Summary of STNE pupil Gains seminar

1. Scottish Teachers for a New Era (STNE) is a collaborative six-year pilot project which
seeks to prepare ‘teachers for a new era’ able to face up to the challenges of knowledge
and learning in the twenty-first century. The programme’s aims include the creation of
an extended professional culture, the broadening of learning experiences, opportunities to
develop new and personal approaches to teaching and a broader conceptualisation of
pupil gains leading to improved teacher and pupil learning.
Pupil Engagement and Pupil Gains Seminar.
September 2008
Introduction
The seminar reported here was conducted as part of the Scottish Teachers for a New Era initiative at the
University of Aberdeen. There are a number of dimensions to the STNE research and programme
development. The focus of this seminar was on what we understand by pupil gains.
Running in parallel with the STNE Initiative has been the development and implementation of the new
policies such as Curriculum for Excellence built on the foundation of the four capacities: Successful
Learners; Confident Individuals; Responsible Citizens and Effective Contributors. While recognising that
cognitive gains are still an important part of the assessment of pupil gains, it was felt that given the
changing landscapes there was an opportunity to explore the meaning of teacher effectiveness and pupil
gains
The seminar consisted of an introduction followed by four presentations, two in the morning and two in the
afternoon. Following the presentations in each of the two sessions, morning and afternoon, participants
were allocated to groups for discussion of some of the issues arising from the presentations and some
questions that they were asked to consider:
What do we mean by pupil/student gains?
What different dimensions can be identified to pupil gains?
How much importance should we attribute to each of these?
Which can we realistically expect an “effective” teacher to facilitate the development of?
What opportunities and challenges does the Curriculum for Excellence present with respect to the
development of the dimensions identified?
How should such “gains” be identified/evaluated/measured?

2. Pupil Engagement and Pupil Gains Seminar.
Method
Seminar Presentations
Dr Donald Gray provided an introduction and outlined a theoretical framework that could be utilised when
looking at the context of teacher effectiveness and pupil gains. This provided a foundation for further
discussions during the day when questions relating to the idea of pupil gains were considered, the
importance attached to different types of “gain”, the opportunities and challenges provided by A
Curriculum for Excellence with respect to pupil gains and ways in which such gains can be identified,
evaluated or assessed.
Professor Donald Christie et al. explored pupil gains in relation teachers’ learning. This paper argued the
need for a sophisticated conceptual model to provide an adequate framework for understanding teachers’
professional learning and to that end presented the Triple-Lens Framework developed by the AERS
Learners, Learning and Teaching Network. The effectiveness of CPD for teachers in terms of measurable
pupil gains (both cognitive and affective) were explored in the context of a study funded by ESRC TLRP in
which 24 Scottish primary teachers were encouraged through professional development activities and
resources to foster collaborative group work in their classrooms. The views of the teachers involved
regarding what were key features of the professional development activity were analysed in relation to the
triple lens framework and implications discussed.
Dr Jim Parsons provided useful insights from the Alberta Improving Schools Initiative (AISI). Jim’s
presentation shared his understandings’ of the eight-year history of AISI and its influence of a system’s
growth. The presentation focused on the historical, cultural, and educational context of AISI, the growth of
teachers as researchers, the influence of teacher growth on student assessment and learning, and how one
educational system came to be reshaped in response. Specific topics included project management, the
impact of outside experts, the growth of teacher efficacy, and how research became part of a system’s
culture. Jim attempted to draw more general educational theory from practice. He believes that pupil gains
almost unfailingly have more to do with teacher efficacy and leadership than with the introduction of
specific methods, programs, or assessment ideas. He also believes that understanding one part of a system
requires better study of the entire system.
In the afternoon session Alastair Wilson’s paper explored the contextual and structural issues in relation to
understanding the concept of pupil gains. This paper drew on a range of data from a research project based
within a large secondary school in an area experiencing high levels of social and economic deprivation. It
discussed the ways in which the school understood and addressed low academic attainment among its
pupils. Drawing on a specific action research project within the school the paper argued that some of the
innovation necessary for increasing pupil gains faces significant structural barriers. For this school
increasing pupil gains requires change that is currently difficult to realize.
The final presentation was given by Kevin Stelfox, and Jennifer Morrison. This paper argued that a one-
dimensional view of pupil gains is inadequate for two reasons: firstly, it fails to challenge the dominant
performance discourse; and secondly, it impacts on the professional identity of teachers by restricting it to a
transmission model of teaching and learning. It suggests that there is a need to broaden out the definition of
pupil gains into a multi-dimensional model including not only subject-based cognitive gains but also social
gains within the school context. The research reported covered an exploratory study of the current
understanding of pupil gains by practitioners and young people within the emerging context of A
Curriculum for Excellence.

3. Pupil Engagement and Pupil Gains Seminar.
Results
There were a number of emergent themes that developed from the discussion that are briefly explored in the
following section. These themes developed from the presentations and discussions and were echoed
throughout the day. They centred on relationships, evidence and culture. Clearly these themes are interrelated
and need further research to fully investigate the role they play in relation to understanding pupil gains and
consequently how that is evidenced.
• Relationships -The presentations and the discussion highlighted the need for the development of
good relationships and mutual trust throughout the system. This consideration of relationships and
the development of trust needed to happen at all levels, between teacher, pupil, teacher and teacher,
teacher and management, between school and the community, school and university, local authority
and university, between practitioner and researcher etc.
• Culture - There is a need to start to generate a different type of culture in which teachers feel more
empowered and able to take action, where their voices are heard and contribute on equal footing with
other stakeholders. It was acknowledged that this may take some time and is linked to other aspects
discussed, such as development of trust, creating space, building confidence and self-efficacy and
encouraging a renewed sense of professionalism where a teacher’s voice is listened to and respected.
• Evidence - With a broader notion of pupil gains, building on other initiatives such as Assessment is
for Learning, and recognising the extended nature of A Curriculum for Excellence there is a need to
explore and develop broader and perhaps more imaginative ways of gathering evidence. There was
recognition that simple numerical measures and standardised tests in discrete cognitive areas were in
themselves not sufficient and were in some respects exclusive resulting in the lack of recognition of
other areas of growth, development and learning that occur in children and young people.
Recognising the complexities of the learning and teaching process, and the education system in
general, required close examination of the notion of evidence and what counts as evidence and
greater recognition given to non-traditional forms of evidence that provide more depth and texture to
specific learning contexts.

4. Pupil Engagement and Pupil Gains Seminar.
Discussion/Conclusion
As can be seen from the themes that emerged from the seminar, the conceptualisation of pupil gains is not
straightforward and cannot be reduced to simple subject based cognitive measures. Indeed there is a need to
explore further subject based and social learning gains from the perspective of the classroom and the wider
school context. Focusing on these areas will contribute to our understanding of learning and lead to the
development of alternative forms of assessment. It is also important to acknowledge that pupil gains is
inextricably linked with teacher dispositions, professional learning opportunities, classroom and school
culture, partnerships and ways of working, professional recognition, parental involvement and other
aspects. There is no simple linear relationship between a teacher education programme and the impact that
this might have on pupils. This clearly has implications for the way research into learning and teaching
takes place, with a need for a research design that tries to take a more holistic and systemic approach to
understanding the influences on pupil learning gains. Similarly it is important that we are very clear about
the kinds of attributes that are being looked for when we talk about pupil gains, and that there is a collective
understanding that assessing these wider dimensions of pupil learning requires different and varied
approaches to assessment or evaluation. This may not be an easy task but there are possibilities within A
Curriculum for Excellence to develop these wider dimensions of learning and assessment. This does not
mean abandoning or ignoring what has been traditionally valued, i.e. cognitive subject based gains, but to
balance this with other aspects of children’s developments which reflect the values we place on education
and the kind of people we want our children to grow up to be.
References
Gray, D. “The complexity of teacher effectiveness and pupil gains” University of Aberdeen
Christie, D., McKinney, S. and Welsh, M. “Pupil Gains and CPD”; on behalf of the Applied Education
Research Scheme. Learners, Learning and Teaching Network Project 2 Team.
Parsons, J. “Teacher effectiveness and pupil learning gains - A Canadian Perspective from the Alberta
Improving Schools Initiative.” Faculty of Education, University of Alberta
Wilson, A. “Realising pupil gains?” University of Strathclyde.
Stelfox.K1 ., Morrison J2, “Pupil Gains’ Investigating a Contested Concept.” 1University of Aberdeen.
2
Head Teacher. Moray Council
The full report and presentations can be accessed at http://www.abdn.ac.uk/stne/index.php?id=24&top=5