by Pinky Jain, Mhairi Beaton and Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/04/dilemmas-in-teacher-education/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/03/mentoring-the-cinderella-profession/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/03/action-learning-sets-a-pedagogic-and-professional-tool/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/01/solidarity-and-curiosity/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/01/here-be-dragons---myth-busting-instructional-coaching-for-teachers/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/12/contextual-coaching-from-curiosity-to-concept/

by Charmaine Roche

https://padlet.com/r_m_lofthouse/d4dhe4e7q46glcyg

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/09/putting-mentoring-in-the-spotlight-in-the-new-school-year/

by Lisa Pettifer 

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/09/time-to-revisit-the-a-to-z-of-teacher-induction/

by Suzanne Simpson

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/09/mountain-of-dao-sea-of-learning-nature-of-being/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/08/itt-review/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/04/exploring-and-learning-from-educational-complexity/

by Katie Pierce

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/04/is-mentoring-the-key-to-a-successful-career-in-teaching/

by Natalie Wathen

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/03/high-challenge-and-high-support/

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/03/teach-best/

by Victoria Carr

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/03/transition/

by Victoria Carr

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/02/on-love-legacy-leadership-parenting-and-a-global-pandemic/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2021/02/pioneers-and-quilters/

by Kerry Jordan-Daus

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/12/we-all-need-an-anam-cara/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/11/creating-an-engine-room-for-learning/

by Ruth Whiteside

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/10/pandemic-realities-for-school-leaders/

by Ruth Whiteside

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/10/pandemic-realities-for-school-leaders/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/10/the-legacy-of-mentoring/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/09/can-models-frameworks-or-tools-support-us-to-support-others/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/09/can-models-frameworks-or-tools-support-us-to-support-others/

by Henry Sauntson

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/09/planning-for-observation-of-novice-teachers/

by Henry Sauntson

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/09/planning-for-observation-of-novice-teachers/

by Jasen Booton

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/09/coaching-for-creativity/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/09/through-and-beyond-the-pandemic/

by Charmaine Roche

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/07/demandsbecomerevolutionarywhenleaderrefusetolisten/

by Henry Sauntson

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/06/preservice-induction-problem/

by Mark Dowley

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/06/coaching-is-more-than-strategies-it-is-also-about-perception/

by Daniel Duke

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/06/not-at-home/

by Kerry Jordan-Daus

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/05/findingourfacemode/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/05/mentoring-the-edumentors/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/04/buildingthefuture/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/04/mentorsmatter/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/03/learning-in-lockdown/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/03/time-to-reflect/

by CollectivED advisory board

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/02/pause-for-thought/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/02/how-can-we-best-support-early-career-teachers/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/01/htcoaching/

by Rachel Lofthouse, Yasodai Selvakumaran, Jeremy Hannay, Trista Hollweck and Deborah Netolicky.

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/12/collectived-at-icsei-2020/

by Mhairi Beaton and Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/12/dialogue-dilemmas-and-practical-wisdom/

by Rachel Lofthouse and Mhairi Beaton

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/09/turning-the-promise-into-a-reality/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/08/conference-dialogue/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/07/using-mentoring-and-coaching-to-focus-on-the-curriculum-in-action/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/02/teacher-mentoring-rising-to-the-challenge-of-the-early-career-framework/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/01/from-challenges-come-wise-practices/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2019/01/new-year-not-so-new-new-thinking/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2018/11/talking-about-our-work-as-educators-stress-release-or-active-engagement/

by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2018/10/collectivedmaking-sense-of-coaching-for-professional-development-in-education/

by Claudia Gillberg

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/03/harnessing-power-in-education-settings/

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/06/exploring-narratives-through-mentoring/

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2022/06/exploring-narratives-through-mentoring/

Lofthouse, R and Whiteside, R and Rose, A (2021) International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education.

https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/8028/

Lofthouse, R and Whiteside, R and Rose, A (2021) International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education.

https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/8028/

Lofthouse, R and Hollweck, T (2021) Contextual coaching: levering and leading school improvement through collaborative professionalism. International Journal of Mentoring and Coaching in Education. 

https://eprints.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/id/eprint/7874/ 

This is the text of a book chapter being published in Dutch.  Full details to follow.

In the above two vignettes, the effectiveness of teaching is strengthened through careful observation of the life-worlds of pupils.  In order to navigate these life-worlds, the teacher within both accounts of practice, is paying attention to the unique ways in which the unique individuals within their classroom are engaging with learning.  Rather than merely perform or deliver the same sensory story for example, that had been used with a different class the year earlier (before swiftly moving on to the next activity or routine on the class timetable) the teacher in ‘Vignette A’, and A’ continually refines her teaching in relation to what she learns from this, about her pupil. She also explores beneath the surface of what might be immediately noticeable. In the practice outlined in ‘Vignette B’, an experienced teacher trusted the students in her class to support her in understanding more accurately the contour lines and ridges of their mathematical understanding.

