Benchmarking, Competencies and Teacher Education: Symposium Paper Australian Association for Research in Education Conference 26 - 30 November, Hobart, Tasmania Competencies and Case Writing Brenda Cherednichenko Victoria University of Technology Abstract Competent teachers display common attitudes and behaviours, yet it is apparent to those who attempt to categorise teacher's work, attitudes and behaviours that the identification of competence is extremely complex. This paper suggests a rationale for demonstrating competence through case writing. Case writing documents and provides examples of student teachers and beginning teachers at work in teaching and learning situations. These examples of teaching and learning are part of a portfolio of cases of teaching and learning which student teachers, teachers and teacher educators working with the Department of Education at Victoria University have developed. These collections provide 'snapshots' of practice, stimulus for reflection and a public and collective view of teaching and learning experiences. They provide a comprehensive perspective of teacher competence as displayed in practice. Brenda Cherednichenko Department of Education Victoria University of Technology PO Box 14428 MCMC Melbourne 8001 Ph: 97477583 Fax: 97477574 E-mail: brendacherednichenko@vut.edu.au Competence and Professional Education Establishing benchmark practice in teaching, using a performance criterion approach, is a critical element in defining the profession and in professional education (Beare 1992). Education, training and the future of universities have developed a increasing emphasis on performance, links to professions, therefore shifting dramatically from the traditional autonomy of practice which has been the prevailing culture of higher education (Peters 1994). Bartlett (1992) highlights four principal components in professional education ¥ identification of competencies ¥ specification of standards ¥ program construction ¥ development of assessment technologies. The first two components are directly related to the current national effort of describing and establishing competency standards for teaching at both the level of beginning teacher and experienced practitioner. This effort has arisen out of economic and political conditions of the middle to late 80s as governments responded to declining competitiveness of Australian products in local and overseas markets and declining productivity. The accent on improving education and training included determining professional standards and appropriate skill development of all workers (Preston & Kennedy, 1994). Randall (1993) advocates the conception of the key competencies as being closely related to learning outcomes and assessment and reporting. However, the role of competency statements is not only linked to the learning outcomes of students but also the practices and appraisal of the teaching profession (McRae 1994). The web of connections is strong between national curriculum, national profiles and statements, key learning areas, learning outcomes, assessment and reporting, teacher competencies and teacher appraisal. Within this web, competencies for learning and teaching are central to the development of an effective structure for teaching and learning. Several attempts have been made to define essential teacher competencies. Similarly, claims about the short-comings of describing teacher competence as a number of criteria or behaviours are also prevalent. The Mayer view of competence is 'that performance is underpinned not only by skill but also by knowledge and understanding, and that competence involves both the ability to perform in a given context and the capacity to transfer knowledge and skills to new tasks and situations' (Mayer 1992, p. 4.). Competence and the Teaching Profession Bartlett (1992) suggests a set of competencies may be useful in describing beginning teachers but proposes that perhaps there are indicators of proficiency which could be better applied to studying the practices of advanced or more experienced teachers. Hagar and Beckett accept the desirability of describing competence but propose an integrated view of the practitioner. ' '' Integrated competence moves beyond the mere listing of tasks (that is the job done) , by adding the two holistic dimensions: the practitioner's attributes (what is brought to the doing of the job) and the characteristics of the context, or 'situatedness'(where the job is done) (1995, p. 12.).' The application of a set of competencies for teaching has been used to date to identify preferred qualities in beginning teachers, but the need to develop these competencies to address the perspective of proficiency in teaching practice is also important. The National Project for Quality Teaching and Learning (NPQTL) competencies have been developed after an extensive consultation process with teachers and are recognised nationally, if not applied directly in every state. Kennedy and Preston support a more integrated approach to the understanding of professional competence. They make the distinction between competencies, attributes and performance and describe competency standards as ' the link between personal attributes and actual tasks to be carried out in the workplace' (1994 p. 3). Victoria University and Teacher Competence At Victoria University the NPQTL competencies have been adopted because they are embedded in practice and provide opportunities