Dialogic peer coaching as teacher leadership for professional inquiry

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 108-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Charteris ◽  
Dianne Smardon
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Peer Coaching ◽  
High Capacity ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Development Project ◽  
Individual Development ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Or Team

Purpose – Dialogic peer coaching as leadership can enable teachers to influence each other's professional learning. The purpose of this paper is to shift the emphasis from the role associated with the designated title of leader to the purpose and relevance of teacher leadership in the context of dialogic peer coaching. Design/methodology/approach – The research was undertaken as a small qualitative case study embedded in a school-based, teacher professional development project. Nine groups of peer coaches from five unrelated schools engaged in a formal process of collaborative inquiry over two years. Interview data from 13 volunteer teacher participants were analysed using the constant comparison method and themes determined. Findings – The study revealed that there was growth in teacher leadership capabilities as they become dialogic peer coaches to each other. Practical implications – Through their collaborative peer coaching dialogue teachers have the transformative space to articulate their thinking. They can engage in dialogic feedback where they are positioned as experts in their own practice. Social implications – The teachers in this study are positioned within communities of practice as co-constructers of knowledge and co-learners. On the basis of the findings the authors suggest that this can support the development of high capacity leadership in schools. This stance contrasts with a technicist approach to teacher professional learning in which teachers are situated as absorbers or recipients of knowledge constructed elsewhere. Originality/value – The research reported in this paper addresses three key elements of leadership: individual development; collaboration or team development; and organisational development. It outlines a means by which teacher leadership can be strengthened to address these elements in schools.

Leadership that matters: creating cultures of academic optimism that support teacher learning in Thailand

2020 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 605-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhirapat Kulophas ◽  
Philip Hallinger
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Learning ◽  
School Leadership ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
School Leaders ◽  
Academic Optimism ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Centered ◽  
Teacher Professional

PurposeResearch on school leadership has confirmed that principals influence teacher and student learning by building an “academic-focused ethos” in their schools. In this study, our objective was to examine if and how the learning-centered leadership of principals influenced academic optimism of teachers and the resulting effects on their engagement in professional learning. More specifically, we examined this hypothesized set of leadership effects among teachers and principals in high schools located in Thailand.Design/methodology/approachThe study was conducted with 1,763 teachers and 152 principals from 159 randomly selected, medium size secondary schools located in Thailand. The research employed multi-level structural equation modeling and bootstrapping analyses in order to test and explore these relationships in a mediation model of school leadership effects on teacher professional learning through academic optimism.FindingsResults of this study reinforce prior research which has found that principal leadership can have significant direct and indirect effects on the professional learning of teachers. This finding is important because, as elaborated earlier, scholars believe that teacher professional learning is a key to sustainable improvement in schools. More specifically, our results extend prior research in two ways. First, as the first study to link Learning-Centered Leadership with Academic Optimism, this study extends findings that point to the role of school leadership in sustaining a culture of academic optimism in schools. Second, this study also established Academic Optimism as a mediator through which school leadership supports Teacher Professional Learning.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough our results support a positive conclusion concerning the effects of school leadership and academic optimism on teacher learning, this was a cross-sectional study. Therefore, caution must be exercised before drawing causal attributions. For example, research has also found that teachers who work in schools that evidence features of a professional learning community are more likely to have a greater sense of collective teacher efficacy, a variable that is also associated with Academic Optimism. Therefore, although our study proposed Academic Optimism as the mediator and teacher professional learning as the dependent variable, it is also possible that this relationship could be reversed or reciprocal (i.e. mutually reinforcing). Future research should continue to examine these possibilities using longitudinal and/or experimental research designs that enable clearer delineation of causal relationships. We also suggest the utility of qualitative and mixed methods studies capable of exploring in greater depth the mechanisms through which school leadership contributes to productive teacher learning.Practical implicationsThere is a need in Thailand, and elsewhere, to redefine the formal roles and professional standards of school leaders to include learning-centered practices. These standards should be embedded into the redesign of pre-service and in-service education programs for teachers and principals. We believe that, at present, relatively few school leaders in Thailand genuinely understand the meaningful impact they can have on teacher learning, and by extension, on student learning. Thus, there is a need for systemic change that recasts the nature of leadership expected from principals as well as the level of lifelong learning expected of teachers.Originality/valueThe findings from this research contribute to an evolving knowledge base on how school leaders influence teacher learning in different national contexts. The research also extends prior research by exploring the role of academic optimism as a mediator of school leadership effects on teacher learning.

