Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemCreating a learning community through establishing a professional action learning team( 2003)This study examines the creation of a learning community through the implementation of a model for professional development called Professional Action Learning Teams (PALT). Its purpose is to investigate PALT and begin to understand how its principles transfer to a setting in which professional development of teachers has been approached in a traditional manner. It is a study about teacher learning and examines the challenges of introducing a model that is collaborative and inquiry focused, work-embedded, and based on the constructivist paradigm. This was achieved by a qualitative analysis of teacher talk during professional development meetings and an analysis of teachers' learning journals kept throughout the study. Traditional approaches to professional development often ignore the teacher as a person and a learner. A culture needs to be established within schools where teachers are acknowledged as learners who need opportunities to grow and learn in their professional practice. While policies and research call for reform, schools appear to be slow in responding. The study revealed that PALT was a most effective approach to begin defining a new model for professional development that emphasises constructivism and adult learning principles. Two significant findings of the study were: � the value of dialogue in affecting pedagogical change; and � the need for teachers to learn in similar ways to their students that is by: studying, testing new ideas and reflecting; collaborating with peers; examining and analysing each other's work; and by sharing what they do.