Developing a District Learning Organization

Transformative Educational Leadership Journal | ISSUE: Spring 2020

The importance of symmetry and emergence is increasingly evident in the Richmond School District as school leaders work with teachers to develop their plan for enhancing student learning using the Spiral of Inquiry as a theory of action. In this article, Lynn Archer takes us through what this complex work looks like and what it requires to thrive.

By Lynn Archer

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Using the Spiral of Inquiry to Transform Learning

As a district leader, I have a responsibility to make a difference for student learning and staff learning. Engaging staff to be curious and collaborate in a coherent manner about current and effective professional pedagogy in order to enhance student learning is a never-ending story for school and district leaders. But it is more than engaging staff. It is bringing the transformation to scale. In this paper, I will focus on how we are using the Spiral of Inquiry process to support learning leadership and innovative practice to focus continuously on school improvement. The strategies and structures which we have used to introduce and develop understanding of inquiry form the narrative of how we are transforming learning in the Richmond School District. The ultimate purpose of the focus and framework is for the district to develop its learning culture of curiosity, collaboration, and coherence so that it truly functions as a learning organization.

Culture of a Learning Organization – School Stories

The importance of symmetry and emergence is increasingly evident in our District as school leaders work with teachers to develop their Framework for Enhancing Student Learning, School Stories (British Columbia Ministry of Education, 2015). All schools in Richmond have a School Story posted on their school website. The school’s story is based on learning they are engaged in through using the Spiral of Inquiry (Kaser & Halbert, 2016). This has been a slowly evolving process that has required persistence and a combination of internal and external professional supports. From conversations with Richmond school leaders, it is apparent that, as with everything in education, our schools are on a continuum of symmetry and emergence; understanding and application of the Spiral of Inquiry process is continuing to develop thoughtfully.

During the 2016-17 school year, schools were supported in developing their thinking and planning for their school stories at the district level through the work of the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning (FESL) Working Group. School teams came together to “plan for their plan.” School districts were to post on district websites their plan for implementing the Framework for Enhancing Student Learning. In Richmond this involved continuing to work with Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser on growing understanding of the Spiral of Inquiry process through large group sessions and small group discussions. In June 2017, each school connected with their Assistant Superintendent to share where they were in determining a focus for their school’s story. As well, the FESL Working Group developed a set of guiding principles, processes information for the FESL School Stories, and supports that school leaders would find beneficial in order to begin Year One of the School Story process.

All schools were to use the same School Story frame to post on their websites. To assist with this process, schools were provided with technical support which ranged from district technology support staff to principals and vice principals helping each other. During the 2017-18 school year there were district FESL sessions to provide support and networking. The first session provided an overview of getting started during Year One. In response to the group sessions in previous years, smaller school story groups were formed. Groups were encouraged to meet as many times as they desired on their own, but each group was to select a facilitated conversation with either Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser or Sharon Jeroski. The small school story groups were more successful as a support system than the previous year’s group sessions composed of ten to twelve schools at a time. However, it was also clear that the support network of small school story groups needed time to develop with facilitation from a consistent perspective. As the school story process was so different from the previous school performance plans, many school principals found it challenging to post about actions and learning occurring in their schools.

Early in the 2018-19 school year, the FESL Working Group felt that it was important to share examples of some schools’ stories and have time to speak with their school story group members. Each School Story group possesses particular characteristics related to school context, school location, and school leaders. These factors led each group’s mid-year facilitated conversation with Judy and Linda to be unique, yet they also generated common themes and questions. Below are themes that emerged from the school story groups’ facilitated conversations:

1. Common understanding of purpose for school inquiry linked to district vision
2. Importance of a shared framework – owned at the school
3. Context matters; Frameworks help create coherence
4. Some thoughts on the spiral process itself
5. Importance of Collaboration, Context and New Learning for Principals
6. District Culture of Trust, Risk-taking and Curiosity
7. Building Coherence Across Initiatives
8. Support for New Teachers
9. Development of Teacher Leaders
10. When to pivot.

(Halbert & Kaser, 2019)   The reflections document was shared with the FESL Working Group and all school principals and vice principals. They found the reflections to be insightful, challenging, and important.

Inquiry Conversations

Early in 2019, I realized that a new scanning process was needed. One that focussed on inquiry as the driver for transforming learning and school improvement. Every school leader in the district was asked if they would engage in an inquiry conversation with me on the following scanning questions.

1. What are you learning about leading school improvement through using the process of inquiry? Why is this important?
2. What is the district doing that is helping? What can the district do more of? What do you want to learn more about?

In the end, I had wide ranging inquiry conversations with 47 out of 48 schools. I intentionally wanted the conversations to be helpful for both the school and the district. Because of this, I was flexible with the direction of the conversations. Overall, each of the 47 conversations generated information that will be helpful for future learning and action regarding how the district supports the continuous work of school improvement. The inquiry conversations also provided the opportunity to spend time at each school and listen to what our school leaders are focusing on, learning about, taking action on, and checking on regarding making a difference. Alongside the valuable information, it was a wonderful way to connect and further relationships. The role of principal and vice principal is complex, challenging, and rewarding. Engaging in inquiry conversations with our school leaders was not only a means to scan and check, it modelled curiosity and collaboration, and provided an opportunity to develop coherence.

Information from Question One

1. What are you learning about leading school improvement through using the process of inquiry? Why is this important?

There were many comments from the school leaders that address the above question, but what will be described are the responses that occurred consistently in more than one inquiry conversation. The most predominant theme (34/47) was school leaders recognized that the process of inquiry is important and complex. Connected with this perspective was an awareness of developing understanding of inquiry and wanting to learn more about leading through inquiry. School leaders also spoke about the value of the Spiral of Inquiry frame and how it provides a common focus and language for engaging in inquiry, collaboration, and school improvement (29/47).

