Building Resilience and Well-being Through Reflective Practice: an Arts-based Approach

Author(s):

Loraine McKay(presenting / submitting)Georgina Barton(presenting)

Conference:

ECER 2017

Network:

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

Format:

Paper

Session Information

01 SES 07C, Resilience and Emotional Challenges Facing Teachers

Paper Session

Time:

2017-08-23

17:15-18:45

Room:

K3.13

Chair:

Loraine McKay

Contribution

Teachers are currently under increasing pressure to meet the needs of a diverse range of student learners within a highly regulated and restricted curriculum. Teachers’ work is currently being driven and limited by the high stakes testing regime (Zhao, 2012). Their professional judgement is often disregarded (Keddie, 2015) in the era of accountability in favour of hard evidence in the form of quantitative measures to define success and failure of students and their teachers (Comber, 2013; Dulfor, Polese & Rice, 2012). What counts as success is often privileged by how easy it is to measure (Mockler, 2011). Conklin (2014) suggests that the narrowing of the curriculum, and increased attention and pressure to accountability measures, have eroded the joy of learning for both teachers and students.

Further, students’ literacy levels is an area that is presenting challenges for secondary teachers who often see themselves as having been trained as disciplinary experts (Cashen, 2012; Clary, Feez, Garvey & Partridge, 2015), rather than as teachers of literacy. Students with low skills in school literacy often experience difficulty accessing the content provided in curriculum subjects. Student behaviour, often connected with unmet needs, is identified as a contributing factor to teacher burnout. In addition, unsatisfying work conditions with challenging workloads, frustration related to their own unmet needs, and feelings of isolation contribute to teachers leaving the profession in the early stages of their careers. This is a global issue.

Goddard and Goddard’s (2006) Australian study into teacher retention found a meaningful association between a serious intention to leave the teaching profession and burnout levels. In America, Ingersoll (2012) reported 30–50% of new teachers leave the field within their first five years while in Canada a 30% attrition rate reportedly occurs during the first five years for all new teachers (Ontario College of Teachers 2004). Lindqvist and Nordänger (2016) also noted an increasing attrition rate of teachers in Sweden over the last three decades. Hong (2010) reports that teachers who dropout of the profession showed most emotional burnout. Therefore, supporting teachers as reflective practitioners, who are able to identify and respond to a range of challenges is paramount to protecting their well-being and building resilience to keep them in the profession as their expertise develops (Korthagen & Vasalos, 2005).

In this presentation we explore and analyse a continuing professional development program within an Australian secondary school. Author one acted as a critical friend during a newly introduced initiative to improve students’ literacy skills. During this process data was collected. Initially, the program intended to develop the teachers’ pedagogical skills related to teaching literacy to students in Years 7 and 8 who were reading well below year level expectations. However, what emerged was a much stronger need to support teachers’ resilience and well-being in their new found roles. In the second workshop a switch was made in the focus of the program to foreground teacher welfare over pedagogical knowledge as a means of supporting these teachers in a challenging learning context and role. The research question guiding this presentation is “How can teachers’ resilience and well-being, threatened by the challenging teaching context, be bolstered through arts-based reflective processes?”

Method

This research is qualitative in nature as it explored the lived experiences of teachers. The 2-year project included seven full day workshops. These were designed via an action learning approach in response to teacher-identified issues gained through focus group interviews (4), questionnaires (2), teachers’ personal reflective journals (2), and ongoing email correspondence and phone conversations. Classroom observations and co-teaching sessions with the researcher were also used to identify key areas where support could be offered to teachers. In addition, students were interviewed in focus groups so their perspectives could be included to create a fuller picture of the teaching context. Reflective tools such as drawing, concept mapping, timelining, rip and paste collaging, and adapted photo elicitation techniques were introduced. These processes provided an opportunity to acknowledge the affective responses teachers were reporting and to apply various tools for reflection that provided rich data. We present the data of three participants in the early stages of their careers. Prior to analysis all written data including transcribed interview and focus group data were input to NVivo. We then applied two conceptual frameworks to analyse the data. The first was developed from Korthagen’s (2004) multi-layered ‘onion model’ and ALACT model of reflection (Korthagen & Vasalos, 2005). Within Korthagen’s (2004) model, the outermost layer represents the environment. The environment includes aspects such as the explicit and implied expectations held for the individual; resources made available to meet those expectations; and the social interactions that occur while attempting to achieve the expectations. The innermost core holds the personal mission that represents one’s personal ideals and core qualities. Core qualities include elements such as empathy, compassion, love, spontaneity, self-confidence, courage, and goal-directedness. One’s behaviour, competencies, beliefs, and identity make up the remaining layers of the onion and connect the inner and outermost sections. The ALACT model is a cyclic 5-stage model of reflection that focuses on affective rather than rational analysis of ones’ situation. The second conceptual framework addressed the arts-based approaches taken to scaffold the teachers’ reflection. Utilising work carried out by Kress and van Leeuwen (2006) we identified the representational, interpersonal and compositional meanings presented in the teachers’ work. We noted what mode or ensemble of modes were selected and how these related to the ALACT reflection model with the aim of revealing what levels of reflection teachers engaged in through various meaning-making modes.

