There are four paradigm shifts which are:
- Content Delivery to Capability
- Building Role Driven to Relationship Driven
- Expounding Learning to Experiencing Learning
- Self-Esteem to Self-Efficacy
Which of these paradigm shifts will be the most challenging in your context and why?
I really like the self-esteem to self-efficacy shift. Once kids have a more inherent sense of achievement and don’t look for praise they have the potential to develop into resilient life-long learners.
Students feel safe when they only have to take in the content. The shift from content delivery to capability building will require a shift in the students mindset as well as the curriculum. I have always focused on relationship building ever since my first principal told me that teaching was about relationships. Its also about providing a safe environment where students can take risks.
I have found it difficult at times to juggle the demands of content delivery. It feels at times, overwhelming, and it can feel as if the push is there to get through the content, especially when there are school-wide assessment and reporting demands that need to be met and need to be consistent across classes.
For me self-esteem to self-efficacy will pose the greatest challenge. I am guilty of praising performance at times and focus on ensuring that there is some way a student can achieve. I need to focus more on their efforts and ensuring that the feedback I give affirms their efforts regardless of success. This provides a much deeper learning experience for them which prepares them more for life in the changing world we live in.
I think we all fall into this trap, it takes a conscious effort to retrain the brain!
For me personally the hardest thing will be to move further away from content to capability building. It is already embedded in the way I teach but old habits can be hard to break and when things are not moving as quickly as syllabus and HSC constraints would like, I revert to directed content. It is not how I would like to present things but time, resources, timetabling and curriculum demands seem to rule education not the philosophy of good teaching and learning.
Content Delivery to Capability will be the most challenging. There are new and exciting ways to teach and we need to keep challenging ourselves as educators to try new methods. We are all working in these stringent curriculum models that may not allow for this so that is the challenge as well.
Perhaps Kim we need to flip classrooms and let the kids get through the content. We can focus on managing things and assessing their outcomes.
The biggest shift is that fixed mindset. I often catch myself from telling students that I’m not good at math. It’s true, but it encourages that fixed mindset. There are parts of math that I can do, but there are others that give me difficulty. But looking by at my own educational process, I realise that I had a fixed mindset when it came to learning math, so it’s a change that I need to make as well!
yes definitely, we need to ba aware of how we are reflecting this set mindset.
Content Delivery to Capability is a challenge when we are required to meet time deadlines and often I find many students don’t engage with their own research. I don’t think it’s because they’re lazy – often it’s because they don’t know where to start.
Expounding learning to Experience learning I think will be the most difficult to change for teachers but it is so exciting if we can do it. We become set in our ways and stick with techniques that work but if we can learn to utilise better the tools that are available to us this will be a positive move toward students experiencing learning. For teachers, learning how to use new tools takes time which makes it difficult for time poor teachers (eg learning how to work the virtual reality kit…)
I agree, setting up lessons for students to experience the learning takes time. Also I’m too much of a talker and generally explain ideas in detail rather than allowing students to find things out themselves.
Self-Esteem to Self-Efficacy resonated with me a great deal…not giving praise which develops a fixed mindset is very important, if we want students to take risks in their learning. Self reflection/ appraisal is also a skill invaluable to people, so there can be improvement to performance. Students should feel comfortable in being able to question their performance and devise ways to improve..they take ownership…very powerful…
I agree Allison. I believe all students, deep down, want to succeed and feel proud of themselves therefore what we give back to them needs to be encouraging and positive but also a true reflection of where they are so that we can help them get to where they want to go. It is a funny thing but during the Rona Corona calamity I have engaged with some students who would not say boo in a class room for fear of feeling like a failure in others eyes. Our constant dialogue, not just about their work, has seen their confidence… Read more »
Self-Esteem to Self-Efficacy seems to be the greatest challenge in the classroom. Taking us back to the fixed and growth mindset, students are stuck in this mode of thinking and defeat themselves before they start. And students definitely have no drive of their own to complete work.
yes, some are very disengaged as they have felt like failures so many times.
I agree Oscar. So many have either been told they are useless or they measure themselves against others and automatically see themselves that way that they have pigeonholed themselves and are too scared to challenge themselves. It’s such an important role for us. To set a standard that allows some success so they can slowly build their confidence and start to recognise learning experiences as self reflection opportunities not failures. I think it is the most important thing we do, or try to do!
Expounding to experiencing is the most difficult with content driven subjects with an end of course exam like the HSC. Being the keepers of knowledge is such a seductive and comfortable role that experiential learning is difficult- it means losing some control. Behaviour management, poor literacy etc compound the difficulties. Project based learning is wonderful but I need to look at different models and not just term long ‘projects’ and move to week long ‘inquiry’
As well as behaviour management & poor literacy, I feel that low expectations mean students often feel like they are doing better than they are.
