This brief collection is focused at literacy leaders – both Literacy Coordinators, Studying Leads, or Curriculum Deputies – with a key position in main literacy to make sure that pupils entry the curriculum and reach assembly the educational calls for of faculty.
Each faculty coverage ought to be seen by the eyes of a lately certified instructor on a full timetable, with a tough class or courses.
While you start with this assumption, it instantly makes you think about the issue degree of embedding any shiny improvements, modified curricula, or new educating methods. Even a seemingly minor new educating technique should be built-in into a fancy array of present habits, courses, timetabling, and classroom peculiarities.
Then we think about literacy. Its scale and scope are close to limitless: studying, writing, discuss routines, spelling, grammar, modifying, textual content selections, textual content selections, curriculum planning, and pupils’ literacy limitations and so forth. The record goes on.
With these challenges attending growing educating methods and instructor habits, it is sensible for literacy leaders to rigorously about implementing a small variety of significant however manageable literacy developments.
COM-B – A useful mannequin to contemplate instructor behaviour change
It’s useful to attempt to distil down a possible literacy problem/growth, resembling ‘enhance the studying of informational texts and curriculum entry’.
First, what particular instructor behaviours are we wish to assist? As an illustration, it might be we would like lecturers to appraise the issue degree of all informational texts they’re utilizing. Along with that, it might be we’re after lecturers pre-teaching ‘keystone vocabulary’, or planning retrieval quizzes on the idea of chosen tough informational texts.
We then could think about what lively pupil behaviours we’re meaning to assist, in order that pupils learn informational texts extra efficiently. It might be that we educate them older pupils particular note-taking methods, resembling Cornell Observe-making, to assist them chunk down, navigate and file difficult informational texts.
Upon getting refined the specifics you may then use the COM-B mannequin to mirror additional on the behaviour change we’re after. The COM-B behaviour mannequin, is a part of a ‘behaviour change wheel’ devised by Susan Michie and colleagues. On the coronary heart of the method is a helpful consideration of the drivers of human behaviour – lecturers or in any other case:
You may apply the mannequin to the related literacy method you wish to assist:
Functionality: This describes each the bodily and psychological functionality to undertake a behaviour. As an illustration, do lecturers have the power and stamina, together with the deep data and expertise to replan classes and focus in on altering the studying method to tough informational texts. With regards to informational texts, there’s seemingly a topic data problem to collate a variety of apt texts and to have the ability to break them down and scaffold them appropriately.
Alternative: This describes each the bodily alternatives (time for SOL planning and bodily sources – resembling new textbooks) and social alternatives (do my division or section staff colleagues need to make comparable adjustments and need to collaborate?). Maybe the chief actuality right here is giving over the time to make a change and having a staff of colleagues working with you. With out these helps, alternatives are all the time restricted. Bear in mind the busy RQT on a full timetable?
Motivation: This describes a reflective motivation (whereat lecturers plan and mirror upon their work, thereby influencing our attitudes and behaviours), together with our automated motivations (such because the habits that drive our every day follow). After all, when you’ve got each ‘functionality’ and ‘alternative’, then motivation is extra seemingly. With informational texts, our curriculum planning could steer our educating approaches, together with our ordinary approaches to efficiently scaffolding troublesome texts in our topic or section. In reality, lecturers simply could not recognise there is a matter, and so are simply not motivated to vary.
COM-B and Literacy Priorities
Utilizing this mannequin to mirror on any proposed literacy priorities can show helpful. For instance, if there are challenges with regard to instructor data or method, then CPD is the answer. And but, if motivation is low, or there’s too little time or alternative, then CPD is more likely to show crucial however inadequate.
You may strive it shortly. You need to enhance the educating of the modifying course of for pupils’ writing in any respect key phases throughout a variety of lecturers and TAs? Nicely, what instructor drawback is that this fixing (motivation)? How a lot topic data and confidence do lecturers have in explicitly educating sentence variation or spelling patterns (functionality)? The place within the faculty day are these approaches being embedded and the way do lecturers discover the time to provide significant suggestions to pupils (alternative)?
Now, think about the method to behaviours that drive improved spelling, modifying, and writing accuracy from a pupil perspective. Functionality, alternative and motivation nonetheless apply.
We could come to new reflections as literacy leaders. A CPD session, or perhaps a sequence of coaching, is unlikely to show a silver bullet.
Not solely that – it might not be that lecturers are proof against adjusting their literacy practices in any respect – it might simply show that they aren’t wholly clear what particular behaviour adjustments are literally crucial within the classroom. As an illustration, lecturers could perceive an goal to learn extra prolonged texts, however they aren’t clear when or how finest to enact prolonged studying inside the restricted scope of present curriculum time.
Let’s think about each literacy growth, certainly all faculty enchancment plans, by the lens of that harried, enthusiastic RQT dealing with a stacked timetable. COM-B may assist to raised assist and steer profitable change. If we’re main literacy, in no matter position, let’s guarantee we seize each alternative to affect and assist lecturers to make profitable adjustments.
Learn the collection:
Half 1: ‘Main Literacy… And Perennial Issues’
Half 2: Main Literacy…And Influencing Lecturers
Half 3: Main Literacy…And Purposeful Skilled Growth
Half 4: Main Literacy…And Speaking Complexity
Half 5: Main Literact…And Evaluating Influence