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Not just for special occasions: supporting the professional learning of teachers through critical reflection with audio-visual information
Abstract
Despite increased use of professional learning communities in the teacher education field, they do not necessarily guarantee change in teachers’ daily practice. This study is a multiple case study of three school leaders in Vietnam to connect their teachers’ learning and practice by utilising visual records. In the cases studied, we see a progression of models of joint reflection based on visual information, from only occasional reflection to daily critical reflection, the latter of which the authors call ‘vide-flection’ referring to a process for people to consider their actions, thoughts, or experiences by utilising video-recorded images. For joint vide-flection, school leaders visit every classroom for several minutes every day to observe the wellbeing and learning of pupils and video-record struggles or breakthroughs in children’s learning; they share those images with teachers to jointly reflect on the situations. Through this vide-flection, teachers develop more detailed awareness of pupils needs.
... Firstly, evaluating the quality and effectiveness of teachers' PD Dinh & Doan, 2019;Hoang & Khong, 2021;Phan et al., 2021;Tran & Nguyen Thi, 2019;Tran et al., 2018;Tran, Do Thi, et al., 2020). Secondly, exploring the implementation of different models of PD and their impact on practice (Hoang & Khong, 2021;Nam et al., 2015;Saito & Khong, 2017;Son & Duan, 2010;Tsukui, 2018). ...
... There are also issues relating to the sustainability of lesson study in Vietnamese schools and to what extent its current implementation enables schools to build pathways for teachers' PD, as others have argued in their research (e.g Lim et al., 2011). In a case study on teachers' professional learning in the Bac Giang province of Vietnam Saito and Khong (2017) found that providing teachers with audio-visual resources such as video recordings of their own and/or other teachers' classroom practice could be useful for helping them to reflect on their practice through LSLC. These resources were a powerful tool in supporting teachers to notice learning points in their practice and video-reflection helped them to identify and address difficulties in their classroom practice. ...
... These resources were a powerful tool in supporting teachers to notice learning points in their practice and video-reflection helped them to identify and address difficulties in their classroom practice. According to Saito and Khong (2017) the regular recording of student learning and daily reflections by teachers after reviewing recordings made a critical difference to how teachers approached observation, reflection and their own PD, particularly in the primary sector. However, in the context of secondary schools, classroom observation still seems to be driven by an accountability agenda in Vietnam. ...
This paper focuses on the role of classroom observation in the development and assessment of schoolteachers in Vietnam through a narrative review of current policy and cognate research literature. The overall aim of this review was twofold. Firstly, to contribute to a growing bank of Vietnam-based studies to maximise the value of the insights from this scholarly work into recent policy reforms on teachers' professional development in Vietnam. Secondly, to widen access and exposure to published work on the topic in Vietnamese that is not readily accessible to English-speaking scholars. This review revealed a long history and engrained culture of using observation as a teacher performance evaluation tool. In recent years, there have been policy reforms and research studies that have repositioned observation as a tool for teacher learning and development. However, the implementation of these reforms has been inconsistent across Vietnam, along with recent reform having encountered resistance from a culture of compliance in schools. This paper identifies some of the key issues that policy makers and educational leaders need to address in practice in order to ensure the effective and meaningful implementation of the reforms relating to the use of observation for learning and developmental purposes.
... 71 (Shin & Son, 2019), China (Sato, 2019), Taiwan (Huang, 2019), Vietnam Saito & Khong, 2017;, Indonesia Suratno et al., 2019), and Thailand (Suwanmonkha et al., 2017). In Vietnam, LSLC has been conducted since 2006. ...
... It started to be so under a bilateral technical assistance project . The author has been engaged with many studies related to, or based on, LSLC practices in the country, such as teacher professional development (Saito, 2021a;Saito et al., 2010;Saito & Khong, 2017;Tsukui et al., 2017) and school reform (Saito, 2012;Saito et al., 2018;. A translated guidebook on how to conduct LSLC (Saito et al., 2015b) and resource books were also published in Vietnamese. ...
... However, the principal eventually observed the same issue and decided to visit every classroom every day to video-record on her mobile phone some critical moments related to students' learning and discuss them with the respective teachers. The teachers were gradually sensitised about issues in their daily practices, and these efforts resulted in a great transformation of daily practices based on collaborative learning (Saito & Khong, 2017) -and the reform continued (Saito, 2021a). ...
It has been around 15 years since the commencement of lesson study for the learning community (LSLC) in Vietnam. It started at several pilot schools in Bac Giang province, and today it is practised all over the country. While some pilot schools emerged with high-quality practices, the speed of actual changes in the practices still remains slow. This is because, as the author has found, the following conceptions persist among the policymakers, school leaders and teachers: (a) LSLC requires changing teaching techniques; (b) LSLC is a lesson demonstration, and (c) LSLC is a one-day event. This article addresses these conceptions and argues that LSLC should be considered a fundamental, long-term, and holistic school reform approach based on democratic principles and excellence. To overcome these limitations, it is critical for the practitioners, researchers and policymakers to have networks to share their experiences, be informed about the practices and theories, and research into LSLC more deeply – to even learn from the practitioners and researchers in other countries too.
... Then, it gained popularity among the teachers and school leaders, who understood the limits of conventional, one-way teaching practices or authoritarian ways of school management within a decade (Sato, 2012a). Since then, the LSLC has been internationally practiced in many other countries, for example, China (Sato, 2022), Taiwan (Huang, 2019), Korea (Shin & Son, 2019), Indonesia (Saito, Khong, et al., 2020;Suratno et al., 2019), Vietnam (Saito, 2021;Saito & Khong, 2017), and Thailand (Luanrit et al., 2022;Sato, 2022). In these countries, the education systems are likely to be very hierarchical and competitive under authoritarian political regimes, where only one way of listening is forced upon the people. ...
... Likewise, in Vietnam, the teachers learned from each other about the student learning with reference to the video clips they produced by editing the recordings (Saito, 2021). Such change occurs when they realize that their practices would be at the edgeobstacles or confinements in their practices, which need to be overcome and for this the teachers themselves need to change (Saito & Khong, 2017). In other words, such obstacles are likely to be the realities of the lack of learning in the students and their constrained voices would reach the teachers; the teachers would listen to such voices for the first time. ...
In many Asian countries, education systems are competitive based on high-stakes examinations. Additionally, due to the traditional one-way teaching styles, classroom practices can be highly authoritarian. The issue in such education systems is the alienation of students. They do not learn about themselves; rather, they work toward and/or get distracted by securing their positions according to the standards set by other people and institutions. Many students are thus disengaged from learning and share one common reason for their disengagement: their sense of loss about the meaning of learning is unheeded and they have no opportunity to voice their opinions. Consequently, various sentiments are prevalent, even extremely negative ones, almost equivalent to mutual hostilities. This chapter conceptually discusses the importance of listening in school reform, with special reference to the cases initiated by Manabu Sato and his fellow school leaders, such as Toshiaki Ose and Masaaki Sato. Their approach is known as school as a learning community (SLC) or lesson study for learning community (LSLC); the latter is used herein. LSLC is now widely practiced in various countries in Asia, including China, Taiwan, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Thailand. LSLC aims to overcome the negative sentiments described above and establish communal relationships for mutual learning and well-being. To achieve this, teachers in the schools running LSLC always start listening to each other. This chapter discusses how listening transforms hostilities into trust.
... Teachers can, informally and formally, learn and grow professionally in various ways, either by themselves or with others, inside and outside their workplace. Throughout their professional journeys, they typically engage in a diverse range of activities such as observing, doing, experimenting, reflecting, analysing practice, analysing transcripts of student discussions, exchanging ideas, discussing, interacting and collaborating with colleagues and researchers, and conducting action research (Davies, Kiemer, and Meissel 2017;Dudley 2013;Korthagen 2017;Saito and Khong 2017). Thus, practitioners can learn both inside and outside the classroom, during and after lessons, and with various adult partners. ...