I completely agree. Behaviour issues and poor literacy skills compound experiencing learning. If students don’t have the basic literacy skills to begin with, it makes it much more challenging for them to experience learning success.
Projects with real life applications always work well and making them with shorter time frames is a good idea.
I feel self-esteem to self-efficacy will be the most challenging with their lives being rewarded for little effort in many areas. In sport, education and home our students are constantly being praised and not knowing what it feels like to ‘fail’ or have to work really hard to achieve at the top level. Creativity in this area is also squashed as students are constantly letting them selves be judged by peers 24/7 on social media.
Either self-esteem to self-efficacy or content delivery to capability. I feel like these two go hand in hand as the syllabus, NAPLAN etc. potentially teach students that they can be measured based on their results for a single test, so as long as they know ‘the answers’ they don’t need to know how to work them out for themselves. Building students capabilities would therefore feed into their self-efficacy as they become more comfortable with finding their own answers. It’s a difficult shift though, with all of the external pressures and time constraints.
Very true, they see less importance in the process and more in the results.
Gosh this is a difficult choice , there are so many areas i can see room for improvement in my delivery to build student’s learning experiences. I think a shift from content delivery to capability building is an area I could improve. But, I keep coming back to there being so much information to impart for an HSC that time is a luxury we do not have and yet need, if we are to improve our pedagogy.
Yes, time to do/learn new things may be a real barrier for teachers.
Yes it often is a top-down approach, since it’s nice to say we could involve much more inquiry learning, but at the end of the day, they still need to answer to that final exam!
We live in a society where instant rewards for minimal effort are the norm. Kids think that if they can’t get it right the first time then they can’t get it right at all. They give up. If it’s easy and they can get it then no worries. So I think that Self Esteem to Self Efficacy is the most challenging in my discipline area of music. I can count the people on one hand who are learning musical instruments in the traditional way and being graded. Most of the kids I know would rather skip ALL the basic steps,… Read more »
I agree Peter. Very similar in TAS. Proof is in the pudding pretty quickly. Effort = rewards
Self Esteem to Self-Efficacy! Students need to “back themselves” and not worry about what anyone else thinks. Resilience is a huge problem in today’s society and we are seeing less and less of this. Students need to see failure as I haven’t quite got this yet instead of I’m hopeless and what’s the point.
I haven’t quite got this yet is what still drives me today. I’ll get better.
Resilience is a huge issue and can be worked on (i think) via feedback. Lots of research says kids only focus on the positive in the comments we give. They need to be more explicit and direct 🙂
I agree with this comment. If students don’t succeed the first time they try something, then many do to tend to give up trying again. I liked the comment regarding giving feedback to a student who hasn’t succeeded the first time with the keyword ‘yet’ at the end.
It is good practice to reflect your teaching style and the building of relationships with the students. If you can build and maintain good working relationships with the students , it is often easier to get the work done.
Totally agree. Connect, thrive, succeed!!!
Yes! Relationships are the key to teaching and realising that the sage on the stage/guide at the side models do not just refer to curriculum content but in the way we approach connection.
I agree Steve….establishing strong relationships with students, enabling student voice/choice, setting expectations and applying them consistently gives students a sense of trust, as they know they are valued and will be cared for in the educational space. This will lead to students taking the risk, acknowledging and appraising their performance and improvement/success will follow.
Loved the quote
Tell me and I forget, teach me
and I remember, involve me
and I learn – Ben Franklin
It truly is all about relationships. Oftentimes my Spanish class is full of students that have no earthly right to be in a languages course, but they’re there because I believe in them and support them! Relationships are the key to success in all areas of learning.
I agree Steve, building good relationships with students is so important in developing a trusting learning environment where students feel supported and confident to take chances and strive to achieve. Without that positive relationship it can be very difficult to reach some students and this does not create a pleasant learning environment for both the student and teacher. The more disengaged the student, the more critical the building of the relationship is.
Building relationships with your students is so important, I feel. I remember going to a “poverty” workshop many years ago and it was one of the things that was said that really stuck with me. The presenter said something like, there are teachers who say, “No, don’t do it just for me, I want you to do it because you want to…” and this lady said, “No, let them do it for you if you are the only reason they will do it.” Or something like that. Sometimes, the positive relationships with you are sometimes the only thing that these… Read more »
Content delivery to capability! The demand to meet outcomes & delivery content is something we as teachers cannot control. Our curriculums need to adjusted for this work.
