Setting the Stage – Ken Leithwood
Overview:
Dr. Leithwood from OISE/UT
In his presentation Dr. Kenneth Leithwood from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto summarizes the results of an extensive review of evidence about teacher working conditions, which he completed on behalf of ETFO. Based on the ETFO publication Teacher Working Conditions That Matter: Evidence for Change, Dr. Leithwood’s presentation identifies key working conditions that influence teachers’ classroom practices and their impact on student learning. He also suggests promising steps that would be helpful in improving those teacher working conditions that make a difference to teaching and learning and offers recommendations relevant to teachers, administrators, and policymakers.
Segments:
- The Yin and Yang of School Reform
- Teacher Performance is a Complex Function
- The Study: Teacher Working Conditions That Matter
- Key Macro Findings
- Comparing Elementary and Secondary School Working Conditions
- Using Research to Bring Balance to Reform Efforts to Make Learning a More Natural Act
Part 1 – The Yin and Yang of School Reform
Ken Leithwood establishes two goals and makes reference to what he calls the Yin and Yang approach to large-scale school reform. To illustrate, he introduces the fable of the ant written by Herbert Simon in The Sciences of Being Artificial, and makes an analogy to the behaviour of teachers and administrators.
Think about:
- Do you agree with Dr. Leithwood that we need to create more balance in our reform efforts? Which working conditions do you feel need to be addressed?
- How does the ant metaphor link to your personal experience?
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Part 2 – Teacher Performance is a Complex Function
Leithwood explains how emotions direct cognition, noting that emotions actually direct cognition and precede the kind of thought that leads to action. What we think is significantly related to how we feel. Much of what we have experienced about school reform here in Ontario has underplayed two important elements of human performance. Leithwood describes human performance using a mathematical function from the field of industrial psychology. He concludes by stressing the importance of trying to align all the elements of the human performance equation (motivation, abilities, and setting) in order to move forward.
Think about:
- Do you agree or disagree with Leithwood’s assertion that “You can’t change just one variable in the mathematical function of Pj = f (Mj, Aj, Sj) and expect performance to change very much. You can’t, in fact, just change two…You won’t get much change in performance.”
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Part 3 – The Study: Teacher Working Conditions That Matter
Leithwood discusses why teacher working conditions are critical and takes a close look at the study he completed on behalf of ETFO. He highlights the framework that was used by the researchers to guide their efforts in sorting out which conditions mattered and what effects they had (see p. 9 of Teacher Working Conditions That Matter: Evidence for Change). He then describes the robust nature of the research. Leithwood feels strongly that we can stand on this body of evidence and be confident that we know something substantive to build on here, as compared to any other policy area of interest.
Think about:
Take the list of “Emotions That Matter to Teachers” that affect teacher behaviour and put them in order from most to least important to you:
- Sense of individual professional efficacy
- Sense of collective professional efficacy
- Job satisfaction
- Organizational commitment
- Levels of stress and burnout
- Morale
- Engagement in the school or profession
You may find it helpful to refer to Chapter Two of the ETFO book.
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Part 4 – Key Macro Findings
Leithwood highlights five macro findings of the study and expands on their significance
- Teachers’ working conditions are students’ learning conditions
- Working conditions have both an objective and a subjective reality
- Teachers’ practices and their impact on student learning are influenced by conditions at many “levels”
- Some working conditions are expensive to improve
- But many are not
Think about:
Do you agree or disagree that:
- “Teachers need to insist on good leadership.”
- “There needs to be less cultural respect for the hierarchy not more.”
Describe personal experiences that back up your position.
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Part 5 – Comparing Elementary and Secondary School Working Conditions
Leithwood gives details of the ETFO controversial follow-up study he completed for ETFO. This empirical study looks at the similarities and differences between elementary and secondary school working conditions. The study is based on both interviews and a survey based on the results of the interviews. [Note: this research study has since been completed. You can find the report here.]
Think about:
- Consider Leithwood’s statement: “The working conditions of elementary and secondary teachers may well be qualitatively different. What do you feel the consequences of that would be if we were to take working conditions as a serious focus for reform?”
- Leithwood also refers to the inequitable funding of elementary and secondary schools. “Can you think of a reason why there is a difference? A reason you agree with?”
- If working conditions are better for secondary schools, do you feel they have achieved the balance Leithwood refers to in the Yin and Yang of large-scale school reform? Are secondary schools more successful? Why or why not?
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Part 6 – Using the Research to Bring Balance to Reform Efforts to Make Learning a More Natural Act
To conclude, Leithwood tables the radical thought that working conditions should be the primary strategy for educational reform. The emphasis should shift from Yin to Yang. The current conditions of schooling make learning an “unnatural act.” Leithwood finishes with a series of questions that challenge us to make learning a “natural act.”
Think about:
- Think about the implications of Dr. Leithwood’s “Radical Thinking.” You may wish to use this chart to help you reflect on the questions.
| Question | Thoughts |
| What are the working conditions that represent the hill? What are the working conditions that make learning an “unnatural act” and stand in the way of people making connections between their existing cognitive structures or practices and some new set of practices that might make learning more possible? | |
| What stands in the way of their participating in a community of practice so that those meanings become more sophisticated as the learning continues? | |
| What can be done so that learning occurs in situations in which the knowledge has real use and real meaning? | |
| Is there anything more separate from the places where people actually use knowledge than schools? Reflect on Leithwood’s commentary that we take kids out of the context in which they are intended eventually to learn to be sophisticated and meaningful contributors to society. We take them out of that context and provide them with knowledge which is highly decontextualized. | |
| How would we have to change working conditions in our schools for learning to become a natural act? (A very Yang-like, organic question.) | |
| Under what conditions would students be naturally curious and intellectually engaged in schools (because many of them aren’t after a while)? Why do students become disengaged? What are the conditions of schooling from their point of view? | |
| Under what conditions would it seem natural for teachers to build deep understanding on the part of their students? | |
| Under what conditions would teachers and administrators naturally want to work together to improve kids’ learning rather than compete with one another or ignore one another? |
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