Life inside a professional development school: What experienced teachers learn

Abstract

Most professional development schools emphasize the benefits to preservice teacher preparation but rarely focus on the professional development opportunities for the practicing, experienced teachers at the site (Clark, 1999). Professional development schools are not only changing the way preservice teachers are prepared, but are drastically changing the roles of the experienced teachers who participate in the process. By telling their stories of involvement in a growing and changing professional development school, experienced teachers can reflect on their experiences and learn new and different lessons from them each time.

Recorded stories of participants in professional development schools can be used to help teachers gain renewed insights into their potential as leaders in school reform. Storytelling, as a strategy for connecting theory to practice in real school settings, allows and encourages teachers to be active participants in creating progress. It acts as a catalyst for generating and clarifying personal and common visions.     

Changing professional views of continuing professional development doctorates in educational psychology

Continuing professional development (CPD) doctorate programmes may not be the only learning and development opportunities which universities and other organisations can provide for educational psychology practitioners (EPs). However, as Morris and Brightman pointed out in 2006 Morris, S. and Brightman, C. 2006. In what ways can universities make a relevant contribution to the provision of relevant continuing professional development (CPD) activities for EPs?. CPD Link, 28: 3–24.  [Google Scholar], they are likely to continue as important sources for professional development for some years to come. Such programmes serve the purposes of providing continuing professional development for individuals, conferring higher status on the professional group and, for some, developing specialist skills and knowledge. This paper reports on two studies carried out nearly a decade apart. The first involved the collation of data from eight focus groups in London and the Home Counties who discussed the costs and benefits of setting up part‐time doctoral programmes for experienced practitioners in 1998, as discussed by Cameron in 1999 Cameron, R.J. 1999. “Continuing professional development in educational psychology: Practitioners’ views on a new part‐time doctoral programme at UCL”. (Unpublished internal report: available from the author on request.) [Google Scholar], and the other was a small‐scale follow‐up survey in 2007 using a questionnaire which was based on the issues arising from the earlier focus group discussions and which was designed to explore consistent, changed and evolving views and opinions of practitioner EPs towards this extended form of EP professional training. While both studies uncovered evidence of the research–practice divide which has been a feature of EP practice for many decades, it was clear from the 2007 survey that much of the ambivalence of practitioners to the “academic dimension” of training, present in the first investigation, had dissipated and that national doctorate programmes for experienced practitioners had become a familiar feature of the educational and child psychology landscape. Some theory/research versus practice tensions still remain, however, and these, together with their likely implications for current and future developments in the profession, are also considered. Finally, some key issues arising from both the 1998 and the 2007 studies are used to illuminate the potential role of CPD doctorates in enabling EPs to address future challenges in the practice context.     

Socialising principals: early career primary school principals in Trinidad and Tobago

This paper utilises an interpretivist framework and recent developments in practice theory to examine the conditions which influence practices of socialising into the role of school principal in Trinidad and Tobago. The results indicate that for the 11 early career primary school principals, role socialisation occurs within complex practice landscapes, where the practices of preparing classroom teachers for the principalship materialise within a context of contest. There is conflict between historical antecedents and the expectations and practices of socialising institutions such as the church, the school, the community and the Ministry of Education. This small-scale study has implications for leadership preparation practices and highlights principal socialisation as a challenge of context and history.     

Providing school-based learning in elementary school mathematics: the case of a professional development school partnership

Abstract

School–university partnerships also known as professional development school (PDS) partnerships provide potential for universities and schools to establish partnerships that can benefit university faculty, school teachers, university students, and school students. This study examines the impact of a PDS partnership in which the author served as a school-based mathematics coach for two years in a high-need elementary school. Data sources included interviews, surveys, and field notes from classroom observations. Inductive qualitative analyses which were situated in a multi-level framework for researching professional development found that teachers posed more cognitively demanding mathematical tasks and high-level questions in year two compared to year one of this project. Further, student achievement was noted on both state-wide and district-created assessments. Also teachers reported that the school-based approach to professional development led to some teachers taking on more informal leadership roles to support their colleagues’ mathematics instruction. Implications for school-based learning opportunities across the world include the need to establish specific university–school partnerships, and carefully designing research studies to examine the impact of these learning opportunities.     

