Doctor of Philosophy / This study investigates teachers’ perceptions of risk and risk-taking behaviours in the context of ICT-related educational change. Perceptions and behaviours are examined through teachers’ talk about risk: their individual perceptions of risk-taking, and how perceptions relate to risk perceptions in the wider school culture. When teachers implement new teaching practices and experiment in the classroom they are taking risks. Without the risk-taking, change is not possible. The research presented in this thesis examines teachers’ perceptions of risk in the area of ICT integration – utilizing ICT in the classroom to support student learning effectively. The research was carried out in Australia and the United States. A two-phase, mixed-method strategy was employed in the study. The first phase was primarily questionnaire-based, and captured data from both secondary and primary-level teachers, concerning aspects of teaching-efficacy, computer-efficacy, measures of playfulness & anxiety, and school culture. This phase made it possible to explore some of the relationships between these variables, develop and test instrumentation to distinguish between more and less risk-averse teachers and then select some contrasting teachers for further investigation. Phase two involved observation of these eight teachers’ teaching, several rounds of in-depth interviews, and the gathering of field notes from school visits. The thesis shows that risk-taking needs to be understood as an interaction between personal (teacher) and cultural (school) variables. Findings revealed that a primary area of concern in teachers’ perceptions of risk was risk to student achievement. Teachers who showed more potential to take risks talked about student achievement in terms of intrinsic motivation and engagement, while teachers with less potential to take risks saw achievement in terms of quantifiable results and test scores. Depending on a teacher’s risk-taking habits, perceived risks had more or less impact on the decision to integrate ICT into the classroom. Risk-taking behaviours related to teachers’ perceptions of the teacher role and school expectations of ICT-integration. Teachers’ risk perceptions proved to be related to their school’s cultural type, categorized using a grid-group typology. The two case study schools were found to be hierarchical cultures. In hierarchical cultures, technology is viewed as low-risk, as long as the manner in which it is used is approved by an expert. The findings have significant implications for the introduction of new technologies into school cultures, particularly in relation to the impact of school leadership and trust when schools are introducing ICT-related change initiatives.

This study investigated elementary mathematics coaching from the point of view of two coaches, five elementary classroom teachers, and two principals in an urban school board in Ontario. Case studies were conducted of the two coaches and their work with their respective teachers. Qualitative data was collected through a series of ongoing observations of both teachers and coaches. Additionally, interviews were conducted near the beginning and end of the study with each coach, teacher, and principal. The teaching experience of the teachers in the study ranged from three to seventeen years and from kindergarten through grade five. The coaching program in the school board was in its fourth year of implementation. One coach had been working as a coach since the inception of the program and the other was in her third year of coaching. Evidence from the study leads to six major findings: (1) all participants indicated that engaging in coaching brought about change in the teachers’ classroom practices; (2) all participants were unable to clearly define a change in student learning due to coaching; (3) trusting and collaborative relationship between teachers and coaches is important to teacher engagement in coaching; (4) co-teaching and model lessons are the coaching structure with most impact; (5) time is the major barrier to coaching; (6) high quality professional development designed to meet the coaches’ learning needs and the existence of a coaching network to offer support are fundamental to sustaining a coaching program over time. Implications from this study suggest that coaching programs that include an emphasis on collaboration through reflective discussion and co-teaching are likely to bring about identifiable changes in teacher practice. School boards will need to find ways to ease the challenges that time presents to working with a coach in order for the changes to spread across the district. This study suggests that it is imperative that school boards identify and provide quality professional development to their coaches in order to sustain the changes that occur in practice. Suggestions for stakeholders implementing coaching programs and future research on coaching are included at the end of the study.

This study investigated elementary mathematics coaching from the point of view of two coaches, five elementary classroom teachers, and two principals in an urban school board in Ontario. Case studies were conducted of the two coaches and their work with their respective teachers. Qualitative data was collected through a series of ongoing observations of both teachers and coaches. Additionally, interviews were conducted near the beginning and end of the study with each coach, teacher, and principal. The teaching experience of the teachers in the study ranged from three to seventeen years and from kindergarten through grade five. The coaching program in the school board was in its fourth year of implementation. One coach had been working as a coach since the inception of the program and the other was in her third year of coaching. Evidence from the study leads to six major findings: (1) all participants indicated that engaging in coaching brought about change in the teachers’ classroom practices; (2) all participants were unable to clearly define a change in student learning due to coaching; (3) trusting and collaborative relationship between teachers and coaches is important to teacher engagement in coaching; (4) co-teaching and model lessons are the coaching structure with most impact; (5) time is the major barrier to coaching; (6) high quality professional development designed to meet the coaches’ learning needs and the existence of a coaching network to offer support are fundamental to sustaining a coaching program over time. Implications from this study suggest that coaching programs that include an emphasis on collaboration through reflective discussion and co-teaching are likely to bring about identifiable changes in teacher practice. School boards will need to find ways to ease the challenges that time presents to working with a coach in order for the changes to spread across the district. This study suggests that it is imperative that school boards identify and provide quality professional development to their coaches in order to sustain the changes that occur in practice. Suggestions for stakeholders implementing coaching programs and future research on coaching are included at the end of the study.

