Analyse the issues around the socioeconomic status of the community, the school culture and professional environments.
Use these following questions to guide your thoughts:
What issues arose from the socio-economic status of your school’s community? How is it similar or different from those of similar socio-economic status? How have the issues been addressed?
What issues arose from the professional environments in your school? How these issues impact on your practice? How have the issues been addressed?
What role does your school’s culture play in addressing the discussed issues?


- Refer to page 10 of Stoll’s (1998) article in which Stoll and Fink (cited in Stoll, 1998) identified 10 influencing cultural norms of school improvement. Does your school culture embed the mentioned norms? If not, what is missing and how may you and your school foster a positive school culture.
- Read page 6-14 of this Principal's sabbatical report by Gargiulo (2014) on The Engagement and Academic Success of Students from Lower Socio-economic Status to have some idea of the strategies the school have actioned to address the school issues.

Does your school have similar approach? What would work and not work? Why?

Notes:
Academy for SELinSchools. ( 2015, Apr 28).What is school culture and climate? [video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-_NvhlcusQ

- why is a positive school culture and climate important
- Climate - every school own personality and feel (busy, serious, exciting), unique to each school
needs to be positive that every school needs to be apart from it
- Culture - value, traditions, how people treat each other
interact with people that are not like you, learn to negotiate, understand, work with different people who think and view the world differently. Understand what others value.
School culture and climate often happen by default. no one staring the ship and allow it to develop by its own and could develop a negative culture.
TEdEd.(2013, Jun 21). Building a culture of success- Mark Wilson.[video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8Bjz-OCD8

Everyone wants the same thing - a successful school
We have to build an environment of success.
Start with culture - beliefs and priorities that drive thoughts and actions of people at the school
it wasn't about what it was about how and why, it was about culture
Build a culture of success - vision, unity and empowerment
The stakeholders have to come together and ask questions, who am I?who are we? what is it that we wish to be and why? How do we become what we want to do?
What they know? What they can do? What kind of people are they growing to be?
The one individual the one person is important.
When people have purpose and you give them autonomy they work towards mastery.
Focus on empowerment means people able to do amazing things. People have the opportunity.



Gargiulo, S. (2014). Principal sabbatical report. At the start of 2014 as a staff we worked on what are the effects of poverty and considered what we are currently doing to address these effects.
Further details on 6 of the strategies that have been newly introduced to the school are:
1. Providing lunches and breakfasts: 

GOAL; TO ENSURE STUDENTS GAIN THE NECESSARY NUTRITION TO CONCENTRATE IN CLASS
If a student is not receiving enough nutrition during the day, this would impact on their engagement and consequently their achievement.
2. Student Achievement Conferences: GOAL; TO INVOLVE FAMILIES INTO THE PROCESSES OF GOAL SETTING AND ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT
-Establishing evidential databases An evidential database to allow for the systematic storage and management of real-time data within schools by appointed and trained staff to inform decision making.
- Ongoing target setting by a specially trained Student Achievement Manager within the school A specially trained staff member to use longitudinal data to set individual academic targets and aggregate these with other data to set specific group and school targets.
- Tracking and monitoring of student learning and academic progress Real-time student achievement data to monitor student learning and academic progress. A 'traffic light' system to record teachers' expectations of students' achievement in individual subjects as part of monitoring and aligning academic targets and progress and ensure timely interventions with students at risk of not achieving targets.
- Academic counselling to support students' progress toward set targets Academic counselling or coaching to provide the opportunity for students to meet with trained teachers two to three times each year to review their academic progress, goals and plans and the strategies required to achieve them.
- Enhancing family/whānau engagement Enhanced parent-student-teacher conferences to provide schools with the opportunity to discuss students' progress collectively and improve community engagement. Plans and strategies are reviewed with students and
3. Positive Behaviour For Learning GOAL; TO MAKE CLEAR THE EXPECTATIONS AND RULES AT THE SCHOOL
Part of the PB4L is teaching the expected behaviours of students with positive reinforcement. It is established as a school wide framework with consistent expectations of students’ behaviour and engagement in classes and using data accrued to support progress.
The four key guidelines which emerged from this consultation were the ‘learning values’; Respect, Excellence, Whanaungatanga and Akoranga
The second major step in the framework was establishment of a reward based reinforcement scheme.
4. Trades Academies GOAL; TO PROVIDE VOCATIONAL PATHWAYS LINKED WITH AUTHENTIC LEARNING
5. Focus literacy programs GOAL; TO GIVE STUDENTS THE TOOLS TO ACCESS THE CURRICULUM
without literacy, students are not able to access the curriculum. This obviously impacts on students’ engagements and academic success. Students who are from a lower SES are more likely to have literacy issues. MHS addresses these issues by providing focussed literacy support. This is by several different ways; a school wide approach of banding classes, specialised literacy focus for those lower bands, assessment based learning by e-asTTle results, mentorship and tutoring and the ‘Accelerating Literacy Learning’ programme.
6. Foundation for youth development mentoring programs GOAL; TO PROVIDE EXTERNAL MENTORING TRAINING FOR SENIOR STUDENTS

