Session Information
01 SES 04 B, Research Perspectives on Leadership (Part 1)
Paper Session to be continued in 01 SES 06 C
Contribution
Quebec's education system, like many other around the world, is in a state of continuous changes. Since the beginning of the 1960s, Quebec teachers have had to adjust their teaching practices according to the changes made to educational programs and policies (Laurier, 2014). Indeed, starting with a list of topics to be presented to students (1970-1980), the curriculum evolved into programs by objectives (1980-2000) followed by the current competency-based programs (2001- ). As a result to these changes, and in parallel with it, modifications were brought to the initial assessment policy (MEQ, 1981) in order to link assessment practices to the newest competency-based program (MEQ, 2003). Consequently, these changes in the assessment policy required adjustments of teacher practices which in light of those continuous changes in the ways to assess and report student learning, are feeling insufficiently prepared (Fontaine, Kane, Duquette et Savoie-Zajc, 2011 ; Kane, Jones, Rottmann et Conner, 2010).
School principals play an important role in supporting teachers in most aspects of their job, including the assessment of their students. However, school principals have also had to adjust their practices. Indeed, for more than a decade, school organizations have had to comply with an accountability process imposed by the Quebec Ministry of Education (Lessard, 2014). This accountability process led to the creation of partnership agreements between the Ministry and school boards in regards to the need to prioritize students’ perseverance and success. Embedded in this accountability process, the publication of a document called I care about school! All together for student success (2009), provided a specific orientation for the changes to be made within assessment practices. It also established school targets and monitoring process for student success. For the Quebec school system, the targeted goal is to raise the graduation, or qualifications rate, to 80 per cent for students under the age of 20 by 2020 (MELS, 2009). Therefore, we are witnessing a process of regulation of the education system within which inferences are made on the basis of how each school is performing (Blais, 2004). This regulation process requires the use of internal and external quantitative indicators (Lessard and Meirieu, 2004). Students’ assessment thus becomes essential because it represents a quantitative indicator of the school’s internal performance. Henceforth, it is necessary for school principals to understand the student assessment process and to become more involved in supporting their staff within that process.
Now, if teachers, at the forefront of the assessment process, don’t feel sufficiently competent (Fontaine, Savoie-Zajc et Cadieux, 2013; Kane et al., 2010), it is highly possible that school principals’ perception of self-competency is even more unstable. Indeed, in most cases, school principals have had an assessment course during initial teacher training, but for most of them, it has been a long time ago and considerable changes have occurred since then. Nonetheless, they still need to support their teachers in the assessment process in order to comply to the accountability process they are engaged with (MELS, 2008).
Hoping to contribute to school principals professional development in this specific area, we conducted a research with the following objectives: (1) identify the needs of school principals in developing their professional competencies to better support teachers in assessment; (2) familiarize school principals with best practices in student assessment; (3) co-develop with school principals action plans to support the assessment process within their school and (4) describe the development of school principals’ professional competencies in supporting assessment practices of teachers. For the purpose of this presentation, results from objectives 2 and 4 will be presented.
Method
We adopted an action research methodological framework within which two learning communities (LC) (Dionne, Lemyre et Savoie-Zajc, 2010) composed of school principals (LC-1: eight primary school principals and LC-2: eight secondary school principals) and three researchers were formed. Their participation was entirely voluntary. School board administrators from four different school boards facilitated enrolment in the research by suggesting school principals that 1) were interested in participating, and 2) could be potential leaders amongst their colleague principals. The learning communities were formed in 2017 and five half-day group meetings and four two-hours individual meetings were held over two years. This methodology was chosen because action research starts from practitioners’ concerns, it is situated within their professional practice context, it aims to improve their practices, it encourages a flexible approach by experiencing their day-to-day reality of practice, it is part of a continuous learning process and finally, it aims to validate solutions for identified concerns through a rigorous process of justification (Dolbec and Clément, 2004; Savoie-Zajc, 2001). A three-step approach was chosen: (1) group meetings shared theoretical and practical knowledge related to teachers’ support in the field of assessment practices, (2) implementation of some activities by each school principal in order to support teachers in the context of an assessment issue, and (3) reflexive feedback (group and individual meetings) in order to discuss various aspects of the implemented support activities, as well as strengths and weaknesses. Data was collected through participants’ logbooks and recorded and written meeting notes (group and individual). Each participant’s logbook was used to keep written records of the implemented activities and the adjustments made, participant’s reflections in regards to the activities as well as the lessons they learned from the experiences. Meeting notes provided helpful links over time and supported readily dialogues between participants and researchers during both group and individual meetings. Growth and evolvement of school principals’ competencies to support teachers in assessment practices made throughout the research was thus recorded. It allowed us to write individual trajectories for four of the participants.
