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Teacher learning in a professional learning team: affordances, disturbances, contradictions, and action possibilities
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Type
Thesis
Author
Lee, Judy Lai Har
Supervisor
Tan, Seng Chee
Abstract
Professional Learning Community (PLC) is a form of professional development that has been seen as a powerful means for schools to transform student learning through teacher learning. Although it does not have a singular definition, there has been general consensus that a PLC consists of a group of people engaged in collaborative professional learning that engages them in critical interrogation of their practices in ways that are inclusive, reflective, and oriented towards learning. The notion of PLCs took root during the 1990s and featured prominently in school improvement literature. Its growing popularity and acceptance among the education fraternity could also be seen in its widespread adoption. Schools that have embraced this form of school-based professional development often restructure themselves by organising their teachers into professional learning teams (PLTs) consisting of teachers who teach the same subject or at the same grade level. Provisions are made for the PLTs to meet on a regular basis for the purpose of collaborative professional learning aimed ultimately at the improvement of student learning. However, there are gaps in both research and practice. A dearth in empirical studies that investigate the nature of teacher learning practices and teacher learning has led to the under-development of theory related to teacher learning in PLCs and PLTs. Moreover, it has been extremely challenging to develop authentic and sustainable PLCs that promote teacher learning and impact student learning. It is against such a backdrop that this research was carried out to understand the nature of learning practices that operate at the heart of PLCs and how practices shape teacher learning.
Taking the situative view that teacher learning in a PLT is the process by which teachers participate in shared meaning-making about interrelationships between their learning practices and teaching practices, I used Activity Theory as the methodological approach to guide my examination of a PLT’s enactment of professional learning activities. A PLT in an elementary school that organised itself as a PLC was chosen as the instrumental case study for this naturalistic inquiry. The PLT undertook Book Study and Lesson Study during their weekly hour-long team meetings over one academic year. The purpose of the research is to study learning practices that provided affordances to teacher learning, and learning practices that produced disturbances to teacher learning, and what the disturbances reveal about underlying systemic contradictions.
Research findings revealed that the practice of elaboration of pedagogical concepts through personal portraits of classroom practice afforded teacher learning during Book Study, while the practice of evidence-based examination of pedagogy through collective inquiry of classroom practice afforded teacher learning during Lesson Study. A study of learning practices that produced disturbances also revealed systemic contradictions. The findings offer insights on action possibilities for the enhancement of professional learning in terms of how the activity systems may be expanded to produce new possibilities in learning practices. Overall, the findings suggest that in order for a school to develop itself into a PLC, it needs to undergo restructuring and reculturing to deal with structural tensions and to clarify its vision and curriculum for teacher learning. The process entails collective mindfulness that enables teachers to participate in professional learning activities, as well as to step outside them to consider how their own learning practices may be improved in order to meet the twin goals of teacher learning and student learning.
Taking the situative view that teacher learning in a PLT is the process by which teachers participate in shared meaning-making about interrelationships between their learning practices and teaching practices, I used Activity Theory as the methodological approach to guide my examination of a PLT’s enactment of professional learning activities. A PLT in an elementary school that organised itself as a PLC was chosen as the instrumental case study for this naturalistic inquiry. The PLT undertook Book Study and Lesson Study during their weekly hour-long team meetings over one academic year. The purpose of the research is to study learning practices that provided affordances to teacher learning, and learning practices that produced disturbances to teacher learning, and what the disturbances reveal about underlying systemic contradictions.
Research findings revealed that the practice of elaboration of pedagogical concepts through personal portraits of classroom practice afforded teacher learning during Book Study, while the practice of evidence-based examination of pedagogy through collective inquiry of classroom practice afforded teacher learning during Lesson Study. A study of learning practices that produced disturbances also revealed systemic contradictions. The findings offer insights on action possibilities for the enhancement of professional learning in terms of how the activity systems may be expanded to produce new possibilities in learning practices. Overall, the findings suggest that in order for a school to develop itself into a PLC, it needs to undergo restructuring and reculturing to deal with structural tensions and to clarify its vision and curriculum for teacher learning. The process entails collective mindfulness that enables teachers to participate in professional learning activities, as well as to step outside them to consider how their own learning practices may be improved in order to meet the twin goals of teacher learning and student learning.
Date Issued
2015
Call Number
LB1731 Lee
Date Submitted
2015