Session Information
ERG SES H 14, Classrooms
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
The research deals with a further education of teachers, particularly at the school level and an important part of the research consists of Teacher ś continuing professional development (we can use the similar concept as futher teacher´s training or futher education of teacher). The area of teacher ś continuing professional developmetn is specific from many perspectives. One of the features is coping with constantly changing social conditions that are considerable demanding for the teaching staff. This method is extensively connected to the way of a further education of teachers whose work is an important creator of that quality in education. The concept of learning community could be found particularly interesting from this perspective (defined by some authors in this context as a professional learning community, compare to Kruse, 1995; Dufour, 2006, Fullan, 2006), as an objective which we could approach. The teacher´s training takes place at a selected school and school management in a form of mentoring. Mentoring is at a very beginning here and it is already beginning to prepare conditions for the adoption of this new method of education. As the school management acknowledged, it has led to a gradual creation of a learning community. The aim of this paper is to determine whether the method pursued by the organization of further teacher´s training and the creation of conditions for this process shows important characteristics of professional learning community. It is also important to see how this theory is perceived by both actors in the given context. I follow a statement that "professional learning communities are in fact about Establishing lasting new collaborative cultures. Collaborative cultures are the ones that focus on building the capacity for continuous improvement and are intended to be a new way of working and learning. They are meant to be enduring capacities, not just another program innovation. "(Michael Fullan, 2006, p. 10) In examining the issue I rely on the definition of lifelong learning (compare to Strategies of Lifelong Learning in The Czech Republic, 2007, the EU Memorandum on Lifelong Learning (2001)), continuous professional education and professional learning community ( Dufour, 2006; Stoll, Seashore, 2007).
The aim is to describe the conditions and the process of forming a professional learning community environment in Czech schools.The research question is formulated: "What is characteristic for a professional learning community in the monitored school environment? Partial research questions deal with how this community see its members and how they benefit from it. The main method of further teacher´s education in selected school is mentoring. The influence of this approach in shaping a learning community will be also monitored.
Qualitative research is a chosen methodological approach, described below.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
DuFour, R., Eaker, R., & Many, T. (2006). Learning by doing: A handbook for professional learning communities that work. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree. European Report on Quality Indicators of Lifelong Learning [online]. Brusel: European Commision, 2002. 95 p. [cit. 2006-07-03]. Available from http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lll/life/report/quality/report_en.pdf. Fullan, M. "Leading Professional Learning," School Administrator, vol. 63, no. 10 (November 2006), pp. 10–14, Available from http://www.aasa.org/publications/saarticledetail.cfm?ItemNumber=7565. Memorandum of Lifelong Learning [online]. Brusel: European Commission, 2000. no paging [cit. 2006-07-03]. Available from http://www.nvf.cz/archiv/memorandum/obsah.htm. Hargreaves, A. and Fink,D. (2006). Sustainable leadership. San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass/Wiley.Louis, K. S., Kruse, S. D. and Associates (1995). Professionalism and Community: Perspektives on Reforming Urban School. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. Louis, K. S. (2006). Changing the culture of schools: professional community, organizational learning a nd trust, Journal of School Leadership, 16(4):477-89. Stoll, L., Seashore, K.L. (2007). Profesional Learning Communities. Divergence, Depth and Dilemas. Open University Press. Punch, F. K. (2009). Introduction to Research Methods in Education. Sage. Rosenholtz, S. J. (1989). Teacher's workplace: The social organization of schools. New York: Longman.
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