Syftet med den här studien är att bidra med kunskap om lärares, special­pedagogers, rektorers och förvaltningsledningens erfarenheter och upplevelser om förbättrings­insatsen specialpedagogik för lärande (SFL) och dess inverkan på förbättringsarbetet i en kommun, på såväl skol­enheter som i kommunen i stort. SFL är en kollegial kompetens­utvecklingsinsats med syfte att höja lärares kompetens inom specialpedagogik. Studien har en kvalitativ ansats och fokusgrupper har använts som metod. Resultatet har analyserats utifrån Illeris teori om de tre lärandedimensionerna. Resultatet pekar på att specialpedagogik för lärande är en form av kollegialt lärande som i många delar upplevs fungera bra för lärares lärande, men som behöver anpassas tidsmässigt för att inte upplevas alltför intensiv. Den specialpedagogiska kompetensen upplevs ha höjts på samtliga kommunens enheter sedan SFL genomfördes. Eleverna har  efter insatsen överlag fått tillgång till fler generella och individuella anpassningar och har blivit mer delaktiga i processer kring sin egen undervisning. Det finns samtidigt lärare som ännu inte fullt ut ger sina elever dessa möjligheter. Kommunens specialpedagoger har kompetens inom skolutveckling som inte alltid nyttjas. Om de får större mandat från rektor så kan de ta ett större ansvar för att tillsammans med denne leda skolförbättringsinsatser och skolutveckling, eventuellt genom att bli en del av skolornas ledningsgrupper. För att nå ännu längre i en kommande förbättringsinsats skulle det vara bra om förvaltningsledningen tog ett större övergripande ansvar för implementering och lik­värdighet i kommunen samt att rektorer tog ett större ansvar för att följa upp arbetet i grupperna genom direkt medverkan eller genom nära samverkan med handledare av grupperna, s.k. distribuerat ledarskap. Rektors första fokus bör vara undervisningens kvalitet. / The aim of the following paper is to contribute to the understanding of experiences had by teachers, special educators, principals and administrative management, with regards to the Special education for learning (SFL) scheme’s impact and stimulus on a municipality’s school improvement initiatives, in specific schools as well as the muni­cipality as a whole. SFL is a collegial competence development initiative with the aim of raising teachers' competence in special education.  The study has a qualitative approach and focus groups have been used as a method. The results have been analysed on the basis of Illeri's theory of the three dimensions of learning. Results indicate that special education for learning is a form of collegial learning that is largely perceived to work well for teachers' learning, but which needs to be ad­justed timewise to avoid being too rigorous. Competence around special education peda­gogy is considered increased at every school in the district since the implementation of SFL. After the intervention, the students have generally gained access to more general and individual adaptations and have become more involved in processes around their own teaching. At the same time, there are teachers who do not yet fully give their students these opportunities. Special educators in the municipality have expertise in the field of school development which is, to some extent, untapped. With increased mandate from the principal, special educators could shoulder more of the responsibility for school improvement and development initiatives, possibly through becoming part of the school’s management team.  In order to reach even further in a future improvement effort, it would be positive  for the administration management to take a greater overall responsibility for implementation and equality  in the district, as well as principals taking greater responsibility for following up on the work conducted in the groups, either through direct participation, or close collaboration with supervisors of the groups, so-called distributed leadership. The principal's first focus should be the quality of teaching.

