75 million lessons left until school is out for the summer next year (video)

What an opportunity! That is how many lessons, out of the total 100 million, that remain in Sweden’s primary and secondary schools after the autumn break. What if all those lessons can lead to X percent more learning for the students through a systematic focus on developing the quality of teaching in every classroom.

That’s how we think.
We are passionate about students’ learning.
Come along! (watch our video)

Contact us for a free 30-minute web demo and we will show you how you can think and work systematically with BRAVOLesson – app web video – to support lesson observations, peer learning among teachers, reflection and development.

PS. Calculate how many lessons remain at your school or in your municipality with what we call The Lesson Calculator

Good luck during the remainder of this academic year!
Mats Rosenkvist, BRAVOLesson

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Meet School Leader Daniel Söderberg who is developing teaching together with his team

During this school year, Allbo Learning Centers will begin to focus even more systematically on the quality of teaching

Allbo Learning Center is responsible for Alvesta municipality’s upper secondary school and adult education. At Allbo, School Leader Daniel Söderberg, the School Principals and four of their expert teachers are creating a plan to systematically develop the quality of teaching. This is based on research and will be implemented with the help of BRAVOLesson.

READ MORE ABOUT DANIEL’S OCH ALLBO LÄRCENTER’S FOCUS

 

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5 things we hope all teachers will experience during 2020 – to smile like this

A new year and a new term is about to begin. Teachers and pupils will meet up in classrooms and hundreds of millions of lessons and more will be carried out around the world. Teachers will take on all the challenges and focus on the most important question: is learning taking place here and now?

Facing this huge and, most of the time, rewarding assignment we hope that all teachers will be involved in professional development where they together with their colleagues will grow and experience these five dimensions of collaborative school improvement.

Good luck with the new term!

This blog has been written in cooperation between
Professor Sir George Berwick, OLEVI International and Mats Rosenkvist, BRAVOLesson
representing two organisations that can support you with focus on the quality of teaching and learning.

___________________________________________

1. I reflect and think more deeply about my practice.
_____________________________

2. The quality of my teaching and learning
has moved forward and improved.

_____________________________

3. I have raised the level of challenge in my classroom – expectations of myself and my pupils are much higher now.
_____________________________

4. I engaged in collaborative learning
and have adopted new strategies.

_____________________________

5. I have both experienced and role-modelled
outstanding professionalism.

__________________________________________

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What teaching activities do the students really engage in?

Part 2 on Kunskapsgymnasiet’s systematic focus on the quality of teaching for learning

During the autumn term, teaching observations were carried out with the support of BRAVOLesson at all schools. Based on the observations, teaching development activities are ongoing and planned. The analysis of strengths and development areas have been carried out at the overall organisational level as well as the individual school level. The analysis has been done together with the principals and deputy principals.

Teacher activity – student engagement
A number of activities are ongoing based on the current position of all schools. Examples: the relationship between teacher activity – student engagement, how the start of the lessons can be made clear to support students and what the lesson end can look like. These aspects are captured with Kunskapsgymnasiet’s observation form, embedded in BRAVOlesson.
– Structured observations based on a common foundation, a foundation that in turn is based on research, lead to productive and good discussions about the development of teaching at all levels, says Petter Enlund, development manager at Kunskapsgymnasiet.

Individually at each school – collaboratively with all schools
Together with the schools, specific activities have been planned based on the development needs of each school. These activities differ greatly between the schools and can be about teachers visting teachers , joint reading, testing of a common method and more. The work at the schools is owned and led by the principal, together with the deputy principals and the management team, with support from Kunskapsgymnasiet’s pedagogy department.

“With the help of BRAVOLesson we are starting to get a clearer picture of our key strengths and development needs at the present time. It´s a good feeling to be able to make informed decisions about further development based on the analysis of a broad base of observation data. After all, it is, first and foremost, all the work done in the classrooms that makes the quality of education. “

Petter Enlund, development manager at Kunskapsgymnasiet

To be continued in our newsletters next term.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
from The BRAVOLesson Team

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Focus on the quality of teaching – London schools went from the country’s worst to the best performing

In the early 2000s, London schools had student results that placed them at the bottom of England schools ranking. Less than ten years later, they were at the top of the rankings. They achieved this by focusing on the quality of teaching and learning in each classroom. Since then, London schools have consolidated their position with even better student outcomes.