Absolutely agree! The syllabus need an overhaul if any of these things are to be implemented and attempted.
Content delivery to capability will be the most challenging paradigm shift in my context. Asking the right questions to help the students develop better problem solving techniques and more importantly becoming confident in their own work through the decisions they have made. Also there is a difficulty in changing a mindset within the institution that you work (such as flipping the classroom), when parents and educators have been so used to the one type of classroom.
I fully agree with the power of ‘yet’. Working with special needs students in a low socio-economic school has highlighted how many of my students have very poor self esteem and will struggle and avoid attempting tasks because of the fear of FAILURE OR LOOKING ‘DUMB’ in front of their peers. Mastery of any skill brings a sense of achievement and it is our role as educators to encourage effort based praise. If the student thinks they have a chance of completing a task they are much more likely to attempt it, Project Based Learning is a great strategy but… Read more »
I like this Rhonda…the power of yet…kids and teachers acknowledging that it may take a while to get to the end, but it can and will happen with tenacity and taking risks, but not being afraid to trip and fall from time to time….
The most challenging paradigm shift in my context is expounding learning to experiencing learning. This is challenging as real world experience require travel from our school site which includes a cost and risk assessments etc. It has also proven challenging to provide incursions for our students due to costs and the interest and availability of community members.
There must be opportunities to experience learning from school without the cost or risk having an impact. E.g using skype to access discussions from people at work or around the world.
Agreed. Yet we are currently dealing students and families who apparently struggle to even have internet access. Possibly due to financial reasons?
For the the biggest shift with staff will be shift from Content Delivery to Capability. Asking teachers and encouraging them to remove barriers around professional pride, practicality, student expectations and ultimately their confidence to just ‘let go’ and not be the fount of all knowledge.
I believe that shifting from self-esteem to self-efficacy is the most challenging as when you ask some students to reflect on how they can improve on something they find it hard to pin point areas for improvement in case they are judged. In the past I have used peer evaluations to assist these students to identify these areas. It is especially hard to motivate students who are genuinely not interested in a task who have convinced themselves that they can’t do the task- when in actual fact they can do the task they are just unwilling to try.
We’ll always be challenged by students who won’t try. I always thought prac was a motivating factor and reward in my lessons but it doesn’t seem to work as well as it used to with many students not willing to try or claiming it’s boring. Yet they are equally bored with with theory lessons. Can’t win.
“Expounding Learning to Experiencing Learning” will be the hardest fro me because I fall into to the trap of providing the answers in a rush to get the meaning of the content across. I have seen this before and use the “yet” a lot in my discussions with student when giving feedback
It is very easy to provide the answer, especially when courses have large content volume which needs to be covered. It is important to stop, take a breath and let the students find the answer. Something I also have struggled with Jacqui, especially with senior studnets.
For me I think the greatest challenge is around rethinking the classroom. This is because it requires the greatest changes for me and the way a workshop is used as a learning space. Most of the other areas relate nicely to practical lessons with creative real world outcomes.
This is a good point. In a workshop you need functionality and safety for all.
The building of communication and thinking skillsets of our young people is important for their ongoing sustainability in the changing world. Our current ability as educators is hindered by our deep curriculums, many of which are still content heavy.
I agree that subjects heavy on content requirements and big lists of required learning goals will be challenging.
deep learning comes from having the time to explore concepts and follow deviations based on student interests and engagement. Project based learning enables students to follow in directions of interest that are relevant to the topic and cross KLA’s. This is a lot easier to achieve in small settings than across year groups.
i agree also that the curriculum and micro managing can hinder learning and creativity.
To build Efficacy in our students seems to be the most challenging, when our Gross time & Net influence over our students against all other influences in their lives is key. To overcome or modify their pre-existing belief in themselves is a substantial challenge.
This is particularly true when we have reduced access to the students.
I believe that both content delivery to capability will be the most challenging paradigm shifts. It is definitely hard to shift to capability building from content delivery as we have curriculum pressures and time-frames that do not allow effective implementation of capability building. We are also still in the time of examinations being one of the biggest weighting assessments that content delivery is viewed by the parents/carers as more important.
I believe the paradigm shift from self esteem to self-efficacy (I can do this) is and will be very challenging. In my opinion this is one of the main road blocks to students learning. The amount of times I have reported that a students lack of confidence in their own ability is limiting their involvement and engagement. It is exactly this idea that students have an idea of success (peer/society/self) and if they do not think they know THE answer then they can often give up.
I have definitely seen this in students. They don’t want to be viewed as a failure so they are less likely to attempt answering questions even if they do know it.
Yes that fear of failure exists for many for many reasons, even with GATS students when most enjoy the challenge, if it is too great a risk they tap out without trying.
