How and what teachers learn from collaborative professional development
International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies
ISSN: 2046-8253
Article publication date: 10 April 2017
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to report on a study of teacher learning through participation in sustained collaborative subject-based professional development groups supported by a facilitator, using a model of teachers’ conceptions of teaching developed from phenomenography to identify what are the critical features of teaching that must be present if teachers are to learn, and using a variation theory of learning to explain how they learn.
Design/methodology/approach
The groups engaged in cycles of lesson study action research to improve the learning outcomes of their students. The authors intended to engage the teachers in an exploration of their own and their students’ experiences to understand the relationship between the enactment of the research lesson(s) and the educational outcome. The authors collected over 157 hours of video recorded teachers’ meetings involving 15 groups, 47 hours of follow-up interviews and 97 hours of lessons. In this paper the authors report on the progress of one of those groups. The authors analysed the transcripts to see what, if any, dimensions of variation were opened in discussion, affording the opportunity for learning. The authors sought the simultaneous juxtaposition, the bringing together, of threads that have entered the discussion that have the potential to open dimensions of variation – to add critical features to the “what” and “how” dimensions of teaching.
Findings
The authors identified necessary conditions for teacher learning through collaborative subject-based professional development groups. Any member of the group might bring this about. The facilitator or coach might be expected to perform this role in the group, and to sustain the group’s attention on the critical features of the object of learning.
Practical implications
The paper provides valuable insights into strategies to change teacher perspectives from a transmission oriented to a construction oriented view of teaching in the face of new and challenging curriculum demands.
Originality/value
In the work reported here the authors have used variation theory to design lesson study. This is rather different from a learning study where the teachers engaged in the study use variation theory to design their research lesson(s). It is a learning study of teachers’ professional development.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by a grant from the Brunei Research Council.
Citation
Wood, K., Jaidin, H., Jawawi, R., Perera, J.S.H.Q., Salleh, S., Shahrill, M. and Sithamparam, S. (2017), "How and what teachers learn from collaborative professional development", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 6 No. 2, pp. 151-168. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-09-2016-0028
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited