Session Information
01 SES 03 B, Issues of Teacher Agency
Paper Session
Contribution
In this study, we focus on the leadership of curriculum leaders, whose responsibility comprises ensuring nine years of compulsory education for children and periodically revising the curriculum jointly developed by each secondary school district. They manage the jointly developed curriculum in each junior high school district, organise professional teacher learning, and serve as liaisons between schools. They are clear about the challenges in effectively coordinating educational activities between elementary and secondary schools. However, building initiatives that relate ‘assessment for learning’ to ‘assessment for learning’ is not easy. The practices that connect these two types of assessment are also expected to involve tools such as data-driven assessments, evidence-informed practices, and research-informed practices (Barends, Rousseau, & Briner 2014, Jones 2018, Kvernbekk 2016, Wyse, Hayward, & Pandya 2016, Brown, MacGregor, Flood, & Malin 2022 ).
We address the following two research questions in this study:(1) How do curriculum leaders use educational data and assess educational practices for improvements in each school? (2) What are the differences between successful and unsuccessful schools?
We aim to identify the curriculum leadership that builds on teachers’ professional learning to respond to uncharted situations, the work of leaders in creating an environment and culture that promotes teacher and student agency in the school, and the organisation and management of a coordinated curriculum between primary and secondary schools (Harris, & Muijs 2004, York-Barr, & Duke 2004, Zeiser, Scholz, & Cirks 2018, Leijen, Pedaste, & Lepp 2020).
City A has 15 secondary school districts and has been engaging in primary and secondary school cooperation for more than 10 years. It has been deploying integrated education for primary and secondary schools throughout the city since 2018. However, in the fifth year, differences were found in the results of their efforts and teachers’ awareness in the 15 secondary school districts in the city.
For example, in secondary school district B, the student council and the teacher team worked together to implement events for cross-grade exchanges that were originally planned to be held face-to-face and used the WWW conferencing system in 2020–2021 to publish the secondary school district news and ICT for communication and learning among students and between teachers and students. In secondary school district C, teachers from both elementary and secondary schools planned and conducted a workshop to learn how to carefully observe students who attend under such circumstances. They then discussed the image and goals of the students they intended to nurture through integrated elementary and secondary school education. They had an opportunity to discuss the contents of the classes and teaching methods, including the effective use of ICT, and proceeded with the training.
Thus, the efforts of the B and C school districts focused on the agency of teachers and children, providing them with the opportunity and information to bring them out. Interestingly, these two secondary school districts used ICT for educational data utilisation and improved their efforts based on the results of the behavioural change records and awareness surveys of the students involved in the initiatives. The utilisation of educational data in curriculum management was a distinctive feature. The workshop training in the secondary school district was likely a reason for such assessment and management.
We used questionnaires and interviews to understand the attitudes and behaviours of teachers and children and their interactions with the initiative to visualise what type of curriculum leadership was in place, how educational data were being used, and what type of workshop and teacher learning was being provided in the secondary school districts where the transformative initiative was implemented.
Method
We focused on curriculum leadership to analyse how each secondary school district has worked voluntarily and actively during 2018–2022. We referred to previous studies as a theoretical framework for the development of the questionnaire and interview items. In particular, to understand how teachers changed in the fifth year of their professional learning, the ecological approach model was used in the analysis (Priestly, Edwards, Priestly, & Miller 2012, Leijen, Pedaste, & Lepp 2020). We investigated elementary school children’s anxiety about attending secondary school and their interest in and satisfaction with their efforts for integrated school education before and during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We also investigated how teachers felt about such efforts for integrated school education and professional teacher training. We then compared and analysed the secondary school districts where the voices of the children and teachers matched and the school districts that were not aligned. The first year of investigation using questionnaires was implemented in December 2018 following a preparatory period of one year. Subsequently, the second through fourth surveys were conducted from December 2019 to December 2022. Students (approximately 4,500 fifth- and sixth-year primary students; approximately 3,900 first- and second-year secondary students) were surveyed regarding their opinions and attitudes toward efforts for integrated school education. Primary and secondary school students were asked questions Q1 to Q18. They were asked to answer each question on a four-point scale. A total of 823 primary school teachers and 405 secondary school teachers completed the questionnaire between December 2018 and December 2022. The primary and secondary school teachers were asked questions Q1–Q12. They were asked to answer each question on a four-point scale. Each of the three schools, selected according to school size, was visited twice during the survey period and group interviews were conducted with the teachers. We interpreted the responses as values on an interval scale, acquired averages and standard deviations, and endeavoured to investigate any changes in the children’s opinions and attitudes over the fifth year, spanning from the preparatory period through the first year of the measure.