... In Bakhtin's view, when engaging in dialogue with colleagues (such as in lesson study, for example), teachers will address an audience physically present at the time. Considering that each practitioner will naturally bring their own subjective theories to the discussion -a 'complex web of beliefs, knowledge, attitudes, personal theories and identities' (Penlington 2006, 12) -it may be the case that practitioners observe different classroom scenes during lesson study, or witness the same occurrence but interpret it in various ways (Saito and Khong 2017). Accordingly, diverging strategies may be proposed. ...
Background
Although dialogue is often regarded as a vehicle for teacher professional development and learning, particularly in relation to verbal interactions between teachers, its uses remain limited. Deepening the understanding of dialogue in its fullest sense, and its potential applications in education, may help to unleash its power in supporting how teachers learn in various contexts.
Purpose and sources
This discussion paper aims to explore and conceptualise the complex construct of authentic dialogue for teacher professional learning. It draws on the notion of dialogue and other related concepts within the Bakhtinian tradition. For this purpose, it begins by situating this approach in the context of various views about dialogue. Forming the heart of the paper is the application of these concepts to a proposal for three channels of dialogue for teacher learning in professional contexts: dialogue with colleagues, dialogue with self, and dialogue with students.
Main argument
Diverging from the common notion of dialogue, Bakhtin’s dialogue connotes complexity, involving multiple perspectives from those present or absent from the dialogue, including super-addressees. Dialogue and related concepts in Bakhtin’s tradition can help us gain a fuller and more sophisticated understanding of how teachers learn through collaboration with different learning partners through space and time – including with self and students, in addition to colleagues. It is argued that adopting a Bakhtinian lens to dialogue can potentially engender complex but enriched teacher learning.
Conclusion
The paper offers an exploratory conceptual framework as a way of examining teacher learning through authentic dialogue. It promotes awareness of the need for researchers to sensitise themselves to the meaning of teachers’ utterances in particular contexts through time and space to better understand visible and invisible perspectives, as well as the voices influencing teachers’ words. The proposed early-stage framework has the potential to be developed and refined further through future theoretical and empirical research.
... In recent years, advances in digital technology have meant that teachers in developing countries like Vietnam have been able to take advantage of the benefits of using mobile devices to record lessons. In his research, Saito (2021) found an increase in Vietnamese schoolteachers using their mobile phones and tablets to record their teaching and to use these recordings as the stimulus for engaging in professional conversations or 'videflections' (Saito and Khong 2017) with their peers. According to Saito (2021), these videflections have triggered a change in teachers' classroom practice and their attitudes to observation, notably an increased focus on their students' learning in their professional conversations. ...
... Given the high-stakes nature of these observations, it is hardly surprising that teachers engaged in gaming the system, a finding echoed in other studies (e.g. Saito and Khong 2017). However, both novice and core teachers were all too aware of the inauthenticity of such practice and how it failed to support teacher development: ...
In 2018, Vietnam’s National Teacher Education Programme established a new framework for schoolteachers’ professional development. Classroom observation was the dominant method used for teacher monitoring, assessment and development. This paper explores the use and impact of current classroom observation policy and practice on novice teachers in Vietnamese secondary schools. Our study draws on qualitative data from 35 semi-structured interviews across four provinces. Our findings revealed ongoing policy-practice tensions, with the prioritisation and dominance of classroom observation as an assessment tool for sorting rather than supporting teachers. These tensions were indicative of a wider policy-practice disconnect enshrined in recent reform by the Ministry of Education and Training that advocated the adoption of lesson study as the preferred national approach in schools. However, the experiences of our participants reflected a very different picture in practice that reinforced traditional hierarchies of power associated with evaluative models of observation that are designed to standardise and rank teachers’ classroom performance rather than develop the quality of teaching. Instead of the more collaborative and collegial ethos typically associated with inquiry-based approaches like lesson study, observation was being used largely as a high-stakes assessment, resulting in increased levels of anxiety and stress among teachers.
... The first approach is called "cooperative learning," where the students work together to produce the answers to questions as an outcome of teamwork, replete with role divisions and a reward structure (Baloche & Brody, 2017;Buchs et al., 2017;Van Ryzin & Roseth, 2018;Zuhdi, 2015). The second approach is "collaborative learning," where students consult with each other, focusing on individual needs, about what they do not understand (Hakkarainen et al., 2013;Saito, 2021c;Saito & Khong, 2017;Saito et al., 2020Saito et al., , 2021Webb, 2013). Both approaches aim to promote mutual support of the students, even while accountability of each student in a group is emphasized. ...
... Then, regarding the self-help activities by the students during the lockdown, these could be considered as expanded forms of collaborative learning, emphasizing mutual consultations based on help-seeking (Hakkarainen et al., 2013;Saito, 2021c;Saito & Khong, 2017;Saito et al., 2020Saito et al., , 2021Sato & Saito, 2020;Webb, 2013). The difference that the students at School B illustrated was that they collaborated outside the schools, while the other cases were all observed inside classrooms. ...
... Then, the LSLC has been internationally shared with other schools abroad, for example, in China (Sato 2022), Korea (Shin and Son 2019), Indonesia (Suratno et al. 2019, Author 2020, Vietnam (Saito & Khong 2017, and Thailand (Sato 2022), in addition to Japanese schools. Then, video records are the key knowledge artefacts in having joint reflections, and the teachers in Japan tended to reflect on the practices based on a record by one teacher. ...
... Then, video records are the key knowledge artefacts in having joint reflections, and the teachers in Japan tended to reflect on the practices based on a record by one teacher. In contrast, in Vietnam, each teacher started to use their mobile phone to have their own video records and refer to the clips in the joint reflections, as well as a principal actively used their records for daily conversations with the teachers (Saito & Khong 2017. In addition, for the individual teacher to record the videos by using mobile phones, they develop the tool as shown in the following: ...
Professional learning may be the most significant when the teacher feels fundamentally challenged and questioned about their practices, beliefs, or identities. In this paper, the elements that cause such fundamental challenges and questions-disruptions-are called 'disruptive hooks'. In the process of addressing such disruptive hooks, teachers create various knowledge artefacts to store the meaning of the various pieces of information. However, there would not necessarily be sufficient discussions about artefacts as outcomes of reflective practices and the way for disruption to boost or ignite the creation of knowledge artefacts. This conceptual paper argued that disruptive hooks would lead teachers to professional learning, which would then result in knowledge artefacts being produced to store the information, knowledge, know-how, or even imagination. In other words, professional learning requires disruptive hooks by its nature, and the struggles in the learning and changing processes of the teachers result in producing knowledge artefacts.
... Under such conflict, the teachers and authors attuned our vision of school reform and co-practised lesson study to advance our shared goal . We have published a series of studies on the process of our RPP Saito & Attencio, 2013Tsukui, 2014Tsukui, Saito, Sato, Murase, & Michiyama 2017Saito Khong, 2017Tsukui, 2018Tsukui, 2020). While observing a lesson, Vietnamese teachers often criticized their colleagues' flaws, saying that their lessons were not implemented as prescribed by the teachers' guide. ...
... The second author visited the research field once or twice a year during 2007-2015 to exchange ideas on school reform with teachers at the pilot schools. We retained the LSLC approach and simply accumulated sessions of lesson study assisted by short videos Saito & Khong, 2017). The case described further in text is based on our filed record on 16 March 2016, in pilot school B. We discussed a science lesson about the types of creatures, taught to Grade 4 students. ...
