Action research

A Historic overview on teacher learning



Johnston& Goettsch (2000) stress that a major part of research in language teaching and teacher learning over the last 15 or 20 years has involved the rediscovery of the basic truth that in language teaching, it is the teaching that is most important, not the language: that language teaching is first and foremost an educational enterprise, not a linguistic one. With sometimes agonizing slowness, the field of language pedagogy has finally come to understand that teachers need to know about motivation, interpersonal relations, classroom management, evaluation, and a host of other topics traditionally found in teacher education program, but often not in applied linguistic programs.
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Freeman (2002) provided a clear account of the development of research into mainstream teachers cognition.
(1) The mid-1970s: Researchers began to work within a process-product paradigm, which examined teaching in terms of the learning outcomes produced. (2) The mid-1970s ~ 1980: Attention turned to more qualitative or hermeneutic approaches, which examined how teachers thinking affected and shaped the way they taught. (3) 1980 ~ 1990: There have been fundamental changes in how teacher cognition was conceptualized and researched, yielding concepts such as the teacher as decision-maker, the role of beliefs, attitudes, and assumptions in teaching, the apprenticeship of observation, and pedagogical content knowledge (Shulman,1987). (4) 1990s: Freeman termed the decade of consolidation and this decade was characterized by deeper understanding of the role and nature of teachers mental lives. 3

Importance of ongoing, critical reflection in teaching



Professional growth in language teaching depends upon the teachers willing reflection upon why they work in the classroom in the ways they do (Widdowson,1984). Whilst descriptive research in language classroom maintains only indirect relevance for the development of teaching, the further investigation of teachers own conceptualizations of their role has a crucial function within curriculum change of any kind (Breen, 1991).
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Models of teacher development



Fullers (1969) approach was based on a developmental model of teacher concerns beginning with new teachers experiencing survival concerns for self then moving onto task concerns focusing on management, and finally as they gain experience and confidence it is argued they focus on impact concerns with the emphasis moving to their students. Katzs (1977) descriptors for four stages (1) Survival (2) Consolidation (3) Renewal (4) Maturity Time spent in each phase will vary considerably between individual early career teachers from days to months and many teachers may never reach the latter stages.

Models of teacher development

Berliners (1988) model of teacher development: 5 stages (1) The novice stage (2) The advanced beginner stage - teachers develop strategic knowledge; begin to use their experiences and understanding of context to guide behaviour. (3) The competent stage - teacher is able to make conscious choices based on knowledge gained from many experiences (4) The proficient stage - intuition and know-how guide actions in the classroom. (5) The expert stage - teacher has automated routines to handle planning, instruction and management.
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Remarks for the models of teacher development



Some of the common influences which are identified and confirmed in these earlier frameworks outlining professional growth of teachers are the importance of prior knowledge and beliefs, the crucial role of the image of self as a teacher and the major impact of context (Kagan, 1992). Research has shown that the novice teachers who remain and are supported are more likely to use their experience and acquired knowledge to begin to reconstruct their images of self as a teacher (Ginns, Heirdsfield, Atweh & Watters, 2001). Schn (1987) emphasized the importance of ongoing, critical reflection in teaching, in his notion of teachers as reflective practitioners. More recently Clarke & Hollingsworth (2002) emphazised the need to provide opportunities for support of teacher professional growth in realistic contexts with the view of teachers as learners within schools as learning communities (p.949).

Conceptual Framework (Freeman, 2002; Kansanen, 1993)

Teachers Practice Understanding teachers mental cognition Teachers Thoughts

(purposiveness & empirical evidence)

Mid-1970s Mid-1970s ~ 1980 1980 ~ Present

Promoting novice teachers professional growth

Teachers Knowledge & Beliefs Pedagogical Knowledge Base Instructional Thoughts

(purposiveness & empirical evidence)

Classroom Behaviour Pedagogical Knowledge Base Professional Status Preparation and Certification of TESOL Practitioners
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Core Reflections

Core Reflections
 

The level of (professional) identity How we experience ourselves and our selfconcept. The level of mission (level of spirituality, Dilts, 1990): What inspires us, and what gives meaning and significance to our work or our lives. Transpersonal level: the meaning of our own existence in the world, and the role we see for ourselves in relation to our fellow man (family, social group, culture and cosmic order).

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Core Reflections


What is the ideal situation the situation which the teacher wants to bring about? What are the limiting factors preventing the achievement of that ideal?

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Three Levels of Reflection

(Larrivee, 2008:89-90)
1. An initial level focused on teaching functions, actions or skills, generally considering teaching episodes as isolated events (surface reflection); 2. A more advanced level considering the theory and rationale for current practice (pedagogical reflection); and 3. A higher order where teachers examine the ethical, social, and political consequences of their teaching, grappling with the ultimate purposes of schooling (critical reflection).

The importance of teachers



 

Recent research indicates that the quality of teachers and their teaching are the most important factors for student outcomes. The McKinsey report (Barber and Mourshed 2007, p.15): The main driver of the variation in student learning in school is the teacher Even in good school systems, students that do not progress quickly during their first years at school, because they are not exposed to teachers of sufficient calibre, stand very little chance of recovering the lost years.

Important findings from this international report (Barber and Mourshed 2007, p. 43)

(1) The quality of an educational system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers. (2) The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction. (3) Achieving universally high outcomes is only possible by putting in place mechanisms to ensure that schools deliver high-quality instruction to every child.

Other important findings

all the better school systems had integrated practicum into their teacher training programmes; school leadership is second only to classroom teaching as an influence on learning; salary is rarely stated to be one of the most important reasons for becoming a teacher, however the survey also shows that unless school systems offer salaries which are in-line with other graduate starting salaries, these same people do not enter teaching; and new teachers consistently reported that the status of the profession is one of the most important factors in their decision to become a teacher.

What it means to be a teacher



 

Essential and interrelated dimensions of career development The personal being The professional becoming
There has been a tendency to emphasise the becoming at the expense of what it means to be. The person the student teacher is becomes of the utmost relevance to how they develop professionally. Too little attention has hitherto been paid to the importance of personal development for professional learning.

What it means to be a teacher

Teacher education needs to focus much more on the personal processes involved in becoming a professional teacher; that is, teacher training programmes should comprise a well-grounded balance between the cognitive and emotional dimensions of learning to teach.

What it means to be a teacher

Hansens (2007, p. 3) proposal on teacher training: A professional, evidence-based track (what works?) An existential and normative track (how teachers understand themselves in what they are saying and doing) wondering attitude

What it means to be a teacher



In order to be authentic and to create an authentic learning process, therefore, the teacher must be able to stand in the openness and strive for a community of wonder with his (sic) students, and indeed dare to question his own philosophical assumptions and personal philosophy which underlie his professional knowledge, attitudes, and skills.

What it means to be a teacher

The challenge in teacher training lies in finding a balance between the instrumental track of competence and the existential track of Bildung (i.e. the ethical and existential aspect of a persons character). (Hansen, 2007, p.15),