Teacher Professional Learning Communities In The Perspective Of School Projects

Author(s):

Lenka Vojackova(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

Emerging Researchers' Group (for presentation at Emerging Researchers' Conference)

Format:

Paper

Session Information

ERG SES G 14, Professional Development and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2015-09-08

09:00-10:30

Room:

393. [Main]

Chair:

Geert Thyssen

Contribution

In recent years the Czech Republic has observed a phenomenon of school financing from EU funds. There is a programme for schools, administered by the Ministry of Education, under which it is possible to prepare and implement innovative educational projects. It is a competition of schools and teachers for „freely " available resources , existing outside the guaranteed financial volumes through which schools can profile their work beyond the basic operation , improve it and make the school more attractive to both children and their parents (Pol , 2011) .

Speaking about the project, we mean a series of activities that are focused on meeting clearly specified objectives within a certain time and within the defined budget ( Marek, 2009). Projects are not implemented in a common organizational structure; a specific management group of workers - with clearly described responsibilities and functions – is created for the purpose of project implementation. Each individual in the project has a specified and described task which he deals with in addition to his normal work at school.

The main actor in the process of project implementation is the school teaching staff. Teachers together form a particular group within which they exchange their know-how, share their planned goals, values, work on sub-project tasks, communicate and collaborate. Thanks to this work they can develop their professional skills, learn from one another or directly participate in the school progress. In view of the above, the implementation of school projects creates context and subsequent situations in which we can observe teaching of teachers leading to their professional development and hence the development of the school.

Groups of teachers creating the so called Project (implementation) teams can be seen as communities based on the concept of "Professional learning communities". This model allows us to reflect school as a place where learning is supported in connection with the implementation of school projects. They are characterized by the following features: participants work together for a longer period of time, share values and visions, learn, perform practical activities aimed at educating students, communicate and share experience.

If we assume that within the scope of the community it comes to learning processes, we can describe them by applying the model, which is used by researchers to distinguish processes in the development of professional learning communities (Verbiest et al., 2005). It is a three-dimensional model, which is based on the so called process of broadening, deepening and anchoring. Broadening indicates professional development opportunities for teachers, or participation in school policy-making. Deepening expresses teacher collaboration, learning, meeting for discussions and sharing of certain professional topics. Anchoring defines professional development of teachers in connection with the main principles of main development and vision of the school.

The benefit of this community concept which supports common learning of professionally interested participants of school life on a collegial basis primarily lies in the understanding of what is happening in schools. The functioning of professional learning communities in the context of the implementation of school projects allows the reaction to numerous changes and innovations brought by the requirements of our time. At the same time, this model supports not only professional development of teachers, but also the development of the school with regard to its effectiveness and creation of innovation capacity.

Method

In my research, I will work with the concept of school as a professional learning community that focuses on sharing and creation of knowledge in its everyday life. Research is supposed to identify learning processes of teachers, i.e. various learning situations, interaction and cooperation in professional learning communities. In the case of identification of learning processes and professional development of teachers I will elaborate on their own perspective, not verifying what they have learned. Main research question: How do teachers perceive the process of learning within the professional learning community in the context of project implementation? Specific research questions: Broadening • Who prepares and implements the projects, what type, for what purpose, with the help of which instruments? • How does the communication between teachers work? • Which activities related to project implementation influence the professional development of teachers? Deepening • How do teachers cooperate on specific projects? • What do the teachers learn, what is the content and depth of learning, how is learning reflected into acquiring new or deepening of existing competencies with regard to professional development of individuals? Anchoring • How are the visions, objectives and strategies of school management reflected in the implementation of projects and grants? • How is the learning process of teachers managed and supported, which role does the school management play? With regard to the chosen work objectives and basic research question I will use the qualitative research approach. I choose case study as research design, because of the possibility of deep and detailed examination of each case. The main unit of analysis will not be the whole school, but only "professional learning community", which is in our case represented by a group of teachers involved in the project implementation. As the main research method, I have chosen a semi-structured interview, as the supporting method I will use analysis of documents and observation of the inner school life. A sample of teachers in each school will consist of: the director, the deputy director and the teaching staff involved in project implementation. The selection criterion is the implementation of a certain type of project and specific parameters related to school size and the volume of obtained funds.

