Peter Farrell | Independent Researcher (original) (raw)

Papers about education, teaching and leading by Peter Farrell

Paper for Contemporary Educational Leadership.docx. This paper has been accepted but not yet publ... more Paper for Contemporary Educational Leadership.docx. This paper has been accepted but not yet published.

The author, a primary school principal, reflects upon 15 years working in the same very small school and suggests three ways of caring for such a school. He argues that all experienced small school principals are, simultaneously, and to varying degrees, system followers, stewards and administrators. However, inexperienced principals need to develop these ways of being beginning with star-followership, moving onto stewardship, and finally school administrator. Each way of being responsible for a school is discussed in depth.

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The link directs you to an open access journal where the work resides. The author, a school pr... more The link directs you to an open access journal where the work resides.

The author, a school principal with significant classroom responsibilities recounts his journey towards authenticity as an independent teacher-researcher. His career as a researcher began in the scientific-knowledge tradition and then moved into the practical-knowledge tradition. He describes how Donald Schön, the father of reflective practice, has transformed his professional life, leading him to develop a deeply thoughtful practice, one that makes use of the literature to augment, challenge, and legitimise the work he does in his school. The author delves into the messy world of the professional experiment, and the idea that professionals can, and do, act and think differently to third-person researchers. Finally, the author shares his story about how the members of a virtual community of scholars have facilitated his move from the periphery of the researching community into an authentic and valued practitioner-colleague with a personal theory of practice.

Keywords
Donald Schön; reflective practice; practical-knowledge; professional practice; expert teacher

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International Journal of Language Studies: Volume 9, Number 1, January 2015, pp. 1-22, Jan 2015

Donald Schön’s (1987) seminal work, “Educating the Reflective Practitioner”, began a movement whe... more Donald Schön’s (1987) seminal work, “Educating the Reflective Practitioner”, began a movement where reflective practice came to be understood as a hallmark of what it is to be a professional. Thinking-in-action is where the professional calls upon, experience, knowledge, skill and intuition to solve a problem of practice. Reflecting after the fact is called thinking-on-action and provides for a systematic review of the outcome and process arising from solving the problem. Schön then suggested a third iteration of reflection, and it is during this process that the author suggests that the professional may challenge, legitimise and augment practical-knowledge by accessing other sources of information. Less well known are Schön’s approaches to professional experimentation which include move-testing, exploratory experiments, and hypothesis testing where the variables are manipulated in order to bring about the desired result. The present paper uses reflective practice to mediate teacher research into solving a problem of practice around the teaching and learning of language conventions in the author’s own school. Comparisons with action research are made.

Keywords: Reflection; Teacher-Research; Practical Knowledge; Small School; Problem of Practice; Donald Schön

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Farrell, Peter (2009) Stakeholder Relationships in Schools. Australian Council for Educational Leaders, Perspectives in Education. February No. 2.

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Farrell, P. A. T. (2010). A conceptualisation of the work of experienced teaching-principals. Personal Construct Theory & Practice, 7, 16-26, 2010

Four experienced teaching-principals, two men and two women, administering very small schools in ... more Four experienced teaching-principals, two men and two women, administering very small schools in Victoria, Australia completed three repertory grids, which provide the means for semi-structured interviews about their work as leaders. The grids were concerned with work tasks, professional relationships and school events. The major finding was that these four experienced teaching-principals perceived themselves to be professional and related to their schools as communities rather than organisations, and this concept was underpinned by three ideas. Each participant strongly identified with the idea of themselves as classroom teachers, each was an extremely efficient and effective manager of time, and they each controlled and nurtured a shared school agenda. Sergiovanni’s stewardship model, with its emphasis on community and professionalism, has much to recommend it as a template for individuals appointed to a teaching-principalship. For these school leaders in the present study any system-wide innovation is likely to be anticipated in terms of what it may mean for their students, their current school priorities, and the effect it may have on their school community.

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Farrell, P.A.T. (2009). Cultural and symbolic leadership – what does it look like? Personal reflection and the effective management and leadership of a small rural school. Personal Construct Theory & Practice, 6, 99-108, 2009

The author, an experienced teaching-principal, used repertory grid technique to reflect on those ... more The author, an experienced teaching-principal, used repertory grid technique to reflect on those tasks, professional relationships and school events impacting on his leadership. Use of supplied elements and a supplied construct facilitated the identification of the primary embedding mechanisms used to foster culture in his school, those factors most associated with his perceived effectiveness. Further reflection on these findings lead to the identification of future actions that might be profitably undertaken at the author’s school.