Expected Outcomes
The results of the five-year study (questionnaires and interviews) revealed that successful middle school districts, where both teachers and students find school initiatives meaningful, demonstrate curriculum leadership in the following ways: In the B secondary school district, the curriculum leaders encouraged teachers to guide the practice and created a professional learning community through data-driven practice. Teachers sought to work closely with the student council to create opportunities for students to generate different ideas and think about school events themselves. Teachers confirmed the meaning of the initiative through an analysis of student awareness survey results and behavioural change records. In the C secondary school district, the curriculum leaders collected considerable information obtained from other school districts. Curriculum leaders shared information with the teachers. Many teachers participated in discussions and thought about opportunities, which created a professional learning community. Interviews with the teachers revealed that teachers in the C secondary school district had many teachers outside the school with whom they could consult, and several teachers were obtaining information from them. Some curriculum leaders in City A used evidence-informed teaching practices to lead the creative efforts of teachers in other secondary school districts’ toward integrated school education. In other words, they conducted evidence-informed teaching practice while recognising that they would receive comments from other schools and create lessons mutually to generate ideas for better practice, rather than verifying the effects.
References
Barends E, Rousseau D and Briner R (2014) Evidence-Based Management: The Basic Principles. Amsterdam: Center for Evidence-Based Management. Brown C, MacGregor S, Flood J, and Malin J (2022) Facilitating Research-Informed Educational Practice for Inclusion. Survey Findings From 147 Teachers and School Leaders in England. Front. Educ. 7:890832. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2022.890832 Harris, A., & Muijs, D. (2004). Improving schools through teacher leadership. London, UK: Oxford University Press. Imants,J. & Van der Wal, M. M. (2020) A model of teacher agency in professional development and school reform, Journal of Curriculum Studies, 52:1, 1-14, Jones G (2018) Evidence-Based School Leadership and Management: A Practical Guide. London: SAGE. Kvernbekk T (2016) Evidence-Based Practice in Education: Functions of Evidence and Causal Presuppositions. London: Routledge. Leijen,Ä., Pedaste, M. & Lepp, L. (2020) Teacher Agency Following the Ecological Model: How it is achieved and how it could be strengthened by different types of reflection. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68:3, 295-310. Nelson, J., & Campbell, C. (2017) .Evidence-informed practice in education: meanings and applications, Educational Research, 59(2), 127-135. Oolbekkink-Marchand H. W., Hadar, L. L., Smith, K., Helleve I., & Ulvik, M. (2017). Teachers' perceived professional space and their agency. Teaching and Teacher Education 62, 37-46 Priestly, M., Edwards, R., Priestly, A., & Miller, K. (2012). Teacher agency in curriculum making: Agents of change and spaces for manoeuvre. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(2), 191–214. Rickinson,M., de Bruin, K., Walsh, L., & Hall,M. (2017). What can evidence-use in practice learn from evidence-use in policy?, Educational Research, 59(2), 173-189. York-Barr, J. & Duke, K. (2004). What do we know about teacher leadership? Findings from two decades of scholarship. Review of Educational Research, 74(3), 255-316. Wyse,D.,Hayward,L. and Pandya,J. (eds.)(2016)The SAGE Handbook of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment. London: SAGE Publications. pp.2-3. Zeiser, K., Scholz, C., & Cirks, V.(2018). Maximizing Student Agency. Implementing and Measuring Student-Centered Learning Practices. American Institutes for Research (AIR) . ( from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED592084.pdf )
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