This thesis explores the notion of teachers as adult learners, the professional development and professional learning available to them, and a space where these ideas can come together. Research participants offer insight into how they currently learn and use many sources of learning to create better learning opportunities for their students. Building on ideas from Lawler (2003) and Kennedy (2005) and using narrative methodology, particularly poetics and collage as a means of capturing participants’ thinking, my findings support the idea that teachers need a transformative professional development model that acknowledges them as adult learners. No single participant spoke of all of the adult learning or teacher learning principles within a single professional development experience, yet each spoke of times when one or more of those keys to their learning was present throughout their transformative experience. Simply put, teachers use many sources of learning to bring about changes to their teaching practice. All of these work together to bring about the transformation they spoke of in their stories of learning. / Graduate / 0530

Science and mathematics education in Australian senior secondary years is experiencing declining enrolments, negative student attitudes, a shortage of qualified teachers and a curriculum that lacks relevance to contemporary life (Masters, 2006, Smith, 2003, Tytler, 2007). Such evidence calls for transformation in secondary science and mathematics education and acknowledges that teachers’ professional learning is central to achieving required transformation. Fulton Senior Secondary School is a purpose built school designed to respond to the perceived crisis in teaching and learning of science and mathematics in the final years of schooling. It is also the site in which this qualitative interpretive case study was conducted. The purpose of the research was to investigate the processes and outcomes of teachers’ professional learning in a setting that was designed to promote innovation and reform. The research, conducted over a period of six years, used grounded theory methods to answer questions about what supported and sustained teachers’ learning, and what were the outcomes of this learning for teachers, students and the school. To achieve an authentic account of the teachers’ lived experiences, I positioned myself as an insider-researcher, working intensely and thoughtfully with staff at Fulton over a period of six years. The study revealed the nature of the interactions between contextual conditions, organisational elements and relationships factors that influenced teachers’ professional learning. An explanatory model of professional learning was developed as an outcome of the theorising process. This identified the importance of alignments between: teachers’ capacities, characteristics and sense of personal agency; and specific contextual conditions, organisational elements and relationship factors. Successful alignments were identified as affordances for teachers’ learning and formed the basis of the explanatory model. In essence, the contextual conditions, organisational elements and relationship factors of Fulton provided the architecture of an explanatory model of professional learning. The teachers acted as explorers of this architecture. The research revealed that teachers brought existing beliefs and practices to Fulton, but through incidental and intentional learning, these beliefs and practices were expanded and often changed. Teachers developed deep understanding of many factors associated with effective pedagogy including: learning and learning processes; new science and mathematics content; effective curriculum design; and authentic assessment processes. The teachers were open to challenges and recognised their roles as learners in achieving the vision of the school. Their outcomes varied, but each teacher’s learning influenced both the students and the school as a learning organisation. There was considerable evidence that the investment in teachers as learners was pivotal to achieving the vision of transforming science and mathematics education in the senior secondary years at this school.

Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of North Texas, May, 2009. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

abstract: This study was designed to capture the conversations and practices of seven educators who navigate teaching and learning decisions in their Title 1 elementary school. This case study was conducted to answer the research question, "What are the behaviors and practices of a newly formed collaborative team of educators working within a professional learning community (PLC)?" In order to understand how this collaborative team worked together, data was collected through a survey, interviews, focus group discussion and questionnaire, observations of collaborative team meetings and artifacts generated from the team's work. The findings revealed that (1) participants spent the majority of their collaborative team time focusing on how to best prepare students for district and state standardized assessments; (2) teachers described themselves as learners who look to their colleagues to enhance their knowledge and skills; (3) members of PLCs need dedicated collaborative time to ensure all students and adults in the organization learn at high levels; (4) discussing and using student learning data can be difficult; (5) educators gravitate to colleagues who have similar philosophies and beliefs and (6) PLCs need supportive district, school and teacher leadership to accomplish their goals. This research study provides validation that the PLC process is a complex process of professional development designed to support school reform in an era of increased school accountability. The recommendations for school leaders are to create supportive leadership structures that allow all students opportunities to learn, build trusting environments, and provide clarity and focus of the vision for all stakeholders. District leadership needs to establish a priority for PLC work by embedding the processes in the vision, mission and goals of the district, examine policies to ensure they support the concepts of PLCs, provide access to resources and create a forum for critical conversations about teaching and learning. Policy makers need to ask the right questions so that they can design appropriate accountability systems that encourage collaboration. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ed.D. Educational Leadership and Policy Studies 2011