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Magazine articles by Peter Farrell

Farrell, Peter (2013). Managing critical incidents in small rural schools. Leadership in Focus: The Journal for Australasian School Leaders. 31: 2-4

Six experienced principals, three men and three women, each administering very small rural school... more Six experienced principals, three men and three women, each administering very small rural schools in Victoria, Australia, completed a repertory grid about school events that formed the basis for a semi-structured interview about the adverse events that occur in small rural schools, and how the leaders of very small rural schools reacted to them. It was found that relatively small-scale issues concerning individuals within their school community were perceived more readily as critical incidents and organisational crises than responding to management demands from the education department. It was determined that repertory grid technique privileged the researched rather than the researcher and surfaced world-views that may have remained suppressed were a more traditional survey instrument employed.

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Farrell, Peter (2013). Teacher-researchers and the discovery and dissemination of professional practice. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom (2013) 18:4 p34-‐37

In my judgement having teachers engaged in researching their own practice on a regular basis is a... more In my judgement having teachers engaged in researching their own practice on a regular basis is a laudable aim and one that will, in my opinion, bring about the development of a cohort of truly expert-level teachers in our system. I would caution that the teacher research undertaken must be embedded in the practical knowledge tradition and not the science-based tradition, as its ultimate aim must be to improve teachers and teaching. To this end, a professional as opposed to an academic mindset, needs to be adopted by the participants engaged in this work.

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Farrell, Peter (2012). Rote recall of times tables facts in the multiage classroom. Prime Number, 1, 12-‐13

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Primarily English, 3 (2) 28-32, 2014

This essay is a learning artifact from the work I have done with my students in my own classroom.... more This essay is a learning artifact from the work I have done with my students in my own classroom. It argues the case for an extended essay form called the 5SE (Five Section Essay) to enable children to move from learning to write to writing to learn. There are three threads running through the work. Writers need to get the words written, they need to think of their reader, and they need to make their writing coherent. The 5SE is based upon the well understood Five Paragraph Essay (5PE). Teachers of writing in upper primary and lower secondary school may find this work of some interest.

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Personal memos by Peter Farrell

Teaching aesthetic thinking is a major component in our way of covering curriculum. This paper ad... more Teaching aesthetic thinking is a major component in our way of covering curriculum. This paper addresses how we deliver on the performing arts.

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Fitting everything from the Australian or Victorian Curriculum into the school year is difficult ... more Fitting everything from the Australian or Victorian Curriculum into the school year is difficult and our way is to combine subjects into ways of thinking.

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Introduction Learning mathematics is so conceptual, so centred upon the student, that they must s... more Introduction Learning mathematics is so conceptual, so centred upon the student, that they must set the pace for their own learning. Pushing an idea onto the child before they are ready to hear it, or before they have mastered the previous big idea in the chain is absurd. We use the on-line Mathletics course to deliver a large proportion of content which the children tackle this at their own pace. We have grade 4 students working through grade 6 material and grade 3s working on grade 2. Each child can be individually tutored by their peers or by their teacher. We use diagnostic testing to uncover conceptual weaknesses and teach these in depth. Inummeracy has an adverse impact on a person's life we simply must do all we can to prevent it from happening.

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Outlines our approach to teaching grammar in our school.

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Introduction Our theory of practice suggests to us that the cognitive load presented by mastering... more Introduction Our theory of practice suggests to us that the cognitive load presented by mastering the writing process is a demanding one. Teaching writing is a long term process.

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Using song lyrics as the basis for a reading program has proved to be very successful in my littl... more Using song lyrics as the basis for a reading program has proved to be very successful in my little school. Working with grade 2 - 5 we use a literacy circle approach to interrogate the texts. The approach works both for learing to read and reading to learn.

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This account reflects my school leadership and management. Read this for fun or diversion but I b... more This account reflects my school leadership and management. Read this for fun or diversion but I believe there is some wisdom within it.

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The link directs you to an open access journal where the work resides. The author, a school pr... more The link directs you to an open access journal where the work resides.