Stoll (1998). School Culture. School Improvement Network’s Bulletin 9. Institute of Education, University of London.
-Schein considers the basic essence of an organisation’s culture to be, “the deeper level of basic assumptions and beliefs that are shared by members of an organisation, that operate unconsciously, and that define in a basic ‘taken-for-granted’ fashion an organisation’s view of itself and its environment”. These are the heart of school culture, and what makes it so hard to grasp and change.
-Culture describes how things are and acts as a screen or lens through which the world is viewed. In essence, it defines reality for those within a social organisation, gives them support and identity and creates a framework for occupational learning.
- school’s culture is shaped by its history, context and the people in it.
1. The school’s age can impact cultural change. In early years of a new school, dominant values emanate from its “founders” and the school makes its culture explicit. It clarifies its values, finds and articulates a unique identity and shares these with newcomers, whether teachers, pupils or parents. Maturity and/or stagnation and decline is most problematical from the cultural change perspective. This stage is reached if the school has ceased growing and responding to its environment.
2. School culture is influenced by a school’s external context - Political and economic forces or changes in national or local educational policies are also influences.
3. School cultures vary between primary and secondary schools: In primary schools care and control influence their culture,such that when pupils leave primary schools there is a feeling that they have left a family. In contrast, secondary school culture is influenced not only by larger size and department structures, but by the very fundamental nature of teachers’ academic orientation
4. School culture is influenced by the school’s pupils and their social class background.
5. Changes in society pose challenges to a school’s culture: whether they be related to learning, the pupil population, organisational management,  rapid technological developments or the changing role of women.
Four Teaching Cultures
● Individualism — classrooms as “egg-crates” or “castles”. Autonomy,isolation and insulation prevail, and blame and support are avoided.
● Collaboration — teachers choose, spontaneously and voluntarily,to work together, without an external control agenda. Forms include:“comfortable” activities—sharing ideas and materials—and rigorous forms, including mutual observation and focused reflective enquiry.
● Contrived collegiality — teachers’ collaborative working relationshipsare compulsorily imposed, with fixed times and places set for collaboration, for example planning meetings during preparation time.
● Balkanisation — teachers are neither isolated nor work as a whole school. Smaller collaborative groups form, for example within secondary school departments, between infant and junior teachers, and class teachers and resource support teachers.
Norms of Improving Schools
1. Shared goals—“we know where we’re going”
2. Responsibility for success—“we must succeed”
3. Collegiality—“we’re working on this together”
4. Continuous improvement—“we can get better”
5. Lifelong learning—“learning is for everyone”
6. Risk taking—“we learn by trying something new”
7. Support—“there’s always someone there to help”
8. Mutual respect—“everyone has something to offer”
9. Openness—“we can discuss our differences”
10. Celebration and humour—“we feel good about ourselves”

APA. (2016). Education and Socioeconomic Status. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pi/ses/resources/publications/education.aspx
- Socioeconomic status (SES) is often measured as a combination of education, income and occupation. It is commonly conceptualized as the social standing or class of an individual or group. When viewed through a social class lens, privilege, power, and control are emphasized

- Research indicates that children from low-SES households and communities develop academic skills more slowly compared to children from higher SES groups (Morgan, Farkas, Hillemeier, & Maczuga, 2009).
- The school systems in low-SES communities are often underresourced, negatively affecting students’ academic progress (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008). Inadequate education and increased dropout rates affect children’s academic achievement, perpetuating the low-SES status of the community.
research indicates that school conditions contribute more to SES differences in learning rates than family characteristics (Aikens & Barbarin, 2008).
- Schools in low-SES communities suffer from high levels of unemployment, migration of the best qualified teachers and low educational achievement (Muijs, Harris, Chapman, Stoll, & Russ, 2009).
- A teacher’s years of experience and quality of training is correlated with children’s academic achievement (Gimbert, Bol, & Wallace, 2007). Yet, children in low income schools are less likely to have well-qualified teachers. In fact, of high school math teachers in lowincome school districts 27 percent majored in mathematics in college as compared to 43 percent of teachers who did so in more affluent school districts (Ingersoll, 1999).
- The following factors have been found to improve the quality of schools in low-SES neighborhoods: a focus on improving teaching and learning, creation of an information-rich environment, building of a learning community, continuous professional development, involvement of parents and increased funding and resources (Muijis et al., 2009).

Week 25 Defining Your Practice

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE
What is reflective practice?'

In this knowledge age, community of practice serves as a model to facilitate and enhance learning and knowledge management in a shared context among practitioners. Cambridge, Kaplan, and Suter (2005) suggest that communities of practice provide an environment for people to connect, interact, build and extend the shared resources within shared learning goals. A community of practice that is cultivated and effectively operates can result in improved practice.

Reflecting on practice is an active learning process whereby practice is analysed in its applied context. This is the point where theory and practice meet and are refined and developed. This reflective practice is underpinned by the notion of reflection-on-action, and continual learning for improved outcomes.

Why do you need to know about this?

Finlay (2008) called attention to the “bland, mechanical, unthinking ways” (p.1) of reflective practice, especially for time-constrained professionals. Without critical reflection, superficial thinking might simply reinforce existing assumptions. Therefore, it is important that reflective practice be cultivated and fostered to become effective. It can then be a “powerful tool to examine and transform practice” (Finlay, 2008, p.10).
Developing critical reflection in your practiceAccording to Fook and Askeland (cited in Finlay, 2008), critical reflection looks at individual concerns within a wider perspective, “connecting individual identity and social context”. It should be done in a systematic manner, be challenged by differing angles and be informed with reliable sources.
Zeichner and Liston’s (cited in Finlay, 2008, p.4) five levels of reflection:
"Rapid reflection - immediate, ongoing and automatic action by the teacher.
Repair – in which a thoughtful teacher makes decisions to alter their behaviour in response to students’ cues.
Review – when a teacher thinks about, discusses or writes about some element of their teaching.
Research – when a teacher engages in more systematic and sustained thinking over time, perhaps by collecting data or reading research.
Retheorizing and reformulating – the process by which a teacher critically examines their own practice and theories in the light of academic theories.”
Larrivee (2000) recommends that keeping a reflective journal is a way to ensure time is set aside for deep and regular reflection. A reflective journal enables you to integrate knowledge and learning and analyse the significance and implications for your professional practice. Electronic journals are able to be shared with others, so there are opportunities for you to share and create networks, whānau of interest, and professional communities of practice. A reflective journal is an important evaluative learning tool for you as a learner and as a professional. Sharing aspects of your journal and working collaboratively in shared e-reflective journal spaces is part of the reflective process. The feedback you give and receive can be critical for further investigation, reflection, and change.

COMMUNITY OF PRACTICE
What is your community of practice?

Your teaching practice is based on a particular context within the community that you serve. Wenger first coined the concept of “communities of practice”, which are defined as “groups of people who share a concern or a passion or about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this area by interaction on an ongoing basis” (Wenger, McDermott & Snyder, 2002, p.4). A community of practice differs from other group types in terms of learning and knowledge and practice sharing rather than management objectives. In the school context, this occurs through informal learning via daily conversations, lesson reflections and other exchanges (Jurasaite-Harbison & Rex, 2010). A community of practice is defined by three distinct elements: joint enterprise, mutual engagement and shared repertoire (Wenger, 2000).
Joint enterprise: is a shared domain which is the “collectively developed understanding of what the community is about”.
Mutual engagement: within the community, the members engage through interactions, building mutual trust in the relationships.
Shared repertoire: is “the communal resources” that the community of practice produce (Wenger, 2000, p.229)
On the Wenger-Trayner website, the three elements have been termed as domain, community and practice, respectively.
In order for a community of practice to thrive, its members have to ensure that they are collectively working on all three elements. Regardless of the community size, it is important that the members understand the community of practice’s shared purpose and strongly feel they belong to the community. They also have to commit to regular interactions to keep the dynamics of the community of practice. These interactions either onsite or online would lead to the accumulation of the community of practice’s shared resources which in turn becomes valuable assets that the members can turn to when they seek assistance.

