Can Professional Learning Communities Empower Teachers to Enhance Democratic Educational Change?

Author(s):

Isabel Fernandes(presenting / submitting)Flávia Vieira(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

01. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 06 A, Professional Identity

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-03

15:30-17:00

Room:

B032 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Maria Assunção Flores

Contribution

Teacher education policies and practices worldwide point to teachers’ central role in quality education and reform so as to promote a lifelong learning society (EU, 2009, 2010; OECD 2011, 2013; UNESCO 2012). Teacher education can no longer follow models and agendas where teachers’ educational experience and knowledge are pushed backstage. Sustainable educational change demands collaborative professional development through school-based enquiry informed by valid conceptual and ethical perspectives. This is potentially the case of professional learning communities (PLCs), which means that research into PLCs may help us understand the role of teacher agency in situated, purposeful educational change.

PLCs are commonly presented as powerful, collaborative learning sites capable of transforming pedagogic and organisational cultures (see Bolam et al., 2005; DuFour, DuFour & Eaker, 2008; Levine & Shapiro 2004; Little, 2012; McLaughin & Talbert, 2006; Retallick, Cocklin & Coombe, 1999; Sergiovanni, 1994; Stoll & Louis, 2007; Stoll et al. 2006; Vescio, Ross & Adams, 2008; Wenger, 1998). However, their empowering potential cannot be taken for granted as they may either foster or hinder the transformation of pedagogical and teacher development cultures. Actually, neoliberal policies and the increasing concern with transnational economic agendas may reinforce outcomes-oriented educational ideologies and undermine bottom-up initiatives based on humanistic values. In this context, PLCs may experience obstacles as regards teacher empowerment for democratic educational change.

The empowering potential of PLCs is the focus of the study here reported. Our research question is: to what extent can PLCs empower teachers to enhance democratic educational change? It is assumed that empowering professional learning presupposes a deep concern with promoting democracy in education through the enhancement of teacher and learner autonomy. Autonomy is here understood as a collective interest and also as a personal competence to develop as a self-determined, socially responsible and critically aware participant in and beyond educational environments, within a vision of education as (inter)personal empowerment and social transformation (Jiménez Raya, Lamb & Vieira, 2007).

The study investigates a particular PLC – the GT-PA (Grupo de Trabalho-Pedagogia para a Autonomia/ Working Group-Pedagogy for Autonomy) –, a multidisciplinary network of teacher educators and schoolteachers from various institutions, founded in 1997 at the University of Minho (Braga, Portugal) and coordinated by the second author. This community has strived to counteract the divorce between academics and schoolteachers in the production and dissemination of educational knowledge, and in the promotion of teacher and learner autonomy in schools (Fernandes & Vieira, 2013; Vieira, 2009). It seeks to establish a productive connection between continuing teacher development, pedagogical enquiry and democratic educational change. Its members negotiate agendas for action, develop and evaluate autonomy-oriented experiences in professional contexts, write narratives of practice and disseminate their work in scientific and professional conferences. The modes of participation, collaboration and professional learning within the GT-PA are flexible, allowing for differentiated engagement in the production of knowledge through diverse forms of inquiry, ranging from dialogue and reflective practice to empirical research. Continuing teacher development in this context is an outcome of working with and for teachers, rather than a programmatic activity with a pre-determined agenda. Teacher educators and teachers co-construct educational knowledge with a view to improving student learning.

Research into this community aims at understanding the potential of PLCs as regards teacher empowerment for democratic educational change, and identifying factors that may facilitate or hinder the growth of autonomy-oriented PLCs.

Method

A case study was initiated in late 2011 by the first author in order to analyse the dynamics of professional empowerment and educational change within the GT-PA. A naturalistic, qualitative approach to educational inquiry was adopted whereby knowledge is constructed from participants’ narratives collected through interviews and in teacher publications of pedagogical experiences. We will report on the extent to which the collected narratives account for professional empowerment in the service of democratic educational change. A semi-structured interview was conducted with seventeen GT-PA members: twelve schoolteachers and five university teacher educators/researchers. They were selected in order to represent the Group’s diversity in terms of professional context, disciplinary areas, professional roles, and time of membership. The interview included questions about reasons for joining the Group, significant episodes as a Group member, the Group’s impact on professional development, practices and professional contexts, the Group’s culture and the culture of professional contexts, university-school relationships within the Group, the importance of participating in dissemination activities, personal constraints as a member, and factors that favor or hamper the sustainability of the Group. The interviews were conducted individually, audiotaped, fully transcribed and sent to the participants for validation. The content analysis of the participants’ discourse was done on four dimensions of professional autonomy defined by Jiménez Raya, Lamb & Vieira (2007), which are seen as macro-competences necessary to promote a pedagogy for autonomy: A. Developing a critical vision of education; B. Managing local constraints so as to open up spaces for manouevre; C. Centring teaching on learning; D. Interacting with the professional community. Based on the same authors, a set of subdimensions was considered for each dimension. Data from the interviews was complemented with data from the content analysis of 24 published narratives of pedagogical experiences carried out by GT-PA teachers in schools with a focus on promoting learner autonomy. The narratives were analysed along dimension C above – Centring teaching on learning – and the corresponding subdimensions.

