Other Issues

The key activity for school leaders is to initiate and sustain a dialogue among teachers and students about more effective (and more enjoyable) learning. This dialogue will best happen if centred on real, relevant issues.

There are many possible themes to explore:

• Develop a Learning Policy/Strategy
• Junior Cycle 2014 – philosophy, nuts & bolts, informing teachers, parents, BoM
• Learning to Learn – from rhetoric to reality
• ESRI Research – 2 major papers produced in 2011; what it tells us about effective learning
• School Self Evaluation (SSE) - what it is and what needs to be done
• Assessment for Learning (AfL) - how effective feedback improves performance
• Common Lesson Structure – might all our lessons have agreed format
• Peer-Observation (aka “Collaborative Peer Review”), Self-Observation, Mentoring, Coaching
• Effective Questioning and Communication to improve classroom engagement
• Flip Teaching – reversing classroom-based teaching and traditional homework – can revolutionise learning
• What is current understanding of the value of Learning Styles, Multiple Intelligence, Brain Based Learning, Study Skills, Memory Development, Mind Mapping?

Considerations in Exploring Learning:

• To drive this project forward a school can form a Learning & Teaching Working Group
• Get Learning on to all agendas – make it a permanent first item: get staff to share existing expertise and develop new expertise - “I am affirmed when colleagues learn from me.  They are affirmed when I learn from them”.
• Set goals, targets and timelines – and stick to them!
• Hold learning workshops, make them an on-going feature of school practice - make creative use of Croke Park hours.
• Publish a Learning Newsletter – ideas, successes, failures, CPD, recommended texts, book reviews, videos
• Collaborate with parents and with the community and employers.