Monitoring the quality of pedagogy

School leaders seeking to improve teaching in their school often apply models of pedagogy that are unclear, unstated or assumed. Vague concepts such as ‘student-centred learning’ or pedagogy based on ‘learning styles’, although very popular, are not supported by coherent theories or a solid evidence base. School leaders need to use a model that defines goals explicitly in order to develop meaningful measures of performance, guard against subjective judgements and expose gaps in the evidence needed for evaluation. While a useful model needs to allow for local conditions, some general qualities apply. The model needs a defensible definition of student learning outcomes. It should challenge the ‘we already do that’ response from teachers yet also make changes seem attainable to them, recognising factors such as morale and ‘change fatigue’. Unnecessary jargon should be avoided, but unfamiliar terms may be needed for unfamiliar but important concepts. The model needs to fit within existing information about the quality of pedagogy in a school. These qualities have been incorporated in the New South Wales Quality Teaching model (QT). The QT was formulated by the author and others, and draws on their work with the productive pedagogy approach developed in Queensland. The QT measures pedagogy through the dimensions of intellectual quality, or pedagogy focused on imparting deep understanding; of the quality learning environment, through which teachers set high expectations and foster positive relationships among students; and of intellectual significance, through which teachers make learning meaningful and important to students. Each dimension is broken down into a range of ‘items’ that describe specific aspects of the dimension. Each item has an accompanying rating scale. A school needs to audit existing practices against the model. The audit is both a ‘reality check’ and a review of the distribution of school resources. The quality of existing evidence needs to be closely examined. Evidence might be collected by classroom observation, but as this method can be confronting for teachers, school leaders may prefer to begin with a study of assessment tasks and lesson designs. An ethic of mutual respect and trust is essential.