An INSET course I facilitated for colleagued at YWIES. The presentation focuses on the research Professor John Hattie and the implications for schools of his work.

1. UNDERSTANDING IMPACT
How do we know if we are making a
difference to our learners?

2. • To understand the use and benefits of different approaches to
evaluating impact
• To understand the key pitfalls to avoid
• To develop a tailored strategy for assessing impact in your own
classroom or department
• To know how to evaluate your impact on learning in your
classroom/study hall/department
Aims of Workshop

3. Focus of Workshop
• Finding out not ”what works” but “what works best”
• Working effectively with data
• Creating an impact strategy in classroom/department

4. Activity: What level of impact?
Here are some innovations in schooling. What level of impact do you
think each would have?
 Ability grouping/tracking/streaming LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Teacher expectations LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Teacher-student relationships LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Feedback LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Student expectations LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Reducing class size LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Providing worked examples LOW MEDIUM HIGH

5. The Answers:
 Ability grouping/tracking/streaming LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Teacher expectations LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Teacher-student relationships LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Feedback LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Student expectations LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Reducing class size LOW MEDIUM HIGH
 Providing worked examples LOW MEDIUM HIGH

6. • Impact on what? (What is the effect on?)
• What is the unit of measurement? (What does “low” mean?)
• What exactly is meant by some of the terms? (e.g. feedback)
• What was the context of the research? (Location, ages of learners,
when conducted, example size etc)
• How robust is the research? (Is it good quality?)
Questions we should be asking

7. The research
• It’s a meta-analysis of over 800 meta-analyses
• Based upon over 50,000 research studies by many
different researchers
• Professor Hattie is Director of the Education Research
Institute at the University of Melbourne, Australia
Note:
• Only meta-analyses which calculated the effect of a variable (e.g. homework) on students’ academic
achievement in school and expressed this as an effect size statistic were chosen
• The majority of the findings were from research studies in English-speaking, high income countries,
particularly the USA
• The studies were published between 1976 and 2008

8. • All the studies gave effect sizes in their findings
• An effect size is a way of quantifying the size of difference between
two groups
• Either comparison over time (before and after the intervention
• Or comparison between two groups (those who did and didn’t have
the intervention)
How was the impact measured?
Class A’s results in September Class A’s results in September
Class A’s results
Class B’s results

9. • An effect size above zero is positive,
but in education is that enough?
• Children’s maturation alone will lead
to some enhancement of learning
• Not just “what works” but “what
works best”
• “Hinge point” of 0.4 effect size
• An effect size of 1.0 is the equivalent
of advancing a learners achievement
by 2-3 years
Interpreting the effect size

10. “Any innovation, any teaching
program, and all teachers should be
aiming to demonstrate that the
effects on student achievement
should exceed d = 0.4”
John Hattie (2009)

11. What were the key findings?
Effect sizes were ranked for 138 different variables

12. One example: Feedback (effect size 0.73)
Ranked 10th of all the interventions listed
Evidence from 23 meta-analyses covering 1,267
studies, involving 67,931 people
Most powerful feedback is from learners to
teachers – about their progress in learning
Good feedback on learning is entwined with the
teaching process

13. • When teachers see learning
through the eyes of the student
• When students see themselves as
their own teachers
• Six signposts towards excellence
in education
Visible teaching and learning

15. • How applicable is Hattie’s research to
students in your classes, in your
curriculum area and across our
school?
• What would you like to read more
about?
• What would you like to discuss
further in your department or with
other colleagues in school?
Reflection

16. Teaching and Learning
Toolkit from the Education
Endowment Foundation

17. School culture
“School leaders and teachers need to create school and classroom
environments where error is welcomed as a learning opportunity […]
and where participants can feel safe to learn, re-learn and explore
knowledge and understanding.”
John Hattie (2009)
Discuss with colleagues:
• Do we have such a culture in our school?
• What do we do well?
• What can be improved?
• What sort of school culture will encourage teachers to engage and commit to study and discussion
of educational research?
• How can this be developed in our school?

19. Professor Hattie
Having explored some of Hattie’s work, now lets meet the man himself:
Why are so many of our teachers and schools so successful? John Hattie
Global Education Data on What Drives Student Outcomes

26. Department Time
How can your department use Hattie’s research in order to ensure that
every teacher has a significant effect on student learning?