THIS WEEK’S ASSESSMENT ACTIVITY
Activity 1: My practice within the community
Create a post where you critically define your practice with reference to Wenger’s (2000) concept of community of practice. Following these 3 steps may help with your assessment:
Step 1: Identify your community of practice. When doing so, you may realise that you belong to a variety of communities of practice which are sometimes overlapping. However, you need to be careful that the identified one is a community of practice not a community only. Being able to articulate the three elements of the community of practice that you have identified will clarify the criteria.
Step 2: Explain the three elements of your community of practice using the the following questions to guide your thoughts:
What is the joint-enterprise or the shared domain of interest that you identify with your community of practice?
What are some examples of the activities or events that the members in your community of practice engage? How often do the activities or events take place?
What kind of shared repertoire does your community of practice produce?
Step 3: Define your practice within the community of practice using the the following questions to guide your thoughts:
What sense of connectedness or belonging do you have within your community of practice?
How would you describe your role within the community of practice? For example, a leader? A facilitator? An active member? A newcomer?
At what extent you are contributing towards your community of practice?
* Please note that all of the above questions serve as a guide to your reflection. When writing your reflective journal, you don’t have to answer each and every question.

Notes:


A community of practice is a group of people who share a passion of something they know how to do and interact regularly to learn how to do it better
Create, expand and exchange  knowledge and to develop individual capabilities 
Community - relationships among members and sense of belonging
Domain - area of shared inquiry and key issues
Practice - body of knowledge, methods, cases, tools and documents

Who is your community? Layers? Practices community engaged with? Domains share? How to connect? 

Practicalities 
Learn together
Valuable
Access and interact
community of practice working already in this domain
Organisation offer support

Community of practice not about you or your needs
Foster and nurture communities - thrive on personal energies of particiapants Build on Identities. Organised on what matters to the members
Having a sense of identity is crucuial to learning

Successful  - excitement, relevance and value
Value is the essence of a community
Different levels of participation - varying roles 

Finlay, L. (2008). Reflecting on reflective practice. The Open University.
In general, reflective practice is understood as the process of learning through and from experience towards gaining new insights of self and/or practice (Boud et al 1985; Boyd and Fales, 1983; Mezirow, 1981, Jarvis, 1992). This often involves examining assumptions of everyday practice. It also tends to involve the individual practitioner in being self-aware and critically evaluating their own responses to practice situations. The point is to recapture practice experiences and mull them over critically in order to gain new understandings and so improve future practice. This is understood as part of the process of life-long learning.

Dewey (1933) was among the first to identify reflection as a specialised form of thinking.He considered reflection to stem from doubt, hesitation or perplexity related to a directlyexperienced situation.

One of his most important and enduring contributions was to identify two types of reflection: reflection-on-action (after-the-event thinking) and reflection-in-action (thinking while doing).
For Reynolds (1998), four characteristics distinguish critical reflection from other versions of reflection : (1) its concern to question assumptions; (2) its social rather than individual focus; (3) the particular attention it pays to the analysis of power relations; and (4) its pursuit of emancipation (Reynolds, 1998).
In the field of teaching, Brookfield (1995) characterises critical reflection as ‘stance and dance’. The critically reflective teacher’s stance toward teaching is one of inquiry and being open to further investigation. The dance involves experimentation and risk towards modifying practice while moving to fluctuating, and possibly contradictory, rhythms (Larrivee, 2000).
Quinn (1988, 2000) suggests that the different models all tend to involve three fundamental processes:
· “retrospection: i.e. thinking back about a situation or experience;
· self-evaluation, i.e. critically analysing and evaluating the actions and feelings associated with the experience, using theoretical perspectives;
· reorientation, i.e. using the results of self-evaluation to influence future approaches to similar situations or experiences.” (Quinn, 2000, p.82).



Wenger, E.(2000).Communities of practice and social learning systems.Organization,7(2), 225-246 (Link to the article in Unitec Library).

Week 24 - Ethics and Research

Researbch Ethics'All social research (whether using surveys, documents, interviews, observation, or computer-mediated communication) gives rise to a range of ethical issues around privacy, informed consent, anonymity, secrecy, being truthful and the desirability of the research. It is important, therefore, that you are aware of these issues and how you might respond to them’ (Blaxter, Hughes & Tight, 2006 p.158).
While as a teacher-researcher (undertaking research in your own classroom or school) you are not required to go through any formal ethics process, it is still critical that you think about the ethical implications of your research.