Team leaders’ beliefs about teachers’ learning-path strategies

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 351-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne van Bussel ◽  
Sean Justice ◽  
April Bang ◽  
Aquiles Damirón-Alcántara
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Path ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Specific Learning

Purpose This paper aims to focus on professional development in the education sector. Its goal is to understand team leaders’ roles in teachers’ professional learning. Second, this paper seeks to understand the influence that team leaders have on teachers’ learning path strategies. Design/methodology/approach Following from van der Krogt’s (2007a) Learning Network Theory (LNT), this paper presents a qualitative study of teachers’ preferences for specific learning path strategies. Interview data were collected from teachers (N = 24) and team leaders (N = 5) at an intermediate vocational school in the Netherlands. Research questions ask to what extent teachers learning path strategies align with the learning path strategies that their team leaders think they should use, and about the influence team leaders have on teachers’ professional development. Findings Findings suggest that teachers and team leaders’ beliefs about learning path strategies differ greatly, and that team leaders have limited influence on the learning path strategies that teachers adopt. On the other hand, team leaders appear able to create conditions in which teachers can pursue professional learning because they do have influence on learning facilities. Originality/value These findings add to the scarce empirical evidence regarding LNT, learning path strategies and team leaders beliefs about teachers professional development. They also imply practical changes for team leaders who want to influence teacher professional development.

Instructional coaches' framing of a mathematics reform

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Higgins ◽  
Ro Parsons
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Development Project ◽  
System Level ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Instructional Reform ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Instructional Coaches ◽  
Reading Reform

PurposeInstructional coaches are pivotal to articulating the agenda of system-wide reform, yet their role remains largely unexamined. Their approach with educators is contextually situated within the schooling system in which they work to reflect the historical and sociocultural system influences. Given the downward trend in New Zealand's international test scores for mathematics, it is timely to review the role of instructional coaches.Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, the authors draw on qualitative data derived from interviews with experienced coaches to investigate how they brokered the vision and pedagogy of a system-level reform in mathematics. Using a sensemaking lens we specifically examined the collective stories they employed as explanatory tools.FindingsThe analysis revealed that coaches drew on factors from school and classroom contexts of professional development practice and from collective beliefs about effective practice, alongside the project materials incorporated in the design of the project. System-level stories of reading reform influenced coaches' leadership of professional practice in implementing the New Zealand Numeracy Development Project, a progressively scaled-up professional learning and development initiative designed to improve teacher knowledge and pedagogy.Originality/valueThis paper highlights the critical importance of coaches' knowledge and expertise, the complexity of the implementation process and the coherence of the infrastructure that supports them in instructional reform.

Exploring the relationship between school leadership and teacher professional learning through structural equation modeling

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (8) ◽  
pp. 1237-1251
Author(s):  
Jarrent Tayag ◽  
Nunilon Ayuyao
Keyword(s):  
Structural Equation Modeling ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Structural Equation ◽  
Teacher Agency ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Teacher Trust ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the relationship between leadership and teacher professional learning considering two mediating variables – teacher trust and teacher agency.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized structural equation modeling in analyzing the responses from 1,654 secondary public teachers from 43 schools in the Philippines.FindingsLeadership does not have a direct relationship with teacher professional learning. The established relationship of leadership and professional learning from literature exists through the mediation of teacher trust and teacher agency.Originality/valueThe results point out that school leaders must affect teacher trust and teacher agency to influence the engagement of teachers to professional learning. Contrary to what has been accepted in educational management that leaders can directly impact teachers, the findings of this study dictate that the full effects of leadership are coursed through mediating pathways.

Principal leadership and school capacity effects on teacher learning in Hong Kong

2016 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 76-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijuan Li ◽  
Philip Hallinger ◽  
James Ko
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Principal Leadership ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
System Level ◽  
Teacher Professionalism ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
School Capacity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teacher Professional