Doctor of Philosophy / This study investigates teachers’ perceptions of risk and risk-taking behaviours in the context of ICT-related educational change. Perceptions and behaviours are examined through teachers’ talk about risk: their individual perceptions of risk-taking, and how perceptions relate to risk perceptions in the wider school culture. When teachers implement new teaching practices and experiment in the classroom they are taking risks. Without the risk-taking, change is not possible. The research presented in this thesis examines teachers’ perceptions of risk in the area of ICT integration – utilizing ICT in the classroom to support student learning effectively. The research was carried out in Australia and the United States. A two-phase, mixed-method strategy was employed in the study. The first phase was primarily questionnaire-based, and captured data from both secondary and primary-level teachers, concerning aspects of teaching-efficacy, computer-efficacy, measures of playfulness & anxiety, and school culture. This phase made it possible to explore some of the relationships between these variables, develop and test instrumentation to distinguish between more and less risk-averse teachers and then select some contrasting teachers for further investigation. Phase two involved observation of these eight teachers’ teaching, several rounds of in-depth interviews, and the gathering of field notes from school visits. The thesis shows that risk-taking needs to be understood as an interaction between personal (teacher) and cultural (school) variables. Findings revealed that a primary area of concern in teachers’ perceptions of risk was risk to student achievement. Teachers who showed more potential to take risks talked about student achievement in terms of intrinsic motivation and engagement, while teachers with less potential to take risks saw achievement in terms of quantifiable results and test scores. Depending on a teacher’s risk-taking habits, perceived risks had more or less impact on the decision to integrate ICT into the classroom. Risk-taking behaviours related to teachers’ perceptions of the teacher role and school expectations of ICT-integration. Teachers’ risk perceptions proved to be related to their school’s cultural type, categorized using a grid-group typology. The two case study schools were found to be hierarchical cultures. In hierarchical cultures, technology is viewed as low-risk, as long as the manner in which it is used is approved by an expert. The findings have significant implications for the introduction of new technologies into school cultures, particularly in relation to the impact of school leadership and trust when schools are introducing ICT-related change initiatives.

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This study explores the coaching component of the GPLMS over the past 3 years, how it has been implemented as well as the lessons learnt with the view to understanding the coaching conditions required to assist teachers in changing their instructional practices. The GPLMS intervention consists primarily of instructional coaching which has to mediate lesson plans to teachers. This research specifically looks at the teacher-coach relations, the nature of coaching support and monitoring and its impact on teachers. Research data were collected through interviews of teachers in one FP school and one Intersen school in the Johannesburg South district as well as from two coaches and their supervisors. A Peer Learning Group (PLG) meeting in one school and a School-Based Workshop (SBW) in the other school were observed. GPLMS documents which include lesson plans and teacher observation sheets were analysed. The data analysis reveals that instructional coaching combined with high quality lesson plans are promising interventions with potential to improve teachers’ instructional practices. Much progress, however, depends on the coaches’ interpretation of their role as well as their attributes and qualities as far as the level of their subject knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge and the respect and trust between themselves and their teachers are concerned.

