Teacher professional learning in learning rounds: what the doctor ordered?

Observational practices for teachers (such as Learning Walks; Learning Triads; Power of 3 etc.) are increasingly advocated in Scotland as a means of supporting "home-grown" professional learning situated in the classroom. This presentation will report on one aspect of my study of a particular type of school-based collaborative professional learning, the Learning Round. This practice draws on observational practices that originated in the medical profession and became influential in the USA (as Instructional Rounds). In spite of attention from government agencies, the academic literature to support Instructional Rounds and Learning Rounds is scant, and critique or evaluation of the practice is equally scarce. The roots of the practice in the medical profession is presented as a strength; the authors of Instructional Rounds argue "they have deliberately drawn on the model...because medicine has...the most powerful practice for analysing and understanding its own work." (City et al. 2009, p32). However, this is problematic, and this presentation will critically examine the comparison between its use in education and medicine drawing on available literature. The following questions will inform the wider study this presentation derives from: Who or what is the patient? How comparable are the structures of the groups involved? How is knowledge generated in these groups? How does the tension of purpose between improving the patients' condition and focusing on the learning of the participants resolve itself in each case? What is the role of data and evidence in each case? This presentation will explore questions 1 & 3 above. I will argue that there are more significant difference than similarities than are acknowledged by the authors and proponents.