Creating enabling classroom practices in high poverty contexts: the disruptive possibilities of looking in classrooms

Abstract

Looking in classrooms is one of the most basic requirements of school improvement, and yet it is one of the least practised skills of teachers and one of the most contentious methods of educational researchers. When it does occur, it is difficult to agree on what to look for and even more difficult to agree on what is seen. This paper outlines an approach to recounting classroom practices adopted in a three‐year study of four schools in New South Wales (NSW) that were all characterised by high levels of poverty and difference. The research examined the processes and conditions under which these schools were attempting to bring about improvements in student learning. The creation of jointly produced accounts of classroom practice, what we have called day diaries, provided opportunities to examine teaching and leadership practices in schools. It also revealed that, for the most part, classroom practices in the participating schools followed a standard and widely adopted script. We argue that disrupting this script requires innovation and the production of new knowledge about what works in the local context, and that such innovation is most needed in high poverty contexts.

Keywords:

• challenging circumstances
• classroom observation
• classroom practice

Notes

1. The ‘Changing Schools Changing Times 2005–7’ research project was funded through the Australian Research Council’s Linkage programme. It was a partnership between the University of Sydney, the University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Monash University and the NSW Department of Education and Training (NSW DET). Members of the research team included the authors and Narelle Carey, Rani Lewis‐Jones (NSW DET), Kristal Morris, Chris Murray (NSW DET), Ishbel Murray (UTS), Kerith Power (Monash), Dianne Roberts, Kitty te Riele (UTS), and Margaret Wheeler (in alphabetical order).