Purpose – Over the past decade, studies of school leadership effects have increasingly aimed at identifying and validating the paths through which principal leadership impacts key teaching and learning processes in schools. A recent meta-analysis by Robinson and colleagues identified principal practices that shape teacher professional development experiences in schools as the highest impact path used by instructional leaders. The purpose of this paper is to examine relationships between principal leadership, dimensions of school capacity, and teacher professional learning in 32 Hong Kong primary schools. Design/methodology/approach – The study employed a cross-sectional research design and quantitative methods to analyze teacher perceptions of principal leadership and key school conditions. The research employed hierarchical linear regression analysis to explore survey data collected from a sample of 970 teachers. The surveys covered a range of principal leadership and school capacity dimensions, as well as a measure of teacher professional learning. Findings – Results indicated that multiple dimensions of principal leadership made significant contributions to both school capacity and teacher professional learning. The presence of cooperation, trust, communication, support for students, and alignment, coherence, and structure in schools also affected teacher professional learning. Research limitations/implications – These findings contribute to the global discourse on leadership for learning. The study addresses the need established by multiple scholars (e.g. Leithwood, Hallinger, Heck, Robinson, Witziers) for research that further illuminates “paths” and “intermediate targets” through which leadership impacts teaching and learning. The findings elaborate on the means by which leadership can enhance school capacities that directly impact teacher classroom practice and student learning. Consistent with other scholarly research (e.g. Bryk and Schneider, Louis and colleagues, Sahphier and King) the findings also point toward the importance of establishing selected workplace conditions (e.g. trust, cooperation, communication) as a foundation for fostering teacher professional learning. Practical implications – The study reinforces the finding from other studies that it is productive for principals to foster an environment aimed at enhancing teacher professionalism. The study also highlights the potentially dysfunctional consequences that can arise from competing system-level initiatives aimed at increasing monitoring and teacher accountability and fostering teacher professionalism. Originality/value – The study contributes to a small but growing body of leadership effects research conducted in non-Western societies. As such the study offers insights with relevance for understanding leadership processes in other Asian and non-Western cultures.

scholarly journals Teacher professional learning through lesson study: teachers' reflections

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-412
Author(s):  
Alison Fox ◽  
Val Poultney
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teacher Reflections ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
Subject Departments

PurposeThis study examines the experiences of five teachers working in two English secondary school subject departments after being given the opportunity to engage with Lesson Study (LS) to increase student performance in their subject areas. This study aimed to reveal the drivers for the teachers' engagement in LS, and how this experience of Joint Professional Development (JPD) might be contributing to their learning as teachers.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies an analytic approach to evidencing teacher learning, based on the work of Knud Illeris, offering this as a methodological contribution to the field of professional development literature.FindingsFindings reveal that, despite all the teachers developing a passion for learning through LS, there are constraints on its sustainability and impact which can be attributed to the teachers' broader contexts and which affected them differently. The constraints centre on tensions between priorities and agendas within and beyond the school, related largely to budgets and visions of staff development.Research limitations/implicationsThis focused study on two subject departments engaging in LS limits its generalisability in terms of findings. However, the study offers a practical research application of a model of learning for analysis of teacher reflections on collaborative learning experiences.Originality/valueUnderstanding individual teacher reflections on LS experiences is under-represented in the literature, in particular studies providing insights into conditions conducive and constraining to JPD.

Addressing the achievement gap

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (6) ◽  
pp. 717-734 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patnaree Piyaman ◽  
Philip Hallinger ◽  
Pongsin Viseshsiri
Keyword(s):  
Human Resources ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teacher Agency ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
Direct Effects ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Centered ◽  
Teacher Professional

Purpose Developing countries in many parts of the world have experienced a disturbing trend in the differential pace of economic development among urban and rural communities. These inequities have been observed in education systems in Asia, Africa, and Latin America where researchers have documented differences not only in resource allocation but also in the academic performance among students in urban and rural schools. Recently researchers have shifted their focus from examining financial and physical resources to investigating the nature and impact of differences in human resources. The purpose of this paper is to examine differences in school organization processes associated with learning-centered leadership and teacher learning among urban and rural primary schools in Thailand. Teacher trust and teacher agency were proposed as possible mediators of leadership effects on teacher learning. Design/methodology/approach This study employed a cross-sectional survey design. The authors collected survey data from 1,011 teachers and 60 principals in 30 urban and 30 rural primary schools in Thailand. Multi-group confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and bootstrapping were used to analyze the proposed model of leadership and teacher professional learning. More specifically, data analysis was aimed at determining the nature of relationships among the constructs in the conceptual model and whether patterns of leadership and teacher learning differed in urban and rural primary schools. Findings The results affirmed a model whereby school leadership exerted significant indirect effects on teacher learning in both urban and rural primary schools. Data analyses determined that the path of leadership effects moved through trust to agency and then to teacher professional learning. Thus, while the authors found a strong direct effect of leadership on teacher trust, there were only small direct effects of leadership on teacher agency and no meaningful direct effects of leadership on teacher professional learning. Thus, the research affirmed a full mediation model of leadership effects on teacher learning. Finally, the study also affirmed that the measured variables were perceived as significantly stronger in the urban schools than in the rural schools. Social implications The research expands on prior research on the “achievement gap” in Thailand by demonstrating the existence of a similar “human resource gap” when comparing urban and rural school leaders and teachers. This study implies that addressing the gap in student achievement will require action aimed at building the capacity of the principals and teachers who work with the rural pupils. Originality/value These results suggest differences in the quality of human resources between urban and rural primary schools in Thailand. There may be potential benefit to be gained from providing training focused on “learning-centered leadership” for principals and middle level leaders, as well as expanding access to quality professional development opportunities for rural teachers.

