Teachers Professional Development

Author(s):

Heidi Regine Bergsager(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

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

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 04 A, Teacher Professional Development: A European Perspective

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-24

09:00-10:30

Room:

OB-Theatre F

Chair:

Wendy Robinson

Contribution

Context of the research

This paper provides insights from three years of field work, 2011-2014, during which three researchers followed the same class in upper secondary school, age 16 to 19, in Norway. We wanted to bring forward the students` opinions of what gave them a desire to learn more, especially in science and technology. We used interviews as the main method in our research.

One of the larger implications of this study for educational research is that these findings may carry possibilities for new and interesting discussions of how we motivate for learning. The young people who participated this research project challenge teachers, and especially those of us who do educational research and are teacher educators, to change some frameworks radically. It may be time to rethink how education motivates learning. The result of the research shows that students need teachers that have good knowledge of the subject, good knowledge of diverse approaches, good knowledge of how to use varied learning contexts, collaborate and share their experiences with colleagues. From these results we wanted to discuss how to strengthen teachers` knowledge management.

Teachers are often challenged to teach and work within complex and changing contexts. Job pressure, loads of work and stress put teachers in a position where how to survive, in the simplest way, often becomes the only option. The result can be that valuable knowledge that teachers develop, remains with the individual and is seldom shared with colleagues. It can also mean that experiences remain just as experiences without being transformed to knowledgemissing the part of reflection, sharing reflection and working experiences with others and connection these experiences to theory.

This paper presents the results from our research and discuss how to strengthen teachers` knowledge management, by drawing on Kolb`s (1984/2015) understanding of the learning process as a way of transforming experiences into knowledge. He uses the term “experiential” as a way to describe a theoretical perspective on individual learning. This theory might help explain how experience can be transformed from learning to knowing. Although organisational literature to some extent has dealt with continuity in learning, I will argue that it is necessary to focus on how teachers, through experiential learning, can open up for collaborative learning communities through witch all those who participate, might achieve good knowledge outcomes.The students pointed out to us the importance of their teacher`s cooperation with each other to make lessons interesting.

Research questions

Over three years, a group of pupils were interviewed about their views on learning and their motivation to learn. This research became a basis to discuss in this paper: “How may educational researchers, teacher educators and teachers transform their experiences into knowledge?”

Theoretical framework

Theoretically, this project draws on pragmatism. Pragmatism emphasizes individual active participation in the learning process, and posits that the experiences we get from our actions open up for new learning. Furthermore, teachers who act as anchors with knowledge and guidance for pupils are highly important as the pupils develop (Gustavsson 2009; Dewey 1916). The reason for choosing this philosophical foundation is based on information coming from the teachers and mainly from the interviews with the pupils themselves. Throughout the three years the project lasted, the pupils consistently pointed to the importance of how experiences from their school work, that required activity and participation and having a close connection with their teachers, had for their motivation to learn.

. Kolb (2015) claims there are a growing group who see experiential learning and education as a way to revitalize the university and college curriculum and how to cope with many of the changes facing education today.

Method

Research methodology The Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research has formulated a strategy for strengthening skills, recruitment and implementation at all levels in Science and technology for the years 2010-2014, within the Norwegian school (Strategy 2010). One of the challenges is to rethink the teaching of subjects so that interest can be strengthened. In autumn 2011, 30 pupils started on a new education program, Science. Unique for this particular program was the emphasis placed on the combination of science, technology and entrepreneurship (www.greaker.vgs.no). In developing a curriculum, the school followed the initiatives from the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Research on science. The goal of this project was to investigate what promotes learning, the joy of learning and what can contribute to coping and increased motivation to study further in higher education. Our project used a qualitative approach to explore these questions. In qualitative research it is essential that the researcher is open to what the participants say and thus highlights their perspectives (Creswell 1998; Denzin and Lincoln 1994, 2000; Postholm 2011). This paper tries to do just that and show the perspectives that have emerged from the interviews conducted over three years. We also participated with the pupils in the classroom, laboratories, when they visited a science center and several businesses. Participant observation was a strategy to open up for a familiarity that gave us a relaxed atmosphere with the students during the interviews. In the analysis, we have through more extensive processes examined the data we have received to get closer to the core of what is the basic information in the interviews. We have used grounded theory as a basis for our analysis. The goal was to capture the complexities inherent in our pupils` desire to learn (Strauss and Corbin1998). Through our analysis and discussions we identified four categories that seemed particularly important for the pupils` motivation, a basis for a philosophical academic standpoint on how we work to ensure that teacher education programs prepare future teachers to promote pupils interest.