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Ways of enacting effective professional development (PD) and professional learning (PL) of teachers are diverse and often contested and therefore needs sustained inquiry (Schuck, Aubussona, Kearney, & Burden, 2013). The “quick fix” mentality that is endemic to most including those aimed at educational systems leads to very superficial implementation of improvement strategies, including teacher development. These strategies are usually bureaucratically mandated and superficially implemented in a top-down manner. One of the critical drawbacks of such superficial implementation of top-down improvement strategies is that it fails to appeal to teachers because of their historical experiences of such short term and intermittent improvement interventions. This study focussed on the development of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) as a possible continuous professional teacher development (CPTD) model with a promise to deliver effective CPTD. Literature in this regard indicates this model of CPTD as highly effective to support sustained teacher development. The efficacy a PLC is predicated on a collaborative and relational approach to teacher development and professional learning underpinned by a microclimate of commonality. The initiation of PLCs is a complex task. It requires a deep understanding of the processes involved in orientating teachers to processes that involve reflective dialogue and collaborative inquiry. Hence this study sought to investigate experiences of teachers in a PLC established through an alliance involving teachers, didacticians and education officials. This study found that the PLC signifier conveys significant meaning for teachers in terms of their engagement in the PLC. Moreover, teachers’ experiences of the PLC model confirmed the generally accepted features of a PLC. The importance of having a common vision, norms and standards was shown to be an important dimension of the PLC. Besides the fact that the active promotion of this shared vision by the PLC leadership and other education administrators was highlighted, teachers in general accepted the importance of being reflective practitioners. Despite this belief in the value of collaborative reflection, this study found that it does not take place as often as one would expect. This is, to some extent, due to the timetabling arrangements at most schools in the sample. Findings of this investigation provided evidence that it is possible in a PLC to effect a shift from professional development to professional learning. This is consistent with literature in this regard, for example, Benken & Brown (2010) support this argument by indicating that CPTD should be viewed as professional learning that is sustained over time. However, the issue of sustainability is an important challenge. This study revealed that teachers see sustainability as a function of three important variables, namely, recognition by school leadership and administrators, support from the organised teacher movements and subject organisations, and teacher commitment. Important affordances of a PLC identified through this study are relational agency, epistemic agency and a micro-climate of commonality. These affordances are viewed as important enablers of collaborative inquiry and reflective dialogue and underscores the community aspect of a PLC.

In response to increasing demands placed on public education, Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have emerged as a means of providing teachers with opportunities to collaborate together. Collaboration has been shown to improve teaching practices and lead to better student outcomes. Trust has been shown to be an important factor contributing to the success of PLC teams. Adherence to collaborative norms is also an important factor in the ability to collaborate successfully in PLC teams, yet few studies exist that empirically assess the relationship between trust and adherence to norms regarding the collaboration process. Participants in this study are public high school teachers, grades 9–12, who on average have been working together in their current PLC team for over three and a half years. Team trust is measured by established tool developed by Costa and Anderson (2011) based upon 4 dimensions of team trust including both psychological (propensity to trust and perceived trustworthiness) and behavioral (cooperating and monitoring behaviors) dimensions. The tool used to measure adherence to PLC team norms was based upon the Meeting Inventory by Garmston and Wellman (2009) and The Collaborative PLC Norming Tool developed by Jolly (2008). These instruments were used with permission, and some survey items were generated by the author. Multiple regression analyses assessed the strength of the relationship between PLC team trust and team norms. Four dimensions of team trust were examined by confirmatory factor analyses: Propensity to Trust, Perceived Trustworthiness, Cooperating Behaviors, and Monitoring Behaviors. All 4 showed a good fit. Team adherence to 3 different types of collaborative team norms was examined by confirmatory factor analyses: Teacher Dialogue, Decision Making, and Norms of Enforcement. All 3 outcomes showed a good model fit. Findings showed gender within the norms of enforcement regression model to be the only significant demographic variable. All 4 dimensions of team trust were significantly and positively related to adherence to norms of teacher dialogue at the bivariate level. Both significant positive and negative correlations exist between dimensions of team trust. When examined collectively, Perceived Trustworthiness and Cooperating Behaviors are directly related to adherence to Teacher Dialogue norms, whereas Propensity to Trust and Monitoring Behaviors have an indirect impact. This study confirms a positive relationship between the two constructs and presents the value of both direct and indirect relationships amongst the psychological and behavioral dimensions of team trust in impacting adherence to collaborative PLC team norms. Teachers and administrators who are aiming to improve or sustain high quality collaboration within PLC teams would do well to focus on Perceived Trustworthiness and Cooperating Behaviors, as those dimensions of team trust are directly related to adherence to collaborative team norms.

The purpose of this study was to investigate teacher perceptions of Collaborative Inquiry embedded in a Professional Learning Community during departmental collaboration time and to explore the elements deemed most important to creating and/or maintaining this collaboration model at Lennox Charter High School. Teachers at Lennox Charter High School participated in this study. This mixed-methods case study triangulated survey, focus group, interview, and observation data to examine departmental collaboration and to define the elements most important to maintaining and improving Collaborative Inquiry at Lennox Charter High School. These elements were explored through the lens of research on Professional Learning Communities and Collaborative Inquiry. Specifically, data were examined with respect to the five themes of PLC work. These themes included context, challenge, capacity, commitments, and balancing content and process. A close examination of the data with respect to these themes revealed key take-aways for Lennox Charter High School; namely, that the school needed to bolster the data analysis aspect of Collaborative Inquiry, limit the scope of collaborative work, and endeavor to retain effective teachers so that teams had continuity and could more effectively engage veteran teachers in collaborative work. Using these recommendations would allow Lennox Charter High School to improve professional collaboration, engender meaningful teacher learning, and support equitable student achievement.