The metaphor of ‘topography’ can be used in relation to the pedagogical approaches adopted in both ‘Vignette A’ and ‘Vignette B’.  In cartography or landscape painting, a ‘topographer’ studies their surroundings carefully and strives to represent reality, including the underlying geological features which influence the landscape. In doing so they create something with orientational and navigational value. As teachers and researchers we argue that it is through the promotion and adoption of ‘topographical teaching’ that we can develop inclusive and effective classroom practice. 

Just as a topographical landscape artist captures geographical features of a place such as terrain, vegetation, and weather conditions, a ‘topographical teacher’ appreciates the broader realities impacting on a pupils’ learning such as the classroom environment, the social dynamics within a teaching group, and the life experiences they have had.   A ‘topographical teacher’ will also consider ‘the bigger picture’ beyond the upcoming assessment being worked towards, or the immediate lesson or session that is taking place.  They may ask questions around the long-term aspirations of pupils and consider these when planning.  Any isolated classroom activity, such as the sensory story in Vignette A, or the Maths activity in Vignette B, will have coherence with long term goals and aspirations.

To create maps which are informative and give insight into a terrain, it is necessary for any topographical cartographer to have tools and skills for representing and reading information on topographical maps.  A topographical cartographer also needs tools and skills for capturing changes to terrain, such as those relating to tectonic activity or coastal erosion.  

Similarly, a ‘topographical’ approach to teaching is one in which a teacher invests in ‘looking’ or ‘noticing’ the realities impacting on learning within their classrooms.  Rather than pitch their planning to broad labels around diagnoses and perceived levels of ability, the ‘topographical’ teacher seeks to continually learn about their individual pupils, to inform their planning.

When adopting a topographical approach to effective and inclusive educational provision for all learners, formative assessment can be an essential tool for the classroom practitioner. Formative assessment refers to classroom practices which permit a teacher to understand, for example, the previous achievements of their students which can inform planning for future learning (Wiliam et al., 2004).

Although widely accepted as ‘good educational practice’, how formative assessment is enacted can vary widely between different teachers and schools. In some instances, formative assessment has been viewed as a managerialist tick-box exercise. This approach is based on a view of learning as a body of facts to be transmitted by teachers and acquired by students.  Formative assessment, in this instance, can act to further marginalise some learners as the outcome of the exercise can be binary; either the student can demonstrate proficiency of the new knowledge or skills or not. 

In contrast, formative assessment that aspires to support a teachers’ understanding of the topographical contours is necessarily both interactive and iterative as the complex and dynamic process unfolds between teachers and students (Florian and Beaton, 2017). In seeking to understand the contours and ridges of a classroom topography through formative assessment practices, it is understood that effective formative assessment necessarily involves all learners as experts in their own learning. This expertise qualifies all students to be part of an ongoing dialogue between learners and teachers including occasions when students themselves may initiate the dialogue. The skill that a teacher must develop is the ability to not only listen but hear the multiple ways in which learners may communicate this expertise. 

Initially, this collaborative approach can be a challenging practice for teachers to accept as a key element of their identity as their remit is to make informed pedagogical and curricular decisions in their classrooms due to their expertise in teaching and learning (Beaton, 2020). Nevertheless, to truly understand the topography of a classroom and the experiences of individual students, the ability to relinquish the role of sole expert in their classroom and share this role with learners can lead to more informed decision making that can be more effective and inclusive educational provision. In Vignette B, by adopting the stance of ‘learner about her students’, trusting them to articulate their own learning, by valuing what they have to communicate and responding in an informed and professional way in adapting her initial plans, Sally adopts an inclusive stance that permits her to accommodate individual differences in a manner that is respectful of all students.

Of course, it is accepted that it may be more challenging to hear some students; for example, those students who are preverbal like Dylan in Vignette A. There has been an assumption that skills required to work with students similar to Dylan require specialist skills but the ability to listen effectively to all students as they contribute to a teacher’s understanding of the topography of the classroom is a skill that is required by all teachers. (489) 

To develop ‘topographical’ thinking teachers need to appreciate the ‘why’ and understand the ‘how’.  Teachers who become aware that each learner has a unique relationship with the curriculum and with the learning context become more open to situated and iterative professional learning which alters their practice in the moment and over time. Formal and informal professional development opportunities can help to trigger and sustain this. A good example of this is the approach known as ‘the discipline of noticing’ (Mason, 2002). 