In 2002, 21 percent of London schools were assessed and rated as “underperforming schools” with low student outcome. At the same time, the proportion of “outstanding schools” with high student results in the capital was only 15 percent. In 2010, the figures were 2 percent underperforming and 27 percent outstanding. In 2015, the ratio was 2 percent and 37 percent.

If students’ results are low – then we have a closer look at the teaching
We know what a multicultural city London is and based on the situation we have today in many countries we all understand the dimension of the challenges that London’s schools have and have had. Instead of focusing on that, they chose to look at the situation like this: the student results that the schools achieve are low – then we have to look more closely at the quality of teaching for learning.

Lesson observations in all classrooms
One of the first steps in 2003 was to start with all the schools that had been found to be “underperforming” – 40 schools. At these schools, systematic lesson observations were conducted in all classrooms with the same form for the observations. In other words, consistent reference points based on research. Based on the outcomes of the observations, the teachers who were found to deliver high quality teaching were trained to provide support to the teachers who were found to need additional skills development in order to develop important skills. This support was given in the form of a 10-week intensive course.

Collaborative groups with principals
Another measure was to create many smaller groups with school leaders. Each group included both leaders from high performing and underperforming schools. Together they collaborated exchanging experiences and challenged each other to develop their schools with a specific goal on improving the quality of teaching and the coaching of teachers. ***

Concrete and systematic – two examples
More and more schools are putting concrete and systematic focus to the quality of teaching in other countries as well. Click on the links below to read about two examples.

A systematic approach to improve teaching in Ludvika minicipality
A systematic approach at all seven schools in Kunskapsgymnasset

______________________________________

*** Based on the work that started in London in the 2000s, there are today two organisations that continue on the path that was staked out. Interested? Check out these two links:

Challenge Partners
OLEVI International

 

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Now 6.9 million lessons at Stockholm’s municipal schools can systematically become even better

More than 6.9 million lessons are carried out each academic year in Stockholm’s municipal schools. It is now possible for all Stockholm principals and teachers to focus even more systematically on developing the quality of teaching.
BRAVOLesson has signed an agreement with the City of Stockholm, which makes BRAVOLesson an optional service on the Stockholm Digital Learning Resources Software Bank.

A systematic approach – download our whitepaper

Video – this is BRAVOLesson

 

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Lesson observations for 7 out of 10 teachers per school during 2nd week of October

Part 1
Kunskapsgymnasiet’s systematic approach to improve teaching

——————————————-

The principal and the deputy principal at each school will conduct observations during the second week in October and during the last week in April 2020. The aim is for at least 7 out of 10 teachers to be observed in each school during those weeks. The result from observation 1 will be analysed using BRAVOLesson. Strengths and areas for development will be defined and used in the work for systematic school improvement.

——————————————-

Image. Graphs generated in BRAVOLesson for each dimension in an observation form – for analysis, reflection and improvement.

——————————————-

The result of observation 2 in April will be used to see the progress in the quality of teaching identified in the areas for development in observation 1. In addition to these two observation sessions, continuous lesson observations will be conducted throughout the school year.

     – The overall aim of our school improvement work is always to increase the students’ learning and results. To achieve this, the aim is to develop our teaching together in a systematic and structured way, says Petter Enlund, Pedagogy and Development Manager at Kunskapsgymnasiet.

 

“… the aim is to develop our teaching together in a systematic and structured way.”

Petter Enlund, Kunskapsgymnasiet

 

This term the new way of working starts with:

  1. All principals and deputy principals receive their own accounts and an introduction to BRAVOLesson.
  2. Lessons have been recorded on video. The principals from all seven schools observe the videos together with the help of the BRAVOLesson tool to discuss and calibrate how they perceive what is the quality of the different dimensions of good teaching according to Kunskapsgymnasiet’s joint observation form.
  3. During second week of October lesson observations will be conducted at each school.

Already towards the end of Friday afternoon that week, all the principals and Petter Enlund have the opportunity to start analysing the statistics in BRAVOLesson. What does the teaching at each school look like and what does it look like overall?

     – The observations are intended to serve as a good basis for discussions about how to improve teaching at all our schools, but also between schools, between teachers and principals as well as between teachers and teachers, says Petter Enlund.