Fully agree Ruby. We see this on a daily basis and the shift from self esteem to self efficacy is a challenging one.
I think that moving from expounding learning to experiencing learning is often difficult with the pressure to get through all the requirements of the curriculum and the amount of content. We also need to make sure that students have the skills and motivation to be self-directed learners before approaches like PBL will be really effective, especially for younger students.
I completely agree Sarah and as a teacher of Junior Primary students it is very challenging to use approaches like PBL when the students have minimal literacy and numeracy skills.
Content delivery to capability is my largest hurdle. People/society want comparable data so that they have the freedom to make an educational choice for their children. However, as this strict set of guidelines, such as the curriculum, dictate our job as educators, the capability of students narrows greatly as we are forced into channeling our energy and resources to meeting societies demands. Content is deemed more important and often student’s are not given enough time or opportunities to learn.
I agree there is a huge push for comparable data and for teachers to be accountable for student outcomes, against rigid standards. The data that we are measuring often has little value in reflecting a student’s real understanding or the effectiveness of teaching and learning in preparing students for their future.
Yes this is true. I am keen to explore capability-building more but I do feel restricted by time constraints and the amount of content (particularly Yr12) to adopt this effectively.
I agree, there is a huge mandate to just ‘tick a box’ and not actually ascertain whether there is mastery and enjoyment in learning.
I believe the most challenging would be expounding learning to experiencing learning. In order to make this happen teachers would need enough resources and time to make sure the classroom environment successful. I believe that hands on lessons are a fantastic learning tool but many students learn in many different ways.
I agree. And as much as teachers differentiate, some content is extremely difficult to engage those different learners.
I agree, this would require major restructuring of classroom environments and potentially timetables, resource availability etc. Not to mention potential risk assessments for any menaingful and ‘real’ learning experiences that happen outside of the school gates.
For me it is a challenge to not walk into the room with some form of fixed mindset about students. I need to be careful of my expectations. I also need to think about the specific praise I give and whether it is giving praise around strategies used and not just effort. Project based learning is also an area for me to shift and engage with more as I need to step out of my comfort zone and shake the delivery up a bit. It is just changing the ways we are used to and that time factors allow.
I think it is something I also need to be mindful of. Some ‘throwaway lines’ may stick with those students, so it’s important to continually model and reinforce expectations
It often feels like there is not enough time to give immediate meaningful feedback to students, but it is clearly so important.
Boxing students is something that the students themselves are inherently aware of. Students change their behaviour all the time depending on what their teacher thinks of them.
The shift from content delivery to capability I feel would be the most challenging. To effectively apply this kind of learning as well as comply with the curriculum would be the biggest challenge. I also find self efficacy and difficult shift to apply with students. Some are heavily dependent and require a certain degree of help that makes this shift unattainable.
I agree the amount of neediness some student have convinced themselves they need in their own learning is hard to change
The shift from content delivery to capacity building will be the most challenging. Society’s expectations of tests (naplan, hsc) to compare students and rank schools relies on content delivery. It is the easiest to measure by. This change needs to be supported by curriculum, budget and policy improvements.
I agree that when policy and society seek one thing, and teacher delivery and project based learning involves something different, it does make things challenging.
I believe the greatest challenge will be the shift from content delivery to capability. This will be difficult due to curriculum constraints, student motivation and resources.
yes student motivation is key, trying to find a connection to engage them with is difficult when all they do is play games online and find it impossible to concentrate in class.
Self efficacy is difficult to teach in the classroom as students often don’t handle feedback well and feel attacked by the teachers. They don’t have enough faith in themselves to reach their personal goals. They take feedback in an emotional way rather than a direction in future learning.
Yes I agree that feedback can be hard for students to hear, especially if they come in with a fixed mindset. However the way it is delivered, and using their peers for feedback too can work.
I agree that it often can be tough delivering feedback to students without getting an emotional response. I think that it is really important to help facilitate the skill of being able to take feedback and improve rather than get emotional and give up. I also agree with Felicity’s comment in that peer feedback may be a great way to overcome this.
One of the values of our VET courses, such as Construction is that the competency being assessed is transparent, clear, prepared for, trial runs leading up to event & modelled. All with the idea that you have 3 chances. The feedback sheets are broken down into sections. This supports most students get through but is not always possible in every task for other courses.
I agree some students get defensive when they don’t get the marks they are expecting and they see constructive feedback as fault finding even when the tone of the comment is positive.