It is clear from the vignettes and explanation of the topographical approach that becoming more consciously aware of learners, their responses to teaching and to their environment and of their engagement with and achievement in learning is critical.  The ‘discipline of noticing’ starts with individual teachers firstly ‘noticing’ occurrences in context, then ‘marking’ or being able to recall what was noticed and then ‘recording’ ‘brief-but-vivid’ accounts of what happened. What is noticed will depend on what is happening and what is observed and using a discipline of noticing approach means teachers systematically record objective accounts of reality which can then be shared with colleagues. Two examples illustrate this:

The next stage in the discipline of noticing involves sharing the short written accounts with colleagues to explore emergent themes. Mason calls this ‘validation’. Participants with accounts to share are given time to read them verbatim, to reflect on them and to enter into discussion about them. The value of this is summed up by Brown (2017),

The way we held these meetings was crucial. We found that it was important that people could speak at length without fear of being interrupted, judged, or receiving unsolicited advice. It transformed the way we listened to, and supported, each other as a department. After sharing an account, we would probe an account, or part of an account, in more detail. Often we found that we had similar accounts that we could offer in return. Often, we found it beneficial to explore particular words and phrases in more depth. Often these were words used to describe emotions, such as ‘frustration’. (Brown, 2017, p13)

It is clear in this narrative that nuanced and contextualised thinking is being facilitated through the collaboration. As such the teachers are engaging more fully with the ‘topography’ of the classroom. The ultimate aim is that during validation alternative possibilities for acting differently are explored. As Brown continues

,

We found it useful to move away from ‘if onlys’ and ‘should haves’ towards questions along the lines of: ‘How could I have acted differently? How might things have been different if…?’. This sequence means that by recording what happened as accurately as possible, and exploring other possibilities, comes the chance that we might recognise a possibility for acting differently in the moment.  (Brown, 2017, p13)

A topographical approach to inclusive teaching and learning relies on teachers examining their own practices in ways that focus on specific learners and their realities. It is a counter to implementing directed teaching approaches inferred by high level data, standardised age-based expectations or special needs labels which can drive decision-making. Using short video-recordings of teaching and learning as the basis of reflection or coaching conversations (Marsh, 2018), developing alternative lesson observation protocols based on authentic enquiry questions (Lofthouse and Wright, 2012) or adopting research lesson study approaches (Dudley, 2014) create similar opportunities.   

The two vignettes that begin this chapter are based in very different classroom contexts.  However, the central argument of our ‘Manifesto for Topographical Teaching’ is that it is the ‘discipline of noticing’ that carries inclusive practice across all types of school setting.  This argument is a response to the suggestion that the teaching of pupils with complex learning difficulties such as Dylan in Vignette A, is an entirely distinct endeavour to teaching pupils without complex learning difficulties (Imray and Hinchcliffe, 2012).  Although the authors of this chapter see great value in specialist knowledge into Special Educational Needs and Disabilities, this chapter asserts that, without a ‘topographical’ approach to teaching, such knowledge is unlikely to lead to the best possible learning outcomes for children and young people.  This chapter also asserts that a focus on topographical skills, values and attitudes needs to underpin approaches to initial teacher education, continuing professional development, and leadership development, in order to build inclusive school systems for the 21st century.  One approach to teacher development that supports such a focus is ‘Lesson Study’ (Dudley, 2014) through which joint observations, reflective dialogues and collaborative planning sessions between teachers enable the investigation of the otherwise-hidden contour lines and ridges beneath what may be immediately visible within a classroom. 

In their writings on Inclusive Pedagogy, Florian and Black-Hawkins (Black-Hawkins and Florian 2012, p. 568) emphasise that the same action within a classroom can be simultaneously inclusive and exclusive, rather than unambiguously either one or the other.  In further explaining this, Florian (2012, p. 277) gives the example of a pupil in a classroom being sat by themselves at a computer screen, which could indicate an inclusive culture of independent learning within a classroom, or that they have been pedagogical neglected by a teacher to enable them to focus on others within the class. With this in mind, the ‘topographical teaching’ outlined in this chapter is not concerned with reaching a single unambiguous, objective reality around the root cause of a learner’s behaviour for example, any misconceptions they hold, or their point in learning.  It is instead concerned with reaching interpretations which are valid in relation to the insights that will be reached through observing and listening to pupils, and entering into reflective professional dialogues with colleagues.  Two different teachers may reach slightly different interpretations, and deliver the curriculum in different ways, yet both adopt approaches that are equally effective.  Similarly, two different artists might create two very different topographic representations of the same place, whilst both maintaining their authentic engagement with the features of the landscape that surrounds them.  They may choose slightly different shades and tones for example, to represent the physical features of the terrain, according to their individual ways of working and seeing.  Topographical teaching, therefore, is not only about noting the responses of pupils to learning, to inform planning.  It is about the teacher also locating themselves within the landscape of their classroom and working with their pupils to construct new realities that reflect an authentic dialogue between everybody in it.  

BEATON, M., 2020. Old Learning, New Learning: teacher educators as enquiring professionals. In: Swennen A; White E ed. Being a Teacher Educator: Research-Informed Methods for Improving Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.

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BROWN, D. 2017. Researching our practice using The Discipline of Noticing. A Practice Insight Working Paper, CollectivED [1] pp.12-15, [Downloaded from https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/-/media/files/research/collectived/collectived-dec-2017-issue.pdf on 14/11/22]

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FLORIAN, L, and BEATON, M. C. 2018. Inclusive pedagogy in action: getting it right for every child. International Journal of Inclusive Education, vol. 22, no 8, pp. 870-884.

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by Rachel Lofthouse

https://www.leedsbeckett.ac.uk/blogs/carnegie-education/2020/11/creating-an-engine-room-for-learning/