for students to demonstrate theory/practice links so stimulating more purposeful ways of delivering the teacher education program within the Bachelor of Education. In utilising the NPQTL teaching competencies a number of issues are raised. The distinction between competence and expertise is critical as is the changing role of the teacher from reflective practitioner to researcher of practice. Crittenden (1995) supports the importance of understanding practice through examination and connection to theory as the primary objective rather than competency analysis for the improvement of technical efficiency. Consideration of these issue has been fundamental as we develop our relationships with schools through both the under-graduate program and through collaborative research activities. The practice of the Department has been to become familiar with the competencies and to develop action research projects with teachers which build on the idea of establishing competency indicators, and teaching and learning questions as the focus of inquiry. Additional emphasis is placed on developing the skill of case writing to describe competence in the teacher's voice and to typify and explain attitudes and behaviours which signify competence and expertise. Teachers as lifelong learners is an underlying principle supporting this process. Teacher Researchers and Case Writing The National Teaching Competencies employ the use of cases to illuminate practice and illustrate competence. The writing of cases links closely with action research projects currently being undertaken in collaboration with teachers. The movement from beginning teacher to expert teacher is acknowledged, although traditionally, experts teachers have kept concealed a good deal of what they do. Giddens suggests that experts work in such specialised environments that to replicate these is impossible. He suggests that there is a difference between the expert and expertise. Experts can get things wrong, as is often described in teachers cases, but this does not diminish their expertise, rather the handling of these situations re-enforces just that expert status (1990, p. 86). Learning about Case Writing The Innovative Links project, a National Professional Development Project, has enabled colleagues from schools and universities to work together to develop research projects and professional development programs which are school-based. Staff from five schools and the Department of Education at Victoria University have developed approximately 50 cases of teaching and learning in the past year. These are case of exemplars and dilemmas which teachers experience in everyday practice. They describe learning. The cases have provided valuable insights into the issues and concerns of individual teachers, teaching teams, whole schools and across schools. These samples of teacher's writing have been a means of reflecting on personal practice with a view to change and improvement, have been the focus of school-based professional development and have been shared across schools for professional development. They are about to be published and released to a national audience through the National Schools Network. Case writing represents the teacher's voice and involves the description of critical incidents in teaching and learning which provide illustrations of exemplars or dilemmas of teaching practice (Louden & Wallace 1995, Shulman 1992). These cases demonstrate competence on the part of the writer and while they may not always present perfect situations, they may indeed demonstrate competence, proficiency and expertise as the teacher is able to respond to dilemmas with new strategies and a continued commitment. While the context may not always match that of the reader, the examination of cases calls for the interpretation of teaching and learning situations and allows for connections to the reader's own practice which is subsequently exposed to critique. The discussion between teachers generates reflection on personal practice, judgement and investigation of pedagogy and a sharing of professional ideas with colleagues (Louden and Wallace, 1993). Accompanying each case may be at least one commentary. Whilst case writing generally involves the teacher writing about their own perspective of a critical incident in their professional life, commentaries provide opportunities for others to use the case to explore their own thinking. The commentary may take several forms. It may be written by someone who was involved in the same experience and who is able to describe the same set of events from a different perspective. It may also be written by an outsider who uses the cases as an entry to reflection and re-consideration of their practice. In either case, the commentary is an attempt to draw from the case greater understanding of teaching and learning and the many events which shape both theory and practice. Commentaries do provide answers to the problem or situation presented, nor do they make judgements about the practices described by the case. Indeed, often the commentary writer may not have all the information which was available to the case writer and it would not necessarily be appropriate to gather this information through interview, for example. As we know, often in teaching there are few answers, just the best decision at the time given the knowledge and constraints of the situation or an ability, after the event to see a better way to proceed