Message from the Principal
Making Learning Visible
Recently I attended a conference on some of the latest research about how to make teaching and learning more effective and productive. The conference was called ‘Visible Learning’ and presented much of the latest research from John Hattie. John Hattie used a statistical technique called meta-analysis where he analysed over 50,000 studies relating to the influences on achievement in school-aged children.
Hattie has been able to produce a list of what he believes actually works in education. Some of the most powerful influences on learning progress include:
- Teachers collaborating together to reflect on practice and adjust teaching strategies
- Effective feedback
- Clear learning goals for each lesson and unit of work
- Success criteria are clear so students know where they are heading in their learning
- Using a range of learning strategies to promote
- Knowing when students are not progressing and implementing strategies in response
One of the overall themes of his work is the need for teachers and leaders to see learning through the eyes of the students and modify teaching methods to respond to this feedback. Hattie’s big idea or ‘tagline’ is for educators to ‘know thy impact’ on learning and to continually adjust teaching strategies. Making ‘learning visible’ is all about making sure that students know what they are learning and what they need to do to be successful. Teachers and leaders continually make themselves aware of the impact they are having on learning and the students, and are prepared to modify what they are doing to ‘cause as much learning’ as possible.
The ideas of Hattie and others, are being used to reflect upon and continually improve what we do at KGV School. We have very talented teachers and our students achieve great results. Great organisations always look to improve, and we are on a journey to embed continuous improvement as a cultural norm in our school. Our KGV Vision in ‘creating a school for one’ is about personalising learning so that each and every student can be the best they can be. This can only be achieved by seeing learning at KGV through the eyes of our students. Our students are the greatest source of knowledge about how we can make our school an even better place for the students and community we serve.
More information on Hattie’s work can be found at https://visible-learning.org/john-hattie/
Kind regards
Mark Blackshaw
Principal
King George V