Ethics In Your Own ResearchMiles and Huberman (1994) suggest that to mitigate ethical issues it is not only necessary to follow the ethical guidelines of your particular institution but also to consider why the study is worth doing and how it will contribute in some significant way to the broader domain. Tracy (2010) further advocates ensuring the worthiness of the topic of study and considering the significance of the contribution it will make to the research field or to practice.
Therefore, when planning any inquiry projects in your own practice it is helpful to think carefully about the purpose of your inquiry. Think about what your research might be able to contribute and to whom, and also how you will disseminate and share the findings of your research.
Research ethics are important for:
Protecting others (particularly the participants in your study) and minimising harm
Ensuring trust from those we work with
Promoting integrity of the research
Reconciling the responsibilities to participants, research and other communities involved
The British Educational Research Association (BERA) states that all education research should be conducted within an ethic of respect for:
The person
Knowledge
Democratic values
The quality of educational research
Academic freedom
The key principles of research ethics are: Voluntary informed consent. That is, participants have the right to opt in and opt out of the research and may not be forced or coerced into participating. Issues of consent are particularly important when working with children and generally require more rigorous consent procedures (often including a parent or guardian giving consent on behalf of the child).
Avoid deception. The aims and nature of the research must be clearly and accurately articulated to those involved.
The right to withdraw. All participants must have the right to withdraw from a study at any stage. If a participant withdraws, none of the data previously collected on them can be included.
Avoid detriment to participants.
Respect Privacy. This often includes ensuring anonymity for participants.
Consider disclosure.
Aim to debrief participants.

Week 23 - Interpreting and Using Evidence

Gray (2012) offers the following pieces of advice about data:
Data is not a force unto itself. It is what individuals (or groups) do with data that brings meaning and power.
Data is not a perfect reflection of the world. The choices we make about data, including what we choose to collect, how we collect it, how we analyse it and how we interpret our analysis all influence the findings and conclusions we can make.
Data does not speak for itself. It requires interpretation and analysis (hopefully by knowledgeable individuals). In education especially, it needs to be understood within its particular context. This might be in relation to a particular class, school, community etc.
Interpreting data is not easy. Really understanding what the data is telling us can be very tricky.

Despite these cautions about data, the evidence you collect as part of your teaching inquiry can be very useful.
Tools for statistical analysis of the data
A calculator on this web page (http://www.surveysystem.com/sscalc.htm) can help you to determine the appropriate sample size for a survey (e.g. how many responses you should collect) to have the result within a certain margin of error (which is also called the Confidence Interval) and for a given population (e.g the total number of students in your school). The web page also provides a calculator to find the margin of error of a particular survey result from a given population. For both calculators, you can choose how sure you would like to be about the result from a statistical perspective (which is called the Confidence Level).
For example, assume your school has 1,000 students. If you ask 200 students a question and 80 of them give the same answer (40%) then a 10% confidence interval means that when you ask the whole school the same question, between 300 (30% of 1000) and 500 students (50% of 1000) would pick that answer.
Confidence Level of 95% means there is a 95% chance that the real number of students picking that answer is between 300 and 500.
Confidence Level of 99% means there is a 99% chance that the real number of students picking that answer is between 300 and 500, i.e. to get more accurate results you need to ask more people
When you use the tool “Determine Sample Size” with the population of 1,000 and Confidence Level of 95%, it will tell you to ask least 88 students the question to obtain the required Confidence Interval of 10%.
The sample (e.g 200 students to be asked the question) should also be randomly chosen.
If the actual number of students giving the same answer is 120, using the second calculator with 95% confidence level, you can say that there is a 95% chance that the margin of error of your result is 8.4%.
Overall, the lower your margin of error, and the higher your confidence level, the more reliable your results will be and the more useful they will be for helping you to make decisions.

Week 22 - Collecting Data and Evidence

Evidence and Data

The distinction between evidence and data is one that is very clear in disciplines such as medicine, where information about individuals is data, while data that is aggregated and analysed, is evidence.
Evidence, rather than data, is then used as the basis for decisions, since it is data being used to support a conclusion. While less empirical, educational research might also recognise this distinction. One student's grades, or one interview with a colleague, are data. The grades of a whole class, or a group of interviews, are evidence, once suitably analysed.

