IARTEM

Development of Standards/Propositions

Classroom Teaching and Learning Materials

Professor Mike Horsley Central Queensland University [email protected] Vice President of IARTEM

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Origin of the Standards/Propositions

These standards and propositions grew out of: concerns about the level of classroom teaching and learning resources to support the Australian and other national curriculum: concerns about the limited attention given to access and use of classroom teaching and learning materials in teaching standards; and concerns about capturing best practice in how teachers access and use classroom teaching and learning materials to match student learning needs and, as a result, enhance student learning outcomes

These standards draw their inspiration from an approach which regards individual and collective teacher qualities and characteristics, as shaping, but also responding to and reflecting, the school context. Teaching practices and teaching quality emerge from the complex interactions between resources, teachers and schools. In this view, teaching quality reflects not just the qualities of individual teachers and teaching teams, but also the parameters of teachers work in their schools. These parameters include planning time and planning opportunities; the classroom teaching and learning resources available at schools; teachers workloads and activities; and the nature of students in teachers classes. As a result, the standards also draw inspiration from the view that it is the way that teachers use classroom teaching and learning materials that is critical in affording or constraining student learning. However, teachers use and mediation of classroom teaching and learning materials is also dependent on access to classroom resources.

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Process of the Standards/Propositions Development

The process of developing the draft standards propositions reflects the steps undertaken in previous standards development work. These steps include: 1. 2. 3. 4. teacher discussions to explicate key domains and potential standards; teacher consultations and feedback to refine the domains and initial draft standards; teacher explorations and feedback to consider the draft domains and standards; stakeholder consultation and feedback on the shape and structure of the domains and standards; and 5. validation of the standards.

Currently the standard development process is at step 1 with step 2 to commence At the same time, Step 5 has been developed, and Likert and Rasch items for analysis for validation research, have also been developed in draft at the end of the document. Please feel free to use any item in the entire document for interviews, focus groups and other research analysis.

Purposes of the Standards/Propositions

The purposes of the standards are to promote best practice in accessing and using classroom teaching and learning materials; make teaching quality in accessing and using classroom teaching and learning materials more explicit; promote curriculum leadership to support the curriculum; and raise the profile and importance of the role of classroom teaching and learning materials in quality teaching.

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Standards Continuum
Discussions with teachers and analysis of research revealed three levels of capability in relation to the draft/standards developed. At the lower level of capability, it was proposed that novice teachers were more resource driven in their planning and less curriculum or student need driven; had fewer skills in matching resources to their learners; were more likely to favour digital over print resources; were more likely to use teachers guides and similar support materials in their planning; were less likely to demand and/or agitate for classroom resources; spent as much time as experienced teachers in locating and selecting and preparing resources; demonstrated less understanding of the learning affordances and constraints in classroom teaching and learning materials; and were less skilled in scaffolding the use of classroom resources by their students.

At the experienced/expert level of capability, there was widespread agreement that expert experienced teachers are planning, rather than resource, driven as they focus on accessing and selecting resources to the level and interest of their students through their knowledge of content, their pedagogical content knowledge and their knowledge of students.

At the highest level of capability, there was widespread agreement that classroom teaching and learning materials leadership was displayed by a range of teachers who developed resources for other teachers. These creators of new resources included textbook authors and publishers; creators of school based classroom teaching and learning resources for groups of teachers; and curriculum writers and unit writers from education systems and curriculum authorities, who created new classroom resources to support curriculum development.

The standards/propositions developed are not presented in a continuum to reflect these three levels of capability.

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Development of Draft Domains

Teachers reported that: access to evaluation and selection of planning to use (and production of) understanding of features of use of customisation of development of classroom teaching and learning were core aspects of classroom teaching and learning. These core aspects of classroom teaching and learning reflected the teacher, their school context, and the schools resources and traditions. The domains reflect: the crucial role of teaching and learning materials in teaching; the relationship between teacher planning and access to and planning for use of teaching materials; the role of teachers in adapting, customising and mediating classroom teaching and learning materials for their classes; the effective use of classroom teaching and learning materials; and the characteristics of classroom teaching and learning resources that present learning affordance and constraint.

The Domains
1. Accessing classroom teaching and learning materials. 2. Planning to evaluate, select, use and develop classroom teaching and learning materials and preparing (producing them). 3. Understanding the characteristics of teaching and learning materials that may afford or constrain learning. 4. Customising and adapting teaching and learning materials for the students in the class. 5. Supporting curriculum. 6. Using classroom teaching and learning materials in teaching and learning. 7. Creating and developing new classroom teaching and learning materials.

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The Standards
1. Access
Teachers: ensure that all students have access to individual copies of appropriate teaching and learning resources both print and digital for use both at home and school; should seek budgeting models, that promote individual teacher autonomy and, at the same time, support strategic investment; ensure that multiple print and digital classroom teaching and learning resources should be available for every topic they teach; agitate for a minimum level of classroom teaching and learning resources per student, class and school; create their own teaching and learning resources for their students, where appropriate; supplement school resources when they are lacking through their own classroom resource purchase and/or development balance the print and digital resource needs of their classrooms; exercise autonomy by selecting the appropriate teaching and learning resources for their students, both individually and in collegial groups; exercise autonomy by making all the decisions about accessing and purchasing teaching and learning materials for their students; and demonstrate responsibility in caring for existing class and school resources, and adding to them.