Researchers have shown that effective use of student data by teachers can inform teaching practice, leading to improved outcomes on standardized tests. In order to improve declining test scores at the middle school under study, professional development on the use of data teams was implemented. However, a year after implementation, teachers were still not utilizing data within their professional learning communities (PLC) effectively or at all. This qualitative case study addressed the problem of the need for teachers to use data more effectively. The conceptual framework of the study was based on the models of PLCs by DuFour and of data teams by Love. The research questions addressed how teachers perceived and used data in their PLCs in order to improve instruction. Qualitative data were collected from individual interviews with 7 teachers, observations of 8 PLC meetings, and review of PLC documents. Triangulation and member checking were used to bolster trustworthiness of interpretations. The data analysis led to 4 common themes: teachers felt they were forced to use data, had excessive responsibilities within PLCs, were busy with other required tasks, and needed more training on data use. The findings led to the design of a 5-day professional development series on data teams to be implemented at the middle school. This study has the potential to increase teacher capacity in using student data to inform instruction and to improve student achievement at the local school and district levels.

Under läsåret 2014/2015 genomfördes ett projekt med kollegialt lärande på S:t Petriskola i Malmö. Deltagande var frivilligt och deltagarna fick 35 timmar under läsåret isin tjänst till detta. En indelning i två grupper gjordes och auskultationer och träffargenomfördes huvudsakligen inom den egna gruppen. Gemensam litteratur och filmerdiskuterades på mötena.Syftet med detta arbete är att följa detta utvecklingsarbete och göra en deskriptivstudie och utvärdering av det första året. Detta gjordes genom deltagande i projektet,enkäter med deltagarna och intervjuer med gruppledarna. Svaren på enkäterna har varitpositiva. Det deltagarna varit mest nöjda med har varit att få inspiration, feedback ochdiskussionerna efter auskultationerna. Det största problemet har varit att hitta tider, bådeför auskultationer och möten.Från läsåret 2015/2016 ska samtliga lärare på S:t Petri skola delta i kollegialt lärande.Det är inte längre frivilligt, men alla får tid i sin tjänst för det. Grupperna går från att havarit ämnesöverskridande till att vara i samma eller snarlika ämnen. / During 2014/2015 a projekt with collaborative learning among teachers took place at S:t Petri school in Malmö. Participation was voluntary and the participants were given 35 hours of ther working time during the year to take part. Two groups were formed and lesson visits and meetings were primarily performed within the smaller group. Assigned literature and films were discussed during the meetings.The purpose of this work is to follow this development work and to make a descriptive study and evaluation of the first year. This was done by participation in the project, questionnaires with the participants and interviews with the group leaders. The responses to the questionnaires were generally positive. The most positive things have been getting inspiration, feedback and the discussions after the lesson visits. The biggest problem has been finding time, both for the visits and the meetings.Starting 2015/2196 all teachers at S:t Petri will take part in the collaborative learning study. It will no longer be voluntary, but time will be given for the work. The groups will cease being mixed and instead consist of teachers having the same or similar subjects.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which participating in lesson study was perceived to have an impact on teacher effectiveness. Secondary STEM graduates who come into education need a model of collaborative reflective practice for continuous improvement. Lesson study is one possible model of professional learning that is both reflective and collaborative (Sims & Walsh, 2009, p. 731). The cyclical nature of lesson study makes it a natural fit for continuous improvement. Yet, little research into the effectiveness of lesson study as a tool for new teacher preparation or for middle and high school teachers exists. As part of the University of Central Florida's RTP3 program, resident teachers from three school districts participated in lesson study. Their reflections on participating in lesson study were analyzed and interviews with designees from each school district were conducted. The resident teachers' reflections and the interviews with partner school district designees were analyzed using the constant comparison method (Parry, 2004). The reflections were closely examined for trends and patterns, and as commonalities emerged, they led to the findings of this study. After review of the school district lesson study models, they were confirmed and explored during the interviews with school district designees. Analysis showed lesson study was perceived to be beneficial by the resident teachers and two of the three school district designees described positive effects gained from participating in lesson study through RTP3. The literature review and the results of this study demonstrate that lesson study is a valuable tool for professional learning in both novice and veteran teachers. Themes frequently observed in lesson study reflections included increased focus on students, the value found in collaboration, and a desire to participate on future lesson study teams. Teachers, teacher preparation programs, and school administrators should consider the benefits of participating in lesson study and attempt to develop a plan to include this method of professional learning in their school or teacher preparation program.