What Does TIMSS Say about School Support Systems?

Goals

• To identify the influences of school support systems on learning

• To learn the TIMSS findings on school support systems around the world

• To identify alternatives to current U.S. teacher development practices

• To identify issues for further reflection and dialogue and possible actions to improve the school support systems in participants’ own schools, districts, and higher education institutions

Agenda

• Overview of Goals and Agenda

• What Do We Mean by School Support Systems: Brief Overview Lecture

• Collegiality and Professional Development of Teachers

• “The Secret of Trapezes”

• Issues for Further Reflection and Dialogue

What do we mean by school support systems in the NRC report?

• Preparation and support of teachers

• Attitudes toward the profession of teaching

• Attitudes of teachers, students, and parents toward learning

• Lives of teachers and students, both in and out of school

Data about School Support Systems

• Teachers’ Time

• Teacher Learning

• Cultural Influences on Teaching

• Student Attitudes

Time Science Teachers Spend on Various Tasks

From: Science Achievement in the Middle School Years

Work Year of Teachers

From: Global Perspectives for Local Action

Work Day of Teachers

From: Global Perspectives for Local Action

Time to Collaborate—Percent of Population 2 Students Taught Science by Teachers Who Met with Their Colleagues

From: Science Achievement in the Middle School Years

Reflecting on Practice

• How does the daily schedule in your setting encourage or discourage collaboration among teachers?

• How could the opportunities for collaboration among teachers be enhanced?

• What are the trade-offs to providing teachers more collaborative planning time—for example, would the average class size grow or would teachers need to do more of their planning at school?

Teacher Learning

• Teacher Preparation

• Professional Development for New Teachers

• Career-long Professional Development

Purposes of Professional Development

• Create Awareness

• Build Knowledge

• Translate Knowledge into Practice

• Practice Teaching

• Reflect on Practice

Create Awareness

Build Knowledge

Translate Knowledge into Practice

Practice Teaching

Reflect on Practice

Professional Development for New Teachers

U.S.

expects beginning teachers to take on immediately the same duties and schedules as their more experienced peers, typically without formal assistance.

Japan

assigns a mentor and requires additional study for first-year teachers.

Germany

requires all new teachers to participate in a two-year, field-based student teaching experience.

From: Global Perspectives for Local Action

Professional Development

Japan

locates professional development close to the classroom and regards teachers as primary resources.

U.S.

teachers are “only peripherally aware” of approaches to professional development that grow out of practice and that allow them to “study and improve their own practice.”

Top quote from: Global Perspectives for Local Action

Bottom quote from: “Teachers and the Teaching Profession in the United States”

In Japan,

some teachers engage in mandatory professional development away from their school in the sixth, tenth, and twentieth years.

In the U.S.,

teachers’ formal opportunities for professional growth are infrequent. Teachers get little guidance about particular paths of study or career development.

From: Global Perspectives for Local Action

Purposes of Professional Learning Strategies

Summary

• Teacher learning at the pre-service, novice, and experienced teacher levels varies widely.

• Japanese professional development emphasizes the improvement of teaching lessons and the teacher as a resource.

• Teachers in Japan learn from one another through mentorship and teacher-run study groups.

Summary

• In the U.S., teachers engage in more short-term, expert-led workshops.

• In Japan, many beginning teachers have a structured development plan and a lighter schedule to support their development.

Reflecting on Practice

• How are new teachers inducted in your setting? Who is involved, and what is involved? To what end?

• To what extent is professional development relevant, focused, and coherent? What are the focal areas, methods, and content, and how are these aligned with learning goals?

• How is teacher development organized across the career of a teacher? What kinds of opportunities exist for what kinds of learning?

• Do teachers engage in collaborative learning through teacher-led study groups, examination of student work, or videotaped classroom lessons? How could you increase collaborative learning?

Implications for Action for Teacher Learning

• Create opportunities for teachers to collaborate.

• Recognize teacher expertise.

• Provide opportunities for teachers to share what they know with each other.

• Assign mentors for beginning teachers and provide time for mentoring.

• Have teachers create individual professional development plans.

Wrap Up

An insight you have gained.

An action you intend to take.