Expected Outcomes
Training of school personnel is inevitable in light of the continuous changes in their professional educational context. However, it must be adapted to their specific needs as well as their professional reality in order for them to even consider making the necessary adjustments to their practices (Biémar, 2012). Data collected in this research shows that the spaces created by the learning community groups and individual meetings over a two-year period allowed participants to step back from their practices and exchange with colleagues from different backgrounds (school context, grade level, etc.) with regards to supporting teachers in various issues related to students’ assessment practices (overassessment, breach of confidentiality for Ministry exams, allocation of the mark 0 to an exam if the student is absent, etc.). Trajectories from two of the participants illustrate the growth in school principals’ competencies in supporting teachers. For example, one of the school principals mentioned changing ways to support teachers, from an authoritarian approach to a more collaborative one, involving listening to teachers’ needs instead of imposing her ways of doing things. The trajectories also provide evidence of school principals’ increased knowledge of a wider variety of issues regarding students’ assessment. For example, another participant indicated that she was more confident to tackle a variety of assessment issues (such as student feedback, analysis of exams’ results, etc.) with teachers individually or in groups. For the purpose of this presentation, the researchers will report on the needs expressed by the school principals (objective 1) and on the development of school principals’ competencies (objective 4) over the past years through individualized trajectories based on the data collected from logbooks and meetings notes.
References
Biémar, S. (2012). Accompagner un groupe d’enseignants dans une école : une grille de compétences. Dans E. Charlier et S. Biémar, Accompagner un agir professionnel (p. 19-33). Bruxelles : De Boeck. Blais, J.-G. (2004). L’obligation de résultats à la lumière de l’interaction entre le quantitative et le social. Dans C. Lessard et P. Meirieu, L’obligation de résultats en éducation (p. 123-144). St-Nicolas : PUL. Dionne, L., Lemyre, F., & Savoie-Zajc, L. (2010). Vers une définition englobante de la communauté d’apprentissage comme dispositif de développement professionnel. Revue des Sciences de l'Éducation, 36(1), 25-43. Dolbec, A. & Clément, J. (2004). La recherche-action. Dans T. Karsenti & L. Savoie-Zajc. La recherche en éducation : ses étapes, ses approches (p. 181-208). Sherbrooke: CRP. Fontaine, S., Kane, R., Duquette, O., & Savoie-Zajc, L. (2011). New teachers’ career intentions: Factors influencing new teachers’ decisions to stay or to leave the profession. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 57(4), 379-408. Fontaine, S., Savoie-Zajc, L. & Cadieux, A. (2013). L’impact des CAP sur le développement de la compétence des enseignants en évaluation des apprentissages. Éducation et francophonie, 41(2), 10–34. Kane, R., Jones, A., Rottmann, J., & Conner, M. (2010). The evaluation of the new teacher induction program. Phase Three Final Report to the Ontario Ministry of Education. Laurier, M. (2014). La politique québécoise d’évaluation des apprentissages et les pratiques évaluatives, Éducation et Francophonie, 42, 31-49. Lessard, C. (2004). L’obligation de résultats en éducation: de quoi s’agit-il? Le contexte québécois d’une demande sociale, une rhétorique du changement et une extension de la recherche. LESSARD, C.; MEIRIEU, P. L’obligation de résultats en éducation. Montréal. Lessard, C. (2014). La montée en puissance de l’évaluation, instrument d’action politique au Canada et au Québec. Enjeux sociopolitiques et socioéducatifs. Dans J. Morrissette et M.-F. Legendre, Enseigner et évaluer. Regards sur les enjeux éthiques et sociopolitiques (p.143-164). Québec, Québec : PUL. Ministère de l’éducation du Québec (2003). Programme de formation de l’école québécoise : enseignement secondaire, premier cycle. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec. Ministère de l’Éducation du Québec (1981). Politique générale d’évaluation pédagogique (secteur du préscolaire, du primaire et du secondaire). Québec : Gouvernement du Québec. Ministère de l’éducation, des loisirs et du sport (2008). Pas à pas, réussir le bilan des apprentissages. Guide à l'intention des écoles. Québec : Gouvernement du Québec. Savoie-Zajc, L. (2001). La recherche-action en éducation: ses cadres épistémologiques, sa pertinence, ses limites. Nouvelles dynamiques de recherche en éducation, 15-49.
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