The next part about Kunskapsgymnasiet’s systematic approach to improve teaching will be about insights after October and their evidence-based observation form.

A SYSTEMATIC APPROACH. DOWNLOAD OUR WHITEPAPER

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Part 7 of 10. Meet Jonas Fors, Head of School, and his colleagues who have new perspectives after 450 lesson observations

Meet Jonas Fors, Head of School, and his colleagues who have new perspectives after 450 lesson observations

This is about a spring term 2019 professional development-day for all 17 schools in Ludvika municipality. A day when all teachers had the opportunity to analyse and discuss statistics and reports from BRAVOLesson that gave them and Jonas Fors a clear picture of how they start and end their lessons.
It is also about the planning for the next two academic years in Ludvika – a step by step plan to achieve better and better teaching and learning – that is related to singer Tommy Nilsson’s most famous love song.

Teaching analytics for shared reflection
From October to the end of January 2019, 450 observations of the start of and the end of lessons were completed in the 17 schools in Ludvika,. With the help of BRAVOLesson, it was possible to analyse and share statistics both from a school and a municipality perspective around each dimension that was included in the observation forms.

The analysis showed, for example, that the majority of all lessons started with focusing on helping the pupils understand the intention of each lesson and getting started with the tasks.

     – We could also see that a development area is how the lessons are ended. ‘In almost half of the lessons, the teacher did not, or to a small extent, summarise what the lesson was about and in almost 60 percent of the lessons the pupils did not, or to a small extent, have the opportunity to reflect on their learning’, says Anders Bobäck, development manager in the municipality of Ludvika.

 

The analysis became a focus for discussions during the Ludvika schools’ professional development-day on 15th February.

     – We saw that we could improve both how we start and end lessons, especially how we finish our lessons. At our school we discussed the templates and the statistics. We discussed and gave each other tips and ideas on how to best finish a lesson. The conclusion helps me as a teacher to plan lessons ahead, says Sara Graniti, teacher at Knutsbo school.

 

“We saw that we could improve both how we start and end lessons, especially how we finish our lessons.”

Sara Graniti, teacher at Knutsbo school

 

A guide on how to implement systematic focus on teaching
During the Autumn term of 2018, Ludvika began to work according to a new specific plan that focused on developing and improving the teaching at all the schools. The plan is part of Ludvika developing the structure for school improvement and performance management. They have asked for support from Successful Schools and use their handbook The Model for inspiration.

Ludvika was among the first to use the new whitepaper and guide from Successful Schools and BRAVOLesson:  A guide for how to write a plan and implement a systematic approach to improve teaching step by step plan.

     – ‘The guide accelerated our process and helped transform our ideas into a concrete, clear and systematic plan. All of a sudden we had a tool that gave us courage to move on from the theory stage’, says Anders Bobäck, development manager in Ludvika municipality.

 

 

“The guide accelerated our process and helped transform our ideas into a concrete, clear and systematic plan. All of a sudden we had a tool that gave us courage to move on from the theory stage.”

Anders Bobäck, development manager in Ludvika municipality


The core of the school’s systematic quality work
At the start of autumn term 2019, Ludvik’s own concrete plan was ready. The plan focuses on how to improve teaching and learning in all schools. The plans overall aim is to develop “a collaborative culture where it is natural for teachers to study their and others ‘teaching to develop the students’ learning together”. The plan’s name is Open your door and say you want me here.

     – It was when we were working with on our plan that Swedish singer Tommy Nilsson’s old love song suddenly began to ring in my head. Opening the door for colleagues is exactly what it is about. To help and share ideas to develop the teaching together and build a learning culture, says Anders Bobäck, development manager.

“It was when we were working on our plan that Swedish singer Tommy Nilsson’s old love song suddenly began to ring in my head. Opening the door to for colleagues is exactly what it is about.”

Anders Bobäck, development manager in Ludvika municipality

Focus on one thing at a time in all classrooms
The first step in the plan involves focusing only on the start and end of lessons, without a connection to a specific person / teacher. It focuses on the principals carrying out short observations – 10 minutes at the start of a lesson and 10-15 minutes at the end of a lesson, to initially get an overall picture of the teaching around these two aspects. Something that takes relatively little time, but that can have a major impact on the quality of teaching and learning. Advice in the guide ‘for better and better teaching’ is not to start at “100 km per hour” but instead start with something that takes reasonable time, but has great impact on learning. After that, you can prioritise and plan how to carry out observations and feedback to teachers in a manageable way, in an ever day school context.

