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Mathematics teachers learning in an aspiring professional learning community : a case of collaborating for problem solving instruction
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Type
Thesis
Author
Yap, Romina Ann Soon
Supervisor
Leong, Yew Hoong
Abstract
Professional learning communities (PLCs) have been described as social infrastructures that can effectively support school reform by enabling better teacher learning for improving student learning. It has therefore been popularly endorsed to form part of school reform initiatives. However, it is also known that nurturing and sustaining effective PLCs is a challenging task; and unsuccessful PLC building initiatives are not unheard of. This study examined teacher learning as it took place in the collaborative engagements of an aspiring PLC (aPLC) – a group of educators that aspires to become an effective PLC but does not yet possess the characteristics of one. This was carried out to gain insight into the hurdles that aPLCs need to negotiate en route to becoming an effective PLC.
The research was carried out with an aPLC composed of the researcher and seven mathematics teachers in a private secondary school in the Philippines over a period of nine months. The aPLC engaged in five cycles of collaboration where the focus of the aPLC’s collaborative work was to support teachers’ instruction of mathematical problem solving. Teacher learning during the collaboration sessions was examined first from the perspective of the aPLC collective, and then from the perspective of the individual aPLC members.
Engestrom’s (1987) activity system model was used as the main analytic framework for examining teacher learning from the perspective of the collective. This allowed for a careful and systematic consideration of the different components of the aPLC’s activity and of the relationships between them. The analysis produced an overall trajectory of the aPLC’s collective learning characterised by a series of shifts and tensions. Considered as important markers in the aPLC’s learning process, tensions drew attention to the pressing needs of the aPLC, while shifts indicated the aPLC’s efforts and progress in addressing these tensions.
Examining the learning from the perspective of the individual served to examine more closely significant learning junctures that were observed from the aPLC’s collective process. Hence, these learning junctures were first identified. The development of each was then made the focus of different case studies written based on the experience of a particular aPLC member. Six unique case studies were produced, each providing a more in-depth look into how learning in the aPLC took place. The cases also shared common themes such as how all the aPLC members possessed favourable dispositions towards the work, how the aPLC collective process provided a source of possibilities to resolve the tensions that each one encountered, and how the individual encounters with shifts and tensions were largely dealt with as private affairs despite the collective nature of the aPLC.
Reflecting on the learning that took place in the aPLC and the characteristics of effective PLCs as described in the literature, this study suggested that aPLCs need to find a balance between certain dualities that can be found in its learning process. In particular, its learning can either (1) be system-oriented or outcome-oriented, (2) be driven by the vision or driven by the context, (3) pursue deep-learning of reform-oriented mathematics instruction or pursue only surface-learning, and (4) be pursued by all or pursued only by a few. While some of the items in each pair can exist simultaneously, developing towards becoming an effective PLC requires that learning in the aPLC be inclined towards the first item in each presented duality.
The research was carried out with an aPLC composed of the researcher and seven mathematics teachers in a private secondary school in the Philippines over a period of nine months. The aPLC engaged in five cycles of collaboration where the focus of the aPLC’s collaborative work was to support teachers’ instruction of mathematical problem solving. Teacher learning during the collaboration sessions was examined first from the perspective of the aPLC collective, and then from the perspective of the individual aPLC members.
Engestrom’s (1987) activity system model was used as the main analytic framework for examining teacher learning from the perspective of the collective. This allowed for a careful and systematic consideration of the different components of the aPLC’s activity and of the relationships between them. The analysis produced an overall trajectory of the aPLC’s collective learning characterised by a series of shifts and tensions. Considered as important markers in the aPLC’s learning process, tensions drew attention to the pressing needs of the aPLC, while shifts indicated the aPLC’s efforts and progress in addressing these tensions.
Examining the learning from the perspective of the individual served to examine more closely significant learning junctures that were observed from the aPLC’s collective process. Hence, these learning junctures were first identified. The development of each was then made the focus of different case studies written based on the experience of a particular aPLC member. Six unique case studies were produced, each providing a more in-depth look into how learning in the aPLC took place. The cases also shared common themes such as how all the aPLC members possessed favourable dispositions towards the work, how the aPLC collective process provided a source of possibilities to resolve the tensions that each one encountered, and how the individual encounters with shifts and tensions were largely dealt with as private affairs despite the collective nature of the aPLC.
Reflecting on the learning that took place in the aPLC and the characteristics of effective PLCs as described in the literature, this study suggested that aPLCs need to find a balance between certain dualities that can be found in its learning process. In particular, its learning can either (1) be system-oriented or outcome-oriented, (2) be driven by the vision or driven by the context, (3) pursue deep-learning of reform-oriented mathematics instruction or pursue only surface-learning, and (4) be pursued by all or pursued only by a few. While some of the items in each pair can exist simultaneously, developing towards becoming an effective PLC requires that learning in the aPLC be inclined towards the first item in each presented duality.
Date Issued
2016
Call Number
QA135 Yap
Date Submitted
2016