Collecting Data and Evidence

The success of your inquiry project relies on your ability to collect data and evidence in order to determine the impact or influence your project is having. Data and evidence can take many forms, however, one of the defining features of collecting evidence in an inquiry project is that data collection is planned and systematic. Earl and Timperley (2015) suggest that "evidence must be fit-for-purpose, of sufficient quality to form an accurate representation of the situation being evaluated and be available when decisions are being made.’ (p. 24).
There are a myriad of methods that can be used to collect data and evidence. Some possible methods include:
Document analysis (this may include examples of students’ work)
Surveys
Focus groups and/or interviews
Student assessment data (this could include both formative and summative assessment).
Pre and post test data (this could be used if you are developing an intervention designed specifically to raise student achievement in a particular area, e.g. spelling or mathematics. You could give students a pre test to ascertain their current level and then give them a similar or the same test after the intervention to determine whether there has been improvement)
Students’ just-in-time responses using digital technologies and postings on social media
Classroom (or other locations) observations

Using self-report measuresIt is likely that at least some of the evidence you collect will be based on self-report measures (that is participants – i.e. students, teachers, whanau – providing their point of view). Easton (2012) provides a brief introduction to self-report methods, and also covers some basic ideas around action research and the value of engaging your own students in research. If you want to get more detail about designing interviews or questionnaires, then take a look at Chapter 6 of Barker, Pistrang and Elliott (2002). Both of these resources appear in this week's media.

Some key data gathering methods
Interviews:Interviews can take a variety of forms. They can be structured, meaning they follow a set of pre-determined questions and do not deviate from these. They can be unstructured, which means that you do not establish any questions before the interview. The final form of interviews is semi-structured, where you create an interview schedule but you can deviate from it to follow up any interesting points that the interviewee might raise.
Something to think about when creating an interview schedule (the questions you will be asking) is whether you ask open or closed questions. Open questions are going to provide you with potentially much deeper and more detailed information.
Surveys:There are several things to consider when designing a survey. The first is the form that the questions will take. Do you want to use short answer questions, long answer questions, yes/no questions or a Likert scale (where participants rank their responses on a scale, for example from 1 to 5). Each type of question will provide different types of data.
You also need to think about the length of your survey. You don’t want it to be too long, as participants will lose focus. However, at the same time you want to make sure that you collect all the information that you will need. Try to think about what information you are trying to gain from your survey and what questions you need to ask in order to get this information.
Also think about your mode of surveying. Do you want to use an online survey builder or do you want people to complete the survey by hand? The benefit of an online survey is that the programme will collate the data for you. However, the online format may make it harder for some participants to access it.
Observations: You might want to conduct observations of your students (or possibly other staff members or community groups) as part of your data collection. Before you start your observation it can often help if you think of some questions or topic areas that will help to structure or guide you and remind you of things to focus on or think about. You also need to think about how you will record your observations. Do you want to be taking notes or videoing students while you are observing them? Or do you want to do the observations and then write up your thoughts afterwards? Do you need to collect any artefacts (for example students’ work) as part of your observation?

Literature Review

Assessment criteria

10% Selected topic is clear in scope and context.
20% Emerging research question(s).
20% A relevant range of sources is reviewed.
20% Evidence of critical appraisal and engagement.
10% Evidence of Kaupapa Maori approach and identifying community priorities is provided.
10% Appropriate structure and academic language is used.
10% Sources are correctly cited and referenced.

How might having a growth or fixed mindset impact on student progress?

SCOPE AND CONTEXT: The scope and context are identified and related together.
EMERGING RESEARCH QUESTION(S): Emerging research questions are well defined and integral to the topic’s scope and context. "
REVIEWED SOURCES: A broad range of sources relevant to the emerging research question(s) is reviewed. "
KEY ISSUES IN THE LITERATURE: Key issues within the reviewed literature are analysed. DEBATES WITHIN THE LITERATURE: Debates within the reviewed literature are analysed
KM APPROACH & IDENTIFYING COMMUNITY PRIORITIES: Community priorities reflecting Kaupapa Maori approach are analysed
STRUCTURE AND LANGUAGE: The review is clearly structured and integrated. Academic language is used.
REFERENCING: Well integrated and constructed references, cited and debated.

"Feedback / Forward: Thank you for your excellent literature review which is well structured and integrated. The context for your topic is clearly explained and debates within the literature are critically analysed. You have identified some useful research questions to help to focus your investigation however, some of your statements particularly around Dweck’s work, appear to contradict themselves. You have included a useful overview of Kaupapa Maori principles and discussed how these can inform a mind-set approach. The conclusion however, should summarise the ideas you have presented instead of further reviewing the research studies. Your range of sources is broad but, be wary of referencing non-peer reviewed work and make sure that you are referencing consistently – some of your sources have been accessed in July 2016? In-text citation of a direct quote should also include the page number. "


81%