Faculty of Education - Theses

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Teacher learning in a professional community

O'Keefe, Brigid ( 1998)

During recent years teacher appraisal has received increasing attention in educational research and literature. This study observed the development of a teacher appraisal program in a Victorian State Primary School and explored participants' understanding of appraisal processes designed for the purposes of improvement and accountability, and tracked the processes and outcomes. The overall purpose of this study was to investigate the opportunities for teacher learning and growth that these processes made available to teachers. A case study approach was chosen for the investigation with data collected from several sources. A primary source of information was five teachers with the remaining staff a secondary source. Data were collected through observations, interviews, written responses, written document analysis and participant observation. It was found that as a result of the appraisal processes, the school culture became more supportive of teacher learning and growth. Many factors contributed to the process of teacher development. These included supportive leadership and the importance of learning from ones peers. The management of the appraisal processes and the tensions that arose between the separate processes of appraisal are also discussed.