In October 2018, all principals received a 30-minute introduction in BRAVOLesson, the tool chosen for the systematic work for better and better teaching. Start-and-end-of-lesson observations were identified as the highest priority task. It was the starting point for all the principals to carry out observations on all their teachers.

Anchoring at both principal and teacher level
All teachers viewed and had the opportunity to give input into the observation forms that would be used (take a look at the observation form in BRAVOLesson’s library on the web – see example 1.15).

     – The decision to observe something that takes relatively little time was a common driver for the team of principals. ‘With the statistics from BRAVOLesson, I have had a basis to discuss with both the principals who started their observations and with those who for various reasons had challenges that slowed them down from getting started. With BRAVOLesson, I know if the work that we have prioritised really is carried out at each school or not’, says Head of School Jonas Fors.

 

“With BRAVOLesson, I know if the work that we have prioritized really is carried out at each school or not.”

 

Jonas Fors, Head of School, Ludvika Municipality

     – ‘I think it has worked well to use BRAVOLesson at the visits to the classrooms. In practical terms, it is easy to use a digital tool in connection with the lesson observations. I follow the lesson and click quickly in the areas that are the basis for my observation. I also write comments and take notes’, says Agneta Carlsson-Byström, Principal at Church School 7-9.

 

“I follow the lesson and click quickly in the areas that are the base for my observation.”

 

Agneta Carlsson-Byström, Principal at Church School 7-9

Work now continues in Ludvika. The next steps are:
– More focus on the start and end of lessons with individual feedback to each teacher.
– Build trust and an open climate where teachers feel empowered in conversations and reflection of each other’s and their own teaching.
– Focus on the leadership in the classroom – a dimension that has great impact on the quality of teaching and learning.

     – ‘This is a very important part of our vision and the work for Ludvika to become one of the 25 per cent best school municipalities in Sweden by 2020’, says Jonas Fors.

“Now the work continues in Ludvika… Focus on the leadership in the classroom – a dimension that has great impact on the quality of teaching and learning.”

 

The schools in Ludvika all have a school license
At each school, these observation forms are included for use in BRAVOLesson. In addition, the module BRAVOLesson Analytics has been selected for statistics on aggregated municipality level.

 

Relaterade nyheter

The Lesson Calculator – 100 Million lessons are about to be taught. How many lessons will be taught at your school?

A new school year is starting
Teachers will be creating learning opportunities together with their pupils and students. Millions of lessons will be taught before the school year ends in the summer of 2020. In a country like Sweden with a population of 10 million this adds up to more than 100 million lessons.

 

“… 100 Million lessons. What if all lessons can be systematically improved based on evidence and research to become better and better. What an opportunity for increased job satisfaction and improved student results!”

 

The Lesson Calculator
Use The Lesson Calculator for free to see how many lessons that can be systematically improved per school year at your school?

 

8 key questions for discussion
When you use The Lesson Calculator you can also download our guide that includes amongst other things eight key questions for discussion while creating a plan to systematically improve teaching.

 

Good luck with the new school year!
From the BRAVOLesson Team

 

TRY THE LESSON CALCULATOR

 

 

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Part 6 of 10. The process from lesson observations through to the appraisal meetings with the teachers

Meet principal Sven-Erik Berg who has created a
systematic process from lesson observations
to the appraisal meetings

This is about how Sven-Erik Berg at Stenbackeskolan in Uddevalla, step by step since 2014, has created his structure to have both insight and overview of the entire learning process that he is responsible for leading. This is about how he has become more and more focused on, and how he can now personally follow, what really takes place in the students’ learning processes.

In 2014, Sven-Erik began to focus more on the entire teaching process. In 2015, he started to use the Swedish School Inspection’s form for lesson observations to analyse what is happening in the classroom, both from the pupils’ and teachers’ perspective. In 2018 he decided on using BRAVOLesson.

