Teacher autonomy
- what are we really talking about?
Thoughts and musings
Teacher autonomy has been on my mind lately. As a phrase, as a concept, the recommendation for it appears across much recent policy and guidance. Yet, on the ground in discussions with teachers and colleagues working across education, the amount of ownership over lesson planning and freedom to make decisions about what happens in individual classrooms can reflect a different reality.
So this of course got me thinking - what is really meant by teacher autonomy and how can this be achieved? Perhaps its helpful to start with what it’s not. In a school only this week, I was talking to a volunteer who has signed up to begin a 4-year primary teaching degree in September. In conversation she tentatively asked, “But is it like this everywhere?” Taking a quick glance around the school, I hoped for a visual clue to prompt me. Was she referencing the school’s culture? The behaviour of the children? The environments? “Like what?” I replied. What she was referencing was the curriculum. The teaching. This particular school is full to the brim with autonomy. The teachers skilfully lean into high-quality resources but the lessons that they plan are shaped and curated by the teachers themselves.
You see, this soon-to-be initial teacher training student, has a current career in education, as a teaching assistant in a secondary setting. Her palpable nervousness was caused by whether she would have a say in what and how she teaches. She had heard and seen things that sat at odds with her reasoning for wanting to join the profession. I have heard and seen these things too - and I imagine that I am not alone. Teachers being given slides or lessons to deliver and instructed that they can’t make any changes. Packages of support being bought in to (often at a high price, when budgets are exceptionally tight) with the instruction that, “We do ______ for our science lessons now.” The lack of time (or perhaps oversight of options for making more) for teachers to come together to think about what they want to teach their pupils - when and why. A loss of the joy of planning.
Ideas and practical suggestions
So, what should be considered when reflecting on the autonomy that you, or your teaching teams, currently have? Below are two suggestions which I hope can be actioned with minimal time spent preparing. Think of these as evaluation points ahead of the new academic year - shifts that can be made, which can have a positive impact for all.
1. The curriculum
I feel it imperative to start here. Much of the reflecting I have done on the idea of the teacher autonomy comes back to curriculum. And, rightly so. Most of my teaching experience has been directed by the British National Curriculum. A set of statutory objectives and non-statutory guidance which shapes what is taught to our young people. Yet, it is only the beginning. What is not in this document is the how. What it leaves room for is context, cohorts, teacher personality. Why this, why now?
I have recently been enjoying Mary Myatt’s book ‘KS3 The Ambitious Years’1 Mary makes reference, multiple times, to the often overlooked purpose of study and aims in the national curriculum, ahead of getting into the nitty gritty of the specifics. An invitation for individual schools to own their subjects and consider how learning can be brought to life for pupils within each discipline.
So, where might you start when reflecting on autonomy within the curriculum within your own classroom and for wider teaching teams?
Take a focused look at long and medium-term plans. My experience is that these are engaged with less frequently now (much of my observations being at primary level). Yet, a disengagement with overviews of learning experiences over the year can lead to a lack of intention and clarity. Sitting down ahead of the new school year, with open minds and protected time (more on this later) allows teachers to get a feel, an almost lived experience, of how lessons connect. How understanding builds.
Evaluate the resources which are being used to support learning. Ensure that these are a help, not a hinderance. Do they leave room for teachers to make decisions about learning? Are they truly adaptable? Are teachers improving their own understanding through engaging with these resources? I have written more on this in, ‘The joy of lesson planning’. Take a look!2
2. The culture
When I reflect on the question posed around consistency of approaches to teaching and learning experiences, of course a school’s culture was also being made reference to within the feeling of trepidation. I am a fan of the work Jonathan Lear, who I am fortunate to have heard speak multiple teams. His work on curriculum and development of the idea of ‘guerrilla education’3 took me back to my early teaching days. The times where I would internally question why I was being asked to write reams of feedback in my year 1 pupils’ books that most of them couldn’t read. (The answer? For Ofsted).
What Lear speaks of is the nodding along to messages passed down from leaders (who are often passing this down from policy, guidance, or compliance) and then interpreting this in a way which actually matters to the children. With autonomy, there may need to be a little “push back” or creative licence in actions. In my own personal experiences, autonomy is nurtured and supported by leaders. A thoroughness in ensuring that statutory expectations are being met whilst creativity is exercised.
So, how does autonomy show up in a school’s culture?
In the time given to make informed decisions. Through deliberate professional learning design. Why does this need to be a whole-staff meeting? How are individual teacher’s interests being invested in? I have written in more detail about this in ‘Pragmatic professional development’4 - full of practical ideas!
In the time given to engage with lesson planning. There’s a theme here. Where pockets of time can be made for teachers, the results can be incredible. One school I worked at would get supply in for a day, coupled with specialist lessons or HLTA cover, and give year group teams (including their TAs for part of time) a day per term to plan the next term’s learning. Our engagement was high and the enthusiasm we felt for getting stuck into the learning experiences which really mattered for our pupils carried us way beyond this designated day.
Trust. This has to be present. Trusting teachers to make decisions about the adaptation of resources shared. Trusting teachers to engage with the professional learning pathways curated. Celebrating individual effort
s and ideas which have been tried out in class and have resulted in pupil’s success. Supporting teachers when a lesson they designed didn’t go to plan and reflecting on why that may have been so. Continued professional learning for teachers can only happen effectively when it is rooted in trust. I have written in more detail about ‘Trust’ in a previous glimmer.5
If any of these ideas have resonated with you today, it would be wonderful to hear about it. And, if you are wanting to enable more teacher autonomy in your school or trust but feel some support would be beneficial -
do get in touch!
I offer bespoke training on curriculum which can take the form of whole-staff training, team planning and team teaching.
For more details, visit my website:
Absolutely! One of the reasons I am about to change schools in fact!
Love your emphasis on giving teachers time to make informed decisions. Totally agree!