Expected Outcomes

These are the first research outputs. Specifically, at the first school there was carried out an investigation in the form of interviews with school management and teachers involved in the project teams. We deal with a classic elementary school (9 grades, 280 pupils and 20 teachers), where teachers implement a number of projects of various types. In the concrete, the interviews were conducted with a group of five teachers who developed and implemented a project on strengthening the competencies of students in foreign languages and ICT for about 3 million CZK. The aim of the project was the creation of new teaching plans and the implementation of extracurricular activities for students. Questions for the group of respondents concerned the role of the teacher as member of the professional learning community, the importance of school projects, forms of cooperation and learning, factors affecting work in the professional community, professional development opportunities, support of leadership and management. Other applied research methods were analysis of school project documentation, interviews and work with groups of respondents. Outcomes of the research can be seen in the description of the character of surveyed schools, we pay attention to the factors that support or restrain the functioning of professional learning communities with regard to the implementation of projects. There will be described the forms of cooperation and learning of teachers that occur, if a group is interested in a common task and aim to a specific goal. The aim of the case studies is to identify and describe the progress from individual learning at school to collective learning in the community (broadening), what concerns the learning and development of teachers in the community (deepening), how are these learning processes managed and which supporting factors and learning barriers exist in schools (anchoring).

References

-Dufour, R. (2004). What Is a „Professional learning community“? In: Educational Leadership/May 2004 -Ernst, M., Pol, M.(2002): K projektové práci ve školách (s důrazem na potenciál projektů pro rozvoj školy), dostupné z: http://www.comenius.upol.cz/documents/pol03cz.htm -Hord, Shirley, M. (1997). Professional learning communities. Austin.Texas. -Kohnová, J. (2012): Profesní rozvoj učitelů. Sborník příspěvků z konference. Praha: UK, Ped. fakulta -Kruse, S. D.; Louis, K. S.; Bryk, A. (1995). An emerging framework for analyzing school-based professional community. In Louis, K. S.; Kruse, S. D. (Eds.) Professionalism and community: Perspectives on reforming urban schools. Thousand Oaks : Corwin Press, 1995 -Lave, J. and E. Wenger (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. -Marek, D., Kantor, T. (2009). Příprava a řízení projektů strukturálních fondů EU. Brno: Barrister and Principál. -Pol, M. (2007). Škola v proměnách. Brno: Masarykova univerzita Brno. -Pol, M., Rabušicová, M. (2003). Grantové nabídky a české školy. České a zahraniční grantové nabídky a jejich využívání školami sekundární a terciární úrovně. Praha: NVF. -Pol, M., Hloušková, L., Sedláček, M., Lazarová, B., Novotný, P. (2011). Vedení procesů organizačního učení ve škole: případové studie. http://www.ped.muni.cz/capv2011/sbornikprispevku/PolHlouskovaSedlacekLazarovaNovotny.pdf -Roberts, S. M.; Pruitt, E. Z. (2003). Schools as professional learning communities. Collaborative activities and strategies for professional development. Thousand Oaks : Corwin Press -Senge, P. (2007). Pátá disciplína: teorie a praxe učící se organizace. Praha: management Press. -Starý, K. a kol. (2012). Profesní rozvoj učitelů. Praha: Univerzita Karlova, Nakladatelství Karolinum. -Stoll, L., Bolam, R., Mcmahon, A., Wallace, M., Thomas, s. (2006 ). Professional learning comunities: A review of the literature. In: Journal of Educational Change 7:221–258 _ Springer 2006. -Švaříček, R. & Šeďová, K. et al. (2007). Kvalitativní výzkum v pedagogických vědách. Praha: Portál. -Tauer, V., Zemánková, H., Šubrtová J. (2009). Získejte dotace z fondů EU. Brno: Computer Press, a.s. -Tichá, I. (2005). Učící se organizace. Praha: Alfa Publishing. -Verbiest, E. a kol. (2005). Collective Learning in Schools Described: Building Collective Learning Capacity. Příspěvek prezentovaný na konferenci ICSEI 2005. [cit. 2012-06-15].http://hbo-kennisbank.uvt.nl/cgi/fontys/show.cgi?fid=2667. -Verbiest, E. (2011). Developing professional learning communities. AERA conference, 2011, April 7th – 12th, New Orleans.http://www.samen-wijs.nl/docs/Verbiest%20-%20Developing%20Professional%20Learning%20Communities.pdf -Wenger, E. (1998).y Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press

Author Information

Lenka Vojackova (presenting / submitting)

Masaryk University

Department od educational science

Brno

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