2. Planning Teachers: seek access to a wide corpus of teaching and learning materials in the planning process; evaluate all the available teaching and learning materials for a unit of work/topic in the planning process; access professional development on the corpus of existing classroom resources; access appropriate planning time; access appropriate planning resources; focus planning on selecting teaching and learning resources based on matching resources to the students in their classes; ensure planning processes are curriculum, unit, concept and topic driven, rather than resource driven; focus planning on using and adapting published teaching and learning resources, rather than initially creating and producing them; focus planning on students and their contexts; this child, this classroom, this school, this community; align resource selection processes to how the resource will meet the aims of the unit and the curriculum within the student context;

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consider environmental consequences in the production of class teaching and learning resources; and reflect the regulatory framework in the production of class teaching and learning resources: and balance planning time between accessing, seeking, evaluation, planning for use and preparing and producing class teaching and learning resources

3. Characteristics of Classroom Teaching and Learning Materials

Teachers: understand the linguistic and literacy features of classroom teaching and learning materials; assess the conceptual and reading demands of print and digital classroom resources on their student readers; understand the multimodal demands current classroom teaching and learning resources make on student learners; understand how classroom teaching and learning resources represent disciplines and subjects and position textual and disciplinary communities; assess the learning affordances and constraints in the structure and design of the materials and their preparation; understand how the teaching and learning materials reflect community and social values; and understand the pedagogical underpinnings of classroom teaching and learning resources; understand the way one classroom teaching and learning resource links and complements other teaching and learning resources; and understands how classroom teaching and learning resources match individual students in their classroom at different levels of capability

4. Customisation and Adaptation Teachers: make adaptations to make published print and digital resources more comprehensible and more interesting to learners; enhance existing classroom materials with current, up to date materials; adapt teaching classroom teaching and learning materials for their own pedagogical and teaching philosophies and dispositions; make adaptations so teaching and learning materials are responsive to cultural diversity and multiple identities; explicate the metaphors found in teaching and learning materials; differentiate print and digital teaching and learning materials for individual students; position teaching and learning materials to promote active citizenship and pluralism; and

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make adaptations to teaching and learning materials to meet the needs of students with different type of learning disabilities.

5. Curriculum Support Teachers: access predominantly national curriculum resources for the Australian curriculum; contribute to the trialling and development of new classroom teaching and learning resources; and share use and evaluation of new classroom teaching and learning resources created for the national curriculum with other teachers; understand that successful curriculum implementation will depend in part on digital and print resources constructed at the class, school and local level as well as the national one

6. Use of Teaching and Learning Resources Teachers: create learning environments through the way they use print and digital classroom teaching and learning materials; articulate the learning environments they have created; understand that the quality of the learning environment depends on their use of print and digital classroom teaching and learning materials; use a wide range of print and digital resources as the basis of lessons; create effective learning environments by using teaching and learning resources for direct instruction, and for collaborative and creative learning; and use different classroom teaching and learning resources in ways that provide opportunities to afford student learning.

7. Creation Incomplete

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SOME LIKERT/RASCH ANALYSIS POTENTIAL ITEMS

Teaching Standards
Teaching standards neglect the role of teaching and learning resources and materials. Teaching standards neglect the complexity of selecting, preparing and using teaching and learning materials. The AITSL Teaching and Learning Standard 3.4 is too simplistic. 3.4 Use resources, including ICTs to engage students in their learning. The AITSL Teaching and Learning standards are too focussed on digital resources.

Levels of Capability
Do the standards describe a realistic continuum of levels of capability.

Standards
1. Access National teacher have access to fewer classroom teaching and learning resources than teachers in other OECD countries. Classroom teaching and learning resources are not funded properly. Teachers often need to purchase teaching and learning materials for their classes. Students often do not have the appropriate quantity and quality of print and digital classroom teaching and learning resources. Multiple print and digital teaching and learning resources should be available for each topic and subject to provide teacher choice. Each childs class requires a minimum of spending on teaching and learning resources. Digital resources are cheaper that print resources

2. Planning Planning is often dependent on teaching and learning material availability. Planning often involves seeking, finding and evaluating new teaching and learning resources to support the teaching program. Textbooks and other teaching and learning resources are written and used in different subjects. Planning time for teaching is shrinking as a result of new teaching responsibility. Teachers dont use guidebooks and teacher editions of materials as much as they did before.

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Textbooks and teaching and learning materials are written and used in different ways in different subjects. Teachers and schools should select teaching and learning resources for the students in their classes. Teachers spent most of their planning time photocopying. Textbooks should be written by teachers. Teachers have little understanding or interest in copyright rules. Expert teachers select resources instantly. Teachers rarely differentiate their teaching materials for individual students.

3. Characteristics Teachers dont always know the language features of the print and digital resources they use. Classroom teaching and learning materials need to be up to date and current. Classroom teaching and learning materials lack cultural diversity. Teachers adapt classroom teaching and learning materials to meet the needs of students with learning disabilities.

4. Customisation and Adaptation Teachers often deviate from the materials their institutions provide for them. Teachers Manuals explained the content to be taught and students responses and misconceptions of the content . Teachers make their own judgements about which content is important o when curriculum materials are not aligned o when they demand more content than teachers can teach o when texts contain trivia We dont know why or how (well) teachers make their adaptations. Funding has a critical impact on the use of materials in schools. Different teachers use textbooks and teaching resources in different ways.

5. Curriculum Support Curriculum should be supported by national curriculum resources. New resources will be important to the implementation of the new curriculum. Current resources in the school will be insufficient to support teaching the curriculum. Students with their own textbook, e-book, pdf at home have an advantage over those who dont Effective implementation of the Curriculum will be possible without new direct funding of teaching and learning materials.

Standards Development IARTEM