The primary purpose of this study was to explore the impact of various forms of pressure and support experienced by teachers in an intentionally designed learning community on teacher learning and teacher sense of efficacy. Eleven Grade 6 teachers in a middle school in Southern Ontario were interviewed and a complex systems approach was adopted to analyze their experiences. The results suggested three key implications: (1) teachers’ experiences of pressures and supports are variable and influenced by teacher sense of efficacy and administrative decisions about the implementation of those pressure and support mechanisms; (2) a coherent, cohesive and balanced system of formal and informal structures of pressure and support is important to support teacher learning; and (3) structures, mechanisms and culture must facilitate transfer of learning in meaningful ways between the subsystems operating in a school in order to support teacher learning and teacher sense of efficacy.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TORONTO/oai:tspace.library.utoronto.ca:1807/42628 |
| Date | 20 November 2013 |
| Creators | James, Usha |
| Contributors | Bennett, Barrie |
| Source Sets | University of Toronto |
| Language | en_ca |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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