Expected Outcomes

Findings suggest that PLCs may promote professional empowerment for democratic educational change by: a) strengthening practitioners’ visions of education related to teacher and learner autonomy; b) assuming a critical and proactive stance towards historical and structural constraints; c) exploring, enquiring into and disseminating autonomy-oriented practices, and d) enhancing democratic leadership in a safe, trustful, inspiring professional development environment. The participants’ narratives indicate a deep belief in autonomy as an educational goal and a profound concern with students’ well-being and development. Innovation takes various forms and tackles diverse pedagogical issues, seeking to reshape traditional pedagogical roles and processes. Teachers refer to pedagogical improvements as a result of classroom-based enquiry and the development of teaching approaches that are more deliberate and responsive to the students’ real needs. They point out gains in learner self-knowledge and metacognitive awareness, positive attitudes, ability to self-/co-assess and overcome learning difficulties, increased academic competences and achievement, and good interpersonal relationships in class. The university-school partnership is seen to enhance professional empowerment, but there are tensions between ideals of autonomy and possibilities for transformation in professional contexts, both in schools and at universities. Practitioners often feel disempowered to confront prevailing neoliberal policies and local cultures of isolation, competition, accountability, and resistance to change. As a consequence, innovation tends to be rather isolated and episodic, with little visible organisational impact. Even though European and global policies on teacher education highlight the value of PLCs and our results highlight several gains, more knowledge is needed about the role of PLCs as regards collective educational change, especially in settings that are adverse to democratic education and enquiry-based professional development. PLCs themselves should engage in the study of their members’ professional contexts and envisage possibilities for strengthening the connection between personal and organisational development.

References

Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Stoll, L., Thomas, S., Wallace, M., Greenwood, A., Hawkey, K., Ingram, M., Atkinson, A. & Smith, M. (2005). Creating and sustaining effective professional learning communities. Research Report 637: University of Bristol. DuFour, R., DuFour, R. & Eaker, R. (2008). Revisiting professional learning communities at work: New insights for improving schools. Bloomington: Solution Tree. EU (2009). Council conclusions of 12 may 2009 on a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020). Official Journal of the EU. 2009/C119/02. EU (2010). Teachers’ professional development. Europe in international comparison. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the EU. Fernandes, I. S. & Vieira, F. (2013). Professional development as empowerment? The case of learning communities. The International Journal of Adult, Community, and Professional Learning. 19(4), 1-16. Jiménez Raya, M., Lamb, T. & Vieira, F. (2007). Pedagogy for autonomy in language education in Europe – Towards a framework for learner and teacher development. Dublin: Authentik. Levine, J. & Shapiro, N. (2004). Sustaining and improving learning communities. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Little, J. W. (2012). Professional community and professional development in the learning-centred school. In Teacher learning that matters, ed. M. Kooy & K. van Veen, 22-43. Oxon: Routledge. MacLaughin, M. & Talbert, J. (2006). Building school-based teacher learning communities. New York: Teachers College Press. OECD (2011). Building a high-quality teaching profession. Lessons from around the world. OECD Publishing. OECD (2013). Teachers for the 21st century. Using evaluation to improve teaching. OECD Publishing. Retallick, J., Cocklin, B. & Coombe, K. (1999). Learning communities in education. London: Routledge. Sergiovanni, T. (1994). Building community in schools. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. Stoll, L. & Louis, K. (2007). Professional learning communities. Divergence, depth and dilemmas. Maidenhead: OUP. Stoll, L., Rolam, R., Mcmahon, A., Wallace, M. & Thomas, S. (2006). Professional learning communities: A review of the literature. Journal of Educational Change, 7, 221-258. UNESCO (2012). Unesco strategy on teachers (2012-2015). Unesco. Vescio, V., Ross, D., and Adams, A. (2008). A review of research on the impact of professional learning communities on teaching practice and student learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24, 80-91. Vieira, F. (2009). Enhancing pedagogy for autonomy through learning communities – making our dream come true? Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching, 3(3), 269-282. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of practice. Learning, meaning, and identity. Cambridge: CUP.

Author Information

Isabel Fernandes (presenting / submitting)

University of Minho

Education

Braga

Flávia Vieira (presenting)