I find the most challenging in teaching is to promote the self efficacy in my students. They come with very low mastery and are very needy to my attention, to the point where they are taking away from other students learning to get most attention for themselves. I have found learning to build the self efficacy in these students very trying and tiring. As a result I find that I give these students a set amount of time, explicitly explained, that I have with them to set their achievable learning goals. I see very slow progress, that concerns me as… Read more »
The level of dependence that some students have is definitely concerning. The prospect of shifting some of these students is even more concerning. I hope that I can better equip myself with the strategies necessary to overcome this because I can definitely see this as the biggest challenge.
Very true. I really struggle with this idea that students of varying abilities have difficulty with this. Why do so many think that they cannot do this? This seems like a much bigger task that involves more than just schools. As a society we need to look at modelling a mindset that we may struggle with ourselves.
Absolutely, it’s also interesting to consider whether the push to differentiate content in order to make it accessible for all students has meant that students are less often pushed to challenge themselves or attempt work that takes them out of their comfort zone, because they know that there is always a scaffold readily available.
The paradigm shift that I feel will prove to have the higher level of difficulty in implementing will be the expounding learning to experiencing learning. The reason being that resources are not easily available in schools and time is required to incorporate into teaching methods to allow for a more real, tangible and practical learning experience.
Absolutely Joel and then the added complexities of risk assessments and parent permissions to take students out of the classroom!
I already believe that relationships with students are key to engaging their learning, so do prioritise this over the role. I graduated from uni 5 years ago, and they already were teaching what I have always believed which is that authenticity and real world learning is essential for students to connect with the subject – (how is this going to apply to me Miss?), and do my best to integrate this into my teaching already. This is also due to our school’s new middle school trial using project based learning. In my current context, whilst self-esteem to self-efficacy will be… Read more »
I agree Naomi. I find the shift to both self-efficacy and capability the most challenging. My main concerns are the same. The level of dependence that some students have is concerning and a battle of shift out of. I also understand that the current curriculum requirements place a barrier to capability building practices.
Rethink your role as an educator. I want the students to respect me as a teacher and I also respect them as students in mutual respect. We all learn together and I think it important to let the kids know that I won’t know all the answers. I think if there is too much praise by continual positive comments without giving the reason to attempt anything if there is the chance of making mistakes.
Building confident learning risk takers is “new” challenge for many, Diana.
I tell my students “I’m not better than you…I am just older and have more experience”. We are all still learning!!
The paradigm shift that is most difficult in my case is content delivery to capability building. I try very hard to do this but at times in my senior subject delivery I feel that I am just doing the ‘write fast, listen hard, remember well’ to allow my class and I to have completed the syllabus for external examinations.
we need a change in the amount of content needed to be delivered to allow teachers the time to build confidence in our students… that exploration of learning can be a slow process and time is a luxury we don’t have.
I feel the process of going from expounding learning to experience learning and the time taken to develop new programs will be difficult, yet I look forward to this change. Many students learn extremely well from hands on experience to engage their inquisitive minds and make learning more memorable, but as said, time to plan as well as spark and enthusiasm will be required in order to plan these experiences.
Don’t praise too much and prevent the kids from getting something wrong!
Don’t praise the kids too much! It will prevent them from having a go!
I don’t think kids learn too much if they are continually praised. They won’t have a go if they think they will get it wrong
Praise can be overdone in circumstances as students do rely too heavily on it. Praise and feedback for improvement should be delivered together and explained to the students for their future learning.
Yes, the difference between praise and feedback can be a tricky area! And it’s so easy to just say, “good job!”
I think self esteem is really important and agree with McQueen, that too much praise will stop kids from having a go and attempting anything that they might not get 100% for. Parents have a big part to play here.
Yes Diana I agree self esteem is very important. It is important give praise that fosters a sense of growth mindset in the student, with also giving student ways they can move forward and show improvement.
Agree. Students need constructive feedback, that there’s the next level of things to consider/add.
I agree that praising students continually just to give the warm and fuzzy feelings will affect the quality of the work that they produce and their willingness to have a go. Focusing feedback on their effort throughout a task and providing indicators for future learning helps to take the emphasis away from undermining self esteem so they are more likely to have a go next time.
This concept of Self-Esteem to Self-Efficacy to me is has huge positive implications for students going forward. By building the capacity in our students we are creating an environment where students will not need nor want the constant validation for simple behaviors but rather it becomes an expectation from themselves. But I also understand the need for teachers working in the younger age groups to validate students regularly as it builds a positive relationship in these formative years.
It is important as educators is how to effectively use the current curriculum in a meaningful way to that students experience learning which motivates them to self-explore. Younger students often need directed learning and instruction.
And if we can do this, Pamela, while also building their love of self directed or explorational learning, we both win 🙂