Embedding Teacher Professional Development as Business as

UsualLyn Williams

New teachers …

Knowledgeable √

Self-assured √Experienced √

5 weeks later ….

Teacher training

How do we tend to think about professional development for

teachers?

PERSONAL LITERACIES

CONTEXTPRIOR LEARNING

OPPORTUNITIES IN THE WORKPLACE FOR PRACTICE

MODELLING/ EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Workplace Learning

How do we ACTUALLY learn to be a tertiary teacher…?

REFLECTION ON EXPERIENCE

PEER SUPPORT

FEEDBACK

EXPERIENCE

STUDY

TEAMS

OBSERVATION

GUIDED PRACTICE

TRIAL AND ERROR

NECESSITY

How are we trying to help teachers make the links?

Agency …. “individuals should be conscious and active in

creating, maintaining and activating aspects of their personal networks”

Environment … Expansive learning environments support

teachers to grow & develop; share practice among participants; provide opportunities to talk about teaching & learning

Agency and Environment

Expansive RestrictiveClose collaborative work with colleagues

Isolated, individualistic working

Out-of school educational opportunities incl. opportunities to reflect and think differently

No out-of-school time to stand back; narrow short training programmes

Explicit focus on teacher learning as a dimension of normal working practice

No explicit focus on teacher learning except for crises or imposed initiatives

Supported opportunities for personal development going beyond school or government priorities

Teacher learning dominated by govt. or school agendas

Colleagues are mutually supportive in enhancing teacher learning

Colleagues obstruct or do not support each others’ learning

Opportunities to engage with working groups inside or outside the school

Work restricted to ‘home’ teams

Opportunity to extend professional identity through boundary crossing into other dept’s, activities, schools

The only opportunity to boundary-cross associated with change of job

Support for variations in ways of working and learning, for different teachers and dept’s

Standardised approaches to teaching and teacher learning are prescribed and imposed

Teachers use a wide range of learning approaches

Teachers use a narrow range of learning approaches

Workplace Learning Environments

Billet, S. (2001). Learning in the workplace: Strategies for effective practice. Sydney, Australia: Allen & Unwin.

Chan, S. (2009). Perspectives of new trades tutors: Towards a scholarship of teaching and learning for vocational educators. Wellington: Ako Aotearoa.

Evans, K., Hodkinson, P., Rainbird, H., & Unwin, L. (2006). Improving workplace learning. Abingdon, England: Routledge.

Hodkinson, P., & Hodkinson, H. (2005). Improving schoolteachers‟ workplace learning. Research Papers in Education, 20(2), 109-131.

References