Peps Profile picture
Aug 8, 2021 15 tweets 3 min read Read on X
We are heavily influenced by the behaviour and attitudes of others. The effect is particularly powerful when a large proportion of a group act in a similar way.

→ These unwritten rules of conduct are known as 'norms' and they play a HUGE role in school.

🧵...
First, let's take a step back. Why do norms exist?

Firstly, an ‘imitation’ shortcut to behaviour makes sense from a risk point of view—if those around us are doing it, it can’t be all that bad a bet, right?
Secondly, conformity is a critical pre-condition for large group co-operation. Working together at scale can supercharge our individual and collective success.

But these things are only possible when the behaviour of individuals within a community is consistent and predictable.
As a result, we have evolved a tendency not only to imitate norms, but also to enforce them. Where norms are established, individuals within a group often work together to penalise those who don’t conform.

Going with the norm is both a quick and safe bet.
Norms are so powerful they often override more formal school policies or rules.

However, their largely invisible and unconscious nature makes them easy to underestimate, if not totally ignore.
The *presence* of norms in school is inevitable—there is little we can do about it. However, the *nature* of these norms is within our influence.

Norms can be a powerful lever for improving student behaviour, learning and wellbeing.
The norms students hold arise predominantly from their observation of others. We can make desirable norms more visible by increasing:

→ The proportion of students that appear to conform to a norm
→ How visceral and memorable our sightings of norm compliance are
100% adoption is the ultimate lever—even a single dissenter makes it easier for us not to follow along.

When we see one person picking up litter, doing it ourselves becomes a slightly safer option. When we see everyone picking up litter, not doing it ourselves becomes a risk.
Where there isn’t an established norm, we can point to evidence of an emerging norm, one that appears to be growing in adoption or approval.

Or we can point to norm outcomes. A full pile of homework books handed in or a tidy classroom signal 'how things are done around here'.
Our perception of norms is not just influenced by the actions of others, but also their attitudes.

Approval can be signalled by teachers: what we permit, we promote. But it is much more powerful when it comes from peers.
Peer approval is why regular exposure to positive role models can be so powerful.

When we see someone we identify with achieving, or simply acting like they believe they can, this opens up our own possibility space.
Normative messaging is most potent in novel situations. This is why it is worth taking time to get things right in the early days of establishing a class.

Once norms have taken hold, they become increasingly hard to change.
This is why some schools host new classes for a few days at the start of the year, before the rest of the school begins.

It provides the elbowroom needed to get desirable norms and routines established before the rest of the party arrive.
Finally, the norms of different groups within a school will naturally bleed into each other. When these norms oppose each other, both attenuate. But when support each other, both grow stronger.

Another reason why teacher consistency is such a desirable feature of school.
Nuance: normative messaging appears to be more effective when it emphasises what we want to happen, rather than what we don’t.

Chastising a class by messaging that the majority of them didn’t do their homework is more likely to act as a reinforcement rather than a deterrent 🤦

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More from @PepsMccrea

Feb 5
16 must-know edu-research papers from the last 16 weeks:

(all open source 🔓)

1/ Study exploring ‘warm-strict’ teaching

→ finds that combining deep care and high expectations helps to guide learning and build strong relationships

sciencedirect.com/science/articl…Image
2/ Pre-print comparing ability grouping vs mixed-ability from @JohnPeterJerrim

→ finds no clear differences in student outcomes (but primary teachers feel slightly more able to help struggling and high-achieving students with ability grouping)

johnjerrim.com/does-within-sc…Image
Read 18 tweets
Feb 2
Norms are more powerful than rules. How to leverage this idea in school:

Image
Norms are the unwritten rules that govern the behaviour and attitudes of a group (such as a society or school).

They are so powerful that they tend to override more formal rules or policies. Which is why, in schools, we ignore them at our peril.

The power of norms arises from two main mechanisms:
1/ Life is complex and uncertain.

Adopting the behaviours and attitudes of others is a quick and safe bet. This is why authors (like me) strive to get quotes on the front of our books and 5-star reviews on Amazon.
Read 12 tweets
Dec 8, 2024
40 of most fascinating edu-threads from the last 4 months:

1/ @C_Hendrick on the history and evidence around open-plan classrooms

@C_Hendrick 2/ @teacherfeature2 on how to cultivate psychological safety in school

Read 43 tweets
Nov 24, 2024
A quick thread on 'retrieval resistance':

(co-authored with ace memory psychologist William Wadsworth @examstudyexpert)

Image
@examstudyexpert Retrieval practice has the potential to be powerful for revision.

However, despite our efforts to educate students on this approach, it isn't always embraced wholeheartedly.

And so, we must also put in place steps to overcome what Wadsworth calls 'retrieval resistance'.
@examstudyexpert Retrieval is the act of pulling information out of memory rather than putting it in.

Such as quizzing ourselves with flashcards or writing down everything we can remember about a topic (in contrast say to re-reading something).
Read 15 tweets
Nov 20, 2024
(I tried to post this thread a couple of weeks ago but I didn't get to finish it smh)

For the last 8 years, over at @Steplab_co, we've been working on a project to codify HIGHLY EFFECTIVE TEACHING.

A long-ish summary of what we've learned:

Image
@Steplab_co One of the essential ingredients of effective professional development is the provision of concrete & granular teaching 'strategies'.

These can be used as examples of 'what good looks like', which teachers can translate for their context, and practise in a productive way.
@Steplab_co However, it's also critical to help teachers see how such granular strategies fit into their broader teaching repertoire.

*Context* is as important as *content*.

Eg: How Cold Call fits into the wider goal of maximising pupil thinking, alongside Wait Time and other strategies. Image
Read 25 tweets
Nov 17, 2024
CONTINGENCY BLINDNESS

(aka why graded lesson observations don't work)

A mega-geeky thread I've been sitting on for 5 years:

Image
Imagine we wanted to create a system for evaluating doctors' effectiveness.

Suppose we designed a rubric outlining all the actions effective doctors typically perform:

→ Prescribe painkillers
→ Refer to specialists
→ Order blood tests
→ Conduct physical exams
→ etc.
Now imagine this system judged doctors solely on how well they fulfilled this rubric, regardless of whether these actions actually improved patient health.
Read 14 tweets

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