This study examined research–practice partnerships (RPP) as a place where teachers (re)shape their discourses in a distinctive working arrange- ment through our case in Vietnam. In particular, it explored the concept of subjectivity in dispositifs, focusing on a heterogeneous ensemble of dis- cursive and nondiscursive arrangements of collective activities formulat- ing its members’ patterns of thought, practice, and identity. We present the historical roots of dispositif in Vietnamese schools and locate a new one in our RPP. There are two categories of dispositif in organizations from the Vietnamese public sector: assembly and gathering. We added a model of Lesson Study for Learning Community (LSLC) as a dispositif from Japan. The assembly is an authorized place for the members to convey informa- tion in a hierarchical order, while the gathering represents occasions for discussing issues in an egalitarian manner. The arrangements of discursive and socio-material conditions of the LSLC allowed the teachers to engage in equal and free discussions relying on their own emotions. Our case suggests that exploring dispositif of schools could improve the design of teacher professional learning through RPP.
... It is a view supported by teacher development research which suggests teachers need ample opportunities to think through new ideas and to try out innovative practices, preferably in a context where they get feedback from peers and a more expert practitioner to refine their practice in collaboration with colleagues (Davies, Kiemer, & Meissel, 2017;Sedova, Sedlacek, & Svaricek, 2016;Wilkinson et al., 2017). Observation, coaching and talk-analysis feedback aided by video-stimulated reflective recall have been found to be useful tools for professional development (Saito & Khong, 2017). Such reflective cycles of professional learning have also had a sizeable impact on student outcomes (Coe, Aloisi, Higgins, & Major, 2014). ...
... Observation/ feedback routines structured explicitly as part of whole-school professional development have been found to be particularly effective in enabling teachers to work on implementing pedagogical changes to improve student learning outcomes (Coe et al., 2014;Hennessy, Dragovic, & Warwick, 2018). Feedback loops using video footage, as in the current study, have also been found to be a powerful tools for teacher professional development (Davies et al., 2017;Saito & Khong, 2017;Wilkinson et al., 2017). ...
... For instance, Swanson et al.'s [53] ongoing dialogic reflection and co-teaching, Ab Rashid's [51] dialogic reflection through conversations on social media social networks, Bailey and Willet's [54] idea of collaborative conversations among language teachers, Elbaz's [55] suggestion of writing as inquiry and storytelling of the teaching self in writing workshops, Harlin (2017) [56] and McCullagh's [57] recommendations of teachers viewing videos of their teaching, and Tour's [58] teachers' self-initiated professional learning through personal learning networks. The instructors can use reflective teaching to recognize weaknesses in their employed teaching methods or implemented designs and guide effective instructional strategies to solve issues relative to teaching and learning development [59][60][61]. Further, reflection allows instructors to think of positive teaching emotions that they value and negative ones they would like to avoid [62]. ...
Reflection occurs as a learning process in which thoughts are consequential and continu-
ously improved upon. The current research examined teacher reflection by examining the influence
of multilingualism and professional development activities on teacher reflection levels. Data were
analyzed using IBM SPSS employing 226 male and 207 female EFL instructors teaching in Saudi
Arabia. Variables were grouped into languages spoken and professional development activities.
Inferential statistics (i.e., descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, and one-way ANOVA) were
utilized. The findings revealed that reflective practices varied significantly due to the languages spo-
ken. The mean of the total English Language Teaching Reflection Inventory (ELTRI) for participants who
performed the professional development activity is higher than for those who did not. Further, par-
ticipants who collaborated with colleagues were mentored, self-studied, and took courses illustrated
a significantly higher total score on the ELTRI. When designing professional development curricula,
a greater focus on particular reflection training should be more appropriate depending on completed
professional benchmarks. These implications and the future direction of this study highlight the
dynamic influence of multilingualism in reflective practices. Henceforward, the study suggests the
imperative need to provide teachers with professional development programs for training them and
elevate their awareness of the effectiveness of reflective teaching practices.
Keywords: reflective practices; teachers’ reflection; multilingualism; professional development
activities; teaching experience
... One such approach is called 'lesson study for learning community' (Saito and Sato, 2012;Saito et al., 2015;Saito, 2021) or 'school as learning community (Sato, 2019;Suzuki, 2022). Many schools use this approach in Asia, such as in Japan (Suzuki, 2022), China (Sato, 2022), Korea (Shin and Son, 2019), Indonesia (Suratno et al., 2019), and Vietnam (Saito, 2021;Saito and Khong, 2017). ...
A curriculum is supposed to be something that the teachers and authorities would construct. Recently, more studies have focused on student contributions to curriculum development. These studies largely framed listening to student voices in the planning processes. However, actual voices can be heard in the process of running classes, and such needs also help the teachers realign, redesign, and redevelop curricula improvisationally. This is also a ‘co-curriculum’ by listening to the voices of students who stumble. This essay aims to conceptually discuss the possibility of recognising students’ stumbles during the classes as seeds for improvisational curriculum development and design, positioning the students as curriculum co-makers with their teachers. Such attempts require a climate where the right of every student to learn is recognised and valued, and it depends on school leadership and management to highlight the importance that the learning opportunities are provided to every student.
... That is, they would have had a right to argue for the need to be provided with resources to overcome increased uncertainty resulting from changing their practices (North 2010) and to understand the meaning and values of reformed practices (Spillane, Reiser, and Reimer 2002), as well as incentives to change their practices (North 2010). To address these, the teachers would need a sufficient amount of time to have discussions and consultations with clinical consultants or experts and peers about their practices (Saito 2021c) and to engage in self-reflection (Saito and Khong 2017;Saito, Do Thi, and Khong Thi Diem 2010). According to the previous literature concerning the hardships Myanmar teachers faced changing their practices (Maber, Oo, and Higgins 2019;Lwin 2021;Hardman et al. 2016;Cheesman 2003;Lall 2011Lall , 2021, there is evidence that a tremendous amount of tasks would need to be completed to be sufficiently prepared for the shift. ...
Pedagogical reform is an institutional change that involves revising the rules of the game in practice, the legitimacy of which depends on political and legislative contexts. In the context of Myanmar's experience transitioning into a democratic society, this study discusses the changes in theoretical equilibria concerning pedagogical practices with reference to the changes in the links between the national regime, education policies, and teacher preference about practices. As the country transitioned from a junta to a civilian government, education policies became more democratised. However, the coup d'état of February 2021 could retract these changes. ARTICLE HISTORY
... Để hiện thực hoá tầm nhìn và triết lí trên, cần thiết lập một hệ thống hoạt động gồm 3 cấu thành: (1) việc học tập cộng tác của học sinh trong các bài học hàng ngày, (2) sự hình thành cộng đồng học tập chuyên môn của giáo viên qua việc thường xuyên cùng nhau dự giờ và suy ngẫm về bài học theo NCBH, và (3) sự tham gia vào bài học trên lớp của phụ huynh và người dân địa phương (Saito & Yeo, 2016). Cần lưu ý rằng việc dự giờ và suy ngẫm về bài học tập trung vào việc học tập của học sinh, sử dụng trích đoạn hình ảnh video bài học làm bằng chứng cho việc phân tích, thảo luận sâu (Saito & Khổng, 2017). ...
Giáo viên và chất lượng của giáo viên là yếu tố hệ thống quan trọng nhất có ảnh hưởng đến kết quả học tập của học sinh (Alton-Lee, 2003). Do đó, việc bồi dưỡng, phát triển chuyên môn liên tục, tại trường cho đội ngũ giáo viên trở thành nhu cầu và chính sách ở nhiều quốc gia. Ở Việt Nam, điều này được thực hiện thông qua Sinh hoạt chuyên môn (SHCM) truyền thống. Tuy nhiên, hoạt động bắt buộc này không mang lại hiệu quả như mong muốn. Những năm gần đây, mô hình Nghiên cứu bài học vì cộng đồng học tập đã được giới thiệu và áp dụng ở một số địa phương trên cả nước như một cách tiếp cận phát triển chuyên môn cho giáo viên hiệu quả hơn. Ở Việt Nam, mô hình này còn được gọi là Sinh hoạt chuyên môn theo Nghiên cứu bài học và hiện đã trở thành chính sách giáo dục quốc gia từ năm 2014. Đây là một bước tiến mới cho việc phát triển chuyên môn của giáo viên phổ thông; tuy nhiên, nó chưa phải là điều kiện đủ. Bài viết này sẽ làm rõ những yếu tố nền tảng cần có để chính sách có tác động thực sự tới việc nâng cao chất lượng dạy và học ở trường phổ thông.
