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Research Papers in Education

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Improving schoolteachers' workplace

learning
Heather Hodkinson & Phil Hodkinson
a

University of Leeds , UK

School of Continuing Education , University of Leeds , Leeds, LS2

9JT, UK E-mail:
Published online: 18 Feb 2007.

To cite this article: Heather Hodkinson & Phil Hodkinson (2005) Improving schoolteachers'
workplace learning, Research Papers in Education, 20:2, 109-131, DOI: 10.1080/02671520500077921
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Research Papers in Education

Vol. 20, No. 2, June 2005, pp. 109131

Improving schoolteachers workplace

learning
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Heather Hodkinson* and Phil Hodkinson

University of Leeds, UK
Research
10.1080/02671520500077921
RRED107775.sgm
0267-1522
Original
Taylor
202005
20
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HeatherHodkinson
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Papers
Francis
Continuing
(print)/1470-1146
Francis
2005inLtd
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Education
EducationUniversity
(online)
of LeedsLeedsLS2 9JTUKh.d.hodkinson@leeds.ac.uk

This paper is set in the context where there is a policy emphasis on teacher learning and development in a number of countries as a means towards school improvement. It reports on a longitudinal research project about the workplace learning of English secondary school teachers, carried out
between 2000 and 2003. This was part of a Teaching and Learning Research Programme network
of projects looking at learning in a variety of workplaces. The paper contrasts some key features in
the teacher development and workplace learning literatures, which highlight different understandings of learningas acquisition, participation and/or construction. We argue that insights from the
literature and the research, including insights from other projects in the network, enhance our
understanding of teacher learning. The paper describes some of the main ways in which experienced teachers learn, and then identifies three dimensions which interact in influencing the nature
of that learning. The dimensions are: the dispositions of the individual teacher; the practices and
cultures of the subject departments; and the management and regulatory frameworks, at school
and national policy levels. Based upon the findings, we argue that current policy approaches to
teacher development in the UK are over-focused on the acquisition of measurable learning
outcomes, short-term gains, and priorities that are external to the teachers. They also assume and
strive for impossible and counterproductive universality of approach. Instead, our findings suggest
that teacher learning is best improved through a strategy that increases learning opportunities, and
enhances the likelihood that teaches will want to take up those opportunities. This can be done
through the construction of more expansive learning environments for teachers. We examine
briefly some barriers to this approach, and give some suggestions of what could be done.

Keywords: Continuing professional development; Expansive learning environments;

Learning cultures; Teachers learning; Teachers professional development; Workplace
learning
Introduction
In many parts of the world, including the UK, improving the performance of teachers is a high priority in education policy, and improving and increasing teachers
*Corresponding author: School of Continuing Education, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT,
UK. Email: h.d.hodkinson@leeds.ac.uk
ISSN 0267-1522 (print)/ISSN 1470-1146 (online)/05/02010923
2005 Taylor & Francis Group Ltd
DOI: 10.1080/02671520500077921

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110 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

job-related learning is seen as one of the main ways of achieving this improvement.
In this paper we focus on ways in which teacher learning could be improved. Our
approach to improvement is constructed upon a research-based understanding of
how teachers learn. We argue firstly that policies towards teacher development at
the time of our research were based upon erroneous assumptions about how teachers learn, what learning is, and how it can be improved. Secondly, we confirm and
endorse much existing teacher development research, in claiming that individual
teachers personal professional development has to be taken seriously, and ideally
enhanced. Thirdly, we argue that the teacher development literature has not yet
fully come to grips with the significance of everyday working practices for teacher
learning. We draw upon our research and upon literature, primarily in the workplace learning field, to suggest what this might mean for understanding teachers
learning. Fourthly, we propose a mechanism for considering individual teachers
professional dispositions and school and departmental working practices, in improving teacher learning. Central to this approach is the concept of expansive learning
environments, developed by Fuller and Unwin (2003, 2004). Finally, we provide
some illustrative suggestions as to how this approach might be operationalised at a
variety of levels. Though our analysis is firmly grounded in empirical evidence, at its
heart lie deep-seated, ultimately philosophical, disputes about what learning is.
For the authors, this paper is the culmination of several years of research, and draws
upon a now considerable volume of our other writings. We have tried to make and
support the arguments here clearly and appropriately, without either duplicating what
we have published elsewhere, or greatly exceeding the already fairly generous word
length allowed by this journal. Therefore, some of the supporting research evidence
and colour has had to be referenced rather than described in detail. We have however
included some exemplar illustrations from the data, to clarify what we mean.
The paper follows a fairly conventional sequence, beginning with an account of
the ways in which teacher learning is addressed and understood, in the policy
context, in the teacher development literature and in the workplace learning literature. This is followed by a short description of the research project that provided
the main empirical evidence, then our synthesis of what the research evidence
from the project reveals. We conclude with some implications for the improvement
of teacher learning. The analysis of existing policy approaches and of the main
relevant research literatures is important to the final synthesis. It neither precedes
that synthesis as the paper structure implies, nor is it a post hoc rationalisation for
what we claim. The argument was developed through iteration between analysis of
existing literature and new evidence.
Approaches to teacher learning
In looking at teacher learning we have first to consider what is meant by learning
and how it is understood. There are three competing underlying metaphors which
each deeply influence this. Sfard (1998) focuses on tensions between metaphors of
acquisition and of participation. Hager (in press) contrasts both of these with a third

