The Wholeheartedness of Becoming: Evidence-Based Inquiry into Practice for Inservice Teacher Educators

<p>Recent trends in the professional learning and development of teachers are moving more towards the activation of learning rather than content delivery. Teachers are expected to take more responsibility for their learning within collaborative environments. This has implications for the practice and learning of inservice teacher educators. Evidence-based inquiry into practice (EBIP) is one approach that is being adopted, which involves evaluation of practice against values, beliefs and assumptions. This study investigated the professional learning and development experiences and perceptions of a group of 10 inservice teacher educators, who participated in the Inservice Teacher Education Practice (INSTEP) project from 2005 to 2009. INSTEP was a New Zealand Ministry of Education project designed to investigate and develop professional learning approaches for inservice teacher educators. In particular, its focus was on the implementation of collaborative EBIP to improve practice. Collective case study and grounded theory methodologies were adopted. Semistructured interviews were conducted with participants in 2008 and 2010. The interviews were analysed using inductive content analysis. Theoretical sampling was applied to identify further participants and document sources such as artefacts, reports and publications, which were also used to inform the research. The findings indicate that, while all participants improved practice and gained knowledge through EBIP, some experienced transformations in their perceptions of themselves, their practice, and their role as inservice teacher educators. Rigorous and systematic EBIP was most effective, and only sustained, when it was supported within formal, informal and social organisational contexts. Such contexts incorporated collective responsibility for learning. This included negotiation and development of shared meanings, tools, mechanisms, and frameworks, which systematised and reified the process of EBIP. This also enabled individual professional learning goals to be located within an overall infrastructure incorporating a shared vision, and alignment with strategic priorities and resourcing. The study suggests that sustainability of change and improvement of practice within system-wide educational reform is more likely to be achieved by individuals working coherently within an educational system and organisations that value and adopt an inquiry approach and nurture collaborative environments. Such environments provide safety to expose vulnerabilities, and enable opportunities for learning that minimise the impact of power relations and contestable environments, while offering challenge, support and diversity of perspectives. The theoretical framework for EBIP derived from the research, and an integrative analysis of the literature, identifies three interconnected and interdependent components linked by a common vision of purpose, and a collective commitment to learning. The components are: individual learning and transformation; communities and connectedness; and systematisation and reification. The study includes recommendations for more research into the contexts and processes of collaborative models of professional learning, and into the changing role and professional learning requirements of inservice teacher educators. It also identifies a need to investigate valid means of judging effectiveness of practice for inservice teacher educators, since evidence of enhanced student learning is linked only by a chain of influence to inservice teacher educator practice.</p>

The Wholeheartedness of Becoming: Evidence-Based Inquiry into Practice for Inservice Teacher Educators

<p>Recent trends in the professional learning and development of teachers are moving more towards the activation of learning rather than content delivery. Teachers are expected to take more responsibility for their learning within collaborative environments. This has implications for the practice and learning of inservice teacher educators. Evidence-based inquiry into practice (EBIP) is one approach that is being adopted, which involves evaluation of practice against values, beliefs and assumptions. This study investigated the professional learning and development experiences and perceptions of a group of 10 inservice teacher educators, who participated in the Inservice Teacher Education Practice (INSTEP) project from 2005 to 2009. INSTEP was a New Zealand Ministry of Education project designed to investigate and develop professional learning approaches for inservice teacher educators. In particular, its focus was on the implementation of collaborative EBIP to improve practice. Collective case study and grounded theory methodologies were adopted. Semistructured interviews were conducted with participants in 2008 and 2010. The interviews were analysed using inductive content analysis. Theoretical sampling was applied to identify further participants and document sources such as artefacts, reports and publications, which were also used to inform the research. The findings indicate that, while all participants improved practice and gained knowledge through EBIP, some experienced transformations in their perceptions of themselves, their practice, and their role as inservice teacher educators. Rigorous and systematic EBIP was most effective, and only sustained, when it was supported within formal, informal and social organisational contexts. Such contexts incorporated collective responsibility for learning. This included negotiation and development of shared meanings, tools, mechanisms, and frameworks, which systematised and reified the process of EBIP. This also enabled individual professional learning goals to be located within an overall infrastructure incorporating a shared vision, and alignment with strategic priorities and resourcing. The study suggests that sustainability of change and improvement of practice within system-wide educational reform is more likely to be achieved by individuals working coherently within an educational system and organisations that value and adopt an inquiry approach and nurture collaborative environments. Such environments provide safety to expose vulnerabilities, and enable opportunities for learning that minimise the impact of power relations and contestable environments, while offering challenge, support and diversity of perspectives. The theoretical framework for EBIP derived from the research, and an integrative analysis of the literature, identifies three interconnected and interdependent components linked by a common vision of purpose, and a collective commitment to learning. The components are: individual learning and transformation; communities and connectedness; and systematisation and reification. The study includes recommendations for more research into the contexts and processes of collaborative models of professional learning, and into the changing role and professional learning requirements of inservice teacher educators. It also identifies a need to investigate valid means of judging effectiveness of practice for inservice teacher educators, since evidence of enhanced student learning is linked only by a chain of influence to inservice teacher educator practice.</p>

Chinese teachers’ perceptions of an online teacher course and its results

We investigated teachers’ perceptions of an online inservice teacher course in China and its outcomes, as well as connections between these two types of perceptions. Data were collected from a sample of 251 teachers following a course on Information and Communication Technology in education using a questionnaire survey and interviews. Teachers were generally satisfied with the setup and content of the course, but considered that interaction during training and motivation were not optimal. A correlation analysis showed that teachers’ perceptions of the course were significantly and positively related to their perceptions of training outcomes. Regression analyses revealed that the connection of training content with teachers’ daily practice contributed most positively to teachers’ perceptions of the training outcomes. Suggestions for optimizing online inservice teacher courses are provided.

Rethinking Writing Pedagogy

This chapter examines practices, strategies, and assessments used to support preservice and inservice teachers in becoming digital writers who can thoughtfully integrate digital and multimodal writing into their pedagogical practice. The chapter is organized into two sections: (1) a research-based discussion of goals and strategies for integrating digital and multimodal writing into preservice and inservice teacher education courses, and (2) concrete examples of activities and assessments for teacher education courses that can successfully scaffold teachers into becoming digital writers. Findings demonstrate that the thoughtful and purposeful integration of digital, multimodal writing into teacher education courses can shift understandings of writing as a participatory practice and support teachers in successful classroom integration.