Keywords
Donald Schön; reflective practice; practical-knowledge; professional practice; expert teacher

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International Journal of Language Studies: Volume 9, Number 1, January 2015, pp. 1-22, Jan 2015

Keywords: Reflection; Teacher-Research; Practical Knowledge; Small School; Problem of Practice; Donald Schön

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Farrell, Peter (2009) Stakeholder Relationships in Schools. Australian Council for Educational Leaders, Perspectives in Education. February No. 2.

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Farrell, P. A. T. (2010). A conceptualisation of the work of experienced teaching-principals. Personal Construct Theory & Practice, 7, 16-26, 2010

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Farrell, Peter (2013). Managing critical incidents in small rural schools. Leadership in Focus: The Journal for Australasian School Leaders. 31: 2-4

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Farrell, Peter (2013). Teacher-researchers and the discovery and dissemination of professional practice. Australian Primary Mathematics Classroom (2013) 18:4 p34-‐37

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Farrell, Peter (2012). Rote recall of times tables facts in the multiage classroom. Prime Number, 1, 12-‐13

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Primarily English, 3 (2) 28-32, 2014

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Outlines our approach to teaching grammar in our school.

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The author, a teaching-principal working in a multi-grade classroom in rural Victoria, Australia,... more The author, a teaching-principal working in a multi-grade classroom in rural Victoria, Australia, describes his justification and process for teaching ‘big science’ to primary school children. The author avoids the trivialised cookbook approach to science implemented by his colleagues, instead involving his students in the rich learning possibilities brought about by long-term experimentation. These possibilities include question generating, background research, choosing, designing and conducting the experiment, analysing the results using graphical literacy techniques, and finishing with a discussion and conclusion. The author suggests scientific drawing as a worthwhile educational pursuit while waiting for results. The author shares how he shrinks and expands his expectations of his students and how he scaffolds his support to them. Finally, as part of his professional development, the author shares his reflective process, in which he includes a review of the literature after the event.

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This spreadsheet outlines the three year curriculum plan for my school, Zeerust Primary School, i... more This spreadsheet outlines the three year curriculum plan for my school, Zeerust Primary School, in Victoria, Australia. It relates directly to my PDF book about curriculum advice for very small schools.

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Introduction Under the auspices of the Australian National Curriculum, literacy includes speaking... more Introduction
Under the auspices of the Australian National Curriculum, literacy includes speaking & listening, reading, literature, language conventions, and writing. Writing is further divided into five domains, these being: (1) Purpose, Audience and Structure of Texts, (2) Text Cohesion, (3) Concept of Print and Screen, (4) Creating Text, and (5) Editing Text (ACARA, 2012). All government schools in Victoria, Australia, where the authors teach, invest considerable time in teaching literacy. There is an expectation by the education department that the first two hours of each day will given over to teaching and learning literacy. The significance of literacy is further emphasised by an annual test of numeracy and literacy undertaken at grades 3, 5, 7 and 9 across the nation. As might be expected, the literacy part of the test includes a writing component. For our small rural school, improving writing is both important and challenging.

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This was an investigation into the fostering of culture in Victorian government primary schools. ... more This was an investigation into the fostering of culture in Victorian government primary schools. It was written from an interpretive/constructivist perspective and used George Kelly’s RGT (repertory grid technique) and Edgar Schein’s PEMs (primary embedding mechanisms) to compare and contrast two groups of principals. One group, the TP (teaching principal) group, had significant classroom responsibilities. The other group, the NTP (non-teaching principal) group, had a significantly smaller teaching load. Eight school administrators, from the Hume Region of the State of Victoria in Australia, made up of four TPs and four NTPs were each asked to complete a suite of repertory grids as a part of the research. It was concluded from the research that there were differences in how culture is fostered by the two groups studied.

The TPs in this study had a managerial orientation and lead their schools through activities with a strategic focus. In the main theirs is a person culture which relies on them to be entirely professional in their interaction with their community (staff, students and parents). The TPs in this study felt their responsibility for students most strongly and used data to bring about change and drive the curriculum. As a group they tended to handle finances and resources bureaucratically and manage their students and staff. The TPs in this study valued the relationship with all adults with a positive link with the school.

The NTPs in this study were more likely to have a balanced administrative orientation (bureaucratic, managerial and leadership) where students and curriculum are dealt with bureaucratically and finances and resources are managed. Most NTPs have created a role culture where the plan is their mostly strongly felt responsibility. The NTPs in this study particularly valued the close personal and professional relationship with their immediate subordinate. Operationally NTPs can be distracted by mundane and/or the trivial activity.