next time. Commentaries are the deliberations and considerations of issues which the case raises. They very often are personally reflective and empathetic to the complex situations cases invariably describe. They may add a new dimension to or inform the case discussion. The creation of dialogic democracy around the examination of experiences of teaching and learning provides the potential for greater reflection and action. Inviting a trusted and respected friend, colleague, parent or critical friend to comment on the issues and questions significant to them from the reading of your case can often assist the case writer to see the breadth of their experience, new perspectives on the experience and greatly assist the professional development of both writers. Pre-service Teacher Education, Competence and Case Writing. The practice of this Department in establishing a pre-service teacher education program has been to build on the notions of teacher competence in an attempt to explore the concept of the beginning teacher as a competent teacher. Competence in practice is interpreted as relating practice to agreed frameworks of interpretation such as the National Teaching Competencies. The competencies enable the establishment of benchmark practices based on teachers' professional judgements informed by the National Teaching Competencies. Cases and exemplars which demonstrate these attributes are developed over the four years of the course. There are strong parallels between the demonstration of knowledge and skills by teachers, student teachers and even students. ¥ Student learning and learning outcomes are represented and identified through work samples. ¥ Student teacher attitudes, attributes and performance are demonstrated through case writing, lesson plans and evaluations. ¥ Experienced teachers' expertise and proficiency are exemplified in folios for appraisal, the expression of dilemmas or cases of teaching and learning and the research efforts of teachers. ¥ The appropriateness of university teaching and professional preparation is reflected in the links which university students construct between theory and practice through the description, discussion and assessment of practice so initiating pathways for new learning. In the 4th year of the B.Ed 1994/95 students have extended placements in schools. The analysis of their work in schools is focused on the work described in the NPQTL teacher competencies. The beginning teacher must be able to demonstrate through their practice an understanding of theory and its connection to practice. To do this, teachers and student teachers need to be able to apply the competencies to their regular practice, ie. take the notion of competence beyond the theoretical to the functional. Purpose written cases can be used to document/demonstrate teaching attributes and performance. Through these cases which are informed by the indicators and general areas of competence, beginning teachers are able to structure a presentation of their personal attributes and performances which focus on the dilemmas, complexities and exemplary practices of teaching to illustrate, examine and reflect on their own skill and knowledge. In doing so, beginning teachers are inducted into and become acquainted with the language of the profession. As practitioners they are exposed to a discourse which enables them to enter into debates with other professionals. The language of the National Teaching Competencies and the indicators and descriptors of competence provide the mechanism for such a discussion to take place. By enabling student teachers to engage in the discourse of the practice of teaching and learning with other professionals, the reflections on practice, the opportunities to develop and improve practice and the identification of outcomes are enhanced. The development of this writing is used in reflective enquiry, discussion and to develop teachers as theorists and as researchers of their own practice. The fourth year Bachelor of Education students were able to do this through the writing and crafting of cases of teaching under the framework of the National Teacher Competencies. Fourth Year Student: Area of Competence 5: Reflecting, Evaluating and Planning for the Future. I planned a music lesson for grade prep, which was intended to introduce the children to styles of music with which they were unfamiliar. This was consistent with the school's long term goals of extending the children's range of experiences. I chose to address this issues in this lesson because it has been a matter of concern to staff that the Vietnamese bilingual group lacks exposure to a range of cultural experiences and social skills. A number of children in this group are very immature and lacking in social skills., Their concentration span is very short, partly due to excessive exposure to television. Many of these children have the potential to be high achievers and there is concern that this potential may be lost. My lessons consisted of the playing of several quite different examples of music (Mozart, Bushland Dreaming , Elgar, etc). The children were to draw pictures to represent their feelings for each example of music played and to suggest what they would like to write relating to their picture. On reflecting on a previous similar lesson I felt that the strengths were in the expansion of the child's horizons in music but the previous lesson suffered from a serious weakness. The children