Improve your collaborative practice as a cluster or network of schools - this was a five minute presentation for the Te Toi Tupu VPLD, Future Focused Inquiries Hui in May 2014. I will be presenting workshops soon in more depth on this same subject and will share here on Slideshare

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Improve your collaborative practice

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Effective Collaboration: Purpose
Learning & Improvement
Reaching common goals
Sweeney, 2011

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Effective Collaboration: Process
Build skills & knowledge
Build relationships
Tension!
Sweeney, 2011

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Social Media & Collaboration?
“A community can
exist in a social
network site, but a
social network site
may not necessarily
be a community”
(Melhuish-Spencer,
2013, p. 28

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Alright stop! Collaborate & listen...
Common signs that a network is effectively collaborating
include:
• commitment to a common goal
• use of inquiry and knowledge-building cycles
• the presence of challenge and critique practices
• a focus on evidence-based needs, and
• the presence of role clarity and relational trust among
network members.

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• pooling funding
• sharing ideas for classroom practice or
professional learning and development
• teachers visiting each others’ schools to get ideas
and to be inspired.
Sharing is nice but it’s not enough
Sweeney, 2011

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Focus on a common, needs-based goal
To learn and improve

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Use practices that challenge
critique your work and figure out how
to improve
• teacher talk - Annan, Lai & Robinson (2003)
• asking the tough questions - Fullan & Hargreaves (1991)
• external expertise - Timperley, Wilson, Barrar & Fung
(2007)
• “do not confuse enthusiastic dialogue with deep critique of
practice” - Melhuish-Spencer (2013)

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Ensure role clarity & build
relational trust
to build skills & knowledge
• teachers need to know and understand their roles in the
network and benefits should be clear - Head (2003)
• reduce vulnerability between network members - Bryk &
Schneider (2002)
• leaders fostering cognitive conflict - trust and challenge
together - De Lima (2001)

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Revisit purpose regularly
don’t become stagnant!

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Inquire using evidence
for continuous improvement

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Social networking tools for professional learning...
collaboration for change and improvement
“Learning driven by urgent ‘just in time’ desires of
teachers does not have the same impact as sustained
professional learning with clear outcomes, driven by
evidence and inquiry...Informal learning may prove an
enabler to impact on teacher practice, but it may not
have long term influence on student achievement.”
(Melhuish-Spencer, 2013, pp. 34-35)

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Inquiry - how can we learn more
about what to do?

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Social Networking

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Are you ready to expose your practices and views
about collaboration with your network??

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Social networking & Inquiry =
collaboration?

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References
Annan, B., Kuin Lai, M., and Robinson, V. (2003) Teacher talk to improve teaching practices. Set Research Information for
Teachers, 1, 31-35
Bryk, A.S., & Schneider, B. (2002). Trust in schools: A core resource for improvement. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.
Fullan, M. G., and Hargreaves, A. (1991) What’s worth fighting for? Working together for your school. Ontario: Ontario Public
School Teachers’ Federation
De Lima, J. A. (2001). Forgetting about friendship: using conflict in teacher communities as a catalyst for school change.
Journal of Educational Change, 2, 91-122
Halbert, J. and Kaser, L., (2013) Spirals of Inquiry. http://noii.ca/noii/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Spiral-of-Inquiry-Guide-
to-the-six-phases-2014.pdf
Head, G. (2003). Effective Collaboration: deep collaboration as an essential element of the learning process. Journal of
Educational Inquiry, 4, 2, 47-61
Melhuish-Spencer, K. (2013). Online social networking and its impact on New Zealand educators’ professional learning. The
University of Waikato.
Sweeney, R. (2011). An exploration of the collaborative practices within learning networks of New Zealand Schools. Victoria
University of Wellington.
Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., and Fung, I. (2007). Teacher professional Learning and Development: Best Evidence
Synthesis Iteration (BES). Wellington: Ministry of Education

18. Contact:
Name: Rebbecca Sweeney
Job Title: Professional Learning Facilitator
Tel: + 64 (027) 487 3009
Email: rebbecca.sweeney@core-ed.org