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111

metaphor of construction. As we will show below, policy approaches to learning have

tended to assume a crude version of learning as acquisition. The teacher development literature critiques such approaches within a predominantly construction
metaphor (if not necessarily constructivist), whilst the workplace learning literature
largely develops a view of learning as participation. (See the 2005 Teaching and
Learning Research Programme special issue of The Curriculum Journal, volume 16,
number 1, for a fuller discussion of metaphors of learning and learning outcomes in
different sectors of education.) We broadly agree with Sfard (1998, p. 12) that We
have to accept that the metaphors we use while theorising may be good enough to fit
small areas, but none of them suffice to cover the entire field. However, for school
teachers learning, a combination of construction and participation provides a way
of understanding learning that best fits the current research evidence, and is most
likely to maximise possibilities for improving teacher learning in the future.
Policy approaches: acquisition and technical rationality
The contemporary climate for educational policy in many parts of the world is linked
to wider social and political movements. (See Helsby, 1999, for a detailed analysis of
these pressures within the English context.) Two major trends have been dominant
in much Western practice over the last 20 years: the 1980s ideology of markets and
competition, and the growth of what has sometimes been termed the new managerialism, which is found in many employment contexts, including the public sector
(Avis et al., 1996). This is related to what Power (1997) termed the Audit Society,
with its emphasis on financial accountability, measured outputs and value for
money. It is within this ideological framework that the English government has tried
to improve teacher learning. Two examples from within our research data illustrate
this approach. One was the introduction of a performance management scheme
(Department for Education and Employment [DfEE], 2000). This involved each
teacher agreeing measurable targets for development annually with a designated line
manager. The second was a nationwide scheme to train teachers to make better use
of computers in their work. Whatever their existing expertise all teachers had to go
through a standardised, though subject specific, training package, using computerbased distance-learning materials.
The policy approach that encompassed these examples adopted a deep-seated view
of learning as acquisition. That is, learning means acquiring knowledge and/or skills
that were previously absent. It focused on assumed deficits in the current knowledge
and skills of individual teachers, and saw what was to be learned as commodified
content. The commodity could be clearly identified and therefore the extent to which
it had been successfully acquired could be measured. All this works well within a
deeply technically rational audit culture, where the main mechanism for policy
making and management has become a particular type of efficiency model, establishing and continually improving value for money. The problems with such a view of
learning have been revealed in a considerable literature that can only be briefly
alluded to here. Firstly, learning is seen as instrumental. The sense of learning as

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112 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

personal growth, and self-actualisation, is lost. Learning can no longer be seen as
lighting fires (Stenhouse, 1975).
Secondly, by focusing on the content to be acquired, this approach epitomises the
worst elements of what Bereiter (2002) identified as the ubiquitous but completely
inadequate folk theory of learningthat learning consists of placing stuff
(content) into vessels (human brains)it marginalises and fails to take account of
the many and complex processes by which teachers learn (see below). Such a view of
learning excludes what research has identified as the main ways in which people,
including teachers, actually learn at work. For example, as we have argued elsewhere
(Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2004a), this view assumes that any worthwhile learning is
intentional and planned, and focuses on content which is known aboutthat is, the
commodity pre-exists the learning. Yet much learning in the workplace is unplanned
and unintentionala corollary to engagement in activities for which the prime
purpose is not learning. Much is the ongoing development and refinement of existing
practice and some is learning how to do something that has not been done before:
meeting unforseen circumstances, challenges and problems (Engestrm, 2001,
2004). For teachers, one example of this is teaching a newly introduced syllabus, for
a new and untested examination.
These shortcomings mean that such policy approaches to teacher development are
unlikely to be widely successful, even in their own terms. Furthermore, our research
revealed that they created problems for teachers and teacher learning.
Research approaches: construction or participation?
In the research literature there is less emphasis on learning as acquisition. There is an
extensive literature on teacher development or continuing professional development,
which is paralleled by a long-established literature on workplace learning, but there
has been very limited connection between the two. As teacher learning is an example
of workplace learning, we argue that a combination of some of the insights from that
workplace literature, with some of the main strengths within the teacher development
literature, can provide the foundation for a more productive approach to understanding and improving teacher learning.
There are some similarities but also some differences in the ways in which each
literature has developed. Teacher development grew out of a view expressed, for
example, in the James Report (Department of Education and Science, 1972), which,
as Hustler et al. (2003) remind us, focused on the in-service education of teachers, as
a means of developing their knowledge and skills. It emphasised teacher learning
which took place away from work, on taught courses. On the other hand, the workplace learning literature has always tended to look upon formal learning as largely
inadequate (e.g. Engestrm, 1984; Lave & Wenger, 1991) and concentrated on ways
in which workers learn through what are often termed more informal processes
(Scribner & Cole, 1973; Watkins & Marsick, 1993; Beckett & Hager, 2002).
The two literatures intersect in the writings of Argyris and Schon (1974, 1978) and
Schn (1983, 1987) on reflective practice. For a significant period both literatures,

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but perhaps especially teacher development (Zeichner, 1994), saw this corpus of
work as a means of escaping technically rational assumptions of planned learning.
More recently, writers within both literatures have been more critical of Schns
work. For example, Day (1999) argues that reflection-in-action is too restrictive as a
basis for teacher development, that reflection is never entirely rational, and that even
reflection-on-action lacks a necessary critical edge, that comes best from external
sources. Beckett and Hager (2002), writing about workplace learning, argue that
reflection is a predominantly backward looking activity, and is too cerebral a concept.
They argue that what they prefer to term judgement making is embodied. That is,
it entails emotion and practice as well as reason. It also involves a combination of
feedback (reflection) and feedforwardanticipation. What these literatures share is a
view of the learner as a holistic embodied person, for whom learning is essentially a
matter of construction (Hager, in press). That is, learning is essentially concerned
with changing the learnerconstructing a developing and hopefully improving
teacher through engagement with the process of learning.
In moving beyond reflection, both literatures are also striving to move beyond
purely individual views of learning. This is less well developed in the teacher development literature, but some clear pointers have been established. Hargreaves (1992,
1994) explored ways in which different types of school culture influenced teacher
development. He came down clearly in favour of collaborative cultures as providing
the richest developmental opportunities, but stressed that they could not be
contrived. Day (1999) builds upon Hargreavess work, arguing that school culture
provides positive or negative support for its teachers learning (1999, p. 77) and goes
on to advocate the value of networks, in facilitating the development of the professional self. Harris (2001) also shows that departmental cultures are significant in
influencing teacher development. However, there remains a tendency to see learning
as an essentially individual constructive act, albeit one that is strongly enhanced
by collaboration and by external contacts. Day (1999, p. 36) shows that Many
researchers have emphasised that teachers have a store of personal and practical
knowledge which is shaped by past experiences; and that making this explicit is a
means by which teachers can take control of their development. He argues that both
action research and a narrative approach can help in such a constructive process,
though both have their limitations. Retallick (1999) advocates the use of portfolios,
to recognise and enhance individual teachers ongoing learning.
However, none of these writers fully explores the processual links between culture
and learning. This may be partly because the teacher literature focuses on developmenteither as personal professional growth (Day, 1999; Goodson, 2003) or as
improvement in the practice of teaching (DfEE, 2001; Ingvarson, 2002). However,
there is an extensive literature about the processes of learning in workplaces more
generally. Two key ideas are widely established yet appear to be under-recognised
in the teacher development literature. The first is that learning is an integral part of
everyday workplace practices, though it is richer in some workplaces than others,
and richer for some workers than others. Thus, for example, Lave and Wenger
(1991) talk about learning as integrally involved in belongingthat is, becoming a

