When teacher clusters work: selected experiences of South African teachers with the cluster approach to professional development

Jita, Loyiso C.; Mokhele, Matseliso L.

doi:10.15700/201412071132

Cited by 35 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…These emerging themes confirmed process benefits by Jita and Mokhele (2014) which constituted the values of teamwork, instructional guidance, and pedagogical leadership. Fischer, Borowski, and Tepner (2012) stated that Shulman (1986) described pedagogical knowledge as classroom knowledge of general principles pertaining to organisation and management) (Recast this.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…The observational activities enabled the teachers in each cluster to collaboratively assess each Mathematics lesson taught by their colleagues. This act exhibited by teachers in the cluster networks was described by Jita and Mokhele (2014) as the 'process' benefits of clustering. The findings from observational activities describe the utopian Mathematics lessons that emanated from the improved mathematical know-how of teachers.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This development came at a time the disappointing performance of South African school children in Science and Mathematics in Trends in International Mathematics Education (TIMSS) needed urgent attention from academic researchers. Jita and Mokhele (2014) believed that building the capacity of the teachers is the end that any ongoing professional development such as the SANRAL Chair in science and Mathematics Education is designed to achieve.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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South African Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge: Reflections From Short Learning Intervention Programme (Slip)

Jita

Ige

2019

PEC

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This qualitative research reports the results of a short learning intervention programme conducted by South African National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) Chair in Science and Mathematics Education to enhance the mathematical knowledge of teachers in some South African schools. The short learning programme comprised the fostering of teachers’ mathematical knowledge and the formation of lesson study groups to apply the knowledge gained from the intervention programme in different schools in the country. The sample comprised 53 male and 72 female Mathematics teachers who were nominated from several school districts in the country. The participants were trained using Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching (MKT) which included the topics of probability/ratio and proportion (grades 1-9). The MKT consisted of these sets of expertise: Common Content Knowledge (CCK), Specialised Content Knowledge (SCK), Knowledge of Contents and Students (KCS), and Knowledge of Content and Teaching (KCT). The lesson study groups applied the knowledge acquired from the short learning intervention programme to engage in group activities, lesson studies, and to report the major challenges in doing the lesson studies. This model research comprised three stages: the first stage involved active participation in the workshops that took place at the University of the Free State; the teachers that attended the training workshops implemented the knowledge gained in the respective schools in their districts in the second stage; and the third stage involved the compilation and submission of a Portfolio of Evidence (PoE) by the teachers that participated in the training workshops. Keywords: mathematical knowledge, short learning intervention programme, South African teachers.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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South African Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge: Reflections From Short Learning Intervention Programme (Slip)

Jita

Ige

2019

PEC

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“…(Sellman 2011, 58) It is therefore postulated here that, should significant educational change be desired, it can best be achieved by understanding and addressing the activity system's network of historically and materially situated resources and connections. For instance, in their research with teacher clusters, Jita and Mokhele (2014) report a number of benefits arising from the creation of such collaboratively structured spaces for teachers' professional development. They conclude that building networks among teachers showed both product benefits such as enhanced content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge, as well as process-oriented benefits such as developing longer term cooperation, local capacity for curriculum guidance and more opportunities for teacher leadership.…”

Section: Some Initial Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Changing educational traditions with the change laboratory

Botha¹

2017

Educ. as change

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This paper outlines the use of a form of research intervention known as the Change laboratory to illustrate how the processes of organisational change initiated at a secondary school can be applied to develop tools and practices to analyse and potentially re-make educational traditions in a bottom-up manner. In this regard it is shown how a culturalhistorical activity theory (CHAT) perspective can be combined with a relational approach to generate the theoretical and practical tools for managing change at a school. referring to an ongoing research project at a school, the paper describes how teachers and management there, with the aid of the researcher, attempt to re-configure their educational praxis by drawing on past, present and future scenarios from their schooling activity. These are correlated with similarly historically evolving theoretical models and recorded empirical data using the Vygotskyian method of double stimulation employed by the Change laboratory. A relational conceptualisation of the school's epistemological, pedagogical and organisational traditions is used to map out the connections between various actors, resources, roles and divisions of labour at the school. In this way the research intervention proposes a model of educational change that graphically represents it as a network of mediated relationships so that its artefacts, practices and traditions can be clearly understood and effectively manipulated according to the shared objectives of the teachers and school management. Such a relationally-oriented activity theory approach has significant implications in terms of challenging conventional processes of educational transformation as well as hegemonic knowledge-making traditions themselves.

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“…This is in line with findings in international literature on teacher "continuing professional development" (CPD) which describes various structures such as teachers' subject clusters, "communities of practice" (CoP) and "teachers learning communities" (TLCs) which are also sometimes called "professional learning communities" (PLCs). It is argued that these structures are used to support teachers' collaborative professional learning (Butler, Schenellert and MacNeil 2015;Maistry 2008;Jita and Mokhele 2014;Bantwini 2018). Pirtle (2014) have pointed out that the term PLCs has become overused and the meaning is often lost.…”

Section: Conceptualization Of Teacher Collaboration Teacher Learningmentioning

confidence: 99%

Collaboration and teacher knowledge in a teacher learning community: A case of mathematics teachers in KwaZulu-Natal province

Zulu

Bertram

2019

SAJHE

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The literature on professional development of teachers has shifted to focusing on collaboration and learning communities as a productive way for teachers to learn. This qualitative case study examines the nature of collaborative activities and the kinds of teacher knowledge learnt in a community of high school mathematics teachers. Data was collected through observations of professional development workshops, questionnaires, interviews with teachers and document analysis. The findings established that collegial collaboration and the focus on specialised content knowledge in this learning community enabled teachers to approach their teaching more effectively. In this article we claim that that the learning community is a productive learning space because it was supported by the Department of Education and a Non-Governmental Organisation, and because it focused on specialised content knowledge. The collaborative focus enabled teachers to share knowledge and ideas resulting in teachers taking charge of their own learning.

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When teacher clusters work: selected experiences of South African teachers with the cluster approach to professional development

Cited by 35 publications

References 17 publications

South African Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge: Reflections From Short Learning Intervention Programme (Slip)

South African Teachers’ Mathematical Knowledge: Reflections From Short Learning Intervention Programme (Slip)

Changing educational traditions with the change laboratory

Collaboration and teacher knowledge in a teacher learning community: A case of mathematics teachers in KwaZulu-Natal province

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