we left too much on their own to create illustrations and they were inhibited form doing this without some form of assistance. In planning this lesson I decided to first ask all the children to put forward, orally, their ideas for their illustrations. This helped everybody to think creatively about the music and the feelings it created. The children worked very productively on their illustrations, enjoyed what they did and gained a greater appreciation of the music. Many of these children are subject to old fashioned parent direction and the influence of TV. I think this inhibits their creativity and shows the need to provide more creative outlets at school. Supervising teacher's response: John, a good teacher must be able to evaluate properly. The key is to feed this information back into future planning. This is an excellent example of how that should be done. In this case you have been able to carry all the children along simply by introducing another step. Well done!> This case was crafted to demonstrate knowledge of and approaches to the evaluation of programs. It could possibly be applied to almost any area of competence as it also illustrates the writer's attitude and commitment to the development of each child's learning, the writer's knowledge of teaching and learning and a deep understanding of planning and assessing each student's development both academic and aesthetic, in this case. By contrast a case written by a first year Bachelor of Education teacher shows an awareness of these attributes and skills, but may not actually illustrate levels of competence of these in the writer. Area of Competence 2: Developing relationships and working with others In the year 9 ESL class on my first day at the school I helped the students by proof reading through a descriptive essay that they had written in a previous class. As Christine went through their workbooks and journals for assessment purposes I worked with these students to develop their written essays. I corrected spelling errors, sentence structure and punctuation errors. I encouraged the students when they had mistakes to help me whilst I corrected them and encouraged them with their writing with positive comments. Even though I had a nervous disposition with the class, because it was my first, I overcame this in order to assist these students to the best of my ability. I felt I worked effectively with the students. At the end of this class, as one of my students left he said to me, " Thank you for your help." I think that this class shows that I attempted effective communication with students and developed positive relationships with young people, including encouragement of positive student behaviour. Supervising teacher's response: Even though Anna stated in her self-assessment that she was nervous when entering her first class, this did not show. She seemed completely at ease with the students. They also were with the students. They also weer immediately at ease with her. Anna proofread all of the students' work, moving from one students to another confidently. I did not have to give her any guidance. Anna chatted comfortably with her teachers in the staffroom. She confidently approached them regarding observation visits to their classes. The written conversation about the teacher's practice in the teacher's voice can be interpreted and discussed by others in the profession establishing the benchmark for the discourse of teaching practice. The value of the development of the discourse is in the depth of analysis which can be applied to the examination of practice and consequently competence, proficiency and expertise. Teachers engage in reflection on practice constantly, often assisted by the discourse of teaching and learning which is prevalent in their system. The adoption of a national framework for this reflection and the systematic collection of data about teaching and learning enables public examination and critique of practice, essential for improvement in practice and the formulation of new theories. The documentation of the moment of action research is possible through case writing. This case demonstrates the fourth year student teacher's development of theory, trial and test of this theory and confirmation of the theory along with improved practice. ...........Half-way into my round and I became 'best of friends'. Whenever the junior maths was on she would hunt me out and ask for help. I always made myself available for her in maths and Peter, the maths teacher, was grateful for the extra help. I very quickly notices her strong inclination to mirror the number we were learning; 0 - 5, corresponding objects and numbers, Susie would always ask me which symbol represented five objects and I would always answer and ask her to count the numbers at the top of the page carefully. She would have a couple of attempts at this and then with the correct number would write it down the opposite way. I am aware that it is quite common for this to occur yet I was trying to help her make the connection that people communicate in a certain way and to understand each other we all do it the same way ( in the English language). When I spoke to her mum again about this she was aware but not concerned at all. I didn't expect her to be worried as such but soon understood that most teachers at the school were not really concerned about Susie making improvements this year and would often let her leave class quite early. 