Conference:
ECER 2009
Format:
Paper
Session Information
Contribution
The changes of the curriculum and theories of learning were starting points for this case study. In Finland new national curriculum was introduced in 2004 and was to be implemented in comprehensive schools by 2006 at the latest. The new curriculum has changed from earlier curriculums: this one is based on a socio-constructivist theory of learning. The new curriculum commits teachers to develop their teaching correspondingly, according to the constructivist and socio-cultural theories of learning.
In order to help teachers to develop their teaching in response to the demands of new curriculum a long term academic in-service education course for teachers was arranged. The course was implemented during years 2005-2006. The aim of the in-service course was to help teachers to learn and create more advanced knowledge and work practices for their teaching work.
This study analyses the process of collective knowledge creation and learning in in-service education for the home economics teachers and connection of theoretical concepts and everyday practices in that process. The aim of the in-service course was to help teachers to learn and create more advanced knowledge and work practices, meaning teaching methods, for their own teaching work.
The study has a socio-cultural background. A key theory in the study is Vygotsky’s (1978) concept of the zone of proximal development. According to that frame of reference, learning and creating advanced knowledge and work practices occur in a process of collaborative knowledge creation and learning. The zone of proximal development is a tool for describing and understanding the collaborative knowledge creation process. The new knowledge and everyday practice creation process is connected with theories of learning, teachers´ everyday teaching methods and collaboration. The in-service course participants develop their own work collaboratively in the zone of proximal development. The in-service education course operates as a social context for the collective knowledge creation and learning process.
Method
The research data consisted of videotaped and transcribed discussions of two teacher teams creating more advanced knowledge and work practices at the first meeting in the in-service education course. Methodology of the study was theory and data based systematic qualitative content analysis. The episodes of topic talk became the basic units of this research. They stood out to represent different kind of meaning types. Meaning types represent different classifications of talk which are defined in the study. The main result of the meaning type analysis was that there was found developing talk in teams´ discussions. That showed that creation of new knowledge and teaching methods was possible in in-service course through collaboration. The analyses continued by finding connection points between the developing talk focusing to develop educational methods and the theories of learning. The research analyzed connection of theoretical concepts and everyday practices in knowledge creation process.
Expected Outcomes
Analysis concerning connections of theoretical concepts and everyday practices in the process resulted differences between the two teams` processes. Team A participants´ theoretical concepts and everyday practices did not connect. Their developed methods based only on behaviouristic theory of learning and their everyday work practices and thus their zone of proximal development was not achieved. Team B participants learned and created advanced knowledge and practices for their teaching work based on new theories of learning and work practices: the team managed to progress in the zone of proximal development.
Research results indicate that creating and changing teaching practices is difficult and in-service educations are necessary. Connecting theory and practices is not easy in practice, but it is possible through collaboration. The findings show a new kind of way to arrange in-service education and give views to develop in-service education based on collective knowledge creation processes.
References
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological functions. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
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