Boundary brokering for cross-cultural professional learning in international school contexts

Although much research has been done on the internalisation of education, issues related to intercultural professional learning, especially in the school education context, remain underexplored. This study examines the potential of boundary brokering in facilitating cross-cultural professional learning in an international school context. This article reports the qualitative findings from an interview study with seven non-ethnic Chinese language teachers who resided at the borders of Chinese and western communities of practice on their boundary brokering experience in bridging the different norms of being and practice in the Chinese teacher community and the western communities in international schools in Asia. Interview responses from the participants show that the participants’ cultural brokering generated critical and eclectic perspectives and practices, and reshaped the power landscape in the workplace. At the same time, their cultural brokering was shaped by the interactions among power relations within and across communities of practice, social suggestions on cultural brokering and the boundary brokers’ self-positioning. The findings suggest that cultural brokering could serve as a potential teacher professional development tool to foster reciprocal learning across culture borders. The complex network of influencing factors at play suggests that, in order to facilitate positive cultural brokering, it is necessary to adopt a systemic approach that underscores resetting valued skills and expertise within and across communities, creating a positive school culture that encourages reciprocal learning and managing individual teachers’ brokering mentalities and capacities.     

Relationships and early career teacher resilience: a role for school principals

Given the current climate of high levels of teacher attrition, it is critically important that we understand what keeps early career teachers in the profession. This paper reports early findings from a project addressing the question: ‘What conditions are conducive to promoting teacher resilience and retention in the first two years of teaching?’ The research aims to identify the internal strengths and external strategies that promote resilience in early career teachers. School leaders and first year teachers from 59 schools across two states in Australia contributed to in-depth, open-ended interviews in which they talked about the experiences of beginning teaching. From this data, narrative portraits were developed and emerging themes documented and analysed. A strong emerging theme is how relationships with principals influence teachers’ feelings of personal and professional well-being, with both negative and positive effects reported. This paper uses portraits of two early career teachers to examine this theme. The findings provide important insights for principals who wish to foster resilience in early career teachers.     

Leadership development programs: investing in school principals

Considering that some university-based principal preparation programmes may not be properly training principals for leadership roles, “grow your own” leadership development programmes have become more popular across the US. This study provides a contribution to previous research in terms of the specific components a district leadership development programme may incorporate into its curriculum in order to positively influence school principals’ effectiveness as school leaders. A purposeful sample of second-, third- and fourth-year campus principals working in a large urban school district in the south-west region of the US who had participated in their district’s leadership development programme were administered the Principal Effectiveness Survey and participated in semi-structured interviews to examine the influence of the programme on the participants’ effectiveness as leaders. Survey results indicated that principals consider training activities related to human capital, executive leadership, school culture and strategic operations as having a “high” influence on their effectiveness as school leaders. In addition, interview data revealed the importance of supervisor support and building relationships with peers as critical to their continued success as leaders.     

Tenured and non-tenured school principals in Greece: a historical approach

This study deals with the question of tenure/non-tenure of the Greek school principals and its possible impact on their role in the light of the international influences. In developing our theoretical perspective, we draw on the tenure/non-tenure discourse and the centralised bureaucratic and new public management model. After examining the relevant legislation issued from 1836 up to 2015 by following the qualitative content analysis, we find out that in the 1836–1981 period, tenure had become an integral part of the centralised educational system. Since 1981, the introduction of decentralised policies along with the abolition of tenure has resulted in the renewal of the same politics. By linking in a direct way the tenure/non-tenure topic with the international policies, we support the view that in the Greek centralised educational system, school principals have limited power to bring about effective changes at schools regardless of their tenure/non-tenure status.     

The meaning of quality professional learning for school improvement: articulating a coherent vision rooted in a theoretical perspective on learning

A clearly articulated theoretical perspective on learning is essential for developing consistency among learning, pedagogy, and leadership and for planning and making adjustments to better serve students in all areas. Notwithstanding, few professional learning and school improvement approaches in pre-school through 12th grade (P-12) schools improve student learning (Guskey, 2003). Therefore, the central question is raised, how is theory used in professional learning and school improvement approaches that advance teaching and learning?