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114 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

full member of a workplace community of practice. Alternatively, activity theorists
(e.g. Billett, 2001a, 2002, 2004; Engestrm, 1999, 2001, 2004) see workplace
activities as the root of learning and explore, through theory and research, the
processes involved. The second key idea is that workplace learning is a predominantly social and cultural process, where individual learning, if it is examined at all,
is seen as but a small and integral part of something much wider (Lave & Wenger,
1991; Wenger, 1998; Engestrm, 1999). As Sfard (1998) identified, at the heart of
both these key ideas lies the view that learning is primarily concerned with participationin workplace activities (Billet, 2001a) and activity systems (Engestrm,
1999, 2001), or in workplaces as living social communitiesin communities of
practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991). This participatory approach is almost the reverse
of the common approach in teacher development, and is in some ways almost as
problematic. For this time, the individual learner (teacher, in our case) is overlooked. Since the turn of the millennium, a growing body of workplace research has
been working to re-emphasise individual learning, but without losing the social and
cultural perspective (Billett, 2001b; Weber, 2001; Hodkinson et al., 2004). Our
empirical research findings suggest that combining the perspectives of learning as
social and workplace participation, and those of learning as personal construction is
intellectually possible and points towards more effective ways of understanding and
improving that learning.
The research in question investigated how some secondary school teachers in
England learned at work, and considered, as a result, ways in which that learning
could be enhanced. The study was part of a network of five projects, which looked at
workplace learning in different settings, as part of Phase I of the Economic and Social
Research Councils Teaching and Learning Research Programme.1 Our findings and
the interpretation of our data have drawn on insights from the other four projects. We
will briefly outline the research, and our findings about how teachers learn, identifying three underlying dimensions which affect their learning. This leads on to the idea
of expansive and restrictive learning environments. We will discuss how the expansive
learning environment provides a positive framework for improving teacher learning
and development.
The research project
In looking at the school as a site for workplace learning we carried out longitudinal
case studies between 2000 and 2003 of the teachers in four subject departments of
two English secondary schools. The departments were selected as being small enough
for us to study all teachers within them, and as being accessible to us, and willing to
work with us for the duration of the fieldwork. This effectively provided a mix of
gender, age, experience and commitment. In practice, the criteria excluded large
departments, like English, science and mathematics, and meant that we only had
access to relatively successful departments. The actual departments studied were
Information Technology, Art, Music and History. Both schools took pupils from the
age of 11 to 18 years, but one had a rural catchment and the other a mixed catchment

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within a major city. The research data include: documentary evidence from national
bodies, schools, departments and individual teachers on staff development and learning matters; observation within the schools, and particularly of the teachers working
in their departments; and up to three semi-structured interviews with each teacher
about their career history and learning as a teacher. Nineteen teachers, four student
teachers and two senior teachers were directly involved in the research. There were
over 50 transcribed interviews and over 50 days of observation. Fieldwork extended
over six school terms (two years) with alternate terms being spent in each school. We
also held meetings with the schools to seek feedback about emerging findings, half
way through the research and near the end. Each phase of fieldwork was informed by
emerging findings from the previous phase and by insights from our sister projects.
Data was visited and revisited in the light of developing ideas and theory. We
constructed narratives of individual teachers learning (Hodkinson & Hodkinson,
2003, 2004c); analysed the cultures and practices of each department (Hodkinson &
Hodkinson, 2004b), and then considered the data as a whole. This article reports on
the final analysis phase.
Ways in which teachers learn at work
The research revealed many varied and complex forms of teacher learning. For
convenience these have been grouped into individual and collaborative activity, each
of which may or may not have been planned.
Individual learning
Teachers often learn through their own individual teaching activities. In particular
they are constantly adjusting and modifying their practice, in response to actions,
reactions, interactions and activities in the classroom, and in anticipation of
approaching situations. The teachers in our study found this sort of learning very
difficult to describe. Common attempts included You learn most by getting on with
the job and You learn by trial and error. Eraut (1994) distinguishes between the hot
action of the classroom, and cold action, where teachers consider what to do when
outside the immediacy of the classroom. Following Day (1999) and Beckett and
Hager (2002), we see reflection as too limited a means of understanding what such
learning involves. Though they didnt use these terms, what the teachers told us
resembled Beckett and Hagers (2002) embodied judgement making.
As well as ongoing experience, many teachers learn because of imposed external
change, such as new curricula and assessments or new teaching materials. Longaccumulated values, beliefs and practices influence what they do and how they learn.
Feeding in to all of this may be external ideas learned from attendance at courses,
through reading, through use of the Internet, and through noticing things that are
relevant for their work in a variety of situations. For example the art teachers gained
ideas from diverse experiences ranging from visiting an exhibition to observing an
interesting pattern of tree bark in the school grounds. Individual teacher learning can

116 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

be opportunistic and serendipitous, or there may be a deliberate intention to learn
something new.
Teachers learn from other people (fellow teachers, pupils, student teachers and
people outside work). Sometimes this remains a fairly individual process, but often it
can be better characterised by our second category of learning, collaboration.