(Bài đã được đăng trên tạp chí Vietnam Innovation Review ngày 29/11/2021: https://www.vietnaminnovationreview.org/2021/11/29/sinh-hoat-chuyen-mon-theo-nghien-cuu-bai-hoc-o-viet-nam-khong-nen-chi-la-cong-cu-phat-trien-chuyen-mon-thuan-tuy/)
... Turning to school management, there are diverse practices throughout the region concerning the degree of autonomy that school leaders can have, from being restricted, such as in Vietnam (Saito, Tsukui, & Tanaka, 2008) or Cambodia (Kim & Rouse, 2011), to being well established in Thailand (Patrinos, Arcia, & Macdonald, 2015) or Indonesia (Saito, Hendayana, Imansyah, Ibrohim, & Hideharu, 2006). However, rather than focusing on the conditions themselves, the point is that while school leaders can well identify the issues about pedagogical practices in their schools and provide leadership about them (Patrinos et al., 2015;Saito & Khong, 2017), many continue to work merely as a part of bureaucratic machinery (Bjork, 2005;Patrinos et al., 2015;Saito et al., 2008). ...
The Coronavirus disease of 2019 (COVID-19) has impacted the world immensely in terms of both global health and economy. It has exacerbated the gap between the economically advantaged and disadvantaged groups in terms of access to various resources and opportunities across the world. This situation has been described as ‘collateral damage’, which represents unexpected and unintended negative impacts that deprive the poor of certain opportunities and rights. Interestingly, the differences in capability to respond to the issues caused by COVID-19 are observed in developed and developing countries alike. This paper aims to discuss the potential risk factors that encourage students to drop out as collateral damage due to COVID-19, based on the literature on developing South East Asian countries. This commentary argues that collateral damage caused by COVID-19 has revealed a serious limitation in the nature of formal schooling in South East Asia. Although more socio-economically vulnerable groups can participate in formal schooling, there is still not a sufficiently communal climate in these schools that would prevent them from dropping out.
... Since 2006, in Bac Giang Province, Japanese consultants including the author have introduced a school reform model using lesson study 2 , which is called as an approach 'School as Learning Community (SLC)' (Sato, 2006(Sato, , 2012bSato & Sato, 2015), and the school reform practice has been gradually spreading (Saito, Khong, & Tsukui, 2012;Saito, Tsukui, & Tanaka, 2008;. In this practice, (1) teachers learned to observe every student by series of school-based teacher training to change the perception of teachers about their roles and helped them implement new classroom practices (Saito & Khong, 2017;Tsukui, 2020). This paper examines how the teachersʼ freedom has changed in these school reforms . ...
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to examine Vietnamese teachers’ liberty in the socialist educational administration by re-organising the three teachers’ biographies in a rural province. While retaining the duty as promoting agents for Socialism they and their colleagues have undergone a substantial change in their professional roles towards learner-centred education since the curriculum revision in 2000. The focal event of this chapter was the introduction of the School as Learning Community (one of lesson study models in Japan) that effected the teachers’ senses of liberty and dependence on the authority. Some embodied the will for the better welfare of every student and enjoyed the positive liberty in teaching for achieving it whereas others understood lesson study as a new top-down imperative and recognised it as a deontic unfreedom. The process to develop the positive liberty above involved a balancing between the deontic unfreedom and the republic freedom, which was achieved by iteration of modified everyday activities provided by the lesson study. The shift in their liberty entailed the two key momentums: they found out the ‘ontological observation’ of unique students and experienced the ‘acceptance of self and others’ by watching their selves acting in a society of classroom with students in video lessons. We name the school that promoted the new teacher liberty as an oasis that could emerge and disappear according to the modality of lesson study.
... In this sense, there have only been a few school principals in Vietnam who have overcome this issue. Their method involves bringing a mobile phone with video-camera function to every classroom on a daily basis recording the situations that she becomes concerned about or interested in, in order to have short reflections with the teachers afterwards, called 'vide-flection' (Saito and Khong, 2017). ...
In many South East Asian countries, group learning has been introduced as a method to reform classroom practices. Cooperative learning in particular, based on role division, rewards and competition, is highly popular. On the other hand, collaborative learning, the other type of group learning, based on mutual consultation and help-seeking without the structures of cooperative learning, is a challenge to introduce. The aim of this essay is to discuss the reasons why teachers in South East Asia face difficulty in adjusting to collaborative learning. Three issues are discussed, namely (1) students’ reluctance to ask what they do not know due to the lesson structure and negative psychological effects; (2) difficulty in creating sufficiently challenging tasks for students to have mutual consultation, due to the teachers’ insufficient experience in academic inquiry and expertise in their disciplines; and (3) connecting their learning from observation and reflection with their own teaching.
... Studies of critical reflection in MSJTE have also shown that it deepens students' understandings of their power and privilege (Acquah & Commins, 2015;Liu & Milman, 2014). For example, based on their case study of school sites in which critical reflection was used to help teachers examine their teaching practice, Saito and Khong (2017) found that over time participants became less likely to hold deficit views of students and more likely to consider their own roles in students' struggles. Similarly, in a study of education leadership students in a program that emphasized critical reflection, Collay (2014) found that it bolstered participants' abilities and desires to advocate for marginalized students. ...
Multicultural and social justice teacher education (MSJTE) scholars often have argued the importance of critical reflection in the cultivation of equity and social justice minded educators. In this critical content analysis study, we used existing conceptualizations of critical reflection to analyze reflection assignments from MSJTE courses in education degree and licensing programs in the United States to identify the nature of critical reflection incorporated into them and what distinguished critical reflection opportunities from other reflective assignments. Based on this analysis, we offer the beginnings of a typology of five approaches to reflection in multicultural and social justice education courses: (a) amorphous “cultural” reflection, (b) personal identity reflection, (c) cultural competence reflection, (d) equitable and just school reflection, and (e) social transformation reflection. We describe the characteristics of each and the role they might play in MSJTE contexts.
... Coaching and talkanalysis feedback making use of key indicators as discussed in this chapter are useful tools for professional development whereby sympathetic discussion by groups of teachers of data derived from their own classrooms can be an effective starting point for implementing a dialogic pedagogy. The use of video-recordings, audio and transcribed sections of lessons capturing critical moments selected by teacher and observers can also be a powerful means of promoting critical reflection on professional practice (Saito & Khong, 2017). Videostimulated critical reflection of critical moments selected form lessons has been found to be an effective way of encouraging teachers and students to articulate and demonstrate their own understanding of their interactive and discourse practices by provided opportunities for monitoring and self-evaluation. ...
... From July 2017 to June 2018, the authors ran a joint project and (the third, fourth and fifth authors, especially) conducted 70 school visits from July 2017 to April 2018 in four lower secondary schools in West Java. In addition to the Indonesian project, the first and second authors have been working with the teachers in Vietnam on LSLC and have published papers based on their experiences in Vietnam as well (Saito and Tsukui 2008, Saito et al. 2010, Saito and Atencio 2013, Saito and Atencio 2015b, Saito et al. 2017, Saito et al. 2018). ...