Metacognition is commonly understood in the context of the learners and not their teachers. Extant literature focusing on how Mathematics teachers apply their metacognitive skills in the classroom, clearly distinguishes between teaching with metacognition (TwM) referring to teachers thinking about their own thinking and teaching for metacognition (TfM) which refers to teachers creating opportunities for learners to reflect on their thinking. However, in both of these cases, thinking requires a language, in particular appropriate mathematical language to communicate the thinking by both teacher and learners in the Mathematics classroom. In this qualitative study, which forms part of a bigger project within SANPAD (South Africa Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development), the metacognitive skills and mathematical language used by Mathematics teachers who teach at two township schools were interrogated using the design-based research approach with lesson study. Data collection instruments included individual interviews and a trigonometric assessment task. Lessons were also observed and video-taped to be viewed and discussed during focus group discussions in which the teachers, together with five Mathematics lecturers, participated. The merging of the design-based research approach with lesson study brought about teacher-lecturer collaboration, referred to in this study as the Mathematics Educators’ Reflective Inquiry (ME’RI) group, and enabled the design of a hypothetical teaching and learning trajectory (HTLT) for the teaching of trigonometric functions. A metacognitive performance profile for the two grade 10 teachers was also developed. The Framework for Analysing Mathematics Teaching for the Advancement of Metacognition (FAMTAM) from Ader (2013) and the Teacher Metacognitive Framework (TMF) from Artzt and Armour-Thomas (2002) were adjusted and merged to develop a new framework, the Metacognitive Teaching for Metacognition Framework (MTMF) to analyse the metacognitive skills used by mathematics teachers TwM as well as TfM. Without oversimplifying the magnitude of these concepts, the findings suggest a simple mathematical equation: metacognitive skills + enhanced mathematical language = conceptualization skills. The findings also suggest that both TwM and TfM are required for effective mathematics instruction. Lastly the findings suggest that the ME’RI group holds promise to enhance the use of the metacognitive skills and mathematical language of Mathematics teachers in Mathematics classrooms. / PhD (Mathematics Education), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Metacognition is commonly understood in the context of the learners and not their teachers. Extant literature focusing on how Mathematics teachers apply their metacognitive skills in the classroom, clearly distinguishes between teaching with metacognition (TwM) referring to teachers thinking about their own thinking and teaching for metacognition (TfM) which refers to teachers creating opportunities for learners to reflect on their thinking. However, in both of these cases, thinking requires a language, in particular appropriate mathematical language to communicate the thinking by both teacher and learners in the Mathematics classroom. In this qualitative study, which forms part of a bigger project within SANPAD (South Africa Netherlands Research Programme on Alternatives in Development), the metacognitive skills and mathematical language used by Mathematics teachers who teach at two township schools were interrogated using the design-based research approach with lesson study. Data collection instruments included individual interviews and a trigonometric assessment task. Lessons were also observed and video-taped to be viewed and discussed during focus group discussions in which the teachers, together with five Mathematics lecturers, participated. The merging of the design-based research approach with lesson study brought about teacher-lecturer collaboration, referred to in this study as the Mathematics Educators’ Reflective Inquiry (ME’RI) group, and enabled the design of a hypothetical teaching and learning trajectory (HTLT) for the teaching of trigonometric functions. A metacognitive performance profile for the two grade 10 teachers was also developed. The Framework for Analysing Mathematics Teaching for the Advancement of Metacognition (FAMTAM) from Ader (2013) and the Teacher Metacognitive Framework (TMF) from Artzt and Armour-Thomas (2002) were adjusted and merged to develop a new framework, the Metacognitive Teaching for Metacognition Framework (MTMF) to analyse the metacognitive skills used by mathematics teachers TwM as well as TfM. Without oversimplifying the magnitude of these concepts, the findings suggest a simple mathematical equation: metacognitive skills + enhanced mathematical language = conceptualization skills. The findings also suggest that both TwM and TfM are required for effective mathematics instruction. Lastly the findings suggest that the ME’RI group holds promise to enhance the use of the metacognitive skills and mathematical language of Mathematics teachers in Mathematics classrooms. / PhD (Mathematics Education), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2014

Mentorship as a tool to develop the pedagogical and content knowledge of inservice teachers, regardless of experience, is a field in education which has gained popularity worldwide. The review of literature however, provided evidence that mentoring in education has primarily focused on the benefits received by novice teachers and not experienced teachers. Areas addressed in the literature review include the important role of continuous professional development programmes in the improvement of the teachers’ classroom practices and by inference, their learners’ achievements. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences and understandings of seven experienced natural science teachers as mentees in a professional development programme (the ILLS project). Through the use of a qualitative case study approach, I examined the activities that supported the development of the participants as they interacted with the guided support of a mentor teacher, and aimed to understand how the mentees made sense of their experiences in this mentoring relationship. The activities included lesson-planning, classroom observations and reflection meetings and the professional development support, through mentoring, was embedded on-site and in-context. This research revealed that the mentee teachers were motivated by the opportunity to enhance their professional growth through the support of a mentor. The teachers also perceived that their subject content and pedagogical knowledge were enriched by participating in the mentoring process. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