'She was onleyfour and wouldn't really achieve greatly this year anyway. She was only a kindy kid really.' This was the impression I was left with. By the end of three weeks and three quarters of an hour each day, Susie was more often writing the numeric symbols in the correct way. The more I worked her the more she wanted me around to see how she was progressing. I prefer not to think that it is not an ongoing process with her now that I'm not there any more, but I made the effort and she can grasp ideas; she reaches for them hungrily. Case writing such as this is a means of demonstrating graduating teachers competence and establishing a benchmark practice in demonstrating this competence. Further, as our work develops and we collect more cases of teaching and learning through our work in pre-service and other research projects, it becomes evident that the notion of a case as exclusively a piece of prose can be challenged. Currently work samples in all forms, photographs, videos and interviews, all of which are annotated, are providing new ways of capturing and understanding significant moments in learning. In Summary The preparation of teachers in the Bachelor of Education program at Victoria University includes a substantial emphasis of student teachers moving towards the attainment of professional competence. There are three dimensions to the attainment of competence ¥ the practice of teaching and learning ¥ the discursive - thinking and theorising about that practice, and connections to broader conceptions of teaching and learning ¥ the public explanation and critique of practice and its connection to theory, through case representation. Further Challenges. In 1996 there will be a significant increase in the amount of the Bachelor of Education which is delivered in schools. School based programs negotiated with student teachers and school and university colleagues will expose the student teacher to the 'other' real work of teachers. These activities will give enhanced opportunities for student teachers to consider and critique a wider range of education theories and through substantive practical work, develop new understandings. The demonstration of these understandings, we believe, will best be displayed in the collection of cases in a variety of genre. These developments do not come without their critique. As we struggle to implement a more critical form of teacher education and preparation for the profession we are confronted with our own concerns and dilemmas. Some of the issues before us include the critical examination of practice, the adoption of a discourse which encourages this critique and the development of the role of the proficient teacher as mentor. References Australian Education Council and Ministers for Vocational Education Employment and Training 1992, Putting General Education to Work: The Key Competencies Report (Mayer) Melbourne. Bartlett, L. 1992, Selected professions observed: competency-based standards and their implications for the teaching profession. Australian Journal of Teacher Education. vol. 17. no. 2. pp. 9 - 25. Beare, H. 1992, What Does it Mean to Be a Professional? A commentary about teacher professionalism.. Australian Journal of Education. vol. 18. no. 4. pp. 65 - 72. Crittenden, B. 1995, Liberal and Vocational Educational Education: convergence or confusion? Collins, C (ed) Curriculum Stocktake: Evaluating School Curriculum Change. Australian College of Education: Canberra. Hagar, P. & Beckett, D. 1995, Philosophical underpinnings of the integrated conception of competence. Educational Philosophy and Theory vol. 27. no. 1. June. pp. 6 - 24. Giddens, A. 1990, The Consequences of Modernity. Polity Press: Cambridge. Giddens, A. 1994, Beyond Left and Right.: the future of radical politics Polity Press: Cambridge. Kennedy, K. J.. & Preston, B. 1994, Teacher competencies and teacher education: progress report on a research project. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education, University of Newcastle, November. Louden, W. & Wallace, J. 1993, Competency Standards in Teaching: exploring the case. Unicorn. vol. 19. no. 1. March, pp.45 - 53. Louden, W. & Wallace, J. 1995, Quality Teaching and Learning: case studies. Hodder Education: Sydney. McRae, D. 1994, The place of appraisal in education reform Ingvarson, L & Chadbourne R (eds) Valuing Teachers' Work: new directions in teacher appraisal. ACER: Melbourne. National Project for the Quality of Teaching and Learning: Teacher Competencies. June 1995 (draft). Peters, M. 1994, 'Performance', the Future of the University and 'Post-Iindustrial Society' Educational Philosophy and Theory. vol 26. no. 1. pp 1 - 22. Preston, B. 1994, Competency standards and initial professional education: the case of school teaching. Preston, B. & Kennedy, K. 1994, Models of professional standards for beginning practitioners and their applicability to initial professional education. A paper presented tat the conference of the Australian Association for Research in Education. December. Randall, Rob. 1993, Linking Key Competencies and the National Curriculum Agenda. Collins, Cherry (ed) Competencies: The competencies debate in Australian education and training Australian College of Education: Canberra Shulman, J. (1992) Case Methods in Teacher Education. Teachers' College Press: New York. Shulman, L. (1992) Knowledge and teaching: foundations of new reform. Harvard Educational Review vol. 57. no. 1 pp. 1 - 22.