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Collaborative learning
A significant proportion of teacher learning occurs through collaborative interactions
with others. In English secondary schools the subject department is a significant location for such collaboration, and we will revisit this later. Sometimes, collaboration
crosses departmental boundaries, for example through friendships with other teachers, or working groups, like pastoral care teams, which cut across departmental structures. Many teachers value collaborative learning opportunities outside their own
school, but these happen more often for relatively senior staff. Thus the head of
music, as an Advanced Skills Teacher, spent a proportion of his time working with
teachers in other schools, and running courses at a local teachers centre. The head
of art moderated examination course work in other schools. The head of history
valued an annual history teachers conference, both for the subject presentations and
for conversations with other history teachers. Organised courses can be a site for
collaborative as well as individual learning.
Collaborative learning includes conversation and discussion, observing and taking
an interest in what others do, and joint activity. Joint activity can be relatively formal,
for example in working groups tackling new projects, such as curriculum changes.
Often, it is informal. In the art and music departments we observed all the teachers
continually sharing ideas, and requesting and giving advice.
Collaborative learning could involve student teachers. Our data supports the view
that trainees learn well when actively collaborating with more experienced teachers,
both formally and informally. Experienced teachers can also learn through working
with student teachers. Student teachers sometimes bring additional subject expertise
to a department. Also some student teachers brought computer expertise that older
teachers lacked. Observing the different strengths and weaknesses of trainees sometimes triggered reflection and change in experienced teachers.
Planned learning
Whilst much of this learning, be it individual or collaborative, was informal in the sense
that it was ongoing, opportunistic, and incidental, teacher learning could also be
planned. Such planned learning was intentional, and involved undertaking activities
primarily intended for learning something new or different. For example, some of our
sample became examiners for external boards, at least partly to learn to better prepare
their own pupils. At best this learning involved two stagesworking with other examiners, and then working with their own departmental colleagues, sharing and developing their insights. Many teachers attend courses and learning activities, short and

Improving schoolteachers workplace learning

117

long, in school or elsewhere. Teachers are fortunate in comparison with many other
workers in that such courses are seen as a normal if occasional part of their work activity. In the best circumstances a course can provide stimulation or new ideas which
may allow development beyond the specifics of everyday practice (Day, 1999). On the
other hand teachers frequently told us of short courses they had found a waste of time.
Our data leads to the following observations about courses, which are reflected in the
work of Hustler et al. (2003), Retallick et al. (1999), Day (1999) and others.

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Short courses result in effective learning if and when matters raised are taken back
and further developed as part of ongoing practice;
Short courses can be ineffective, if the teachers attending do not personally value
the experience;
Courses outside school premises are valuable in enabling contact and collaboration
with teachers and others in related but different situations;
Courses run by staff within school may provide development opportunities for
those running sessions, but also make other staff aware of expertise within the
school, which they may access later;
Long courses, such as initial training or masters degrees, sometimes have a deep
and lasting influence on the ways in which teachers understand, see and approach
their work.

The Performance Management Scheme introduced in English secondary schools

over the period of our research (DfEE, 2000) is a recent example of planned learning.
Teachers reacted very differently to this scheme. A few saw it as an opportunity to
think through their current situation, reflect and plan ahead, but many were cynical.
It often engendered strategic compliance (Lacey, 1977) or even resistance. Then the
impact on learning was minimal and occasionally negative. The obsession with the
short term and the measurable excludes a great deal of effective and valuable teacher
learning that our research revealed (Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2004a).
Beneath this descriptive analysis of teachers workplace learning, our research
revealed three underlying dimensions, each of which exerted a major influence on the
nature of that learning, and upon the extent to which it was effective. They are: the
dispositions and past experiences of individual teachers; the nature of school and
more particularly, departmental working cultures; and the impact of national and
school policy and regulation frameworks and interventions.
The impact of individual teachers dispositions on their learning
Throughout their lives, teachers develop and redevelop an ongoing sense of identity
that influences their work and learning (Day, 1999; Weber, 2001; Goodson, 2003).
There is a vast and contested literature on the nature of identity. In order to focus
more directly on the link between person and practice, we prefer to use Bourdieus
(Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992) concept of habitus. He argues that habitus consists
of a battery of dispositions that orientate an individual in any situation, and thus
strongly influence their actions and reactions. Dispositions are much more than

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118 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

conceptual schemata, for they are embodied, involving emotions and practices, as
well as thoughts. Individuals are largely unaware of their dispositions, which gradually
develop throughout their lives, and are strongly influenced by their position in the
world. They are relatively stable but can change, either by gradual evolution or, occasionally, through radical transformation. Bloomer and Hodkinson (2000) showed the
significance of student dispositions in relation to their learning. Our research revealed
the significance of dispositions in teachers learning.
These dispositions are more fully described and analysed in Hodkinson and
Hodkinson (2003, 2004c). Here we briefly summarise three illustrative examples.
Mary was head of art. Her learning was largely self-determined. Even if there were
unwelcome pressures to learn imposed from outside she usually managed to give
them her own meaning and transform them into something that she valued. A
requirement to teach literacy across the curriculum was initially seen as problematic
by the art teachers. However Mary turned it into a positive development which would
benefit the note and sketch-books pupils had to produce for external examinations.
As a creative person, Mary was constantly searching for new ideas and improvements,
sometimes in a planned way, sometimes opportunistically. Her learning was rooted
in her initial teacher training and her early experience in post-Plowden Report (1967)
progressive primary teaching. This could be seen in the ways each piece of artwork
was treated as a project for the pupils. Also influential was a Masters Degree course
on art in the environment, which orientated her teaching approaches and her learning. The established informal ongoing collaboration amongst the three art teachers
aligned well with these dispositions, and led to effective teacher learning and teaching
(Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2003).
Age and stage in career are known to influence teachers professional attitudes and
practices (Huberman, 1995), but the significance of dispositions goes deeper.
Malcolm and Steve were both white, male teachers, of similar age and in mid-career,
at same school. Both were judged by the school and the inspection system to be
excellent teachers. But their dispositions to learning were very different. Historian
Malcolm was cynical, having suffered several career setbacks. Steve, the head of
music, was dynamic and enthusiastic, pushing himself and others to learn more.
Malcolm was dismissive of courses and identified his learning as individual and
taking place in the classroom and behind closed doors. Steve worked and learned
collaboratively whenever he could. Much of his learning was intentional, and he
developed structured ways to improve his own learning, that of his colleagues, and
that of student teachers. Malcolm and Steve had very different reactions to the
performance management scheme. Steve saw it a new opportunity (though this
enthusiasm waned, as he had limited respect for his appointed line manager).
Malcolm saw the process as a mechanism for managerial control. He would comply
minimally where he perceived it to be necessary, for example for a pay increase (see
Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2004c, for more detail).
Hodkinson et al. (2004) show that the dispositions of teachers (and other workers
from the other network projects) were significant for their learning in four overlapping
ways:

Improving schoolteachers workplace learning

119

they bring prior knowledge, understanding and skills with them, which can
contribute to their future work and learning;
their dispositions influence the ways in which they construct and take advantage of
opportunities for learning at work;
working and belonging to a school and departmental community contributes to the
developing habitus and sense of identity of the teachers themselves;
the dispositions of individual teachers contribute to the co-production and reproduction of the departmental cultures where they work.

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The last two points relate also to our second underlying dimension.

The impact of departmental cultures on teacher learning

Given the importance of academic subjects in the English secondary school curriculum and in teachers professional identities, it is unsurprising that departmental
cultures are significant in affecting teachers learning. All four departments in this
study had three to five teachers, and were deemed successful by their schools. Despite
these basic similarities, the departments had very different cultures, which strongly
influenced the learning of the teachers within them.
The departments differed in relation to the style of leadership and the degree of
internal collaboration. The culture was not a direct reflection of the school. In the
rural school the art department worked collaboratively with subtle leadership,
whereas IT was loosely integrated with more forceful leadership. In the city school the
music department worked collaboratively with forceful leadership, whilst history was
loosely integrated with subtle leadership.
By subtle leadership we mean that the heads of department concerned advanced
their ideas in low-key ways. Meanwhile the forceful leaders showed an explicit and
intentionally strong, high profile presence. By loosely integrated, we mean to convey
that staff in these departments got on with each other and worked together when there
was a specific need, but the underlying tendency was for independent working and
learning. They fell between Hargreaves (1994) categories of collaboration and individualism. In the case of IT, some members were as likely to collaborate with teachers
outside the department as within it.
There was effective teacher learning in all the departments, but in the collaborative
departments teachers had an additional dimension to their learning which the others
lacked. There was an additional range of learning approaches available. At its best
learning was ongoing whenever the teachers were together, through discussion
consultation and sharing of materials and ideas. In addition to using non-teaching
time they were happy to visit and learn from one anothers classrooms and lessons.
The music teachers benefited additionally because of the explicit focus on their
departments ongoing development, led by the head of department, and supported by
all its teachers, including student teachers.
Our data demonstrates complex interrelationships between individual teacher
dispositions and departmental cultures. Each affects the other, and in turn affects

120 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

teacher learning (Hodkinson & Hodkinson, 2004b). However national policy and
organisational regulatory practices are an overlying third determinant of that learning.

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The impact of school management and national policy and regulation on

teacher learning
Network findings demonstrated that regulatory frameworks have a major influence on
all workplace learning (Rainbird et al., 2004, in press). School management processes
and national policy impact on teacher learning directly and indirectly. In our schools,
the approaches of management were slightly but significantly different. One had a
successful and charismatic head teacher. Teachers there seemed more contented with
management than their colleagues in the other school, and new initiatives, such as the
performance management scheme, were introduced in a positive way which caused
less friction. There were the usual struggles over resources, but both departments
there felt valued and supported for much of the time. Teacher development was
emphasised. In the other school, management had been criticised in an inspection
report just before our fieldwork commenced although the problems were officially
overcome within two years. However part way through the research the head resigned,
and was temporarily replaced by one of the deputies. Teachers here grumbled more
about management. There was also a sense that some management-initiated processes
were not fully implemented. The structure for professional development was similar
to the first school, but perceived as less well organised. The introduction of performance management, and some school organised in service training, generated some
antagonism and dissatisfaction, which interfered with its functioning. These differences were differences of degree. Overall there was a similarity of approach which
reflected the strength and frequency of government interventions and regulations.
Consequently, it is to this that we devote most attention here.
There was frequent indirect pressure for teacher learning as a result of national
policy. Government-led curriculum initiatives and changes were common. Thus, for
example, the introduction of Curriculum 2000 for older pupils caused major changes
to external exams that teachers had to learn to implement.
Where policy affected teacher learning directly, it was based on the crude acquisition
model, identified earlier. However, for Newly Qualified Teachers (NQTs) there was
investment in on the job support. In Lave and Wengers (1991) terms, they were recognised as legitimately peripheral participants who could be helped to become established teachers. Their learning was seen at least partly within a participation metaphor
(Sfard, 1998), and there was an emphasis on participation-focused approaches, such
as in-school mentoring, in addition to short off the job courses, which sometimes could
be applied directly in the work situation. For established teachers there were various
specific initiatives targeted at areas where teacher proficiency was judged to be
inadequate, such as the programme of compulsory computer training for all teachers.
Skill deficits are sometimes real, and teachers often want to deal with such problems. All of the art department, for example, were aware of the potential of computers
in their subject, but found the compulsory IT training problematic. They were

