Multi-Dimensional Teacher Learning Framework To Support The Transition To Student -Centred Teaching: The Teacher Small Shifts Framework

• In Event: Supporting teachers through digital tools and frameworks

Proposal

The adoption of student-centred approaches in education has gained significant attention globally, particularly in developing countries seeking to improve educational outcomes. Kenya, like many other countries in East Africa, has embraced this trend by transitioning to a Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). This shift represents a significant paradigm change in the education system, moving away from rote learning towards an approach that emphasizes the development of skills and competencies rather than mere knowledge acquisition.
The transition to CBC aligns with global educational trends and aims to better prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century workforce. However, this change has necessitated comprehensive teacher training to support the effective transition from traditional teaching methods to student-centered approaches. The successful implementation of CBC heavily relies on teachers' ability to adapt their teaching methodologies and effectively integrate new practices into their instructional repertoire.
In response to these challenges, this proposal presents the Teacher Small Shifts Framework, a tool designed to understand, support, and evaluate teachers' progress in adopting student-centered practices. This framework is the culmination of our comprehensive research and hands-on experience in Kenya's education sector. It draws primarily from four years of in-depth study with the LEGO-funded KPLAY program, but also incorporates valuable insights from our broader portfolio of research on ICT integration in education majorly across Kenya, and also in East Africa. Our privileged position in the ecosystem has allowed us to engage with and learn from various initiatives, including those focused on teacher professional development and parental engagement. This multifaceted exposure has provided us with an understanding of the region’s educational landscape, enabling us to develop a framework that is both robust and contextually relevant.
The concept of teacher professional development and its impact on classroom practice has been extensively studied. Guskey's (2002) Model of PD and Teacher Change provides a framework for understanding how teachers' attitudes and beliefs change as they implement new practices and observe student outcomes. This model informed the development of our Teacher Small Shifts Framework. The UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers (UNESCO, 2018) offers a comprehensive approach to integrating technology in education, which aligns with our framework's technology dimension. Similarly, the LEGO Foundation's Playful Learning Across the Years (PLAY) Measurement Toolkit (Parker et al., 2019) provided insights into assessing playful learning practices. In the Kenyan context, Piper et al. (2018) found that teacher coaching and targeted instructional support can significantly improve student learning outcomes. This supports our framework's emphasis on community support and coaching. While each of these studies has focused on one dimension of growth, our research attempts to identify how a combination of the dimensions feed into the process that teachers follow in adopting creative learning methodologies in their classrooms.

This paper addresses two key questions:

1. How can we effectively support teachers in Kenya to adopt creative learning approaches?
2. What are the key dimensions of improved practice in adopting creative learning, and how can we measure progress along these dimensions?


The Teacher Small Shifts Framework was developed using a mixed-methods approach:

Analysis of evidence generated by program activities (interviews, focus groups, lesson observations, co-design workshops)
Literature review of relevant frameworks and research
Consultation with education experts and stakeholders

The framework identifies four key dimensions of changing practice as teachers move from their previous approaches towards student centered and creative learning approaches, and seeks to describe what change looks like for Kenyan teachers as they move along this transition. The framework is not linear and starting points may be different depending on teacher’s levels and might be different for each country and context.

Pedagogy: Teachers' understanding and implementation of different student-centred approaches.
Content: The way learners engage with content is different. Instead of lectures, students are invited to explore and experiment as they build their own understandings. Teachers' ability to find, adapt, or create playful learning activities and materials that children find engaging.
Technology: Teachers' effective, safe, and inclusive use of devices to support teaching and learning.
Community: Teachers' cultivation of a positive emotional climate with learners and among learning teams.

For each dimension, the framework outlines progress from a base level of "practice as usual" to expert level, providing specific indicators of growth and competence. The framework highlights the interconnection between shifts across dimensions, demonstrating how progress in one area can drive changes in others. For instance, as teachers adopt more collaborative pedagogical strategies, they often find traditional classroom management techniques ineffective, prompting a need for new community-focused approaches. Similarly, teachers experimenting with playful content often seek to improve their technology skills to access more online resources and integrate digital devices in the classroom. Notably, advancements in pedagogy tend to influence all other dimensions, with play-based teaching approaches leading to improved technology use, enhanced classroom emotional climate, and more effective resource utilization for lesson preparation and delivery. This interconnectedness underscores the need for ongoing, holistic professional development for teachers.

This framework contributes to the growing body of literature on student-centred learning and teacher professional development in developing contexts. It also provides a realistic and achievable path for programs to use when supporting teachers to adopt student-centred approaches especially those that focus on playful approaches and underscores the interconnectedness of the different dimensions that inform holistic professional development for teachers.


References

Cremin, T., Glauert, E., Craft, A., Compton, A., & Stylianidou, F. (2015). Creative Little Scientists: exploring pedagogical synergies between inquiry-based and creative approaches in Early Years science. Education 3-13, 43(4), 404-419.

Guskey, T. R. (2002). Professional development and teacher change. Teachers and teaching, 8(3), 381-391.

Hennessy, S., Haßler, B., & Hofmann, R. (2015). Challenges and opportunities for teacher professional development in interactive use of technology in African schools. Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 24(5), 548-576.

Parker, R., Thomsen, B. S., & Berry, A. (2019). Learning through play at school: A study of playful integrated pedagogies that foster children's holistic skills development in the primary school classroom. LEGO Foundation.

UNESCO. (2018). UNESCO ICT Competency Framework for Teachers. UNESCO.

Authors

• Chebet Seluget, Education Design Unlimited

• Jennifer Cotter Otieno, Education Design Unlimited

• Muthoni Njeru, Education Design Unlimited

• Winnie Lozi Mwangiri, Education Design Unlimited