Despite a growing body of research on trainee teachers’ learning during pre-service programs, intensive introductory TESL training courses are still designed to instruct a “standard” type of trainee teacher. This research study investigates the factors that mediate trainee teachers’ learning process as well as the interaction between these factors, which either facilitate and/or hinder trainee teachers’ success during an intensive introductory TESL training course. Using a qualitative holistic single-case study, informed by an interpretivist perspective, this study explores how three trainee teachers learned how to teach during a course in Southern Ontario, Canada. An integrated conceptual framework, formed by a sociocultural perspective of teacher learning, a holistic view of curriculum, and transformative pedagogy was employed and the findings include four major factors that mediated trainee teachers’ teacher learning process and three types of interaction that facilitated and/or hindered their success during the program.

Despite a growing body of research on trainee teachers’ learning during pre-service programs, intensive introductory TESL training courses are still designed to instruct a “standard” type of trainee teacher. This research study investigates the factors that mediate trainee teachers’ learning process as well as the interaction between these factors, which either facilitate and/or hinder trainee teachers’ success during an intensive introductory TESL training course. Using a qualitative holistic single-case study, informed by an interpretivist perspective, this study explores how three trainee teachers learned how to teach during a course in Southern Ontario, Canada. An integrated conceptual framework, formed by a sociocultural perspective of teacher learning, a holistic view of curriculum, and transformative pedagogy was employed and the findings include four major factors that mediated trainee teachers’ teacher learning process and three types of interaction that facilitated and/or hindered their success during the program.

