Attending to Problems of Practice: Routines and Resources for Professional Learning in Teachers’ Workplace Interactions

Abstract

The authors investigate how conversational routines, or the practices by which groups structure work-related talk, function in teacher professional communities to forge, sustain, and support learning and improvement. Audiotaped and videotaped records of teachers’ work group interactions, supplemented by interviews and material artifacts, were collected as part of a 2-year project centered on teacher learning and collegiality at two urban high schools. This analysis focuses on two teacher work groups within the same school. While both groups were committed to improvement and shared a common organizational context, their characteristic conversational routines provided different resources for them to access, conceptualize, and learn from problems of practice. More specifically, the groups differed in the extent to which conversational routines supported the linking of frameworks for teaching to specific instances of practice. An analysis of the broader data set points to significant contextual factors that help account for the differences in the practices of the two groups. The study has implications for fostering workplace learning through more systematic support of professional community.

Exploring the relation between teachers’ perceptions of workplace conditions and their professional learning goals

“…self-efficacy, career aspirations), tasks characteristics and responsibilities, and teachers' perceptions of the context (e.g. as situated in practice with current classroom or school-wide issues) (Eraut 1995, Tynjälä 2008, Borko et al 2010, Horn and Little 2010, Imants and Van Veen 2010, Shriki and Lavy 2012.…”

“…Literature reviews indicate that the effectiveness of teachers' professional development is highly dependent upon the context in which the teacher is operating (Borko et al 2010). A teacher's workplace is an important environment because it could provide learning opportunities in daily teaching practice (Borko et al 2010, Horn and Little 2010, Ambler 2016, Kyndt et al 2016, opportunities to learn together with colleagues (Little 2012) and opportunities to apply new knowledge and skills that are learned outside the school context. According to Little (2012, p. 25): [s]chools that support teacher learning and foster a culture of collegiality and continuous improvement are better able to support and retain new teachers, pursue innovation, respond effectively to external changes and secure teacher commitment.…”

Using Social Network Analysis to Study How Collegial Interactions Can Augment Teacher Learning from External Professional Development

“…Of central importance are routines and protocols that scaffold deep conversations among teachers about their practices (Horn and Little 2010;Kazemi and Franke 2004;Little 2003). First, protocols for looking at student work together or examining practice can provide a safe context for opening up and representing one's practice to others and thus facilitate teachers' willingness to experiment with new practices (Curry et al 2003;Little and Curry 2008).…”

“…Case analyses have illuminated the critical conditions for forming such communities, including a shared goal for improvement (Scribner et al 2007), a commitment to opening up one's practice to others (Little 2002), and a strong alignment between the formal or designed social organization of schools and the actual pattern of collegial ties (Bidwell and Yasumoto 1997). These conditions, in turn, enable teachers to reconstruct their practice through repeated interactions around artifacts and representations of teaching practice and student thinking (Kazemi and Franke 2004;Little 2003), opportunities to observe one another engaged in the act of teaching (Lewis et al 2006), and routines for scaffolding interactions about teaching (Horn and Little 2010).…”

Avantages et défis d’une communauté d’apprentissage pour dynamiser l’enseignement des sciences et de la technologie à l’élémentaire

“…Par exemple, dans la CA étudiée, il peut s'agir d'expérimenter certaines innovations pédagogiques comme l'intégration technologique ou les pratiques évaluatives, en s'inspirant des résultats de recherche sur les pratiques en S-T ou encore en analysant des productions d'élèves, un peu à l'image de ce qui se fait dans les CAP (DuFour, 2004;Leclerc et Moreau, 2011). Cet enrichissement, négocié avec les participants, pourra être vu comme une stratégie signifiante pour accompagner la CA en vue d'un développement professionnel optimal, à la fois collectif, idiosyncrasique et visant la réussite de tous les élèves (Horn et Little, 2010).…”