Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemRethinking teachers' professional learning teams : a case study( 2003)This study afforded an opportunity to rethink teacher professional learning and change processes in schools. To examine these issues, this investigation focused on two school reform initiatives which expected teachers to work in structured teams in order to initiate, plan, and implement school change projects. The first initiative, or Project 2000 as it was known, was developed by teachers in the case study school as a means of introducing curriculum reform in Years 9 and 10 and as a vehicle for promoting teacher learning. The second initiative, the ICT Project, focussed on using information and communication technologies in English classrooms, and was built on the process findings of the first project. This research aimed, firstly, to investigate how a teacher team structure, referred to as a project-based professional learning team, may be used as a vehicle for work-embedded and ongoing teacher professional learning. Secondly, it aimed to explore teachers' perceptions of the factors that facilitate or impede a school change process that utilises project-based professional learning teams as a school improvement strategy. The findings from this study indicate that teachers perceived that, at the micro-level; the very existence of project-based professional learning teams can provide a structural support for teachers that promotes and sustains a new concept of professional learning that is ongoing, inquiry-based, work-embedded and meaningful to teachers. At the macro-level, the study points to the potential use of project-based professional learning teams as vehicles to initiate the process of reculturing schools as learning communities. This study has shown that, despite the constraint of time, teachers perceived that project-based professional learning teams can challenge cultures of teacher isolation and conservatism by promoting collaborative problem-solving and action learning, and by integrating teachers' work with their professional learning. The study also demonstrated that teachers perceived project-based professional learning teams can improve teacher knowledge, attitude and practices by challenging them in collective learning units to inquire and rethink current practice, to try new ways of doing things and by instilling new skills. Finally, this study has demonstrated that teachers perceived that project-based professional learning teams can act as a vehicle for school change to produce worthwhile outcomes for teacher learning, student learning and the school as a learning community. In re-thinking how teachers change, project-based professional learning teams offer a way forward.
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ItemSupporting teacher learning through professional learning teams( 2004)The Professional Learning Team (PLT) is a relatively new concept that has appeared on the educational horizon in the past decade. Indeed they have drifted to the foreground as the impact of PLTs within schools has gained momentum with the emergence of major systemic projects. This research examines this impact in the light of one such project, the Early Numeracy Research Project (ENRP), and the way that teachers learn in a collegial environment. In analysing the data, I have attended statewide and cluster meetings, interviewed individual teachers and focus groups of PLTs in three schools that were part of the ENRP. I have identified seven aspects that emerged as integral to the work and sustainability of PLTs. These emergent themes are interdependent and each one provides an insight and link to the central theme of teacher learning. Teachers are challenged to change when they are engaged in new ways of teacher practice. Projects that are clearly defined and are linked to system and school goals provide a framework for this change and learning to be generated. Professional learning requires scaffolding that is braced together by communal reflection, sound professional and personal relationships and internal and external support. Leadership that is distributed throughout the membership and is supportive ensures that facets of PLTs can cohere together and maintain a sustainable future. The findings in my research demonstrate that teachers are receptive to the inception and maintenance of PLTs in their schools. However, I raise other possibilities in my conclusions that take PLTs beyond their initial purpose and scope within systemic projects. The evidence is irrefutable that�PLTs provide opportunities for teachers to learn in a safe and collegial atmosphere and that the outcomes of this teacher learning impacts favourably on students.