Session Information
10 SES 12 E, Experience, Diversity and Critical Thinking
Paper Session
Contribution
Key words:professional development, phenomenographic, phenomenology, research based knowledge, proven experience, group supervision.
Introduction
Good education is considered to contribute to an equal society. Without an equal school system, the differences between the high and low educated and the economic and social situation of individuals increase with the consequence of a more divided society. In Sweden, a new education act was performed in 2011. It says: "The education should be based on research and tests experience" (Education Act, Cap. 1, § 5). The motive for the legal text is to increase the quality of education in schools. Hattie (2013) points out that differences between schools contribute to increased risk of segregation and adversely affect weaker student groups, such as new arrivals and students with difficult conditions in terms of school outcomes and prospects. Teaching on scientific grounds and tests experience is thus expected to be a guarantee of high quality at schools and reducing the gaps in society. Researchers (Hattie, 2013) show the importance of professional teachers for an equivalent school and that teachers are fundamentally important to really influence school development with increased quality. Hultman's (2015) meta-analysis of national and international studies shows that the teacher's skills development is managed separately and seems to compete rather than interact with each other.
This study goes beyond previous controversies by investigating education based on research and tests experience interacting in professional development for teachers. The study draws on data from an education project aimed at implementing a model for developing education based on research and tests experience for teachers teaching pupils between 6-16 years old. The overall aim of the study is to gain increased knowledge of professional teacher’s scientific basis and tests experience. The first question is how teachers understand the concept of research-based teaching. The second question is how teachers understand the concept of tests experience in teaching. The third question is of how teachers try out their actions and experiences of tests experienced in their professional everyday life. The fourth question is to try to investigate how teachers perceive education based on research and tests experience interact in group supervision.
Theoretical framework
The overall objective of the study has been studied with different theoretical frameworks. The first and second question has perceptions been central. This means that phenomenon (Marton, 2000) has been useful in attempting to study the professionalism's perceptions of scientific grounds as well as tests experience. In the third question a life-world phenomenology (Bengtsson, 2015) and the practice theory of Lauvås and Handal (2001) has been used. The purpose is not to combine these approaches but rather letting two different perspectives highlight the same object. This, life-world approach consists of different dimensions of time, space and world (Bengtsson, 2015). To be able to interpret various levels of reflection has Lauvås and Handal (2001) practical theory been useful. The fourth question has been explored with phenomenology (Bengtsson, 1993) as a perspective to acknowledge both social and cultural contexts as important dimension in teachers' everyday lives. The life-world is the daily world we take for granted, which exists without constantly reflecting on it (Claesson, 2004). When teachers try their experiences, it can be about things that is not articulated or things that otherwise would be taken for granted, such as gestures, speech, language and feelings. The perspective is important to underline teachers approach to their entire body since the body are constantly present and participate in the classroom (Claesson, 2004). Unlike the phenomenon, intentionality is brought to the surface. Intentionality implies consciousness of consciousness and influenced by how we gain access to new experiences (Segolsson, 2011).
Method
Research methods The project is a cooperation between two universities and three schools in three different communities in Sweden. The project has been used to try to capture how teachers perceive that proven experiences and scientific knowledge interact. In order to gain increased knowledge of how teachers perceive and interact with their own proven experience and science in elementary school practice, project `Modellskolans` group supervision has been chosen as the study's research context. In group supervision, teachers 'complex lives are expected to reflect and thus have been important for getting acquainted with teachers' proven experience and scientific basis. The study's empirical data with active teachers' perceptions included video from the project's competence-enhancing efforts of group supervision as stimulus in the interviews. Step one in the implementation of data collection was group supervision with four to six teachers who, together with a supervisor, reflected on their own issues for about 80-90 minutes, which was documented through video capture. Through this documentation, the group supervision situation has served as a stimulus for subsequent individual interviews. This method, stimulated recall, is to be effective in starting the reflections and putting words on experiences (Haglund, 2003). After video recording, three sequences were cut out. The sequences selected showed when several participants were active and during the tutorial interview asked questions and reflected on common dilemma. For example, the beginning of group supervision was not shown because it consisted only of a teacher's narrative and other participants who listened. This means that each participant's voice was divided into at least one sequence. During the following day or day two after the supervision interview, the interview was conducted, step two within the stimulated recall method. The respondent and interviewer looked together on the selected video sequences, and the respondent was instructed to press the stop button when something was noticeably noted in the conversation. At the stop, the teacher reflected on what was noticed, after which the interview began with a focus on scientific basis and proven experience. The interviews used a semi-structured interview guide (Kvale, 1997). This meant that the interview interacted between the respondents freely describing what they saw and perceived. The same approach was repeated through the three selected sequences. In total, three groups in three different municipalities and schools with 14 individual interviews have been made with video documentation as stimuli.
Expected Outcomes
Expected outcomes The results show that teachers’ possibilities to interact research based theory and tests experience in education is by structural reflection. This paper and fourth question is to investigate how structured and targeted reflection towards research and tests experience can interact in group supervision. The intention to interact is not only to visualize the differences between intern and extern knowledge, but to illustrate the relation between them and how teacher weave them together. The interaction act is depending on the relationship between time, space and world for interweaving and to be whole and generate meaningful knowledge. The perceived time is sometimes described as short and spontaneous, but in interacting with longer and more coherent time, in group supervision, can be reflected on. Dimensions of space describe teachers' as structured reflections with a targeted attitude towards both external and internal knowledge, the knowledge seems to merge. The different perspectives of knowledge emphasize Bengtsson (1990) as creating distance and to be visible to compare each other. The dimensions of teachers’ practical world means that if the practice changes, the teacher also changes and, accordingly, the practice changes if the world of science and research change. In this way, internal and external worlds seem to interact, but the differences between them seem to indicate that Bengtsson and Berndtsson (2015) are sometimes so big that one talks about being in another world and may lead to understanding problems. Interactions seem to be achieved only when teachers' understanding of the world of science and practice is within reach and possible to achieve and not to be too far from one's own. Structured and targeted reflection is thus an important tool for visibility of knowledge, not just general or for granted knowledge, but social and emotional knowledge.
References
References Bengtsson, J. (1993). Theory and practice. Two fundamental categories in the philosophy of teacher education. Educational Review, 45(3), 205–211. Bengtsson, J. & Berndtsson, I. (red.) (2015). Lärande ur ett livsvärldsperspektiv. (1. uppl.) Malmö: Gleerups. Claesson, S. (2004). Lärares levda kunskap. Göteborg: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis. Haglund, B. (2003). Stimulated recall. Några anteckningar om en metod att generera data. Pedagogisk forskning i Sverige, 8(3), 145–157. Hultman, G. (2015). Transformation, interaktion eller kunskapskonkurrens. Forskningsanvändning i praktiken: Delrapport från skolforsk-projektet. Hämtad 20170317 från https://publikationer.vr.se/produkt/transformation-interaktion-eller-kunskapskonkurrens-forskningsanvandning-i-praktiken/ Kroksmark, T. (Red.) (2014). Modellskolan – en skola på vetenskaplig grund med forskande lärare. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Kvale, S. (1997). Den kvalitativa forskningsintervjun. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Lauvås, P. & Handal, G. (2001). Handledning och praktisk yrkesteori. Studentlitteratur, Lund. Marton, F., Booth, S. (2000). Om lärande. Lund: Studentlitteratur. Segolsson, M. (2011). Lärandets hermeneutik. Dissertation. School of Education and Communication. Jönköping: Högskolan för lärande och kommunikation i Jönköping. SFS 2010:800. Skollagen. Stockholm: Norstedts Juridik.
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