Lesson study has attracted the attention of teachers and teacher educators over the past two decades, and practices vary from region to region and from school to school. This study, as a conceptual discussion paper, aims to discuss the modes of coordination of lesson study at the school level, based on comparative institutional analysis (CIA). CIA is a framework to investigate the 'rules of the game' that govern given organisations. The conditions of categorisation include three core foci: whether lesson study is essentially more subject oriented or student oriented, whether or not the entire school is involved and whether or not the members are consistent throughout the process. According to these conditions, five modes are generated, namely: subject expert mode (E-mode), subject departmental mode (D-mode), LSLC multiple layer mode (M-mode), LSLC initial concentration mode (C-mode) and LSLC initial participation mode (P-mode). These are based on the differing needs of teachers: E-mode and D-mode refer to the more subject oriented lesson study aimed at instructional improvement; M-mode refers to school reform based on the needs of students observed in the process of lessons; finally, C-mode and P-mode are introductory approaches to M-mode, requiring careful planning and management for scaling up.
... Mann and Walsh's (2013, p. 303) 'repositioning' of reflective practice to 'emphasize dialogic collaboration' is particularly useful to this study as it helps establish the link between teacher activities on Facebook and TPD. There are several recent studies which focus on dialogic collaboration for reflection, such as Charteris and Thomas (2017), Harlin (2017), and Saito and Khong (2017). However, the studies mainly focus on the formal face-to-face feedback session of video-recorded lessons instead of informal dialogic collaboration which occurs in teachers' daily lives via SNS. ...
This article provides insights into how teachers benefited from their engagement in teaching-related conversations on Facebook timelines. The main data generated from participant observation and semi-structured interviews involving 34 English language teachers were analyzed using thematic and discourse analysis approaches. The analysis reveals that the teachers’ supportive conversations on the timelines revolve around troublesome experiences encountered in school which serve as a trigger for the teachers to engage in dialogic reflection, which enables them to have a better interpretation of their professional lives. The findings from this study point towards the need for reconceptualization of ‘teacher professional development’ as an opportunity for the construction of a collective and satisfying interpretation of themselves-in-the-world, where teachers work together to make sense of both mundane reality and stressful teaching-related events through the co-construction of social support.
Given the importance of their roles in society, the education of professionals is a central concern for providers and recipients of public services. In this article we consider the contribution of research on professional learning to current debate on the form and content of professional education. This mapping review asked, ‘What does the research literature tell us about the characteristics of research into professional learning across professions?’ We identified and synthesised primary research involving post‐qualification professionals' professional learning. We searched seven databases using terms such as ‘professional learning’, ‘professional development’ and ‘continuing education’ from 2000 to date. We carefully screened articles against agreed criteria, extracted data and mapped the findings. After removing duplicates, 20,616 records remained. After full text screening, 356 articles were included: 266 from teaching (75%), 77 from healthcare (22%) and 13 from another profession or cross‐professional (4%). Three included papers that spanned professions. Only 6% of articles studied the institution as the unit of analysis (rather than the individual). Around half of the included papers (49%) included an intervention. Most teaching interventions were proximal to the workplace whereas most healthcare/other studies were distal to the workplace, perhaps reflecting stage of development of the research field. Our study synthesised a heterogeneous literature to indicate the types or research that are needed to progress the debate. The clear differences in ‘style’ between professions suggested that collaboration could provide mutual benefit. Future research requires studies that report research in ways that lend themselves to evidence synthesis or replication.
Sustainable Teacher Education and Professional Development
Pre-service education and in-service teacher professional development (collectively termed teacher professional development or TPD here) can play a pivotal role in raising teaching quality and, therefore, learning outcomes for children and young people in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). However, TPD opportunities in LMICs are limited, unsustained, and often not informed by recent research evidence, and outcomes are mixed. Educational technologies offer potential to enhance formally provided programmes and informal peer-learning forms of TPD. We present the first systematic review of the literature pertaining to technology-mediated TPD for educators of school-aged learners in LMICs, aiming to characterise appropriate and effective uses of technology along with specific constraints operating in those contexts.
An in-depth synthesis of 170 studies was undertaken, considering macro-, meso- and micro-level factors during TPD design and implementation in the 40 LMICs represented. Volume of publications increased dramatically over the review period (2008–2020), indicating that the field is rapidly developing. Results largely showed benefits for teachers, but evidence for sustainability, cost-effectiveness or tangible impacts on classroom practice and student outcomes was thin. Promising, locally-contextualised forms of technology-mediated TPD included virtual coaching, social messaging, blended learning, video-stimulated reflection, and use of subject-specific software/applications. We report on the variable effectiveness of programmes and limited attention to marginalised groups. To maximise effectiveness of technology-enhanced TPD, the role of facilitators or expert peers is paramount – yet often glossed over – and the interpersonal dimension of teacher learning must be maintained. Recommendations are made for researchers, policymakers, teachers and teacher educators.
Within the field of teacher education, the significance of promoting critical reflection is highlighted by scholars because it is generally believed that teachers engaging in critical reflection are more able to examine bias, challenge embedded assumptions, and take actions toward educational justice. In the field of teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL), there is a growing interest in the cultivation of educators with critical reflection ability. In this chapter, the authors introduce a set of effective tools by which worldwide pre-service TESOL educators can practice critical reflection. The sets include a 4D framework and a worksheet. By incorporating this tool into learning and future English teaching lives, pre-service TESOL educators can be involved in continuous cycles of high-level critical reflection. Through learning on their own reflections, teachers can gain new insights, improve teaching skills, and ultimately, create a more just society for students.
Professional development is increasingly considered key to school reform in many countries. This study was based on the experience of the author in Vietnam, where along with other teachers, the author has been engaged in the attempt to reform schools since 2006. The critical element of this work is for teachers to regularly observe and reflect on classroom practices with one another by focusing on students and their learning. While the author tended to use video recordings for reflection and analysis since the beginning of the collaboration, the teachers in those schools recently started to use their own video recordings on their mobile phones and tablets to share their reflections. This study aimed to discuss the meaning of this evolution from the actor-network theoretical perspective. It will be argued that (1) the right to edit visual evidence to support their narratives was decentralised from the international consultant to the local teachers and that (2) the potential emerged for observed lessons, and possibly joint reflection sessions, to become sites of ‘heteroglossia’ (multiple voices) and ‘heteroopia’ (multiple gazes), which allowed the teachers to diversify their understanding of the situation and of student learning and needs.
This paper investigates the types of talk moves used by teachers and students following the implementation of a dialogic teaching professional development programme. It draws on talk data derived from 42 video-recorded primary English lessons collected as part of a larger impact evaluation of the intervention. The video recordings were subjected to a systematic analysis and quantification of teacher and student talk moves together with a more nuanced, micro-level analysis of a sub-sample of 18 lesson transcripts. The findings showed that teachers in the intervention compared to the control schools made significantly greater use of discussion and dialogue, characterized by open/authentic initiation questions and follow-up talk moves that resulted in students participating more in the whole-class talk and elaborating on their thinking and that of other students. Implications of the findings for classroom practice and teacher professional development are discussed.
Keywords: dialogic teaching, classroom talk, discourse analysis, randomised controlled trial, professional development programme
In studies on teacher professional development, the embodiment of teachers’ values in professional practice has emerged as an important area of focus. Employing the sociocultural approach, this study discusses the link between teachers’ acts and underlying values based on a Vietnamese teacher’s detailed field notes on cases of school reform through the introduction of Japanese lesson study for learning community. Drawing on the concepts of inspection and stroll, the study describes the discrepancy between conventional observational acts and emerging ones. Inspection refers to the actions and values held by teachers that underline compliance with the prescribed curriculum and educational bureaucratic procedures, while stroll refers to a disposition that entails actions and values appreciating each pupil’s existence and learning as it is, without rigid bureaucratic perspectives. The finding was that the teacher’s act of stroll embeds new underlying values in her/his professional work; similarly, how she/he performs a stroll could inform her/his professional knowledge and identity. Lesson study can offer the teacher the experience of seeing self that generates the possible momentum of these parallel shifts.
