There are many recognised forms of teacher professional development
ranging from simply reflecting on a lesson recently taught to enrolling in a
formal course at university. This study set out to examine the perceived
effectiveness of one mode of professional development, a spaced learning
activity(SLA).
The SLA was selected for a number of reasons. Firstly, current government
economic and industrial policy includes an emphasis on the training and
retraining of the Australian workforce as an economic necessity. Within this
policy, teacher professional development is considered to improve the
quality of teaching and to raise professionalism. Secondly, the literature in
the area suggests that professional development activities have the potential
to improve the quality of teaching by enhancing teachers' knowledge and
skills. Thirdly, an SLA appeared to incorporate many characteristics of
effective professional development which are identified in the literature, for
example, allowing time for critical reflection and for internalising concepts.
This study sought to determine the effectiveness of an SLA as a training
strategy and in enhancing teachers' knowledge, beliefs, classroom practice
and students' learning outcomes and also to identify characteristics of an
SLA which assisted and inhibited its effectiveness. Perceived costs and
benefits of participation to the individual teacher were also evaluated..
The study was carried out at Marist College, Canberra , a Y7-12 single sex
secondary school with an enrolment of approximately 1100 boys. The
study involved twenty five teachers who participated voluntarily in a pilot
collegial group programme at the school during 1993.
The term "collegial group" is used for a small group of professionals who
meet on a regular basis to learn together and to support one another in their
on-going professional development. Adie (1988:4) explains that collegial
groups are designed to assist in supporting, learning, problem solving,
planning and performing.
The twenty five volunteers were divided into three groups. Each group
determined its own 'focus1 and met on an average of five occasions over six
months, for meetings ranging from two to four hours. The foci selected by
each group were:
Increasing student motivation
Increasing student responsibility for learning.
Excellence in Teaching course.
Meetings usually provided an opportunity for individual feedback on
teaching changes tried, some input on the focus area, discussion of its
practicality and a commitment to try something new and to report back at
the next meeting. Some groups also included discussion of specific
teaching and learning 'problems', where the group would offer solutions.
A variety of data collection techniques were employed in the study. A
questionnaire was conducted before the programme commenced to
ascertain participants' expectations and concerns about the programme and
anticipated effects of participation on their teaching knowledge, beliefs and
practice and on their students' learning outcomes.
A questionnaire was also administered at the end of the programme. The
post-study questionnaire sought participants' perceptions about how well
their expectations for the programme had been met, any differences
participation had made to their teaching knowledge, beliefs and practice,
and to their students' learning outcomes and whether these differences
constituted improvements. Further questions covered: the benefits and
costs to individuals of participation in the programme; the benefits
participants perceived that other non-participatory colleagues could derive
from a future programme; and the perceived value of the activity as a mode
of professional development. The questionnaire also included a table
covering organisational factors of the programme and elicited participants'
responses about the degree to which each assisted and inhibited progress.
In addition to the questionnaires, structured interviews were conducted with
the participants after the completion of the programme asking similar
questions about their perceptions of its success.
Analysis of a variety of data collected through pre and post-programme
questionnaires as well as interviews clearly indicates that this mode of
delivery was perceived by the participants to be an effective form of
professional development from the perspective of changing teaching
knowledge, beliefs and practice, and as a refocussing or confirming activity
by providing stimulus to an individual's professional development. Further
data collected support the organisational characteristics of this SLA and
provide some suggestions for changes. Finally, the findings clearly show
that the benefits to individuals of participation are perceived to outweigh the
costs, further supporting the effectiveness of this mode of professional
development.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/218680 |
| Date | January 1994 |
| Creators | Morrissey, Chris, n/a |
| Publisher | University of Canberra. Education |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | ), Copyright Chris Morrissey |
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