Introduction

Introducing educational changes is a difficult process which involves multiple actors, such as teachers, school leaders, and policy makers. A common process is that changes are decided by policy makers and translated into steering documents. These go out to schools where leaders are responsible for ensuring that the changes are put into practice by teachers. Even though such a top-down approach to development has not been found to create sustainable changes and improved student learning (Hayward, 2010; Timperley et. al. 2008), the clear division between decision makers, leaders and practitioners seems to prevail.

Research objective

The objective of this paper is to present a small study which examines the learning processes of teachers and school leaders, the local authorities’ representative, and project leader in a continuous professional development (CPD) project aimed at developing an assessment for learning (AfL) culture in five secondary schools in Norway.

Background

Introducing AfL in Norwegian schools has been a stated political goal, and various initiatives, from extensive steering documents on how to practice AfL to large scale professional development initiatives, have been tried out. It does not seem, however, that the activities have caused conceptual changes of teachers’ understanding and practice of AfL. Teachers and leaders express a great deal of frustration as regards implementation of AfL.

In the current project the local school authorities and a researcher with AfL expertise invited schools to participate in a CPD initiative. First the principles behind AfL were discussed supported by international literature on assessment. Next, the schools engaged in carefully supervised action research activities to develop a practice of AfL suited to their own context.

Conceptual  framework

The conceptual framework  for choosing a bottom-up approach to CPD was based on  Putman & Borko’s (1997)  summary of  research on CPD; ‘Truisms’ in teachers’ professional development:

1. Teachers should be treated as active learners who construct their own understanding.
2. Teachers should be empowered and treated as professionals.
3. Teacher education must be situated in classroom practice
4. Teacher educators should treat teachers as they expect teachers to treat students

Moreover, teachers have to develop ownership of the changes which aligns with their educational values, the teaching subject, and their students (Timperley, 2011; Smith, 2011). If changes are imposed from above, they are likely to be superficial and technical (Day, 2004). To replace long standing practices with a new culture in school, a long term incremental approach involving the main actors, including local school authorities (Smith & Engelsen, 2012), was chosen. They were all engaged in learning about the topic of change, in this case, AfL.

Research question

In light of the above the research question of the current paper is: How do the main actors in a CPD project on AfL; the teachers, the project leader, and the local authorities’ representative, experience the yearlong learning process?

References: Day, C., 2004. A passion for teaching. London: RoutledgeFalmer. Hayward, L. (2010). Moving beyond the classroom. In J.Gardner, J., Harlen, W., Hayward, L., & Stobart, G., with Montgomery, M. Developing Teacher Assessment (pp.29-52). Berkshire: Open University Press. Putnam, R. T., & Borko, H. (1997). Teacher Learning: Implications of the new view of cognition. In B.J. Biddle, T.L Good & I.F. Goodson (Eds.), The International Handbook of Teachers and Teaching. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Kluwer. Smith, K. (2011). Professional development of teachers - A prerequisite for AfL to be successfully implemented in the classroom, Studies in Educational Evaluation, 37: 55–61. Smith, K. & Engelsen, K. S. (2012). Developing an assessment for learning (AfL) culture in school: the voice of the principals. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 1-20. DOI: 10.1080/13603124.2012.699639 Timperley, H. (2011). Realizing the Power of professional learning. Maidenhead, England: Open University Press. Timperley, H., Wilson, A., Barrar, H., & Fung, I. (2008). Teacher Professional Learning and Development. Wellington: New Zealand: Ministry of Education.