Based on recent findings about teacher learning, a critical analysis of traditional and new approaches to professional development is presented. To a large degree, teacher learning takes place unconsciously and involves cognitive, emotional and motivational dimensions. Moreover, teacher learning takes place at various levels. Although these insights may be inconvenient truths to policy-makers, empirical evidence is presented showing that approaches building on the multi-level and multi-dimensional nature of teacher learning are effective at influencing teacher behaviour. Hence, in teacher learning, the connection with the person of the teacher is crucial. Practical consequences for professional development are discussed.
This chapter focuses primarily on the specific orientations, purposes, practices, and systems those pursuing reflective teacher education might or even must incorporate into the program to be consistent with the relevant notions. In the first part of this chapter, the authors revisit foundational ideas of reflection and reflective practice from John Dewey, Donald Schön, Paolo Freire, Maxine Greene, and Marilyn Cochran-Smith and Susan Lytle. In each case they look at how reflection is understood, its role in education, and its implications for teacher education. Then they move on to describe contemporary conceptualizations and models of practice of reflection at three, nested levels: reflection in students’ learning, (descriptive feedback, knowledge building, and Knowledge Forum), reflection in teachers’ learning, (core reflection, descriptive inquiry, and action research); and reflection in the learning of teacher educators, (self-study). They conclude by claiming that reflection is not a matter of adding something new and externally derived, but rather of transforming what educators are already doing, first and foremost by becoming more aware of themselves, others, and the world within which they live, together.
Teacher-education programs are under increasing pressure to demonstrate the effectiveness of their graduates at a time in which many states have adopted a new generation of formal teacher-evaluation systems. Despite the current emphasis on the evaluation of teacher proficiency, the opportunity to reflect upon practice remains a vital aspect of teacher education. This exploratory study investigates the potential that video-stimulated recall (VSR) holds for promoting preservice-teacher reflection in conjunction with a state-mandated evaluation instrument. Results indicate that VSR holds promise for improving specific and growth-oriented reflection though there is potential for more.
In this article I sketch three key concepts of a cultural-historical theory of mathematics teaching and learning—the theory of objectification. The concepts are: knowledge, knowing and learning. The philosophical underpinning of the theory revolves around the work of Georg W. F. Hegel and its further development in the philosophical works of K. Marx and the dialectic tradition (including Vygotsky and Leont’ev). Knowledge, I argue, is movement. More specifically, knowledge is a historically and culturally codified fluid form of thinking and doing. Knowledge is pure possibility and can only acquire reality through activity—the activity that mediates knowledge and knowing. The inherent mediated nature of knowing requires learning, which I theorize as social, sensuous and material processes of objectification. The ideas are illustrated through a detailed classroom example with 9–10-year-old students.
Education policy faces a familiar public policy challenge: Local implementation is difficult. In this article we develop a cognitive framework to characterize sense-making in the implementation process that is especially relevant for recent education policy initiatives, such as standards-based reforms that press for tremendous changes in classroom instruction. From a cognitive perspective, a key dimension of the implementation process is whether, and in what ways, implementing agents come to understand their practice, potentially changing their beliefs and attitudes in the process. We draw on theoretical and empirical literature to develop a cognitive perspective on implementation. We review the contribution of cognitive science frames to implementation research and identify areas where cognitive science can make additional contributions.
This article describes a model of teacher change originally presented nearly two decades ago (Guskey, 1986) that began my long and warm friendship with Michael Huberman. The model portrays the temporal sequence of events from professional develop- ment experiences to enduring change in teachers' attitudes and perceptions. Research evidence supporting the model is summarized and the conditions under which change might be facilitated are described. The development and presentation of this model initiated a series of professional collaborations between Michael and myself, and led to the development of our co-edited book, Professional Development in Education: new paradigms and practices (Guskey & Huberman, 1995), which was namedBook of the Year' by the National Staff Development Council in 1996.
This paper presents a descriptive analysis of education reform in selected Southeast Asian nations between 1995 and 2007. It reports the results of a purposive survey of elite informants comprising scholars and educational leaders involved in education reform in Thailand, Malaysia, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore. The paper addresses two main questions: What have been the main obstacles to education reform in Southeast Asia? And is there anything unique about the process of educational reform and change in Southeast Asia or anything different from processes reported in the Western literature? Although the paper finds more similarities than differences in the process of education reform in Southeast Asia, the author notes distinctive obstacles to reform in these societies. These differences are linked to a cultural explanation of educational change.
This paper reports on a case study of schools in Vietnam wherein teachers are engaged in school reform activities known as
professional teacher meetings (PTMs), which is based on an approach called lesson study for learning community (LSLC). The
PTMs under LSLC were introduced in 2006, but the teachers involved are still conducting the activities despite scarcity of
resources, particularly technical ones. This study addresses the following research question: Why have teachers continued
to organize PTMs after the project ended? Three aspects will help address the research question. First, teachers had faith
in the effectiveness of the PTMs. Second, enthusiasm and support of seniors and authorities such as school principals could
have also helped sustain the PTMs. Third, the need to maintain a respectable reputation before external parties could also
be an important factor.
As the limitations of the `charismatic head' theories of leadership in schools have become ever more apparent, there has been a move towards teacher leadership, characterized by a form of collective leadership in which teachers develop expertise by working collaboratively. In this article, the possible benefits of teacher leadership are explored, as well as the possible barriers to and opportunities for making teacher leadership work in practice. It is concluded that teacher leadership could have beneficial effects on school improvement, school and teacher effectiveness and teacher motivation and retention, but that the right conditions need to be in place in order for teacher leadership to flourish. The lack of research on teacher leadership in the UK is noted.
International evidence suggests that educational reform’s progress depends on teachers’ individual and collective capacity and its link with school-wide capacity for promoting pupils’ learning. Building capacity is therefore critical. Capacity is a complex blend of motivation, skill, positive learning, organisational conditions and culture, and infrastructure of support. Put together, it gives individuals, groups, whole school communities and school systems the power to get involved in and sustain learning over time. Developing professional learning communities appears to hold considerable promise for capacity building for sustainable improvement. As such, it has become a ‘hot topic’ in many countries.
This article reports on an empirical study of the management of curriculum and instruction in South African secondary schools. Drawing on data collected from 200 schools in 2007, a series of regression analyses tested the relationship between various dimensions of leadership and student achievement gains over time. Whilst the research confirms what we do know about school management in South Africa, and aligns with much of the international research base, the strong emphasis that emerges on school-community relations offers important insights for school management development.
This inquiry, by means of the case study method, explored how the conceptions of principals about their role of school leader contribute to a better understanding of their behavior and the impact on school climate. The results showed that differences of how principals conceive their role as a leader affect indirectly through their leadership practices (i.e. initiating structure and supportive leadership), the unity in vision, collegial relations, collaboration, innovativeness and satisfaction of teachers. Based on a content analysis of interviews with 46 Belgian school leaders we distinguished three profiles: (1) the ‘people minded profile’ with an emphasis on people, educational matters and thus on creating a professional teaching community; (2) the ‘administrative minded profile’ with the focus on paperwork and the implementation of formal procedures and rules; and (3) the ‘moderate minded profile’ with no explicit preference for people, educational or administrative matters. Drawing on three prototypical cases we described in depth that these types of principals often work under different school climate conditions. We relied on semi-structured interviews to gather data on principals’ thoughts about their role as school leaders. Also, survey questionnaires were administered among 700 teachers in 46 schools to assess several features of school climate (i.e. goal orientedness, participation, formal and informal relationships, innovativeness), satisfaction of teachers, and leadership role behavior (i.e. initiating structure and supportive leadership behavior).
