Hattie's New Number 1

John Hattie has been analysing education research for several years now by doing a meta-study. He has identified various factors which influence learning and the size of their effect. He has recently identified a new effect at the top of the list: Collective Teacher Efficacy. 

Hattie defines CTE as “collaborative conversations based on evidence”. With a score of 1.57, this is a very powerful effect, 3 times more powerful than Home Environment, Frequent Testing or Classroom Management. While many of the factors are not things which a school or a teacher can control, this new number 1 is something which we as teachers can work with.

Conditions to foster CTE

Jenni Donohoo (author of a book on CTE) provides some ideas on how we might do this.

  1. Goal Consensus - have a shared idea about why we exist as an institution ;
  2. Cohesive Staff - have a shared idea about how we can achieve the vision, and be prepared to work together to achieve that;
  3. Teachers’ Knowledge About One Another’s Work - know and understand what we are all doing; see how our teaching can mesh effectively with what others are doing;
  4. Advanced Teacher Influence - see all teachers as leaders and empower them by providing opportunities to make important decisions, working in teams;
  5. Responsiveness of Leadership - leadership means helping others to do their jobs effectively;
  6. Effective Systems of Intervention - have systems in place to ensure success for all learners.

Fundamentally, these conditions are activated by a foundational belief that, whatever the challenges, we can make a difference.

Resources:

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