Expected Outcomes

Early data analysis suggests these teachers are under extreme pressure with dissonance evident between their mission and core qualities and the perceived expectations of parents, students, colleagues and leadership teams within their work environment. The reflective and arts-based tools enabled the teachers to put a name to the challenging elements of their work but more importantly to identify how they chose to react and respond to these elements. Engaging with both linguistic and tactile modes of representation allowed these teachers to tap into important emotions related to their work. Further, sharing their reflections enabled a deeper sense of collegiality to develop amongst the three teachers. This peer support helped to strengthen their resolve that enabled them to continue to push back on the ongoing pressure. Understanding others were experiencing the same challenges opened up communication at a deeper level and teachers became more aware of the core qualities that they were calling on to navigate the ongoing and daily challenges of their work. By clarifying what they wanted to achieve and recognising what was possible within their control they were able to re-focus on the aspirations they held for themselves and students and set about planning to achieve them. When the inner and outer layers are aligned, resilience and well-being are more likely to prevail. In contrast, the loss of ideals or disconnect with personal ideals is reportedly characteristic of many cases of burnout (Zwart, Korthagen & Attema-Noordewier, 2015). We argue that reflection can be enhanced using an arts-based approach. The insight gathered from the rich data provides valuable information to support teachers’ professional growth. The process also contributes to teacher resilience and well-being. Both of these outcomes help to address the global problem of early career teacher attrition from the profession.

References

Cashen, P. (2012). Adolescent literacy project report. South Australian Secondary Schools Principals’ Association. South Australia: Government of South Australia. Clary, D., Feez, S., Garvey, A., & Partridge, R. (2015). From little things big things grow: Enhancing literacy learning for secondary students in rural and regional Australia. Australian and International Journal of Rural Education, 25(1), 25—37. Comber, B. (2013). High-stakes literacy tests and local effects in a rural school. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 36(2), 78-89. Doi: Conklin, H.G. (2014). Toward More Joyful Learning: Integrating Play Into Frameworks of Middle Grades Teaching. American Education Research Journal 51, 1227-1255. Doi: 10.3102/0002831214549451 Dulfer, N., J. Polesel, and S. Rice. (2012). The experience of education: The impacts of high stakes testing on school students and their families. An educator’s perspective. Sydney, Australia: The Whitlam Institute. Goddard, R., and M. Goddard. (2006). Beginning teacher burnout in Queensland schools: Associations with serious intentions to leave. The Australian Educational Researcher 33(2), 61-75. Hong, J.Y. (2010). Preservice and beginning teachers’ professional identity in relation to dropping out of the profession. Teaching and Teacher Education 26, 1530-43. Ingersoll, R.M. (2012). Beginning teaching induction: What the data tells us. Phi Delta Kappa International 93(8) 47-51. Retrieved from http://www.pdkintl.org/ Keddie, A. (2015). Student voice and teacher accountability: possibilities and problematics. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 23(2), 225-244, Doi: 10.1080/14681366.2014.977806 Korthagen, F.A.J. (2004). In search of the essence of a good teacher: towards a more holistic approach in teacher education. Teaching and teacher education, 20(1), 77-97 Korthagen, F. & Vasalos A. (2005). Levels of reflection: core reflection as a means to enhance professional development. Teachers and Teaching: Theory into Practice, 11(1), 47-71 Kress, G., & Van Leeuwen, T. (2006). Reading images: The grammar of visual design (2nd ed.). London, England: Routledge. Lindqvist P. & Nordänger U.K. (2016). Already elsewhere – A study of (skilled) teachers' choice to leave teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 54, 88-97. Doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2015.11.010 Ontario College of Teachers. 2004. Annual report. Toronto, Canada: Ontario College of Teachers Mockler, N. (2011). Beyond “what works”. Understanding teacher identity as a practical and political tool. Teachers and Teaching, 17(50), 517-528. Doi: 10.1080/13540602.2011.602059 Zhao, Y. (2012) World Class Learners: educating creative and entrepreneurial students. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Zwart, R.C., Korthagen, F.A.J., & Attema-Noordewier, S. (2015). A strengths-based approach to teacher professional development. Professional Development in Education, 41(3), 579-596. Doi: 10.1080/19415257.2014.919341

Author Information

Loraine McKay (presenting / submitting)

Griffith University, Australia

Georgina Barton (presenting)