The focus of this study has been to connect the idea of developing schools as learning organisations with the notion of developing learning leaders and building school capacity for our knowledge economy. Therefore, this action-inquiry self-study has examined the issues of curriculum reform in the context of more general organisational reform. It has explored the notion of schools being recultured or reconstructed to work as learning organisations in a climate that focuses on the improved social and academic learning outcomes of their students. This self-study represents two significant chapters in my professional life and captures approximately four years of professional snapshots. It has allowed me to examine my practice of partnering, conversing, arranging and developing shared vision across two schools. This study recognized these as powerful reculturing mechanisms and affirmed that conversations about learning, shared beliefs mission and vision, enabling leadership that reflects parallel learning relationships and enabling organisational arrangements are critical for sustainable reform. Consequently the exploration of the relationship between teacher learning, teacher leadership and a professional learning culture has been the main focus for this research. Analytical processes for this study first explored the relationship between teacher learning, teacher leadership and a professional learning culture through an examination of current curriculum reforms. This is followed by a layered analysis of the two narratives based on my leadership in two different school settings. A rigorous mapping and scanning process then assisted the analysis of these narratives. This process was supported by a number of specific conceptual frameworks that underpin the school reculturing process and reflect key qualities of schools that work as learning organisations. Six significant snapshots emerged from the analysis of the two narratives. The deeper analysis of these snapshots, which have been referred to as close-ups, formed a number of my first tentative propositions. These layers of investigation were also supported by the responses of several key snapshot participants and reader respondents, before the final propositions were made. These responses recognised that an organisation that works together, learns together; and that there is strength and powerful learning when leadership can assist practitioners to work as a learning community. These qualities were found to be directly related to this study's proposed reconstructed model for developing schools as learning organisations. The reconstructed model recognised a number of other less visible elements that can be seen in a school working as a learning organisation. These elements relate directly to enabling/capacity building leadership and the associated relationship skills of leaders. They were found to be necessary elements for effective collaboration and for creating spaces for conversation, reflection, spontaneity and risk-taking. This study also recognised that any deconstruction and reconstruction of a school as a learning organisation is first a reconstruction of core beliefs and values. These beliefs and values are reflected in a school's culture and are inclusive of the visible and less visible elements. The constant examination of one's assumptions, ideas, values and beliefs has been considered to be essential to the analysis process, as well as to the process of reform and achieving organisational change. The study revealed, therefore, that enabling/capacity-building leadership is a key to the process of reculturing a school as a learning organisation. The data from respondents also indicates that this notion of leadership as being enabling/capacity building has also been a primary focus for answering the second of the key research questions: 'How does a process of deconstruction and reconstruction take place?' The additional points of difference/interest that emerged from the various respondents suggest that the process of deconstruction and reconstruction of a school as a learning organisation would be assisted by realising that energy and passion are needed for enabling/capacity building leadership. This form of leadership requires moving from being top-down and become more parallel with renewed learning relationships. This study affirmed that this focus on establishing parallel learning relationships assists in the development of parallel learning leadership and parallel learning partnerships. Enabling/capacity building leaders working in parallel with their teachers can also play an important role in developing/supporting flexible and imaginative school organisation. In this way enabling/capacity building leaders can work as learning leaders and brokers to assist the development of other learning partnerships/alliances. This community building strategy can consequently develop opportunities for teachers to work and learn collaboratively as learning leaders. Enabling/capacity building leadership is correctly placed as the key to considering how the deconstruction and reconstruction process takes place. Further, the reconstruction process taking place reflect a culture of dynamic inquiry. This is made possible when enabling/capacity building leaders share and commit to similar notions of schools working as learning organisations and teachers are assisted/brokered to work collaboratively for professional alliances and professional growth. Consequently this study proposes that teachers cope better with the ever-increasing demands of curriculum reforms if: * schools can work as learning organisations * schools allow teachers to work as learning leaders * administrative leaders support/enable and model risk-taking, spontaneous and collaborative practices * there are shared beliefs, mission and vision; organisational arrangements/support; conversations for learning; shared approaches to pedagogy, and parallel relationships * enabling/capacity-building leadership for learning alliances allows for a professional culture of dynamic inquiry that can evolve with a renewed focus on conversations for learning. The findings of this study have theoretical, methodological and practical significance. In the first instance it presents as theoretical significance, the reconstruction of a theoretical framework for schools working as learning organisations. The methodological significance is reflected in this study's emphasis on theorising through layers. The methodological contribution acknowledges a legitimate and rigorous form of practitioner research, revealing self-study methodology at a level that is more then mere self-indulgence. In presenting its final contribution, the thesis acknowledges the practical contribution of the study by emphasising the process involved in creating a culture of dynamic inquiry. The transformative nature of this action- inquiry self-study is therefore confirmed in this study. The layered analysis reflects a process of making sense of the messiness of practitioner research, and consequently provides a true sense of this established form of practical theorising in the teaching profession. These characteristics should be seen not as limitations, but rather as authentic strengths.

Mentorship as a tool to develop the pedagogical and content knowledge of inservice teachers, regardless of experience, is a field in education which has gained popularity worldwide. The review of literature however, provided evidence that mentoring in education has primarily focused on the benefits received by novice teachers and not experienced teachers. Areas addressed in the literature review include the important role of continuous professional development programmes in the improvement of the teachers’ classroom practices and by inference, their learners’ achievements. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the experiences and understandings of seven experienced natural science teachers as mentees in a professional development programme (the ILLS project). Through the use of a qualitative case study approach, I examined the activities that supported the development of the participants as they interacted with the guided support of a mentor teacher, and aimed to understand how the mentees made sense of their experiences in this mentoring relationship. The activities included lesson-planning, classroom observations and reflection meetings and the professional development support, through mentoring, was embedded on-site and in-context. This research revealed that the mentee teachers were motivated by the opportunity to enhance their professional growth through the support of a mentor. The teachers also perceived that their subject content and pedagogical knowledge were enriched by participating in the mentoring process. / Science and Technology Education / M. Ed. (Natural Science Education)

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