Scanning was another common theme (26/47). Participants spoke about scanning as being helpful in many contexts related to school improvement, particularly the school story. The process of scanning highlighted the importance of asking questions of students, staff, and parents. On the other side of scanning, some participants (7/47) wondered if they were stuck in scanning. Other responses within this theme expressed uncertainty about which questions to ask and connected this to being unsure about engaging in inquiry. School leaders addressed the role that they play in leading school improvement through the process of inquiry (26/47) and how the inquiry process creates momentum in a school. Being new to a school as the principal (6/47) was a theme for some school leaders. In these responses, the participants spoke about making meaning from what had been undertaken prior to their arrival. There was also acknowledgement that engaging in scanning was a helpful way to develop relationships and get to know the school. Many participants (20/47) spoke about the Spiral of Inquiry’s focus on scanning students to find out what they are thinking and experiencing. They valued that the Spiral of Inquiry process was student centred and focused on learning from them. They also spoke about successes and challenges in scanning students in a way that involved more than just the principal and vice principals.

Overall, the inquiry conversations addressed a broad theme of learning, whether student learning or adult learning. Many school leaders acknowledged a desire to engage staff more consistently in the process of inquiry to enhance learning at their schools (28/47). As part of this focus on staff engagement, they also indicated that the Spiral of Inquiry process has been instrumental in the growth of collaboration among the educators in the school and across schools.

Finally, with regards to question one, school leaders spoke about time and patience (24/47). It takes time to grow understanding of ‘why.’ Why is it important to learn together through inquiry? Why is transforming education important for our learners? It also takes time to grow understanding of ‘what’ and ‘how.’ Leading school improvement through the process of inquiry takes time and patience; it also develops curiosity, collaboration, and coherence which is vital for a district’s learning culture.

Information from Question Two

2. What is the district doing that is helping? What can the district do more of? What do you want to learn more about?

The information learned from question two will be helpful for the FESL Working Group to plan next steps of guidance and support for the School Story process. In response to the first part of question two, 30 participants stated that the district’s supports were helpful. The structure of facilitated conversations mid-year with Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser was supported by 28 of the participants. They acknowledge the facilitated conversations provided outside perspective, asked thought provoking questions, kept them accountable, and provided momentum.

Related to the facilitated conversations, 31 participants liked the school story small group structure and want it to continue. Some offered suggestions (9) as to what might be connected to the School Story small groups, such as visiting each other’s schools, meeting more often than mid-year, getting together at elementary PVP meetings or family of school meetings. Others also spoke to no longer needing large Framework for Enhancing Student Learning (FESL) sessions (7), while others spoke about perhaps having some large FESL sessions that would be with both school leaders and teachers (5). A final theme was connected to technology support (8). Some school leaders are more comfortable with posting in their school stories than others. Overall, the responses to question two were positive and indicated that the district’s structures and strategies were helpful and needed.

The inquiry conversations revealed a great deal of interesting information to help frame support for our school leaders as they continue to learn about inquiry and collaboration as drivers for developing a learning culture. It is clear that our school leaders are on a continuum of development with regards to using inquiry as a methodology for learning leadership. However, it is also clear that our school leaders have learned a great deal and taken many important steps to deepen their understanding and use of collaborative inquiry processes in order to strengthen learning for everyone in their schools. As stated in one inquiry conversation, “inquiry is the vehicle for moving pedagogy forward so learning is better for kids” (Archer, 2019).

Conclusion – Mind, Heart, and Will

After many years of supporting innovative pedagogy and school improvement, the question of how to develop a district learning organization that focuses on curiosity, collaboration, and coherence continues to be relevant. The process of developing a learning culture that engages in being curious together, reflects on actions taken, and makes coherent connections takes time, patience, and trust.  It requires a perspective of growth and persistence. It also requires what Watkins et al. (2018) call symmetry and persistence:

By symmetry, we mean a parallelism between the work of adults in the system and the work we hope that teachers will do with students…Most notably, it will require a shift in focus toward collaborative capacity building amongst educators. By emergence, we mean an approach to leadership and to organization, where leaders move from engineers to gardeners, helping to nurture and grow the energy and capacity in their system, and support more lateral and organic organizational forms to emerge (p. 13). Based on my inquiry conversations with school leaders, I think symmetry and emergence are beginning to form, but are not yet system-wide or at scale. Why not, I wonder?

First, we need to have greater coherence among our educators as to the “why” of what we are doing. We have truly been working to develop coherence, but in a large organization, coherence does not emerge overnight. It takes time. Second, we need to support collaboration even more deeply. This may require guidelines at the district level and not just school-based structures. Third, we need to encourage and celebrate curiosity even more than we have been doing. This, I believe, comes in the form of understanding and engaging in all that we do with an inquiry mindset and a common understanding of the processes of inquiry. This ideal take time, patience, and system leadership. Senge et al. (2015) describe:

…three core capabilities that system leaders develop in order to foster collective leadership…The first is the ability to see the larger system…The second capability involves fostering reflection and more generative conversations…The third capability centers on shifting the collective focus from reactive problem solving to co-creating the future. (p. 29)

Continuous adult learning is imperative for developing future ready learners who have a foundation of confidence, content, and competence in order to learn, unlearn, and relearn as they move forward in life beyond the K-12 education system. A genuine learning organization of curiosity, collaboration, and coherence recognizes that every child’s story of being, belonging, and becoming forms our learning journey together. If we achieve this, we truly will have students who are able to walk across the stage with dignity, purpose, and options.

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