The process from classroom visits to appraisal meetings
    – I have chosen to put the form and documentation for the appraisal meetings into BRAVOLesson to ensure that I can make and analyse feedback from these meetings over time. It is also a very good compilation of the professional conversations along with the lesson observation and there is a portfolio for each teacher inside the system. In the conversation, we link it together with the teacher’s own view and outcome. We reflect together and decide on new individual focus areas for what to improve using the objectives module in BRAVOLesson. 

 

“. . .  it spread in the staff room when several explained that it felt like you were allowed to participate with your own reflections for real.”

Why did you choose BRAVOLesson?
     – When we learned about BRAVOLesson, it seemed obvious to try to create a core school improvement structure. It gives me, as a legally responsible principal, a tool where I can gather all documentation, objectives, planning and fulfillment for each individual teacher,  says Sven-Erik.
    – I myself choose the focus area for each period or term which is then the base for what observation points that we use. In BRAVOLesson I can also add video clips that we then use in the follow-up conversation with the individual teacher, for a team or for all staff..

How was it to get started with BRAVOLesson?
     – After some communication back and forth before the decision, all that was needed were email addresses for all staff and to choose observation forms from BRAVOLesson’s online library. The platform is easy to understand and easy to use. There is a help function inside BRAVOLesson which I sometimes use to understand how to use the different features.
     – During spring I used an observation form that is based mostly on the Swedish School Inspection’s observation form. All teachers have had at least one visit.

How have the teachers reacted to the system and your focus?
     – At first, some teachers were a bit uncertain, but it spread in the staff room when several explained that it felt like you were allowed to participate with your own reflections for real. All teachers have also been video-filmed to watch each other’s films together as part of collaborative learning.

What has BRAVOLesson led to so far – what effect has it had?
     – I myself have experienced my work more professionally. The structure that BRAVOLesson offers helps me to document, plan and follow up on all employees and their learning and development process. I have done lesson visits when I looked at the teachers’ lesson plan in advance and used an observation form that was mostly designed based on the School Inspectorate form. All teachers have had at least one visit. This has given us a more comprehensive pedagogical dialogue that has led to joint decisions on changes in our processes and classrooms.

“This summer I can go on vacation and feel that my pedagogical leadership is in place. It will be clear and easy to start the next school year in August. ”

Principal Sven-Erik at Stenbackeskolan has a single-user licens
He has been inspired by the BRAVOLesson library with observation templates. 

Related Stories

Part 5 of 10. Improve teaching in every classroom by thinking about the dimensions that make a difference

BRAVOLesson blog May 3rd 
All pupils and students deserve fantastic teaching
and all teachers deserve constructive feedback!
That is the core of school improvement.

 

 A systematic approach to improve teaching. Our ten part series continues – this is part 5.

Few other professionals get so little feedback as Western teachers according to an article in the magazine The Economist. Surveys in Sweden and our market research in other Nordic countries as well as in continental Europe point in the same direction. ***
Part 5 adresses two things, how schools use an observation template and alternative “thinking” that leads to improvements that affect the students’ learning in all classrooms as of the first semester.

The Swedish Schools Inspectorate’s observation template is the most commonly used observation template for lesson observations in Swedish schools. Their template is based on research on what are the dimensions of good teaching – general-didactic qualities.

Many think and work like this
Many people perceive The Swedish Schools Inspectorate’s observation template as very extensive. This means that those who use it often make notes in the observation template around certain parts individually for a teacher, around other parts individually for the next teacher and partly other parts individually for a third teacher. See the illustration below.

Alternative thinking – a more systematic approach

“Now, all teachers at our school / in our municipality will together become really skilled at some of the most important dimensions of good teaching to support the students’ learning. We will focus on one dimension at a time.”

This approach is based on the following conditions and ambitions

  • Collaborative learning is the objective, but at the same time, the principal is legally responsible for ensuring that the teaching is of high quality throughout the school.
  • If feedback to teachers is a neglected area then let us start with what can make a big difference in a short time.
  • To take the first step in a way where we use reasonable amount of time to make sure that it will happen. 

To carry this out you can develop a plan and use different observation templates for how to take one dimension at a time during a couple of academic years. All observations during one semester have a specific focus and another focus during the following semester. Along this route you also move more and more towards individual teacher feedback.

