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.

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*** 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

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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

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.

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*** 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.

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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