Dr. Jenni Donohoo is a professional learning facilitator, author, and researcher with more than 25 years’ experience in leading school improvement. Jenni has multi-year partnerships with numerous organisations and government agencies where she works alongside system and school leaders supporting high-quality professional learning designed to improve outcomes for all students. She is a five-time best-selling author, and her books have been translated into several languages.

Jenni has been recognised internationally as an educational thought leader. She has been a keynote speaker at conferences including WorldEduLead, Raising Student Achievement, Annual Visible Learning, Corwin’s Women in Education, the LEAP Conference in Australia, the Forward Learning Conference Singapore, and the Developing Successful Schools Conference in New Brunswick. She has presented at faculties of education around the globe including Auckland University and the University of Antwerp.

Jenni delivered the session live on 19th September 2025. She defined collective efficacy as the belief that “teachers in a given school make an educational difference to their students over and above the educational impact of their homes and communities” and talked about the way in which efficacy beliefs impact how individuals and teams think, feel, motivate themselves and behave. The success criteria for the session were:

• I can explain the relationship between collective teacher efficacy and student achievement, including its impact on closing achievement gaps.
• I can identify the four sources of efficacy (mastery experiences, vicarious experiences, persuasion, and positive feelings) and describe specific leadership actions that strengthen each source.
• I can analyse teachers’ stages of concern regarding change initiatives and determine appropriate leadership responses for each stage.
• I can distinguish between performance goals and mastery goals, and articulate why mastery goals lead to higher implementation success and stronger collective efficacy.

Jenni used a range of research sources to demonstrate the power of collective efficacy in improving outcomes for learners, and went on to show the ways in which educator leaders can create the conditions for effective team goal-setting.

You can use the short video to open a dialogue with a small group of colleagues about collective efficacy at work. This could connect to work already ongoing, or planned, about improving outcomes; be clear on your purpose in sharing the video. What do you want to achieve by showing it and how will you agree actions, for example?

Before sharing this video with others as part of their professional learning, watch it yourself to ensure you know the key messages. You might also want wish to familiarise yourself with some of the additional resources listed below and perhaps pick out one or two that are useful to signpost.

It is important to consider how best to ensure a safe space for sharing and reflecting on the issues Jenni covers in the video. You should agree ways of working with the group beforehand so everyone knows the behaviours that are expected, e.g., attentive listening, respectful comments, inclusive practice and language. These ‘ground rules’ should be generated by the group and recorded where they can be seen and referred to if needed.

You could use a few of the following prompts to facilitate professional dialogue in pairs or small groups, or perhaps private reflections and note making where the questions feel more personal.

• What most resonated with you from the film? Why?
• What might it mean for you and your practice?
• What conditions exist in your setting that support collective efficacy?
• Is there more we could do to strengthen those conditions?
• Are we collectively supporting/setting the conditions needed to succeed?
• What practices are in place to nurture collective efficacy?
• In what ways do we demonstrate our belief in all learners’ ability to thrive and succeed?

Encourage the group to identify a small number of manageable, collective actions. You might also ask the group to note down an individual action that they will commit to, that you can revisit at a later date.

Jenni has kindly shared access to a range of resources related to the webinar.

 Handout from the webinar

Leadership for collective efficacy (PDF)

Articles:

How teacher confidence and emotional regulation can drive student success (PDF)

Leading for vicarious learning (PDF)

Leveraging collective efficacy for students and educators (PDF)

When teachers believe, students achieve (PDF)

Videos:

YouTube video: Mastery goals (3:23)

YouTube video: The power of efficacy beliefs and joint work (3:25)

YouTube video: Vicarious experiences (6:16)