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Dr Drew Miller
School of Education
(02) 434 84 214
andrew.miller@newcastle.edu.au
Building thriving schools through Quality Teaching
Principal Information Statement
Dear Principal, Your school is invited to participate in the research project identified above which is being conducted by Dr Drew Miller and colleagues within the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre at the University of Newcastle. This research is funded by the Paul Ramsay Foundation. Why is the research being done? Previous research has shown that Quality Teaching Rounds (QTR) professional development improves teaching quality, teacher morale and student outcomes. This 3-year project seeks to support NSW Primary and Central schools to build capacity for quality teaching and improve school outcomes through the implementation of Quality Teaching Rounds teacher professional development.
Our research will evaluate the impact of QTR on teacher and student outcomes. You are invited to partner with the University of Newcastle in implementing Quality Teaching Rounds at your school. What are Quality Teaching Rounds? Quality Teaching Rounds is an approach to teacher professional development that involves teachers working in groups of four or more (known as Professional Learning Communities or PLCs) to observe and analyse each other’s teaching using the Quality Teaching model. For each of the four one-day ‘Rounds’ the Professional Learning Community participates in a professional reading, one lesson observation and one post-lesson discussion, during which the Quality Teaching Model is used to code the lesson against each element of quality teaching.
Who can participate in the research?
Your school has been identified as being eligible for this research.
• All teachers from your school are invited to participate.
• External teachers who facilitate QTR professional development at your school (known as ‘Quality Teaching Advisers’) will also be invited to participate.
What does the project involve?
This 3-year longitudinal project comprises 3 separate elements:
1. Partnership Establishment and maintenance - Getting to know your school and working with your leadership team to co-design an implementation plan for QTR and QT related activities over the 3-year project period. This plan will be reviewed and updated along the way as an ongoing evaluation. This process will be supported by a QT Adviser and Researcher from the Teachers and Teaching Research Centre throughout the project period.
2. Professional Development implementation and support – Quality Teaching Rounds instructional workshops will be provided to participating teachers to support their QTR participation. Our partnership team will provide QTR support and advice during the Rounds. Additional forms of teacher professional development (Quality Assessment Rounds and School Programming) will also be available to schools that elect to include these forms of professional development as part of their Quality Teaching implementation plan. Online QTR implementation materials will also be made available through free school membership to our Quality Teaching Academy.
3. Evaluation and reporting – We will use interviews, surveys and other data to evaluate each school’s experience of the overall partnership. Data from staff surveys will be reported back to the school anonymously following each collection point to support ongoing implementation decisions. We will then use the broader set of data (outlined below) to create a case study of each participating school. The findings will be used for research purposes and will also be shared with you and your school. This project comprises both research and teacher professional development components, as detailed in the tables below. Depending on your preference, your school can take part in some or all of the listed research activities.
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