Examination of peer-reviewed literature resulted in the identification of 3 effective approaches for analysis using 4 major learning theories. Analysis revealed that each approach was associated with the tenets of either a cognitive, constructivist, or sociocultural theoretical perspective on learning. This introduced a way to examine the theoretical soundness of school improvement and professional learning approaches. Conclusions regarding the use of learning theory in improvement designs are discussed.     

Students' Self-Concept and Perceptions of Mentoring Relationships in a Summer Mentorship Program for Talented Adolescents

Mentoring is widely advocated as an educational experience for academically talented students because mentors may provide stimulation for academic growth and serve as positive role models for students in areas of career interest. This study examined the experiences of 72 talented teenagers attending a university-based summer mentorship program. Students completed pretest and posttest measures assessing self-concept and perceptions of research aptitude; they also shared their perceptions of their mentoring relationships in written journal entries. Results demonstrated increases in students' perceived research skills and job competence; students reported positive relationships with mentors, particularly when they felt that their mentor spent a great deal of time with them and was approachable, friendly, and engaging.     

"Thinking the Practice": Academic adult educators' reflections on mediating a summer institute as a multicultural learning journey for graduate students

In this paper we research our roles as academic adult educators who worked with 40 graduate students during a 10 day summer institute, which we developed using the theme "Culture and Diversity in Education for Adults". We discuss how we framed the development and delivery of this summer institute in the context of a transgressive and transformative learning journey that heeds Paulo Freire's (1998) call to "think the practice" by reading and comprehending the word and the world critically. From this perspective, we examine our positionalities that situate us as present, sometimes strong, yet sometimes vulnerable educators who use insurgent theories and positional pedagogies to shape alternative learning experiences. We also examine how these positionalities impact our conceptions of pedagogy and multiculturalism, and we explore how they helped to shape the inclusive teaching-learning interactions that we designed to query being, acting, becoming, belonging, and surviving in education and the larger Canadian and global cultures. In this regard we investigate how our learning journey emerged as one deeply textured by engagements with issues of educator and learner positionalities as well as matters of context, disposition, relationship, and affiliation. We explore how our learning journey with institute participants took us into the uneasy intersections of the personal, professional, and political where pedagogical practices and associated challenges, risks, possibilities, and liabilities emerge.     

How gender is constructed and experienced in the social world of the nursery school

This case study attempts to capture the way gender is constructed and experienced in the social world of the nursery school. It presents findings from a staff survey, structured and unstructured observations of one male’s and one female’s professional practice and one-to-one interviews with children aged three to four years. Despite practitioners’ reported intentions to challenge traditional notions of gender, construction of traditional gender distinctions was not problematised by staff and was upheld by comments of children. Children appeared to construct themselves in terms of gender stereotypes and were offered only limited alternative gender positions by the male and female practitioners.     

A place for informal learning in teaching about religion: The story of an experienced non-Muslim teacher and her learning about Islam

Teacher learning about religion has remained an under-researched topic in spite of the professional accountability placed on teachers to teach about religion in a constitutionally permissible and pedagogically sound way. Using data collected from interviews, the purpose of this study is to describe and examine how and what an experienced Non-Muslim teacher of the world’s religions learned about Islam in today’s climate of accountability and negative imagery of Islam. The findings of this study suggest that informal learning through independent reading and interaction with a local Muslim community can be a means to enculturate teachers of world religions into ways of learning about Islam.     

A supportive tool for principals in guiding professional group discussions

ABSTRACT

Background

Developing collective professional capacities in schools is important for school improvement, and principals can initiate such developments. That is, by initiating and leading professional group discussions on teaching and learning, principals can influence teaching practices and, thereby, indirectly affect student outcomes and school improvement. However, research indicates that leading such discussions in communities of professionals can be a challenge for principals.     

