Many
educational projects require teachers to make sustained changes
to their pedagogical practices. Teachers’ work becomes more
complex as it shifts and diversifies in response to such things
as incorporating educational technology, changing student needs,
school restructuring, demands of a National Curriculum (Hargreaves:
1994, 6). This often requires teachers to take on a new role in
order for the school to implement such things as: incorporating
different technologies; collaborative teaching methods; meeting
the needs of students in culturally, linguistically or ability
diverse settings; implementing Ministry of Education directives,
such as the numeracy project. In some situations, the way that
teachers interact with students needs to change, in order to incorporate
these new pedagogical approaches (Wasley: 1994). It is therefore
beneficial for both schools and teacher education agencies to
know about the effect of teacher perceptions when adopting a new
role and to consider strategies to assist in successful implementation
of that role. This is because changes can have repercussions for
a teachers’ sense of identity in regard to how it is reconstituted
and represented over time, as they incorporate new pedagogies
and make sense of their work (Cooper & Olsen: 1996). Although
research has investigated issues around the adoption of new practices,
little work has been done on teachers’ perceptions of the
changes in their role and the effect that their perceptions have
on adopting a new role (Lundeberg & Levin: 2003, 24).
The extent
that new ideas are incorporated into a teacher’s knowledge
and pedagogy depends significantly on their prior beliefs. It
is acknowledged that people bring their personal schema to the
process of learning; this schema is formed through prior experiences,
values, sociocultural history and perceptions of the situation
(Lambert: 2002, 81). Kennedy (1997) cited in Raths and McAninch
(2003, vii) has suggested that teachers undergoing professional
instruction come to the task with a variety of beliefs that act
as filters in their learning process; as new ideas are introduced,
they are weighed against existing understandings. If the new ideas
are too different to the teachers’ current beliefs, they
will be resisted or rejected. Thus, while teachers view professional
development as an essential component of their teaching practice,
new learning is not always incorporated successfully.
An example
of this is the research done by Alison Gilmore (1999) on the “Professional
Development of Teachers through the National Education Monitoring
Project (NEMP)”. It identified teachers who had attended
the same training programme but who interpreted and responded
to their training in different ways, producing inconsistencies
when implementing the role they had been trained for. This was
a problem, as in order to collect high quality assessment data,
NEMP requires consistent application of the administration process.
Consequently, it is important that administration techniques are
embraced by the teacher administrators and requirements of the
role are made overt.
In another
study, Smylie (1988) examined the “relative importance of
different aspects of the organisational contexts of schools and
classrooms and various teacher psychological states to explain
variation in individual teacher outcomes related to the enhancement
function of staff development” (pp. 4). He found that when
deciding whether to adopt new knowledge and skills teachers were
likely to rely on knowledge, beliefs and perceptions related to
their own practice. These perceptions are constructed through
their prior classroom experiences and interactions with teaching
colleagues (pp. 24). Therefore, it seems important to acknowledge
the effects of teacher perceptions on the assimilation of new
learning and identify factors that impact on changing those perceptions
in order to enhance the acceptance and integration of a new technique
or role.
Teachers also
have perceptions about their own learning needs in regard to professional
development. Creighton and Johnson (2002) conducted a study on
teachers entering leadership roles in education. Frequently, the
challenges that they faced during the first year in their new
role were far removed from their expectations. Although they managed
to deal with the various incidents and issues that occurred, it
“was not without much difficulty, stress, confusion and
sleepless nights” (pp. 158). Comments such as, “If
only I were provided an opportunity to practice a bit before being
thrown into the actual performance field of the job”, (pp.
158) were a commonplace response. Their work lead them to posit
the idea that in order to perform a complex role effectively there
was a need to have opportunities to practice certain procedures
and strategies before being required to execute them in the ‘real’
environment. They cite examples of a variety of roles, for example,
medical students, sports teams, orchestras, the military, who
have a ‘practice field’ in which they get to slow
things down, try out moves, procedures and strategies before they
are placed in the situation ‘for real’. All these
practice fields exist in a safe environment with opportunities
for making mistakes that serve to enhance learning and cultivate
new beliefs (pp. 161).
Professional
Development activities that support adoption of new practices
Teachers
take on different roles in education for such reasons as accepting
an educational administration role or because they need to adopt
a different pedagogical practice. How effectively teachers are
able to adjust to these new roles is affected by their perceptions
of the role and their previous experiences. There is a need therefore,
to look at the aspects of professional development that support
the alignment of previous and new understandings about teachers’
roles.
The research
done by Creighton and Johnson (2002) highlights the need for professional
development providers to find ways of engaging teachers in activities
that enable a harmonious transition from one role to another.
They need to respect teachers’ prior knowledge, beliefs
and perceptions. Previous research would suggest that this is
rarely the case. Goodlad (1990) embarked on a five year study
that detailed the conditions and circumstances of teacher education
in the United States. Through surveys, interviews and observations
of teacher training institutions he found that the preparation
for the teaching role was often dull, formulaic and fragmented,
providing insufficient time and opportunities to connect theory
and practice. He noted that teachers need abundant opportunities
to reflect on their own experiences, deepen their understanding
of subject content and gain a wider repertoire of pedagogical
practices in order for them to develop an understanding of their
role.
Other researchers
investigating the preparation programmes for teachers moving into
an educational administration role have also criticised the accepted
ways that educational institutions have generated and transmitted
knowledge (Crowson and McPherson, 1987: 48). Mulkeen and Tetenbaum’s
(1990) study on educational training institutions found that the
dominant mode of instruction continued to be lecture and discussion
in a classroom setting, based on the use of a text (pp. 20). As
a consequence, there has been a “deepening recognition that
the knowledge base employed in preparation programmes has not
been especially useful in solving real problems in the field”
(Murphy and Forsyth, 1999, 15). The clinical aspects of preparation
programmes were noticeably weak. Sergiovanni (1989) noted that
the pervasive anti-recipe, anti-skill philosophy that pervaded
many training programmes for educational administrators resulted
in many gaps in their knowledge base: an almost complete absence
of performance-based programme components, a lack of attention
to practical problem-solving skills and a neglect of practical
intelligence (pp. 17). It has been consistently reported that
the best way to improve training in preparation programmes would
be to improve instruction that fosters the development of job-related
skills.
Griffiths, (1998) noted that when assuming a new role, supervised
practice could be the most critical phase of the preparation period
(pp. 17). Bartell (1994) surveyed 2,500 people on the content
and structure of educational administrator preparation programmes
and professional development experiences. From the concerns identified
by her respondents she asserted that practice-orientated, problem-based
approaches to prepare candidates for a new role held the greatest
promise for the future. Several studies on teacher education have
also suggested that to reduce dissonance for learners when they
are entering a new role that challenges their beliefs and perceptions,
it is important that they get the opportunity to engage in structured
practice situations so that the knowledge presented to them may
be observed and reflectively examined in relation to their prior
perceptions (Lampert & Ball, 1999; Richardson & Kile,
1999). They found that the elements that seemed to make a difference
in shaping new beliefs and changing perceptions were: providing
a practical experience that was well coordinated with the propositional
knowledge imparted, and watching and discussing relevant video
scenarios.
Other research by McGee (1980) has corroborated these findings.
He looked at a group of teachers undergoing in-service training.
He found significant changes towards desired behaviours occurred
when the training systematically focused on sensitising teachers
to a particular skill, provided practice experience based on the
theoretical content and was subsequently followed up by opportunities
for review and feedback. Programmes that dealt with new skills
in a more general way, without building in systematic practice,
did not cause teachers to alter their beliefs and behaviour.
As well as structured practice situations, there is a need for
other components to be included in the professional development
programme that support the adoption of new skills and ideas. The
use of feedback has been identified as an essential component
of instruction based on participation (Shaw, et al 1980: 12).
Other people, including members of the training group, can tell
an individual how his/her behaviour appears to them and this can
enable the individual to identify any weaknesses and receive ‘the
kind of information that one ordinarily fails to see or hear’.
Providing opportunities to think about and discuss a practice
situation allows participants to reflect on and improve their
learning. In a study completed by Nathan Linsk and Kathleen Tunney
(1997) on the use of simulated learning experiences for training
social workers, they demonstrated that trainees found learning
in practice simulations developed confidence in receiving feedback,
which in turn helped to transform their learning. Trainees valued
the feedback from their peers and from the course facilitator.
They also felt that being an observer of role play was almost
as valuable as playing a role; it helped them to understand the
process involved with implementing the theory and content of their
learning, thus providing the most experiential learning possible
outside of the actual clinical situation.
However, to be meaningful, the timing of feedback is important.
Tillema (2000) conducted a study on two groups of teachers, one
who engaged in comprehensive theoretical reflection prior to engaging
in a practice teaching session and one who was immersed in a teaching
practice prior to the reflective seminar. The first group changed
beliefs quite dramatically during the initial theoretical session
but were found to move back toward their prior understandings
and perceptions during the practical session. The second group
began to change perceptions during the practice experience, and
continued to change in the desired direction during the subsequent
theoretical feedback and reflection period. Tillema (2000) concluded
that reflection and feedback after practice had a positive effect
on changes in beliefs, whereas reflection prior to practice did
not ground belief changes in practice, making them unstable.
Another component that has been found useful to include in professional
development for teachers required to change roles is that of watching
and discussing relevant videos. Richardson and Kile (1999) have
found that watching and discussing video scenarios seemed to make
a difference in shaping new beliefs and changing perceptions.
The rationale behind the use of using video scenarios in learning
situations is to bring theory and practice together, by presenting
a visual, moving picture of a real situation along with guiding
information and participant discussion (Richardson and Kile, 1999:
134). Video can convey many contextual details of a situation,
thus presenting a more authentic picture. It allows the viewer
to see the subtle, and non verbal aspects of teacher-student interactions
that are not available through verbal or written media (Brophy,
2004: 299). They have also shown that discussing relevant video
scenarios can be beneficial for learners when they are entering
a new role that challenges their beliefs and perceptions (1999:121-136).
They report on work done by Risko, Yount and McAllister (1992)
with students on an undergraduate teacher education course. Video
cases were used throughout a semester teaching programme on a
Remedial Reading course. It was found that the course participants
discourse patterns demonstrated “active engagement and generative
learning” (pp. 40), as spontaneous connections between the
viewed scenarios and prior experiences were made. The connections
were not linear connections as might be found during a lecture
format and often demonstrated a metacognitive awareness of key
points without the information being made explicit by the lecturer.
Their findings led them to believe that experiences provided through
viewing video tapes may help students to acquire mental models
of authentic situations, enabling them to understand the meaning
of events and preparing them for entering a similar situation
themselves (pp. 48).