Expected Outcomes

Findings So what did the students say? The students are strong in their opinions about the combination of gaining practical experience combined with theory, which provides opportunities to develop good learning. The feedback can be categorized under four key-words: learning activities, learning contexts, classmates and relationships, and teachers` skills. The students highlighted methods that include commitment and reflection, and motivation to work hard comes from variations of activities where they need to be active themselves. The educational consequences of taking the pupils` feedback seriously can be that teaching and learning must give much more space to what we call investigative working-methods. It means experimenting, making excursions, visiting companies, universities and other parts of the community to answer questions and motivate pupils The pupils in our material stated that teachers are adept at letting them develop different kind of skills by letting them have the freedom to be active in large parts of the learning processes. In all three years the teachers have been good at facilitating good projects, involving professionals, arranging trips outside the school and helping each student in their desire to learn. Implications for teacher education and relevance to educational research landscape This paper wants to encourage educational researchers and teacher educators to make an effort to use experiential learning as a tool in order to develop new theories. We need more knowledge about how learning might develop and that means learning at all levels of an education system. In the end the challenges of how learning into knowledge can be strengthened lies not only among our students and their pupils, but rather what knowledge in theory and practice we ourselves have on desires to learn and how we develop those desires. “When the Wind of Change is blowing, some build shelters, while others will build windmills.” (HRB)

References

References Argyris, C. and Schon, D. 1978. Organizational Learning: A theory of Action Perspective. Reading, Mass.: Addison-Wesley. Creswell, J. 1998. Qualitative Inquiry and Research Design. Choosing Among Five Traditions. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. Deci, E., and R. Ryan. 2000. The ‘what’ and ‘why’ of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry 11: 227-268. Denzin, N., and Y. Lincoln, eds.1994/2000. Handbook of Qualitative Research. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications, Inc. Dewey, J. 1916. Democracy and education. An introduction to the philosophy of education. New York: The Macmillan Company. Dewey, J. 1916. The Collected Works of John Dewey: Middle Works, Volume 9. Aarhus: Klim 2005. Dewey, J. 1938. Education and Experience. New York: Simon & Schuster. Ertsås, T.I. & Irgens E.J. 2014. Fra individuell erfaring til felles kunnskap. Chap.9 in Postholm, M.B. eds. 2014. Ledelse og læring i skolen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Freire, P. 1974. Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum, pp.58, 62, 75-76. Hargreaves, A. 1994. Changing teachers, changing time. London: Cassell, Villiers House. Jensen, F., J. Sjaastad and E. Henriksen. 2011. «Hva nytter? På jakt etter suksesshistorier om rekruttering til realfag.» Journal 1. Oslo: University of Oslo, Norwegian Centre for Science Education. Kolb, D.A. 1984. Experiential learning. Experience as the source of learning and development. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall. Kolb, D.A. 2015. Experiential learning. Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. New Jersey: Pearson Education. Lewin, K. 1951. Field Theory in Social Sciencess. New York: Harper & Row. Norwegian Ministry for Education and Research. 2006. Læreplanverket for Kunnskapsløftet (LK06) / National Curriculum for Knowledge Promotion. Oslo: Norwegian Ministry for Education and Research. Norwegian Ministry for Education and Research. 2010. Realfag for framtiden: Strategi for styrking av realfag og teknologi 2010-2014. [Science for the Future: Strategy for Strengthening Mathematics, Science and Technology (MST) 2010–2014.] Oslo: Norwegian Ministry for Education and Research. (https://www.regjeringen.no/globalassets/upload/kd/vedlegg/uh/rapporter_og_planer/science_for_the_future.pdf) Nordal, S. 2010. Kunnskapsstatus. Bibliografi over norske vitensenterstudier 2003 -2010. Oslo: Norwegian Research Council. Piaget, J. 1971. Psychology and Epistemology. Middelsex, England: Penguin Books. Postholm, M.B. eds. 2014. Ledelse og læring i skolen. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Postholm, M.B. 2011. Kvalitativ metode. En innføring med fokus på fenomenologi, etnografi og kasusstudier. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Prashnig, B. 1998. Kreftene i mangfoldet. Nye lærings- og undervisningsformer. Oslo: Kommuneforlaget AS. Reeve, J. 2005. Understanding Motivation and Emotion. Hoboken: Wiley. Skaalvik, E. and Skaalvik, S. 2013. Skolen som læringsarena. Selvoppfatning, motivasjon og læring. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget. Strauss, A., and J. Corbin 1998. Basics of Qualitative Research. Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage Publications. www.learningfromexperience.com.

Author Information

Heidi Regine Bergsager (presenting / submitting)

Østfold University College

Faculty of Education

Sarpsborg

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.