Helen Timperley

Professional learning for the 21st century

Developing relevant knowledge and skills for students in the 21st century requires understanding how to teach these students. As researchers we are coming to know a lot more about how our brains work (both those of students and professionals) so we have to think differently about student learning, teaching and leading. There is increasing evidence that a much closer relationship exists between academic achievement and students' ability to exercise self-control, be meta-cognitive and self-regulated learners, than with traditional measures of IQ. The implications for teachers are that enduring beliefs about their role are challenged and must change. One such enduring belief in many countries is that a teachers' role is to transmit subject matter whereby teachers demonstrate knowledge and skills for students followed by student practice.

But how we help teachers to change their practice requires us to draw on similar research that identifies the conditions under which teachers learn. Well established neural pathways in our brains do not change overnight. Change requires the development of modified / new neural pathways that demand repeated exposure to new ideas, how they connect with existing beliefs, and multiple opportunities to practice and receive feedback. This way of thinking about teacher learning raises issues of what it means to be a teaching professional. Traditional notions of professionalism need to be replaced with one encompassing a learning orientation and the development of adaptive expertise.

This is where leaders come in because the development of adaptive expertise does not happen by attending courses, conferences or seminars. It develops through ongoing interactions with those with whom teachers work and the development of collective capacity throughout the school. This means leaders must create the learning conditions and lead the change process.

Evidence of the power of this approach has been gathered through a research project spanning 7 years. The effect size gains for students' literacy achievement in more than 300 schools across three cohorts of 100 schools equated to a rate of progress 1.85 times greater than usual for students in schools with a reading focus, and 3.2 times the usual rate for those in schools with a writing focus.

Helen Timperley is professor of Education in the Faculty of Education at Auckland University, New Zealand