The International Handbooks of Teacher Education cover major issues in the field through chapters that offer detailed literature reviews, designed to help readers to understand the history, issues and research developments across those topics most relevant to the field of teacher education from an international perspective. This volume is divided into two sections: Teacher educators; and, students of teaching. The first examines teacher educators, their role, and the way that role influences the nature of teaching about teaching. In turn, the second explores who students of teaching are, and how that influences the relationship between teaching and learning about teaching.
Background/Context
In an era of high stakes accountability, public school districts struggle to improve teaching and learning for all students. As a result, effective professional development approaches for teachers are a high priority. Recently, teachers’ learning communities (LCs) have been recommended because successful LCs foster teacher collaboration and make practice public. At a deeper level, however, this type of professional development depends on teachers taking more control over their work, releasing tacit knowledge and expertise, developing critical judgment, and taking fuller responsibility for student learning. Such a construction of teachers’ roles and responsibilities sometimes collides with entrenched norms in school cultures.
Purpose
This article explores four core themes, which represent endemic challenges to sustaining teachers’ learning communities (LCs): 1) defining and fostering teacher agency, 2) determining purposes for teacher collaboration, 3) tracking the challenges to and impact on district culture, and 4) identifying enabling and constraining institutional and policy conditions. The author uncovers conflicts that frequently emerge when efforts at enhancing the professional autonomy, authority, and responsibility of teachers conflict with hierarchical and bureaucratic district and school cultures.
Setting
The study is located in a mid-Atlantic city in the United States, struggling with economic disparities, entrenched poverty in some sectors, a shifting economic base, and rapidly changing demographics largely due to immigration. The school district faces challenges typical of other urban districts—closing the achievement gap between middle class and poor children; developing culturally responsive educational practices, providing adequate resources in uncertain economic times; and meeting intensifying federal and state accountability demands.
Population
Research participants include the district superintendent, district administrators, principals, instructional coaches, and teachers.
Research Design
This article, based on two and a half years of data collection (October 2001 to April 2003), draws on site-visit interviews and focus groups of key players, observations of LC participants’ meetings and classrooms, e-mail correspondence with several key players, observations of LC coaches’ trainings, and reviews of relevant documents. The author served as an outside researcher to track the district's implementation of the initiative. Eventually, the field-based data was compared with survey data with responses from 251 LC participants in the district. Survey questions were designed by a research team, which included three other outside researchers studying the same initiative in three districts in other states. In all, the qualitative data required visits to LC coaches’ trainings and five on-site visits to the school district, each visit extending over two to four days.
Conclusions/Recommendations
From the data, the author draws several conclusions with implications for the initiative's success and sustainability. First, although the initiative sought to establish learning communities to mobilize practitioner expertise and build collective responsibility—all for the sake of student learning—most participants did not claim a connection between their collaborative work and student learning. Second, while the district has made considerable headway institutionalizing structural dimensions of the initiative, efforts to enhance teacher efficacy appeared to be constrained by high-stakes accountability policies requiring compliance. Third, within the groups, more time was devoted to community-building efforts than to critical inquiry aimed at improving practice. Fourth, because the initiative's practices and principles run counter to entrenched norms of district culture, its sustainability may be in question. Fifth, paradoxically, district leadership, though seeking a promising context for change, may be unwittingly causing conditions that threaten to undermine the initiative. Finally, if an initiative like this is to endure, districts must invest greater authority and autonomy in participants as well as adequate time and support.
. A growth in research on teachers' ‘interactive’ thoughts and decision-making has led to the use of the research method of stimulated recall. The method has been employed in a number of different forms, but generally involves the replay of videotape or audiotape of a teacher's lesson in order to stimulate a commentary upon the teacher's thought processes at the time. The appropriate use of the method, the variety of ways in which it has been employed and their advantages and disadvantages are considered together with an examination of the status and validity of recalled thoughts and the problems of interpretation. It is concluded that although questions of validity cannot be completely resolved the technique presents a systematic approach to the collection of data potentially useful in research on teaching.
Although the literature is replete with prescriptions of instructional leadership for school leaders, this article argues that current understanding of the concept is inadequate when considered against burgeoning educational imperatives. Indeed, schools are increasingly expected to customise their instructional offerings to address student needs, equip them with new work competencies and enhance teacher training effectiveness. To meet these needs, a paradigm shift in thinking about instructional leadership is warranted. The new model of instructional leadership proposed emphasises contextualised knowledge creation through school-wide endorsement of action research to address student and teacher needs in the unique context of the school.
Considered by many to be cost-effective and user-friendly, video technology is utilized in a multitude of contexts, including the university classroom. One purpose, although not often used, involves recording oneself teaching. This autoethnographic study focuses on the author's use of video and reflective practice in order to capture and examine her own teaching. The author discusses how video promoted reflective practice and how the camera and videos functioned as metaphorical eyes, which, in turn, prompted further examination and reflection of her teaching and pedagogy. This study's results indicate that when used to record and study one's teaching, video offers another set of eyes and provides an additional lens through which teaching practices and pedagogical stances may be viewed and considered.
This article addresses the way in which principals can contribute to closing the unacceptable gap in literacy achievement in Australia for low socio-economic status (SES) students by connecting leadership work more directly with the conditions which influence teaching and learning. It draws upon the outcomes of a project funded under the Australian Government's ‘Literacy and numeracy Pilots in Low SES Environments' initiative, called Principals as Literacy Leaders. Discussion centres on a synthesis of recent research literature into a leadership for learning framework or blue print to guide the actions of principals as they interact with their teachers over literacy learning and achievement. The framework was used to organise professional learning experiences for principals to enable them to engage members of staff with key issues known to challenge and enhance literacy learning. A sample of the kinds of experiences employed during the project is described. The combination or blend of curriculum content with professional processes, it is suggested, is in need of further research if initial hopes for improved leadership development in the future are to be realised.
This statewide study examined the relationships between principal managerial, instructional, and transformational leadership and student achievement in public high schools. Differences in student achievement were found when schools were grouped according to principal leadership factors. Principal leadership behaviors promoting instructional and curriculum improvement were linked to achievement. Within transformational leadership, the principal’s ability to identify a vision and provide an appropriate model had the greatest relationship to achievement. Principal educational level also positively correlated with each leadership factor.
93 empirical studies on learning to teach were reviewed in order to establish what is currently known about how people learn to teach and to critique the quality of the reporting of that research. Among other observations concerning teacher education, the review highlights the tensions between the hopes and expectations of teacher educators and the expectations and experiences of beginning teachers. While this review supports the findings of others that many traditional programs of teacher education have little effect upon the firmly held beliefs of the beginning teachers, it also provides examples of successful programs. Such programs typically build upon the beliefs of pre service teachers and feature systematic and consistent long-term support in a collaborative setting. It is concluded that this body of research has advanced the field in significant ways, offering new directions for research and program reform. The critique of the papers themselves reveals that authors need to pay more careful attention to data selection and presentation and to the links made between data and conclusions. The review points to the need for a more self-critical stance on the part of researchers and a more ecological approach to research on learning to teach.
This article considers the challenges and issues facing school leaders in the implementation of Every Child Matters. It outlines the factors that contribute to the effective delivery of Every Child Matters and outlines some of the barriers that make the delivery of this agenda more difficult. The article concludes that school leaders play a crucial role in ensuring that Every Child Matters is effectively implemented and that it is integral, rather than peripheral, to school development planning.
Contents: Professional Knowledge and Reflection-in-Action: The crisis of confidence in professional knowledge From technical rationality to reflection-in-action. Professional Contexts for Reflection-in-Action: Design as a reflective conversation with the situation Psychotherapy: The patient as a universe of one The structure of reflection-in-action Reflective practice in the science-based professions Town planning: Limits to reflection-in-action The art of managing: Reflection-in-action within an organizational learning system Patterns and limits of reflection-in-action across the professions. Conclusion: Implications for the professions and their place in society.