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121

reluctant to attend distance-learning sessions in the schools computer suites alongside

other teachers, finding the situation intimidating, as relative novices. They would have
liked to sort out specific relevant applications of IT, for themselves, in their own
surroundings with focused support. The fact that there were only two computers in
the art department and that neither was networked meant that they were unable to
make use of appropriate materials and this reduced their incentive to use the schools
version of the national provision. They were looking for learning involving extended
participation, within their own established departmental practices of learning as
creative exploration. What they were given was a standardised online training course,
with reference to art teaching but without the facilities to make use of the (few, for
them) more interesting parts of the material. One art teacher eventually made significant progress, but through buying a computer and art software to use at home. She
then helped her colleagues. By the end the computer training initiative the level of IT
literacy had improved in the departments in our research, but rarely directly as a result
of the imposed course, and certainly not at a level commensurate with the high level
of government expenditure.
As other researchers also show (Retallick et al., 1999; Hustler et al., 2003), there
are two major pressures restricting formalised teacher learning of this type. One is
time. Teachers would need to leave their classes for their own learning, and are
reluctant to do so, especially in an era of outcome measurement, league tables and
inspections. School management is similarly reluctant. Exceptions are made, for
example when the learning is examination related. Our schools, like many others,
limit the number of teachers who can be off site at any one time. Teachers time out
for learning competes with time out to run off-site activities for pupils. Therefore,
most planned teacher learning activity is located within the five designated days a year
when teachers are in school, but the pupils are not. Undertaking planned learning
beyond these days often relies on teachers giving up their own time, in the evenings,
at weekends or during the holidays.
The second pressure is limited funding. What money was available had to be
targeted at government-imposed priorities, and at the schools annual development
plan (also government priority related). Money for learning initiated by teachers for
their own professional purposes was rarely available. Several of our sample reported
being unable to undertake learning they wanted to do in their own time, because there
was no funding to support them.
This policy approach towards teacher learning presented problems for experienced, successful teachers. There was little policy recognition of experienced teachers need for the sort of learning that might expand and extend their existing expertise
and enhance and sustain their success, unless it clearly fitted a national or school
development priority, or could be seen as measurably contributing to improvements
in teaching, as in the performance management scheme.
Government interventions and school management approaches did result in some
effective learning. Many teachers described ways in which imposed curriculum or
assessment change had led to effective learning and improved practice. Short courses
and in-service provision could be effective on occasions. This was most likely if the

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122 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

teachers valued the content and the way it was provided and felt valued in the
process. Also there needed to be the possibility of integrating what had been learned
into ongoing practice without delay (Hustler et al., 2003). One example can be seen
in the early use of the IT initiative in one department. The musicians appreciated the
need to improve their skills with new technology. The head of music negotiated
permission for his department to spend the first allocated training day at one of their
homes. There they made use of the expertise of a younger teacher with her own
computer, to work together through the first few units of the required materials,
digressing where it seemed appropriate to relate to their own departmental practices.
They already had computers with music software in the department, which allowed
them to put into practice what they learned. Some of them put in a considerable
effort thereafter to learn to use departmental software by persevering with it when
other methods initially seemed easier. The government initiative provided a trigger
and an initial working day. The learning culture of the department, the willingness of
one individual to share her skills and the determination of others to progress through
practice, led to success.
Improving teacher learning
The foregoing analysis demonstrates that teacher learning, like other workplace
learning, is complex and relational. There are a large number of interrelated factors
affecting the effectiveness of learning, each of which influences the others and is in
turn influenced by them. Much of that learning is unplanned and serendipitous, and
does not have preset objectives or easily identifiable outcomes. Sometimes learning
has significance only over a very long timescale. These truths present difficulties for
those striving to improve teacher learning. There are two dangers. Firstly, there is the
risk of focusing on a small number of the factors affecting learning, thus ignoring
others which may be important. Secondly, there is the risk of assumed universalism:
that is, assuming that an initiative that works in x place for y staff will therefore
work in all other teaching places for all other teacher staff. These problems have been
illustrated by our data on the performance management scheme and the IT training
initiative. Both schemes ignored learning which could not be measured although
occasionally they may have triggered it. Each took a universalistic view of teacher
learning, with one focused on setting and achieving objectives, the other on one-sizefits-all training provision. If the experiences of these two schemes in our four departments were replicated nationally, and Haynes et al. (2002) identified similar problems
with performance management, then they represent an inefficient use of money and
effort, for limited gain.
Our study of departmental cultures illustrates these points in a different way. Teachers in the two collaborative departments had richer and more effective learning than
those in the loosely integrated ones. One response might be to push all departments
to work collaboratively. But, as Hargreaves (1994) pointed out, collaboration cannot
be forced. What he termed contrived collegiality results in the same forms of strategic
compliance and resistance that we saw for performance management. That strategic

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Improving schoolteachers workplace learning

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compliance destroys any real collaboration. The head of the history department, Sam,
faced that problem. He instigated changes (e.g. consolidating rooms and staffing) to
promote more collaborative working, but some of his key staff were strong individualists. Sam eventually concluded that it was important to support individual staff
autonomy rather than to force the issue and cause resentment. Furthermore, there is
a potential downside for the departments with close internal collaboration, if they
become too isolated from other staff in the school. For some IT teachers, an alternative
way to achieve some collaborative learning was through mixing with teachers from
other subjects.
If the significance of these sorts of problems is understood, a radically different
approach to enhancing teacher learning is required. It needs to focus on maximising
the learning potential within the participatory practices of teachers, and recognising
that different teachers will respond differently to the same circumstances, as each
continues to construct his/her own professional habitus. Thus, this approach should
be based on maximising opportunities to learn, incentives to learn and support for
learning, increasing the likelihood that more teachers will pursue learning and learn
more effectively. This is antithetical to dominant views of learning as acquisition
within the audit culture. It means focusing attention not primarily on individual
learner responsibility, on targeted learning needs, or on measured learning outcomes,
but on creating a more expansive learning environment at work.
Expansive and restrictive learning environments for teachers
The concept of expansive and restrictive learning environments was initially developed by Fuller and Unwin (2003, 2004) in one of the other projects in the research
network. They observed considerable differences in the quality of apprentice learning
in different firms in the steel industry. In explaining this, they identified variations in
what they termed the learning environment. The apprentices with the poorest experiences had a learning environment which they defined as restrictive, whilst those with
the best learning had an expansive environment. An expansive learning environment
is one that presents wide-ranging and diverse opportunities to learn, in a culture that
values and supports learning. It increases what Billett (2001b) terms the affordances
for learning at work, whilst also increasing the chances that workers will want to make
the most of those affordances. In the case of the steelworks, this was achieved because
practices in the firm encouraged apprentices to take their learning seriously. Apprenticeship, including time spent learning in a local college, was valued by experienced
workers and managers who had themselves gone through the same process. This
culture of learning support had been established over a long period of time. The
college tutor responsible for external courses maintained close contact with the
company. There was mutual trust. In addition, the firm organised a varied
programme for its apprentices. As well as the off the job college course, there was
built-in experience of working in different departments in the firm, an example of
what Fuller and Unwin (2003, 2004) term boundary crossingmoving out of your
own familiar patch to learn by engaging in a different environment.