Different strokes for different folks: scaling a blended model of teacher professional learning

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-245 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deirdre Butler ◽  
Margaret Leahy ◽  
Michael Hallissy ◽  
Mark Brown
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Research Literature ◽  
Teacher Professional Learning ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Massive Open Online Course ◽  
The Social ◽  
Recent Phase ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Two Phases

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to describe an innovative model of teacher professional learning that has evolved over a decade (2006 to 2016). Design/methodology/approach Working in a range of different school contexts, in conjunction with an ongoing engagement with the research literature, has enabled the development over three phases of a robust yet flexible framework that meets teachers’ expressed needs. At the same time, the framework helps to shift teachers’ pedagogical orientations, as the learning design supports school-focused, job-embedded teacher professional learning, which challenges more traditional instructional environments by infusing digital technologies and other elements of twenty-first century skills into teaching and learning. Findings Building on the experiences of the first two phases, the paper reports the most recent phase which expands on the emergence of a fourth wave of online learning to design and develop a massive open online course (MOOC) that potentially enables the massive scaling up of access to this already validated model of teacher professional development. The importance of maintaining key elements, threshold concepts and signature pedagogies in the design of MOOCs for teacher professional learning are discussed, and the paper concludes with early lessons from this latest work in progress. Originality/value Challenges are identified relating to the design of the social supports within the MOOC structure to sustain the collaboration, dialogue and ongoing reflection observed across Phases 1 and 2 that are necessary for the changes in pedagogical orientation and classroom practices.

Enhancing teachers' noticing around mathematics teaching practices through video-based lesson study with peer coaching

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Suh ◽  
Melissa A. Gallagher ◽  
Laurie Capen ◽  
Sara Birkhead
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Mathematics Teaching ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Teaching Practices ◽  
Peer Coaching ◽  
Student Thinking ◽  
Video Annotation ◽  
Release Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Study Teams

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine what teachers notice in their own enactment of eight high leverage practices as well as the patterns of interactions between the teachers and their peers when participating in video-based lesson study.Design/methodology/approachEach teacher taught and uploaded video from one lesson to a platform, which allowed video annotation, for their lesson study team. There were nine lesson study teams. This study used a qualitative design to examine the teachers' comments on their own videos as well as the patterns in the comments between peers on lesson study teams.FindingsTeachers noticed both positive instantiations as well as opportunities for growth in their enactment of: using and connecting mathematical representations, posing purposeful questions and supporting students' productive struggle. Analysis displayed a pattern of exchanges where peers coached, validated, empathized and pushed each other beyond their comfort zone as critical peers.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough not all lesson study teams were made up of school-based teams and the teachers shared short recordings of their teaching, this research contributes to the understanding of how adapting lesson study by using video can help teachers notice their instantiation of teaching practices and peers can support and push one another towards ambitious instruction. Future research could extend this work by investigating the impact of video-based lesson study on teachers in isolated areas who may not have professional learning networks.Practical implicationsVideo-based LS may help to overcome barriers to the implementation of lesson study, such as the challenge of scheduling a common release time for lesson observation and the financial burden of funding substitute teachers for release time.Originality/valueThe current realities of COVID-19 creates an opportunity for mathematics educators to reimagine teacher professional development (PD) in ways that push the field forward. In light of this disruption, the authors propose an innovative model of utilizing video-based Lesson Study (LS; Lewis, 2002) with peer coaching to offer PD opportunities with methodological considerations for both mathematics researchers and teacher practitioners. The authors document and analyze a collection of online LSs that were taught by a focal teacher and recorded for the peers in the LS group. Video-based LS PD structure allowed the authors to examine how they can leverage this online model of LS to analyze student thinking and learn about teaching rich tasks in an online environment using eight teaching practices. Through their paper the authors will detail the necessary features of online LS specifically using a video annotation tool like Goreact and how video can be used to enhance the professional learning of the mathematics teaching practices (MTPs; NCTM, 2014) and the noticing of student thinking (Jacobs et al., 2010; Sherin and van Es, 2009; van Es and Sherin, 2002, 2008). In addition, the authors will document the norms that were established in the online LS community that impacted collaboration of LS teams and developed strong peer coaching relationships. The online LS PD design also supports collaboration of teachers from varying contexts, promotes professional growth and demonstrates how educators might leverage peer coaches as social capital within their schools to develop teachers along the professional continuum.

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