Session Information
01 SES 01 B, Leadership in Early Childhood Education
Paper Session
Contribution
The starting point for this study is implementing a continuous professional learning module, Leading Development and Change (LDC), for ECEC and school leaders. The study is based on student-active methods applied to empower and utilize students' capacity in a democratic direction, both in their studies and at their workplace. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a key method used throughout the module, and there is a clear connection between the teaching and the final assessment. It is a goal that the final assessment should represent a learning process with transfer value to the students' leader activities rather than a control. In the module, we also involve the students in the design of assessment criteria for the final assessment (exam).
Democracy, according to Dewey (1966), exists primarily as lived experience. His thoughts on the democratic "way of life" are an approach in which democracy is more than governance mechanisms and the right to participation; it is an idea of equal coexistence characterized by dialogue and cooperation. Democracy is a process that must be constantly created, recreated, and realized anew in all the living relations between autonomous people and the systems of which human beings are a part (Dewey, 1966). Biesta (2006) also points out that although individuals have democratic knowledge, skills, and dispositions, it is primarily through actions responded to by others that they become democratic subjects.
Student-active learning methods allow students to actively contribute to their and their fellow students' knowledge production. In the LDC module, this takes place in dialogue with students who have different backgrounds and perspectives by being leaders from ECECs and schools. Thus, PBL provides the potential to support and promote student learning so that they can better acquire, activate and apply the theoretical knowledge to practical tasks and challenges both in the study program and their professional practice (Pettersen, 2017).
Various assessment forms can be grouped into two main categories: summative and formative assessments (Raaheim, 2016). It is a challenge that the forms of assessment are often disconnected from the learning activities and take place in situations distant from the students' professional contexts (Raaheim, 2016). In this study, we argue that learning and assessment are closely linked, and in the LDC module, we have developed a final assessment in a formative direction through the use of PBL as an examination method.
We investigate the students' experiences and perceptions of how exam preparation through PBL as a working method and participation in the assessment criteria design has impacted their learning outcomes. Furthermore, we examine how the students express that education has left its mark on their practice. On this basis, our research question is:
How can problem-based learning (PBL) and assessment be included in the LDC module when the goal is to promote democratic leadership in ECECs and schools?
Method
The article is structured around a qualitative examination of students' written texts and evaluations during the course of the module. The study is methodologically based on analyses of student texts and various evaluations, including written evaluations after each session and final evaluation (qualitative and quantitative). We also make use of external examiners' written assessments. Two cohorts have so far (as of spring 2023) completed the continuing education module (academic years 2021-22, 2022-23) (N = 26). The student's texts and evaluations are systematically analyzed from a theoretical perspective. We investigate how the work methods affect the students' academic independence through Bakhtin's dialogism (Bakhtin & Holquist, 1981). We also examine what consequences this has for their leadership and their perception of democratic practices.
Expected Outcomes
We will analyze the data and discuss the findings in light of the theoretical framework. Our goal is to develop a module that can have an impact on leadership practices in the educational field. Through theoretical perspectives, we will pursue reasoning about how the learning and assessment methods in the module are related to the student's active participation and the consequences of their practice. Furthermore, we discuss whether defining the academic content of the module and the module's various learning and assessment methods can help develop a study program that contributes to democratic practices in ECECs and schools. Our preliminary findings show that the students describe PBL as an educational but also demanding way of working. One of the students expresses the following: "The working method can be tiring, but it is the best way to learn because we get to knead and discuss and reflect on theory and practice with a much broader perspective than when doing it alone." Several students point to the transfer value of their leadership work and that becoming familiar with PBL as a method has been a useful tool that can be "implemented in one's leadership practice." Several students also state that using cases and relevant issues/challenges proximity them to their working day.
References
Bakhtin, M., & Holquist, M. (1981). The dialogic imagination: four essays. University of Texas Press. Biesta, G. J. (2015). Beautiful risk of education. Routledge. Dewey, J. (1966). Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education. Free Press. Pettersen, R.C. (2017). Problembasert læring for studenter og lærere. Introduksjon til PBL og studentaktive læringsformer (3 utg.). (Problem-based learning for students and teachers. Introduction to PBL and student-active learning methods) Universitetsforlaget. Raaheim, A. (2016). Eksamensrevolusjonen. (The exam revolution). Gyldendal Akademiske.
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