Collaborative school cultures have been associated with the achievement of a number of school reform objectives for both teachers and students. Little is known, however, about how such cultures develop and whether or how school administrators can facilitate that process. This study examined the practices of administrators in each of 12 schools which had developed highly collaborative professional relationships over a three year period in the context of school improvement initiatives. Results suggest the feasibility of developing more collaborative school cultures in a relatively brief period of time and clarify the role played by the larger context of school improvement for fostering collaboration. Specific strategies used by the administrators are described. These strategies are associated with a concept of leadership termed “transformational”.
This paper reports on how the cognitive, behavioural and affective communication competencies of undergraduate students were developed using an online Video Reflection system. Pre-service teachers were provided with communication scenarios and asked to record short videos of one another making presentations. Students then uploaded their videos to an online blog and made reflective comments about their communication actions. Students also provided reflective feedback to their peers, which was then used to inform their next presentation attempt. Student responses to a reflective questionnaire indicated that they felt the Video Reflection approach resulted in a significant improvement in their presentation capabilities. Qualitative feedback and online postings indicated that the Video Reflection process improved students' understanding of communication concepts. Students also reported reduction in communication anxiety and an increase in confidence as a result of the Video Reflection system, providing evidence for the interrelationship between the cognitive, behavioural and affective dimensions of communication.
address . . . how knowledge & beliefs change over time as novice teachers learn to teach and experienced teachers attempt to make changes in their teaching practices / selected studies to be representative of research approaches and of various aspects of our conceptual framework / that framework incorporates key assumptions underlying a cognitive psychological perspective on learning to teach, and a model of domains of teachers' knowledge and beliefs / review research on how pre-service and in-service teachers learn to teach / conclude with a set of recommendations for helping novice and experienced teachers expand and elaborate their professional knowledge base (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
A CD-ROM consisting of videos of two lessons by different teachers demonstrating exemplary science teaching was used to elicit,
develop and track the changing conceptions of good science teaching of student teachers enrolled for the one-year Postgraduate
Diploma in Education (PGDE) at several stages during the programme. It was found that the videos acted as an effective probe
to elicit student teachers’ conceptions and had significant impact on those conceptions at different stages of the programme
through the provision of teacher models demonstrating exemplary teaching. The experience has extended novice teachers’ awareness
of alternative teaching methods and approaches not experienced in their own schooling, broadened their awareness of different
classroom situations, provided proof of existence of good practices and prompted them to reflect on their current conceptions
of good science teaching. Most importantly, the strategy of asking student teachers to watch the same videos on three separate
occasions at different times of the course was recognized by them as a crucial element in facilitating their reflection on
their changing conceptions of good science teaching.
Teacher leadership is increasingly being seen as a key vehicle for school improvement and renewal. However, research on this phenomenon is limited, especially outside of the US.This article presents findings from an empirical study of teacher leadership in the UK, aimed at exploring both the ways in which teacher leadership can influence school and teacher development, and what in-school factors can help or hinder the development of teacher leadership in schools. The study was undertaken using a qualitative case study approach, purposively selected as being sites where teacher leadership was operational.Data indicated that teacher leadership was characterised by a variety of formal and informal groupings, often facilitated by involvement in external programmes. Teacher leadership was seen to empower teachers, and contributed to school improvement through this empowerment and the spreading of good practice and initiatives generated by teachers.A range of conditions needed to be in place in schools for teacher leadership to be successful, including a culture of trust and support, structures that supported teacher leadership but were clear and transparent, strong leadership, with the head usually being the originator of teacher leadership, and engagement in innovative forms of professional development.
This paper aims to discuss the challenges in the process of building a learning community in Vietnamese primary schools. Five lessons emerge from the cases. First, changing teachers’ beliefs is time-consuming. Second, because of the reluctance of teachers to change, large-scale delivery of the educational project should be critically revisited with regard to its effectiveness. Third, learning community requires the building of trust among actors, including external resource persons. Fourth, external resource persons should continue learning sincerely to gain teachers’ trust. Fifth, the concept of sustainability should be revisited as something that is never-ending and that cannot reach perfection.
In Vietnam, despite the introduction of a new curriculum based on a child-centred education approach, there exist many problems and challenges in the educational process. To overcome these problems, the Vietnamese and Japanese governments have been conducting an in-service teacher-training programme, including school-based observation and reflection of lessons as a major activity. This study investigates the problems encountered in these schools. The results reveal that (1) the lesson is extremely fast-paced, (2) teachers tend to evaluate their colleagues and students, (3) teachers need to learn about how to learn and (4) promoting dialogue among teachers is considerably challenging.
• Our schools are troubled with a multiplication of studies, each in turn having its own multiplication of materials and principles. Our teachers find their tasks made heavier in that they have come to deal with pupils individually and not merely in mass. Unless these steps in advance are to end in distraction, some clew of unity, some principle that makes for simplification, must be found. This book represents the conviction that the needed steadying and centralizing factor is found in adopting as the end of endeavor that attitude of mind, that habit of thought, which we call scientific. This scientific attitude of mind might, conceivably, be quite irrelevant to teaching children and youth. But this book also represents the conviction that such is not the case; that the native and unspoiled attitude of childhood, marked by ardent curiosity, fertile imagination, and love of experimental inquiry, is near, very near, to the attitude of the scientific mind. This book examines the problem of training thought and the logical considerations for training thought. If these pages assist any to appreciate this kinship and to consider seriously how its recognition in educational practice would make for individual happiness and the reduction of social waste, the book will amply have served its purpose. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
• Our schools are troubled with a multiplication of studies, each in turn having its own multiplication of materials and principles. Our teachers find their tasks made heavier in that they have come to deal with pupils individually and not merely in mass. Unless these steps in advance are to end in distraction, some clew of unity, some principle that makes for simplification, must be found. This book represents the conviction that the needed steadying and centralizing factor is found in adopting as the end of endeavor that attitude of mind, that habit of thought, which we call scientific. This scientific attitude of mind might, conceivably, be quite irrelevant to teaching children and youth. But this book also represents the conviction that such is not the case; that the native and unspoiled attitude of childhood, marked by ardent curiosity, fertile imagination, and love of experimental inquiry, is near, very near, to the attitude of the scientific mind. This book examines the problem of training thought and the logical considerations for training thought. If these pages assist any to appreciate this kinship and to consider seriously how its recognition in educational practice would make for individual happiness and the reduction of social waste, the book will amply have served its purpose. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Investing in teaching as a learning profession: Policy problems and prospects
- L Darling-Hammond
- M Mclaughlin
Darling-Hammond, L., & McLaughlin, M. (1999). Investing in teaching as a learning profession: Policy
problems and prospects. In L. Darling-Hammond & G. Sykes (Eds.), Teaching as a learning profession:
Handbook of policy and practice (pp. 376-812). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Changing teachers, changing times
- A Hargreaves
Hargreaves, A. (1994). Changing teachers, changing times. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
The essentials of effective professional development: A new consensus
- W Hawley
- L Valli
Hawley, W., & Valli, L. (1999). The essentials of effective professional development: A new consensus.
In L. Darling-Hammond & G. Sykes (Eds.), Teaching as a learning profession: Handbook of policy and
practice (pp. 127-150). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Professional learning from within. Studying Teacher Education
- F Korthagen
Korthagen, F. (2009). Professional learning from within. Studying Teacher Education, 5, 195-199.
Leading school turnaround
- K Leithwood
- A Harris
- T Strauss
Leithwood, K., Harris, A., & Strauss, T. (2010). Leading school turnaround. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Collecting video-based evidence in teacher evaluation via the DataCapture mobile application
- J Shewell
Shewell, J. (2014). Collecting video-based evidence in teacher evaluation via the DataCapture mobile
application. Journal of Applied Learning Technology, 4, 6-14.