Findings were also made which were unrelated to differences the operational models studied. These data suggest that transformational leadership takes place in a club culture environment where the administrative orientation seamlessly entwines both managerial and leadership approaches to school administration. Transformational leaders are concerned about task and relationship-maintenance with the professionals in their schools. In this study, individuals from both the TP and NTP groups demonstrated transformational leadership. Both leaders were found to be very experienced generally and to have adopted a variety of mechanisms to foster culture in their schools. At the other end of the spectrum were administrators working in school environments where there is no prevalent method of administrative orientation or the approach is predominantly bureaucratic, in these schools there was a dysfunctional relationship with a significant stakeholder and the style of leadership was transactional.

Both TPs and NTPs (who teach a little) have particular teaching situations in that they may either work in a multi-level classroom or deliver curriculum to multiple levels of the school. For those without specific experience in such environments, pre-appointment and on-going training may prove useful, and regional offices are best placed to provide this. Other useful training provided by regional office might include leading and managing change in schools, strategic planning, and how to distribute leadership; on-going contextually-sensitive coaching may help with these issues. NTPs, or their delegate, will especially benefit from training in case-management to help them cope with their welfare and behavioural management work, while all principals need proactive assistance to repair dysfunctional relationships. TPs need nuanced support to help them create adaptable curriculum to meet individual needs while NTPs would prefer curriculum better suited to meeting the needs of a large staff. NTPs need assistance to develop sophisticated data and financial management systems which will augment and underpin their planning processes contrasting with TPs who would appreciate a much simpler approach to data and financial management. Finally, it is particularly important that the second-in-charge of a school, irrespective of whether they are a member of the principal or leading teaching classifications, benefits from specific training in how to be effective in their role. This is a critical relationship, a PEM, and should not be left to chance and on-the-job training.

Conclusions made from this study indicate that the context does matter. TPs and NTPs need differentiated support mechanisms to foster culture in their schools. Some of these mechanisms may suit pre-appointment while others may be on-going. I conclude that this has consequences for central and regional office staff, as well as personnel taking up new appointments. It was concluded that the implementation of a system-wide innovation by individual TPs will depend on how the innovation improves the educational outcomes of students in the school. In contrast, NTPs are more likely to ask how the proposed change makes running their school easier. With NTPs the education department in Victoria may be reasonably confident in promoting a one-size fits-most system PEM to a situation, but for TPs, not being too prescriptive might be the best way forward. I would assert that the adaptability of the PEM adopted by the system will be the key to its success or failure.

A doctor of education is a professional research degree so as well answering my research question I was very interested in the utility of RGT for studies of organizational culture and application of PEMs as an interpretive framework. The theoretical approach proved useful. My novel contribution to research methodology was in the use of the supplied elements (preferred and implicit poles) to identify how each participant was fostering culture in their school. These proved very useful in identifying the mechanisms by which school leaders demonstrate cultural and symbolic leadership. The evidence from this small study suggests using RGT and PEMs does not presuppose what might be done by an administrator but it does provide a method for identifying the authentic practices of that administrator. In this small study these authentic practices highlighted a focus on students and strategic planning, the maintenance of a close personal and professional relationship with a significant subordinate, and the challenge in resolving a dysfunctional relationship with any stakeholder in the school community.

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This is a ‘professional’ thesis written in light of Donald Schön reflective practitioner model. I... more This is a ‘professional’ thesis written in light of Donald Schön reflective practitioner model. It investigates the outcomes arising from a change in delivery model around mathematics teaching in a very small rural school. I conclude that Schön’s reflection on reflection-in-practice template is an effective methodology for combining my current professional knowledge with new academic thinking. I conclude that Mathletics is a useful way to deliver content to a multi-age classroom however teacher support must amount to more than procedural fixes if student misunderstandings around mathematics are
to be avoided in the future.