124 H. Hodkinson and P. Hodkinson

As we examined our teacher learning data, it became apparent that, although the
detail would be different, the expansiverestrictive model applied in a similar way.
Figure 1 sets out a number of factors which are important to the expansiveness of the
teacher workplace learning environments.
Most of these features have already been illustrated in our descriptions of teacher
learning earlier in this article. The last is not of quite the same order as the rest, being
focused on individual teachers. This is because individual teachers actions and
dispositions help structure the learning environment they work in. They are part of it.
It is not just external to them.
Our research suggests that one of the most effective ways of improving teachers
learning is through creating and encouraging more expansive features of teachers
learning environments, which are appropriate to particular schools or departments.
The analysis above is intended to facilitate this. However, some caveats are
necessary. The framework as a whole is illustrative. Other factors might be added, but
these were important in our settings, and are reflected in other research (e.g. Retallick
et al., 1999; Hustler et al., 2003). Though the diagram appears to present opposing

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Figure 1. Continuum of expansiverestrictive learning environments for teachers

<<<EXPANSIVE
Close collaborative working
Colleagues mutually supportive in
enhancing teacher learning
An explicit focus on teacher learning, as a
dimension of normal working practices
Supported opportunities for personal
development that goes beyond school or
government priorities
Out of school educational opportunities
including time to stand back, reflect and
think differently
Opportunities to integrate off the job
learning into everyday practice
Opportunities to participate in more than
one working group
Opportunity to extend professional
identity through boundary crossing into
other departments, school activities,
schools and beyond.
Support for local variation in ways of
working and learning for teachers and
work groups.
Teachers use a wide range of learning
opportunities
Figure 1.

RESTRICTIVE>>>
Isolated, individualist working
Colleagues obstruct or do not support
each others learning
No explicit focus on teacher learning,
except to meet crises or imposed
initiatives
Teacher learning mainly strategic
compliance with government or school
agendas
Few out of school educational
opportunities, only narrow, short training
programmes
No opportunity to integrate off the job
learning
Work restricted to home departmental
teams within one school
Opportunities for boundary crossing only
come with a job change.

Standardised approaches to teacher

learning are prescribed and imposed.
Teachers use narrow range of learning
approaches

Continuum of expansiverestrictive learning environments for teachers

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Improving schoolteachers workplace learning

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ideal-types, it more accurately represents a series of continua. The teachers, departments and schools in our study lay at various intermediate stages of the various criteria,
some more consistently towards the expansive end. However, we could readily identify
degrees of all the listed types of restrictiveness. It would be difficult, sometimes
impractical, and occasionally inappropriate, to be completely expansive in a working
school, as teacher learning priorities can cut across other school priorities. In practice,
most schools, departments and teachers will be able to achieve a more expansive environment in relation to some criteria, and less with others. There will be circumstances
where it would be counterproductive to push too hard for some expansive features,
as with the history department and collaboration. Furthermore, there may be circumstances where two expansive dimensions are partly contradictory. There will always
be restrictions, but the aim is to maximise expansion as far as is possible.
Some restrictive elements arise from the nature of English secondary teaching as a
job, as it is currently configured. The emphasis in most schools is on individual teachers working in their own closed classrooms, where much learning and development
can take place through hot or cold embodied judgement making (Beckett & Hager,
2002), though the learning may not be consciously recognised at the time. This
setting does not encourage making the teacher learning explicit, without additional
activity, such as the use of portfolios or reflective logs (Retallick, 1999). Nor does it
encourage sharing with and learning from others and broadening the scope of the
learning (Day, 1999). In English secondary schools opportunities to work with others
beyond specific subject or responsibility groups are limited. Thus there are few
chances for the teachers to cross boundaries to work with teachers of other subjects
in their own schools or to work with fellow subject specialists out of school. Another
crucial factor is the lack of time for teachers to take part in activities outside their
lessons and outside their schools, even to stand back and take stock of situations, or
to try to apply changes in practice. Managers and teachers both recognise that in
maintaining quality day-to-day learning experiences for the pupils, the use of substitute teachers is rarely beneficial, and thus neither wants too much time out.
Other problems are rooted more directly in current English policy and management approaches, and therefore could be addressed, though this would require a
cultural and political change. In particular, the over-emphasis on short-term and
measurable learning activity is restrictive, as is the over-emphasis on school and
government learning priorities at the expense of those of the teachers themselves.
The principles set out in the English governments (DfEE, 2001) strategy document sound encouragingly in tune with our expansive environment, and the promises
of additional funding ought to help provide time and space for teacher development.
However closer inspection of the intended allocation of the funding reveals that for
much of it there is a lack of flexibility, with the money being tied to audited national
developmental requirements with only limited attempts to link these to teachers individual preferences, or to recognise either long-term learning or learning that cannot
be easily measured.
As with other workplaces, the learning of the staff (in this case, teachers) is necessarily secondary to the prime productive activity of the firm (in this case teaching

