Using students’ voices to improve teaching in schools Dr Max Hope, University of Hull
Using students’ voices to improve teaching in schools
Dr Max Hope, University of Hull
Aims for session• To explore EU-funded research project which
seeks to use students’ voices to enhance teacher development
• To outline some of challenges of engaging with students’ voices
• To share own ideas, opinions, experiences about using students’ voices in our schools
Research agenda• Across Europe one of the biggest challenges
for teachers is how to respond to learner diversity
• How can teachers develop more inclusive classroom practices by engaging with the views of students?
The project• EU Comenius Multilateral Project
• 3 year project: 2011 – 2014
• 3 countries: Spain, Portugal and the UK
• 13 partners: 5 Universities and 8 secondary schools
Rationale for the project• Difficulties experienced by students as a result
of the way that schools are organised• Schools have to be reformed• Pedagogy needs to be improved• Students’ voices as a means of identifying
ways to improve learning and teaching in schools
Aims of the project The project aims to have a direct impact on
practitioners’ practices, as well as on students’ participation and achievement.
3 areas of focus:diversitystudents’ voices (learning and teaching)teacher development
The process
• Two cycles of collaborative action research
• Merging of two frameworks: students’ voices and lesson study as strategies for teacher development
• Researchers support and monitor developments in schools
Four steps1. Form research groups2. Discuss diversity, learning and teaching3. Plan, teach and analyse research lessons4. Identify implications for future practice
Engaging with the views of students should be an emphasis that permeates the whole
approach
Engaging with students’ voices as a strategy for teachers’ professional
development
Engaging with students’ voices
• Working with students as co-researchers• Interviews and focus groups• Variety of participative activities (including
unfinished sentences, role play, sociograms, pyramid discussions)
• Whole-school surveys
EXAMPLE - If I were a teacher…
“Think of three pieces of advice that you would give to your teachers so, at the time of teaching a lesson, every student could learn and feel comfortable in your class”.
From individual reflection to whole class discussion
EXAMPLE - Pyramid Discussion
EXAMPLE - Photo Elicitation
EXAMPLE – Student survey
EXAMPLE – Using students as co-researchers
Using students’ voices to improve teaching and learning
Experimenting with seating plans:“I found the kids were more comfortable in groups …
And I think being able to choose who you sat beside, made it so much easier, facilitated the lesson. And I’ve
kept it like that, though usually I have a rigid seating arrangement, now I put the emphasis on them … And
since then, after I tried it with the Year 7s, I tried it with the Year 9s and it is working quite well with them too. They feel that they have been treated more like
adults and their opinions have been taken into account. So, in that respect it has been very beneficial”
Using students’ voices to improve teaching and learning
Extending time for groupwork:
John: It’s scary giving them 20 minutes. Kate: If I thought about a lesson on drama I would give them 10
minutes and then the evaluation would take longer and the key techniques would take longer. I think giving them such a long time, it makes the drama the whole point of the lesson, doing it at the end.
John: It’s frightening giving them a whole 20 minutes to get on with something by themselves.
Kate: And you feel like if someone comes in or – like 20 minutes! – it’s 20 minutes just to do what they’ve got to do, but because it’s such a long time it feels like .. but then you have done something in this lesson, that’s what you have done. And from Marie’s lesson I took that, like I wasn’t confident to give them that amount of time.
Changing teachers’ perceptions and practices
“it’s been good staff development ... I’ve been teaching a long time [over 20 years], and I’ve
never said ‘what do you like doing kids?’ ... never, so it was good.”
Challenges with capturing and engaging students’ voices
• Who are the marginalised?• Capturing authentic voices• Diversity of students’ voices• Teacher resistance• Balance between students’ voices and teachers’
voices• External pressures – curriculum, assessments,
organisational contexts, funding• Ethical considerations
Ways forward – developing dialogue
• Need to listen to and acknowledge uniqueness of setting and individuals
• Need to offer practical suggestions of ways of engaging with and responding to students
• Need to ensure that students see the impact of their feedback on teaching and learning
• Need to involve students in feedback, planning, learning process and reflection
Over to you ...
What are your own ideas, opinions and experiences about
using students’ voices in our schools ?