Possible steps – one dimension at a time

  • The structure of teaching – the beginning and the end of the lesson.
  • Teachers’ leadership in the classroom. Without the leadership and strategies for a learning environment “teaching” and learning does not take place.
  • Teachers’ skills around asking student questions.
  • Teachers’ formative approach in the classroom.

You will find examples for all these four areas in our open library with different templates for lesson observations. Templates that all can be selected and used in BRAVOLesson.

It is, among other things, about how you can write a plan for this thinking that you can read about in our Guide to implement a systematic approach to improve teaching. Download it via the button below.
_______________________________

* The Economist (June 11th – 17th). How to make a good teacher.  : 13, 21-24. 2016.
**    Skolledaren/Lärarnas Riksförbunds lärarpanel. Den osynlige rektorn. 2017
**  Successful Schools Swedens/BRAVOLessons undersökning via  Novus. Konstruktiv feedback kring undervisning. 2016 
_______________________________

We hope you will follow our series! It will continue until the summer of 2019 with one new part every two weeks.

Greetings from the BRAVOLesson Team

Download our free white paper

 

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Part 4 of 10. This is how schools and school districts handle the first and biggest challenge

BRAVOLesson blog April 5th 
All pupils and students deserve fantastic teaching 
and all teachers deserve constructive feedback! 
That is the core of school improvement.

 

 A systematic approach to improve teaching. Our ten part series continues – this is part 4.

Some schools and municipalities/school districts get going with a systematic approach and others do not. We have previously described that feedback to teachers is not only about systematics but also about collaborating and improving together – to be recognised as a teacher and experience increased work satisfaction. To get to that, we have recognised a pattern; It is about systematics and a concrete plan.
Those who get going start by creating a plan and then being transparent about What to do and How. They hand out responsibilities, set goals, work collaboratively and follow up. Nothing is new under the sun.

In our previous blog we adressed the 4 + 2 challenges to achieve systematic focus on how to improve teaching. The first challenge is to prioritise – to prioritise, organise and to use time for working with one of the key characteristics of successful school. ***  

“All schools work with school improvement, but very few schools have a concrete plan for how to improve teaching systematically.”

Download our example
In our guide there is an example of a plan that helps you tackle the 4 + 2 challenges for systematic feedback to teachers – for their own reflection on teaching. The plan is based on the principal’s legal responsibility for the quality of the teaching. It also has the objective of achieving collaborative learning – that, it step by step, becomes natural for teachers to give and receive feedback in order to systematically develop the teaching together. Download our example via the link below.

PS. We know that we have used the word “systematically” seven times in this blog. Sorry!… however, that’s just the right word.

_______________________________

*** Sources:
Hargreaves, A. & Fullan, M. (2012). Professional capital: Transforming teaching in every school. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Leithwood, Jantz & Steinbach (2002) Changing Leadership for Changing Times. Buckingham: Open University Press

_______________________________

We hope you will follow our series! It will continue until the summer of 2019 with one new part every two weeks.

Greetings from the BRAVOLesson Team

Download our free white paper

 

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Part 3 of 10. The four + two key challenges for a systematic approach to improve teaching

BRAVOLesson blog March 14th 
All pupils and students deserve fantastic teaching 
and all teachers deserve constructive feedback! 
That is the core of school improvement.

 

 A systematic approach to improve teaching. Our ten part series continues – this is part 3.

Our survey, carried out in Sweden, included questions to 
primary, secondary and upper secondary school teachers. The survey showed that teaching is a lonely profession, with teachers receiving little support or guidance. 
Only every tenth teacher gets feedback on their teaching from a school leader, a colleague or a coach. OECD Statistics indicate that only every fourth teacher gets perspective on their own and their colleagues teaching. ***

 

This means:

  • A fantastic opportunity for education and schools!
  • There are schools already successfully working with a systematic approach already.


This leads to questions like: How do they think and what do they do?  
We wanted to get answers to the these questions and we subsequently organised a conference, ”Öppna klassrumsdörrarna” (”Open the classroom doors”), in Stockholm in April 2018. Researchers, experts, experienced school leaders and teachers met to share their experiences. When we reviewed the experiences together with other things that research has shown to be important dimensions of good teaching, we could conclude the following:                                                                                                                             

 

Their are four + two key challenges for successful implementation of systematic approach:                     

  1. Trust

  2. Time and priorities
  3. Evidence-based systematics 

  4. The quality of the feedback                                                                                         
    You also need to:    
  1. Be sure that agreed work will be completed     
  2. Be able to measure progress – the dimensions that have been successful and which still need to be developed                 


Our white paper helps you to tackle these four + two key challenges.