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pupils). This fact, combined with continual pressure on scarce resources, means that
some changes that might be beneficial for teacher learning will be difficult to accommodate. However, some of the considerable resources currently devoted to teacher
learning might be more effectively spent. If there is a will in the system to further
enhance teacher learning, actions to increase the expansiveness of learning environments can be taken at a variety of levels. Though gains will be greatest when several
levels of activity are working in harmony, even small, localised changes at one level
can result in some benefits. In what follows, we give some brief illustrative examples
of the sorts of action that could be taken.
Possible actions to increase the expansiveness of teachers learning
environments
Individual teachers
As teachers themselves are significant constitutive parts of the environment where
they work, there are things they can do, individually or in collaboration with
colleagues, to help increase the expansiveness of their learning environments. All of
the teachers in our study learned in effective ways, but some used a far wider repertoire of approaches than others. We found many examples of dedication to personal
and professional growth and development, and to mutual support of colleagues.
Others went further, looking to learn through mentoring others, and through foregrounding their own learning, helping create supportive conditions for colleagues.
Others looked for ways to boundary cross within and beyond the school, though
they did not use that term, engaging with other teachers, groups and departments.
Some engaged with longer courses, which could entail action research, but such
opportunities were rare. Most teachers can do some of these sorts of things, provided
other aspects of the environment are favourable. However, much depends upon the
status, career ambitions, identity and self-perception of the teacher. These factors are
also related to contextual issues such as home and family life, age and career stage,
national and school structures of career progression and salary, and the esteem of
specific teachers in the particular school, and of teachers more generally in the wider
community.
The department
Subject departments should regard teacher learning as one of their explicit purposes,
integrated into the continual improvement of their practices. Developing significant
informal contacts, exchanges and discussions, access to each others lessons and work,
team-teaching and team working to meet a specific problem or target are all potentially
effective approaches. However, allowing for individual differences in disposition,
departments must balance the desirability for close collaborative working, with the
preferences of some teachers to work more independently. Some departments could
do more to help and encourage members to develop collaborative links elsewhere.

Improving schoolteachers workplace learning

127

There is no reason in principle why collaborative working and learning within the
department should preclude boundary crossing. Some of the teachers in our two
collaborative departments had developed significant ways of working especially with
departments in other schools.

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The school
Schools can do several things to move closer to an expansive learning environment
for teachers. Management at all levels can set an example and demonstrate that they
value teacher learning. There needs to be strategic planning for the development and
support of an expansive learning environment. This needs to recognise the significance of everyday teaching practices as learning. Opportunities for collaborative
learning, boundary crossing and working in different teams can be constructed.
Social procedures and physical structures can encourage teams of teachers, such as
subject departments, to work closely together and spend non teaching time together
providing opportunities for positive learning and development. Whilst implementing
government policy and fulfilling school development objectives are important, it can
be beneficial to support teacher learning which does not directly fulfil these requirements. The five official staff development days in English schools are core time for
(often more formal) teacher learning but they could be used flexibly, giving teachers
space to work on learning that matters to them, as well as highlighting school priorities. For example, staff could be excused attendance from some of them, in lieu of
other engagement with learning in their own time. Currently, longer off-site educational experiences are rare, but highly valued. Managers need to look for imaginative
ways to support such opportunities, which may allow teachers to interrogate aspects
of their values, purposes and practices and the personal, institutional and policy
contexts which influence these (Day, 1999, p. 31).
The government
Government policies can make a major difference to the expansiveness of teachers
learning environments, through modifying the regulation of their working practices.
However, teacher learning is only one educational policy concern, and would always
have to be set against other priorities for action and for funding. One possible change
would be to greatly reduce the focus on restricted, pre-specified learning objectives,
instead targeting funds and policies towards helping schools enhance teacher learning
through everyday working practices. Beyond the school, support for attendance on
long courses for teachers would allow them to engage with new ideas, and facilitate
possible shifts in disposition. From the perspective of enhancing teacher learning, not
all such courses need formal certification. The enrichment of, say, masters-level
thinking and activity is important in its own right. Another source of learning and
enrichment can be working for short spells in and with schools and departments other
than their own. If spare teaching capacity could be funded in schools it would allow
educational leave and periods of working in other schools to happen.

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Conclusion
In this article we have argued that in order to understand teacher learning better,
and then to improve it, it is helpful to adopt a combination of two positions. From
the workplace learning literature, comes the focus on learning through participation
in everyday practices. From the teacher development literature, comes the focus on
learning as a predominantly individual process of construction. One way of
combining these approaches lies in the concept of expansive and restrictive learning
environments. By making the learning environments of teachers more expansive, it
is possible to increase the potential for effective learning, and the likelihood that
more teachers will avail themselves of the opportunities that are available. The
suggestions made above are not the only ways to do this. They illustrate some
aspects of what an expansive approach to improving teacher learning might look
like, if it were adopted. This would mean some changes in the ways that teachers
work, for their work is the major source of their learning. It would mean that planning and activity should be responsive to the micro-conditions of specific working
groups or contexts, as well as to macro influences. To be successful, it will need to
pay attention to power differentials and workplace inequalities, as well as individual
dispositions. Our research suggests that such approaches will only have a partial
impact, for any changes introduced will affect different teachers in different ways,
and will result in differing responses from them. However, this partiality is true for
all approaches to teacher learning. Indeed, perhaps the strongest conclusion to be
drawn from current research it is that efforts to improve teacher learning will
always impact unevenly, across schools, departments and individual teachers. In
that situation, rather than imposing targets and compulsory training experiences, a
more helpful approach is to encourage and facilitate teacher learning through and
beyond work. That is, construct an environment where such learning and associated teacher professionalism can flourish.

Note
1.

The Research Network Improving Incentives for Learning in the Workplace was funded by
the Economic and Social Research Council, as part of the Teaching and Learning Research
Programme: award number L139251005. The network consisted of five projects:

Regulatory structures and access to learning: case studies in social care and cleaning, H. Rainbird,
University College Northampton and A. Munro, Napier University.
Recognition of tacit skills and knowledge in work re-entry, K. Evans and N. Kersch, University of
London, Institute of Education.
The workplace as a site for learning for mature workers and new entrants: opportunities and barriers in
small and medium-sized enterprises, L. Unwin and A. Fuller, University of Leicester.
An exploration of the nature of apprenticeship in an advanced economy, P. Senker, University
College Northampton.
The school as a site for workbased learning, P. Hodkinson and H. Hodkinson, University of Leeds.
Network website: http://www.tlrp.org/project%20sites/IILW/index.htm.

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