• You are here: Home
• Resources and Downloads
• Staff Matters
• The Professional
• Useful Information
• Teacher Learning in Action

Teacher Learning in Action

Bissaker and Heath (2004) begin this conference paper with a quote from John Cotton Dana:

Who dares teach must never cease learning.

Bissaker and Heath describe a program of professional development for teachers at the new Australian Science and Mathematics School (ASMS) located adjacent to Flinders University in southern Adelaide. The professional development program is designed to situate learning opportunities in personally applicable, authentic problems and practices grounded in everyday teaching experiences. The authors cite Shulman (1999).

Acquiring sophisticated knowledge and developing a practice that is different to what teachers themselves experienced as students, requires learning opportunities for teachers that are more powerful than simply reading and talking about new pedagogical ideas (Ball & Cohen, 1996). Teachers learn best by studying, doing and reflecting, by collaborating with other teachers, by looking closely at students and their work, and by sharing what they see. (p. 3)

The program of professional development implemented at the ASMS includes two professional learning opportunities. The first is to engage teachers in sustained professional learning around an issue of personal significance. The second is a learning-in-action opportunity where teachers and other experts (either from the university or industry) work together to support students undertaking individually designed inquiry-based projects. An important premise underlying these learning opportunities is the need to engender collaborative processes and shared responsibilities in professional learning communities.

An interesting point made by the authors is that it is important to consider effective learning from the perspective of the teachers, as teachers often find themselves responsible for 'enhancing the learning of others rather than engaging in learning themselves … [teachers] … often struggle with the notion of being learners themselves' (p. 4).

In the sustained professional learning component, Moon's (1999, cited in Bissaker & Heath, 2004) Map of Learning was used as a model to track learning.

(From Bissaker & Heath, 2004, p. 4)

Teachers used the model to track their own learning, beginning with 'noticing'. How they 'made sense' about what was noticed was supported through professional discussion within the group. Making meaning and working with meaning followed as teachers felt prepared, and, subsequently, made changes to teaching practices (transformative learning).

In the learning-in-action component of the professional development, teachers met new demands through supporting students undertaking extension studies that were often not underpinned by predetermined curriculum or traditional ways of teaching. Here teachers were required to contribute to curriculum development and reassess their notions of evidence of learning. This was achieved by connecting teachers to significant others, such as experts in subject matter, curriculum development and assessment.

Bissaker and Heath argue that this provided opportunities for teachers to:

• review pedagogies that support deep learning
• consider alternative assessment practices
• introduce new sciences to the curriculum
• have ongoing interaction with all concerned
• learn new content knowledge and review ways to develop students' understanding of this content
• model responsibilities of the learner, such as planning, asking questions and active theorising
• develop insights into the latest research
• develop teacher skills in supporting individual learning styles and inquiry-based learning
• recognise constraints on students' learning of current assessment practices
• develop deep knowledge and understanding of their subject.

Bissaker and Heath conclude by saying that providing for teachers' learning will remain a significant priority at the ASMS (p. 7).

References
Bissaker, K. & Heath, J. (2004). Teachers' learning in an innovative school. Paper presented at the annual Educational Research Conference, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia.

Shulman, L. S. (1999). 'Taking learning seriously.' Change, 31(4), 10-17.