A tool to gauge collaborative Susan Lovett Associate Professor in Educational Leadership, the University of Canterbury Lyn Bird Principal, Selwyn House School
The word ‘collaboration’ appears frequently and seems almost to be taken for granted in matters related to school leadership. It is nevertheless challenging work, easier in the saying than the doing. The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, it highlights a newly developed online survey tool to help ascertain the strength of espoused values for collaborative work within schools, or, if desired, across a cluster or kāhui ako. Secondly, it presents an opportunity to share the experiences of those who have already participated in a trial of the tool so that others can see its potential. The article is structured in three parts. It begins with an explanation of how the four espoused Ariki values underpinning the survey tool originated. This is followed by a brief overview of the online survey tool and then a selective account of the insights gained from the trial showing the extent of teacher agreement on collaborative ways of working and how such information can be used to plan and prioritise next steps to further the collaborative intent of individual schools or those working as kāhui ako across schools. Professional values for school development: The legacy of David Stewart We are indebted to David Stewart (1933-2013) for his foresight in developing and naming four professional values for school development. David was an educationalist with experience as a teacher, primary school principal, academic, author and researcher. He had strong connections with NZEI and NZPF over many years. His work with New Zealand school principals focused on the development of their reflective capacities, a topic pertinent today. David initiated and developed the Te Ariki Project, a professional development programme for school principals. David was an early advocate of professional learning communities called quality learning circles (QLCs) because he believed leadership was intellectual work which was enhanced when practitioners gathered together to make collaborative sense of what worked and why. It was David, who, along with Tom Prebble, adapted the industry-based QLC approach for use in New Zealand schools. This approach provides protocols for principals working with teachers to explore and make meaning of their practice. It is an approach which has been used extensively in New Zealand schools for some years (Lovett, 2002, Lovett & Gilmore, 2003; Lovett & Verstappen, 2004). The ongoing relevance of David’s work with the Ariki Project (drawing in regional directors) has been encapsulated in the Te Ariki Charitable Trust, of which NZPF and NZEI are trustees. The four professional values which underpin the work of the Ariki Trust have gained in currency over time. They may even be more pertinent today given the Ministry of Education’s
encouragement of school rebuilds and new builds which endorse a collaborative intent in teaching, learning, leadership and school designs. We believe the Ariki online survey tool, the focus of this article, has potential to highlight what it takes to create, maintain and develop unique and vibrant learning school communities through a closer interrogation of four key professional values. The four professional values are ‘Professional Discretion,’ ‘Collegial Obligation,’ ‘Reflective Inquiry and Discourse,’ and ‘Evidence-Based Professional Practice.’ A commissioned literature review (Lovett, 2016) and Lovett (2018a) provide further information about each of these values drawing upon recent research studies which confirm the importance of such values for collaborative practice. An online survey tool was developed from that literature review and piloted in 2017 (Lovett, 2018b). An extended trial (later in 2018) was coupled with an analytical conversational strategy to explore how participating schools could work with the survey data to prioritise and plan action related to the survey values. ‘Disciplined Dialogue’ was the conversational technique introduced in the trial by Dr Lyn Bird (a Regional Director of the Te Ariki Trust) drawing upon the work of Swaffield and Dempster (2009). Dialogue was structured around three key questions, namely: ‘What do we see in these data? Why are we seeing what we are? What, if anything, should we be doing about it?’ (Dempster et al, 2017, p.44). The outcomes of the trial using the disciplined dialogue technique are featured in the third part of this article following a description of the survey tool. The Ariki online survey tool The survey tool contains items which help to unpack the meaning of the four Te Ariki professional values. The twenty-six items drawn from the commissioned literature review (Lovett, 2016) establish processes underpinning collective commitment to learning and development. These items provide a language for talking about what works and why under each of the four values. They also serve as a measure for schools to gauge the strength of how teachers and school leaders can work together to enhance student learning and achievement. Each of the items is answered by participants responding to a generic stem, ‘To what extent does the staff of this school . . . ’ (eg realise that collegial sharing provides new insights into practice). The strength of agreement is recorded using one of four points on a Likert scale (ranging from to a great extent, to a moderate extent, to a slight extent and not at all). Schools then work with anonymized aggregated data in order to understand the levels and strength of agreement, identify and explain where and why results differ in their percentage spreads and decide on what, if any, actions are required. Details of the survey tool appear below: