Masterclasses – ICSEI 2019

Take your knowledge to the next level!
The ICSEI 2019 masterclasses provide intensive, hands-on opportunities to discuss and debate ideas, evidence, practices and strategies.

The sessions allow participants not only to learn from leading international experts, but also to bring in their viewpoints, share their experiences and raise questions regarding their own work.

The masterclasses run on Saturday, January 12^th.
NB: You may sign up for your desired masterclasses as you arrive at the conference, however due to a limited number of places, we recommend that you sign up for the masterclasses upon registration.

The following masterclasses are confirmed for ICSEI 2019:

Data use for improving Teaching and Learning in Schools: The Data Team Professional Development Intervention

Dr. Kim Schildkamp, ICSEI President-elect, University of Twente

Every day, school leaders and teachers are faced with decisions concerning the quality of education. However, decisions may sometimes be taken too quickly based on anecdotal information and assumptions instead of data from investigation. When data, such as performance data, but also classroom observation data, are used in the decision making process of school leaders and teachers, this can lead to improved student achievement.

To support schools in the use of data, we developed the so called data team® procedure. This interactive session will first focus on the concept of data use and its challenges and opportunities. Next, participants will experience being part of a data team and learn the effects of the data team procedure on teacher professional development and student achievement.

Collaborative Professionalism: coming together in ways that have impact

Professor and ICSEI President Andy Hargreaves

We live and work in a fast-paced knowledge economy where ideas have to circulate freely. We are also caught up in a world where, for good reasons and bad, there is more and more movement of people as well as ideas. How can we come together for the benefit of everyone?

In this Masterclass Andy Hargreaves will draw on his recent co-authored book on Collaborative Professionalism so that participants can engage with and apply 5 different designs from 5 different countries for working together in and across schools. Stronger relationships and clearer protocols and procedures; more solidarity and more specificity – these are the core principles of collaborative professionalism that participants will explore together.

Playful learning in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) across cultures

Professor Ingunn Størksen, Center for Learning Environment, University of Stavanger

Research shows us that play is essential for children’s everyday well-being and development in ECEC. Free play is especially important, since it involves children’s discovery, fantasy, imagination, meaning making, negotiation and communication, and in this way fosters natural and enjoyable development.

We know that gentle and sensitive guidance from adults in play also fosters early development in important areas. Within the theoretical framework of playful learning, free play and guided play are both highly valued. During playful learning children are active, engaged, and they are interacting in meaningful contexts. This framework is widely accepted in many countries. Still, the practical implications of playful learning may vary across cultures.

In this masterclass, I will present an example of how playful learning is implemented to a Norwegian context through examples from a teacher handbook and internet resource. Participants will engage in discussions of understandings and implementations of playful learning in ECEC across the world.

Creating space for innovation: Leading and learning from the emerging future

Professor Dr. Michael Schratz, University of Innsbruck, Austria

Disruptive developments ask for innovative ways of teaching, leading and learning, since the future can no longer be predicted from the past. Awareness of system dynamics and transformation asks for new ways of acting towards next practice rather than best practice.

This interactive session invites participants on a learning journey along Scharmer’s ‘Theory U’ (Mind – Heart – Will); which requires a stance of letting go of the past in order to connect with and learn from emerging future possibilities.

The methodology of focusing on the emerging future will open up the mind on deeper levels of learning and change. Participants will experience how energy follows attention, which helps in creating awareness for innovation and change by holding the space for new approaches to teaching, learning and leading. Collaborative activities will enable the participants to transform the methodology and design into their own professional context.

Professional Learning Networks – achieving effective collaboration for teacher, school and system improvement

Professor Chris Brown, University of Portsmouth
Associate professor Cindy Poortman, University of Twente

Educators working and learning together in Professional Learning Networks (PLNs) is considered an effective way to achieve improvements in teaching and learning at scale. At the same time, PLNs do not automatically lead to professional development or sustainable impact. We define PLNs as any group who engage in collaborative learning with others outside of their everyday community of practice, to improve teaching and learning. This is a broad definition, encompassing a huge range of network types, including research or data use teams, teacher design teams, and education networks.

The aim of this masterclass is to enable participants to engage interactively with current thinking and research on factors fostering effective and sustainable PLNs. In particular the session will provide the opportunity for participants to thoroughly discuss not only common challenges, but also potential approaches to meet these challenges. This approach will help participants rethink research into PLNs and (their) PLN practice.

Mixed Methods approaches and their Application in Educational Research

Prof. Dr. Pamela Sammons, Department of education University of Oxford, England
Dr. Susila Davis, Department of education University of Oxford, England

This master class will draw on several studies as exemplars of the use and potential of mixed methods ( MM) approaches and their application in educational research. It will explore the defining features of MM studies and draw attention to the way both quantitative and qualitative data can be collected, analysed and integrated to link findings and to support new understandings and meta inferences that go beyond the findings and interpretations that might be achieved using only one methodological perspective.

The master class will present a framework to aid the researcher/student researcher in understanding and evaluating the quality of MM designs and published MM studies and that can be used as a guide in designing their own MM studies and conducting future analyses.