_____________________________

*** Sources:
– Successful Schools Swedens/BRAVOLessons survey via Novus. Konstruktiv feedback kring undervisning. 2016
– How to make a good teacher.  The Economist (June 11th – 17th): 13, 21-24. 2016.

_____________________________

We hope you will follow our series! It will continue until the summer of 2019 with one new part every two weeks. 

Greetings from the BRAVOLesson Team

Download our free white paper

 

Online tools to improve teaching and learning 

 

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Part 2 of 10. How to make a good teacher?

BRAVOLesson blog Feb 25th. 
All pupils and students deserve fantastic teaching 
and all teachers deserve constructive feedback! 
That is the core of school improvement.

 

 A systematic approach to improve teaching. Our ten part series continues – this is part 2.

How to make a good teacher? – the headline of the editorial article in the 2016  June issue of the magazine The Economist. The question is a summary of a global challenge where many nations invest more and more in public education. The article describes profession that is starting to transform in many countries – to be a teacher is an art and a beautiful craft but is now also a profession that is about systematics based on research and best practice with focus on continuous improvement.

The question is important since high performing teachers generate one and a half year of learning per academic year. The ten percent low performing teachers only generate half a year of learning per academic year. It does not have to be like that. 1)

“The ten percent low performing teachers only generate half a year of learning per academic year.”

According to the article few other professionals are so isolated in their work, or get so little feedback, as Western teachers. In other words, other parts of society have much more focus on the quality of “production” than the school.

“Few other professionals are so isolated in their work, or get so little feedback, as Western teachers.”

There is every reason to read the texts in The Economist regardless of whether you are a teacher, principal, head of school, politician, parent or student. In the articles – because they are two – everyone will find perspectives for raising both the school debate, school development and teaching.

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1) Hanushek, Eric. The economic value of higher teacher quality.  Economics of Education Review 30 (2011): 467

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We hope you will follow our series! It will continue until the summer of 2019 with one new part every two weeks. 

Greetings from the BRAVOLesson Team

Download our free white paper

PS. Do you want to read the articles from The Economist? Here you will find the editorial article and here you find the main article.

 

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Part 1 of 10. What does a systematic approach to improve teaching really mean?

BRAVOLesson blog Feb 4th 
All pupils and students deserve fantastic teaching
and all teachers deserve constructive feedback!
That is the core of school improvement.


Welcome to our ten parts series!

Not just improvements – continuous improvements. This series is about our whitepaper: A guide on how to implement a systematic approach to improve teaching. The perspective is not about leadership controlling teachers, but instead about working together with teachers to improve teaching. The teachers are both appreciated and valued, but also challenged about learning and improving student outcomes. This is also about increasing job satisfaction. It all goes together.

It is important to start with a vision. Why should we do this at all? When discussing a vision it is important and helpful to discuss the following questions – to engage everyone in the organisation:

  1. What is our mission?
  2. What and when do our students learn during a lesson?
        How do we know that learning is taking place?
  3. What are the important qualities of teaching?
  4. What qualities do we focus on first?
  5. Do we agree on the important qualities of teaching?
  6. What do we observe when we visit a classroom/lesson?
  7. What do we discuss during the dialogue afterwards?
  8. How can we see and measure progress?

We hope you will follow our series! It will continue until the summer of 2019 with one new part every two weeks. Below you can see the topics of next parts.

WELCOME!
Greetings from the BRAVOLesson Team

DOWNLOAD OUR GUIDE

DOWNLOAD THE QUESTIONS

 

Upcoming parts in our series about
a systematic approach to improve teaching

  • Part 1 of 10 
    Eight questions before you get started
  • Part 2  
    How to make a good teacher?
  • Part 3 
    The four challenges for a systematic approach to improve teaching
  • Part 4
    Trust
  • Part 5
    Improve teaching across the whole staff

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BETT 2019 – New and smart features to systematically improve teaching

During BETT in London on January 23-26, we are happy to show BRAVOLesson and the following news and smart features.

