This brief sequence is focused at literacy leaders – both Literacy Coordinators, Studying Leads, or Curriculum Deputies – with a key function in main literacy to make sure that pupils entry the curriculum and reach assembly the educational calls for of faculty.
Each college coverage needs to be seen via the eyes of a not too long ago certified trainer on a full timetable, with a difficult class or lessons.
Once you start with this assumption, it instantly makes you take into account the problem stage of embedding any shiny improvements, modified curricula, or new educating methods. Even a seemingly minor new educating technique have to be built-in into a posh array of present habits, lessons, timetabling, and classroom peculiarities.
Then we take into account literacy. Its scale and scope are close to limitless: studying, writing, discuss routines, spelling, grammar, modifying, textual content decisions, textual content decisions, curriculum planning, and pupils’ literacy obstacles and so on. The listing goes on.
With these challenges attending growing educating methods and trainer habits, it is sensible for literacy leaders to fastidiously about implementing a small variety of significant however manageable literacy developments.
COM-B – A useful mannequin to contemplate trainer behaviour change
It’s useful to try to distil down a probable literacy problem/improvement, resembling ‘enhance the studying of informational texts and curriculum entry’.
First, what particular trainer behaviours are we want to assist? As an illustration, it might be we would like academics to appraise the problem stage of all informational texts they’re utilizing. Along with that, it might be we’re after academics pre-teaching ‘keystone vocabulary’, or planning retrieval quizzes on the premise of chosen tough informational texts.
We then might take into account what lively pupil behaviours we’re aspiring to assist, in order that pupils learn informational texts extra efficiently. It could be that we train them older pupils particular note-taking methods, resembling Cornell Observe-making, to assist them chunk down, navigate and document difficult informational texts.
Upon getting refined the specifics you possibly can then use the COM-B mannequin to replicate 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 strategy is a helpful consideration of the drivers of human behaviour – academics or in any other case:
You may apply the mannequin to the related literacy strategy you want to assist:
Functionality: This describes each the bodily and psychological functionality to undertake a behaviour. As an illustration, do academics have the power and stamina, together with the deep data and expertise to replan classes and focus in on altering the studying strategy to tough informational texts. In terms of informational texts, there may be possible a topic data problem to collate a spread 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 assets – resembling new textbooks) and social alternatives (do my division or part crew colleagues need to make related modifications and need to collaborate?). Maybe the chief actuality right here is giving over the time to make a change and having a crew of colleagues working with you. With out these helps, alternatives are all the time restricted. Keep in mind the busy RQT on a full timetable?
Motivation: This describes a reflective motivation (whereat academics plan and replicate upon their work, thereby influencing our attitudes and behaviours), together with our computerized motivations (such because the habits that drive our day by day apply). In fact, when you’ve got each ‘functionality’ and ‘alternative’, then motivation is extra possible. With informational texts, our curriculum planning might steer our educating approaches, together with our ordinary approaches to efficiently scaffolding troublesome texts in our topic or part. In fact, academics simply might not recognise there is a matter, and so are simply not motivated to alter.
COM-B and Literacy Priorities
Utilizing this mannequin to replicate on any proposed literacy priorities can show helpful. For instance, if there are challenges with regard to trainer data or method, then CPD is the answer. And but, if motivation is low, or there may be too little time or alternative, then CPD is more likely to show obligatory however inadequate.
You may attempt it shortly. You need to enhance the educating of the modifying course of for pupils’ writing in any respect key levels throughout a variety of academics and TAs? Nicely, what trainer drawback is that this fixing (motivation)? How a lot topic data and confidence do academics have in explicitly educating sentence variation or spelling patterns (functionality)? The place within the college day are these approaches being embedded and the way do academics discover the time to offer significant suggestions to pupils (alternative)?
Now, take into account the strategy to behaviours that drive improved spelling, modifying, and writing accuracy from a pupil perspective. Functionality, alternative and motivation nonetheless apply.
We might 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 is probably not that academics are proof against adjusting their literacy practices in any respect – it might simply show that they aren’t wholly clear what particular behaviour modifications are literally obligatory within the classroom. As an illustration, academics might 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 take into account each literacy improvement, certainly all college enchancment plans, via 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 function, let’s guarantee we seize each alternative to affect and assist academics to make profitable modifications.