Development to learning: semantic shifts in professional autonomy and school leadership

In the digital age, technology is playing an important role in changing the nature of professionalism. Newer forms of professional learning stand in contrast to more traditional forms of professional development. The shifting paradigm has implications for school leaders in all contexts. This study sought to qualitatively examine how a sample of eight school leaders worked to support professional learning in their school communities and leverage tools in areas such as content aggregation, media creation, blogging and social media. In one-on-one and focus group interviews, participants discussed how technology is changing professional learning in their context and reflected on how their leadership has evolved in response to perceived challenges. Findings suggest that school leaders are aware of the importance of supporting professional learning through multiple device platforms, online networks and opportunities to play, and experiment with technology. Current issues identified include the need to shift from “buyer” to “driver” mindsets and to respond to the increasing role of popular thinkers whose ideas are amplified through online channels, such as social media.     

An Australian perspective of a forest school: shaping a sense of place to support learning

There is growing discussion on the use of local outdoor environments to enhance a person’s sense of belonging. Sense of belonging and sense of place are components that can promote positive learning identities and attachments to community and, in turn, address issues of cycles of disadvantage. This article researched the impact of an interpretation of the forest school approach to learning in a primary school in regional Western Australia. Using a case-study approach, the research aimed to develop understandings of experiences with regard to self-esteem, sense of belonging and engagement and how these factors supported learning. Results indicated that strategies such as those suggested by the forest school approach can promote a sense of self, belonging and relational connections. These in turn can help to develop dimensions of place, identified as place attachment and place meaning. This has implications for future planning by providing greater depth in understanding the impact of the forest school approach to teaching and learning within the context of the single case primary school. It also raises questions as to how place-shaped identity nurtured in this approach to learning can be positively transferred back into the school and classroom setting.     

Contextualising the career pathways of women principals in Hong Kong: a critical examination

The fields of gender and educational leadership have been enriched recently by analyses of national case studies from non-western contexts. By contextualising women’s career development, these studies highlight the importance of including experiences other than those generated from Anglo-American-Australian contexts, thus broadening our knowledge base for more nuanced theorisation in the field. This paper contributes a close examination of the career histories of eight female primary school principals in Hong Kong. Our analyses identify a range of facilitators, including the expansion of promotion opportunities, strong values placed on education and training, professional encouragement and support and help in relieving family responsibilities. Valuable these factors may be, but we argue that they are incidental, informal, familial and individual, and incur the costs of burn-out and guilt. The discussion not only underlines the significance of case study and cultural and contextual specificities, it also provides a nuanced understanding of Chinese patriarchy.     

Collaborative Mentorship: A Mentoring Approach to Support and Sustain Teachers for Equity and Diversity

In this article, I propose collaborative mentorship (CM) as a mentoring approach to support and sustain teachers in diversity and equity education. CM is theorized as a mentoring relationship grounded in critical dialog between mentor and mentee. Drawing on research conducted in a culturally, racially, linguistically, and socially diverse secondary school in Southern Ontario, Canada, this article examines tensions teachers experience with equity and diversity and the knowledge base necessary for such a mentoring approach. As the schools become more diverse, it is vital that teachers seek out new approaches that respond to the changing social contexts. The findings of my research have implications for teacher professional development and teacher training in discovering new ways to support in diverse classrooms.     

No time to think: policy,pedagogy and professional learning

In this study, we seek to illuminate the effects of the global policy convergence in education through a close study of its enactment within an Australian Teacher Education course. Building on an examination of the changing priorities of a cohort of pre-service teachers over a short space of time, we argue that the enactment of New Public Management approaches to the governance of teaching in Australia is having adverse effects on the professional learning of new teachers, defeating the policy goals. Previous studies have investigated the affective impact of current global policy formations on teachers. Building on that work, this study considers the impacts that the teacher policy emphasis on ‘performance’ has had on professional learning processes, which are understood with reference to Kolb’s Experiential Learning Theory. The study is undertaken using an interpretative phenomenographic approach and informed by the related methods of discursive psychology, which positions discourse as a discursive practice to achieve specific goals in specific contexts.