Welcome to booth F60 which we share with our English partner Derventio Education.

NEW! BRAVOLesson Analytics – statistics module for municipalities and organisations
The analytics module that is standard inside BRAVOLesson is now available for municipalities and organizations with several school units. This means that you can generate statistics on how teaching is developing for a school, for several schools or for all schools.

NEW! BRAVOLesson App – for iOS and Android
In January, we release the BRAVOLesson App which can be downloaded for FREE from AppStore and Google Play.
With the app one can, among other things, easily upload filmed video sequences or images directly to your own Video and Media archive in BRAVOLesson.

NEW! Save lesson planning related to lesson observation
We have made improvements to what was previously called My Video Archive and renamed it My Video and Media Archive. Now one can easily connect the teacher’s lesson plan to the saved lesson observation.

NEW! Notifications via email
For those schools and municipalities that have school licenses and accounts for all teachers, one can now choose to turn on notifications via email. Then the teacher / user gets a message and a link to BRAVOLesson when a lesson observation or video observation about them has become:
– planned
– saved
– changed

SMART FEATURE! Compare your views of what quality in teaching is
We also want to point to a smart feature to improve teaching together. If two teachers visit a colleague’s lesson, they in BRAVOLesson can set up an observation form each and after the lesson compare how their experience from the lesson.

See you at BETT!

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Teacher leadership in the classroom – New BRAVOLesson partnership with Professor Marcus Samuelsson

Successful teachers manage to both teach their students to learn and to develop both knowledgeably and socially. Research shows that this success is the result of these teachers’ carefully planning, implementing and reviewing their teaching –classroom leadership.
Marcus Samuelson, leg. teacher in craft and professor at Högskolan i Väst, has researched successful leadership in the classroom. He has recently published a book with practical guidance for classroom leaders. He states there is always a leader in the classroom, if it´s not the teacher, then students take over that role.

New evidence-based observation form
Marcus and BRAVOLesson have now released a new evidence-based form for lesson observations and feedback to teachers. A tool that helps to develop teaching by focusing on the key characteristics of successful classroom leadership.

Package of three copies of the book and
the observation form inside BRAVOLesson
BRAVOLesson is now starting a collaboration with Marcus Samuelsson and together with him we offer a package with the new observation form in combination with three copies of the book Lärandets ordning och reda.
The observation form can then be used inside BRAVOLesson.

Check out parts of the observation form

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Creating “magic” in the classroom. Don´t miss this video! Bring it with you into 2018!

We believe in better and better teaching in 2018.

Watch this video and listen to a very inspiring speech by former teacher Christopher Emdin. He believes that “magic can be taught”. Teachers should benchmark with barbershops, rap concerts and the black church and the practice to teach in a magical, inspiring and engaging way.

Click here to get to the video.

We at BRAVOLesson wish everyone a Magical and Merry Christmas and an Inspiring New Year!

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Flow chart for focus on better and better teaching

It is possible to improve both the teaching and the students’ results! Teaching can be improved… Focusing on what really happens in the classrooms is, among other things, what research has shown to be one of the characteristics of successful schools.

40 percent of all teachers in the OECD countries have never given or received any feedback (Source: OECD)

A systematic approach to lesson observations, collaborative learning and feedback to teachers is an almost untapped opportunity to improve student outcome in Sweden where only 11 percent of teachers in primary and secondary schools get feedback according to a survey carried out by Novus.

There is no reason to wait. Start NOW and harvest soon. Other schools, school districts and local authorities have already done so.

Download our flowchart to focus on better and better teaching. Share it with others and discuss.

Online tools to improve teaching and learning 

 

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How to make a good teacher

The myth of great teachers is dealt with in an article in The Economist. You are not born to be a good teacher. You can most certainly have good or very good facilities just with like everything else in life and society. A really good teacher holds a teacher degree, practice , get feedback, practice , get feedback … Read the article on how methods, different ways to ask questions, the difference in how much knowledge per semester that different teachers deliver etc.

Editorial: How to make a good teacher
Article: Teaching the teachers

Online tools to improve teaching and learning 

 

+46 (0)10 - 516 40 90