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The first appointment of many principals in Australia is to a small school where much of their ti... more The first appointment of many principals in Australia is to a small school where much of their time will be spent teaching a class. In very small schools this will be their own class, or the whole school, and in slightly larger schools they will provide time release to their very small and often part-time teaching staff. While this is going on they are expected to manage the school, dealing with tasks both mundane and profound. They will be in charge of events that occur publicly and privately. And they will maintain professional and sometimes more personal relationships with school stakeholders who may, or may not, be supportive. This book suggests a model of engagement for the new school leader which takes them from followership to stewardship and then on to school administration. The author is the principal of a very small school in regional Victoria, Australia. He has been at his school for more than 12 years.

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For five years I have coordinated an aspirant leaders program for my local network of schools. It... more For five years I have coordinated an aspirant leaders program for my local network of schools. It ran from term 1 through to term 4 and, at the beginning of the year, I would ask the group what professional learning they wanted to undertake over the upcoming year. Almost without fail the following four topics came up:

. How to have a difficult conversation

. How to deal with underperforming staff

. How to run an effective meeting, and

. How to manage change

This manual provides guidance on performing these functions from the perspective of a person in a position of responsibility. That responsibility may not come with authority and so influence is discussed in some detail.

Making the assumption that you might not be sent away on a leadership course I have provided guidance on how to combine professional reading and written reflections to achieve professional development.

The last thing I have shared is how action-research can be used to solve problems of practice in schools.

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This is the second edition of a book designed for generalist teachers working in very small schoo... more This is the second edition of a book designed for generalist teachers working in very small schools and colleagues teaching out of method. My aim is not to describe how a chemist thinks, but how a teacher of chemistry needs to think.

I think this is important because what teachers do, what you do – in you classroom, counts. And, depending who you read, it can account for 50-70% of what happens to student outcomes. What teachers can do is a function of their knowledge of the students in their classroom, the pedagogical approaches adopted and finally, their knowledge of, and enthusiasm for, the subject. Just your enthusiasm accounts for about 10% of the student outcomes.

I believe, if you have some idea where you are going and what it will look like when you get there, then you will do a much better job for your students. It’s mostly about setting up and nurturing a positive learning environment.

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Graham Collins, a New Zealand researcher, said, and I am paraphrasing, that the greatest strain f... more Graham Collins, a New Zealand researcher, said, and I am paraphrasing, that the greatest strain felt by teaching-principals is that felt in the classroom. This about the things that work in a multi-level classroom.

This is the first e-book I have written. It covers reading, writing, arithmetic, researching, retelling and reasoning. If you offer each of these in your small school then very likely you will be delivering a rich pedagogy to your students.

This is not a dry tome, the philosophy is light while teaching practice is front and centre.

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Journal of Applied Aquaculture, 2001

ABSTRACT

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Journal of Applied Aquaculture, 2001

The Lincoln Index mark-re capture method was evaluated for its accuracy in estimating the number ... more The Lincoln Index mark-re capture method was evaluated for its accuracy in estimating the number of harvestable yabbies, Cherax destructor, in earthen ponds. Where a single recapture event was used to estimate the population.

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Journal of Applied Aquaculture, 2000

... Peter Farrell and Brian Leonard, Department of Applied Biology and Biotechnol-ogy, RMIT Unive... more ... Peter Farrell and Brian Leonard, Department of Applied Biology and Biotechnol-ogy, RMIT University, GPO Box 2476V, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3001. ... There is a small amount of evidence in the literature (Davis 1981; Brown and Caputi 1985; Morris and Callaghan 1998 ...

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International Journal for Transformative Research, 2015

The author, a school principal with significant classroom responsibilities recounts his journey t... more The author, a school principal with significant classroom responsibilities recounts his journey towards authenticity as an independent teacher-researcher. His career as a researcher began in the scientific-knowledge tradition and then moved into the practical-knowledge tradition. He describes how Donald Schön, the father of reflective practice, has transformed his professional life, leading him to develop a deeply thoughtful practice, one that makes use of the literature to augment, challenge, and legitimise the work he does in his school. The author delves into the messy world of the professional experiment, and the idea that professionals can, and do, act and think differently to third-person researchers. Finally, the author shares his story about how the members of a virtual community of scholars have facilitated his move from the periphery of the researching community into an authentic and valued practitioner-colleague with a personal theory of practice

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Australian primary mathematics classroom, 2013

Peter Farrell provides some interesting insight into the importance of teacher research and gives... more Peter Farrell provides some interesting insight into the importance of teacher research and gives examples of his own research from his personal classroom experiences. The importance of disseminating findings from the classroom as professional development is discussed.

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