The research study provided a cultural description and interpretation of how Teachers Network Learning Circle’s participants related, worked and learned with each other, and how they developed and changed within a predominantly symmetrical or consensual power relationship. The participants, consisting of six Singapore primary teachers at grade 4, were engaged in group discussions that were spread over a period of one year to complete an action research project which is integrated in day-to-day work. Teachers Network Learning Circle, a formal professional development platform, employs distinctive tools for dialogue and inquiry based on the principles of voluntary participation, reflection, change and trust. The fundamental reason for choosing this site is its potential to empower and emancipate teachers evident from not only the principles and practices it espouses, but also its vision and mission that is consistent with its motto “For Teachers, By Teachers”. The literature on education change and reforms has point towards teacher empowerment for successful education change. In this regard, investing in teacher professional development and professionalism is important. The literature also point towards embracing a sociological perspective evident in the notions of community and socio-cultural theory, and bringing to bear emotions, values and identity in teacher learning – and thus investing in the ‘whole person’ (Day, 1997). As power underlies all social relations and activities including teachers’ learning, the research study took into consideration the perspectives of critical theory of Habermas, Brookfield and Mezirow. The findings of the study found that symmetrical power relation contributed to teacher development and change. First, it had contributed to a collegial collaborative relationship that took into account of emotions, moral, identity development and group solidarity. Second, it had contributed to the consciousness, critique and co-construction of professional knowledge. Third, it had empowered participants insofar as it built participants’ capacities to act successfully within an existing system and structures of power. The symmetrical power relation was undergirded by rules and principles of democratic participation as outlined by Habermas’ discourse ethics. The findings also revealed the importance of support given by the school principal and Teachers Network personnel in protecting democratic spaces, or Habermas’ concept of the lifeworld, from the system imperatives of power and money.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the teacher change process and extend our understanding of how variability in the ways that primary school teachers in Bangladesh implement innovative pedagogical practices, such as active learning, reflects variations in their understanding, attitude, experience, and skill in the use of those pedagogical approaches. Multiple forms of data gathering were employed based on the concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) including an open-ended statement of concern, interviews, and class observations from a purposive sample of ten teachers working in ten different schools. Additional interviews were also conducted with staff responsible for the teachers' professional development. Five main findings emerged from the research. First, there was a split between novice teachers who were committed to following the prescriptive lesson plans and more experienced teachers who adapted their lessons to accommodate differences in student readiness and performance. Second, the majority of teachers appeared to be satisfied with their use active learning methods and the mandated lessons with little projected variation in how they will implement the innovation in the future. Third, the class observation findings indicate that the majority of teachers were rated as ideal users of active learning methods in the classroom. Fourth, findings indicate that professional development and a commitment to building networks among teachers and support staff helped facilitate teachers' confidence and competency. Fifth, among the most influential factors shaping teachers' use of active learning methods were the availability of supplementary learning and teaching resources. Implications for professional development and support for teachers, the applicability of CBAM-based research in low-income country contexts like Bangladesh, as well as future areas of comparative, international, and development education research are discussed in light of those findings.

This research is a qualitative case study examining changes in urban Canadian elementary teachers’ conceptualizations of equity and approaches to pedagogy in their mathematics teaching in relation to their involvement in multiple professional learning contexts. The study focuses on four major professional development (PD) efforts in which five focal teachers participated over a school year. Data sources include researcher observations, field notes, video-recordings of PD sessions and classroom mathematics teaching, as well as a series of one-on-one interviews. Data analysis revealed three main ideas related to equity that were adopted by focal teachers: 1) the importance of developing awareness of students and their communities; 2) teaching strategies to scaffold students’ development of mathematical proficiency; and 3) strategies for structuring student-driven, inquiry-based learning for mathematics. The multiple contexts of professional learning presented contradictory messages. Thus, teachers took up some ideas and left others behind and sometimes took up ideas that served conflicting goals of education. Future studies of teacher PD should focus on the teacher’s perspective and the role of any individual PD within the multiple contexts of professional learning in which teachers participate.

This research is a qualitative case study examining changes in urban Canadian elementary teachers’ conceptualizations of equity and approaches to pedagogy in their mathematics teaching in relation to their involvement in multiple professional learning contexts. The study focuses on four major professional development (PD) efforts in which five focal teachers participated over a school year. Data sources include researcher observations, field notes, video-recordings of PD sessions and classroom mathematics teaching, as well as a series of one-on-one interviews. Data analysis revealed three main ideas related to equity that were adopted by focal teachers: 1) the importance of developing awareness of students and their communities; 2) teaching strategies to scaffold students’ development of mathematical proficiency; and 3) strategies for structuring student-driven, inquiry-based learning for mathematics. The multiple contexts of professional learning presented contradictory messages. Thus, teachers took up some ideas and left others behind and sometimes took up ideas that served conflicting goals of education. Future studies of teacher PD should focus on the teacher’s perspective and the role of any individual PD within the multiple contexts of professional learning in which teachers participate.