Faculty of Education - Theses
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ItemInvestigating the growth of teacher knowledge on teaching reading through a professional development program( 2007)This thesis is an investigation of the growth and development of teacher knowledge on teaching reading to students with reading difficulties. The effect of a professional development program was examined to achieve the aim of this study. Thirty preschool and elementary school teachers volunteered and attended a 10-day professional development seminar that focused on understanding the processes in learning to read, identifying and remediating reading difficulties. The teachers' subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge were tested using two separate tasks, before and after the professional development seminar. The data were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative data analyses procedures. The results indicate that a professional development seminar can significantly raise both teachers' subject matter and pedagogical knowledge on teaching concepts and procedures that research had earlier identified as essential for teaching reading. The results of investigating subject matter knowledge at pre-testing showed that there are clear gaps in what teachers know from what they should know. Particular concepts were identified to form part of what teachers know and concepts that are unknown to the teachers. The investigation of the growth of this knowledge showed that there are concepts that are more readily learned compared to others. The audit of teachers pedagogical knowledge at pre-testing revealed that teachers knew procedures that are consistent with the recommended teaching procedures for teaching literacy to students with literacy learning difficulties. The investigation of the growth of this teacher knowledge showed that there are teaching procedures that teachers have effectively learnt from the seminar. The investigation of the relationship between how teachers learn concepts for subject matter knowledge and procedures for pedagogical knowledge showed no relationship using statistical analyses. However, through qualitative analyses, the evidenced showed that the terms that teachers used on the instrument for investigating pedagogical knowledge revealed a strong relationship with subject matter knowledge growth. The teachers at post-testing showed a tendency to use concepts in literacy learning that they did not know at pre-testing. The evidence from this study lends support to notion that teachers learn new subject matter knowledge and pedagogical knowledge in an integrated manner. From this study, recommendations for the development and implementation of professional development programs for teaching reading are drawn. The value of a solid knowledge base for such recommendations is underscored. Recommendations are also made with regards to improving efforts to investigating teacher knowledge as a means to improve educational practice.
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ItemProfessional development of teachers and its contribution towards creating a learning community: a case study( 2002)This thesis examined the professional development programs available for teachers in service at a Victorian independent school and the contribution of these programs towards creating a learning community. A learning community was described for the purpose of this thesis as a successful shape of an organisation that is continually expanding its capacities. In order for schools to achieve that, transformation in teachers' perceptions of their own learning and professional growth must occur, and professional development of teachers should be embedded in their practice and anchored in their day-to-day life. Through a qualitative case study approach, the investigation explored teachers' attitudes and perceptions towards their learning, the professional development programs available to them and the contributions of these to the development of the school as a learning community. The research was concerned with identifying what is an effective professional development program from the perceptions of participants, and the characteristics of the school as a learning community. The study aimed at informing both the implementation of appropriate professional development programs and future policy formulation at the school under study, as well as challenging teachers' perceptions of their learning and role. Participants from the case study were interviewed using open-ended interview questions. The analysis of responses showed that participants perceived themselves as lifelong learners, understood their role as educators in a rapidly changing environment and preferred professional development programs that were embedded in their daily life to meet their needs and those of their students. Findings also showed that the school's leadership role had a significant impact on the learning that occurred at personal, interpersonal and organisational levels.
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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.
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ItemThe relationship between teacher professional development and the ability to teach academically gifted children: a multiple case study( 2000)The launch of the Bright Futures policy and Australia's gifted education history suggest a need to study Victorian gifted teacher professional development outcomes. The literature implicates the utility of professional development in building identification skills, instructional expertise and positive attitudes towards gifted children. A few studies in gifted education also converge with the general literature to suggest the provision of environmental support together with professional development. There is a dearth however, of accompanying research and theoretical models in gifted education relevant to professional development outcomes. Research in general education has located a new paradigm combining both aspects of professional development and environmental support. In this study the same paradigm was used to examine the results of professional development under the Bright Futures policy. Reflective of the policy's lack of structure in implementing professional development, there were variations in outcomes. It also was found that unsuccessful outcomes often were linked to elements of professional development and/ or environmental support which tell short of the paradigm's recommendations. Similarly, successful cases closely reflected the paradigm's recommendations for professional development and environmental support. The overall findings would therefore support the adoption of the study's paradigm in gifted education. The application of findings as applied to research and future professional development practice are also discussed.
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ItemTeacher professional learning in an online community: the experience of the NQSF pilot project( 2004)During 2002, the National Quality Schooling Framework Pilot Project (NQSF) established an online environment designed to support the implementation of school improvement initiatives in selected schools across Australia. Part of the NQSF Pilot Project included the provision of computer mediated communications tools which aimed to foster participation by teachers and school leaders in an online learning community to support teacher professional learning through collegial, reflective sharing of practices. This study explores the extent to which an effective online community developed during the Pilot Project by examining in detail the experiences of a sample of NQSF participants. The particular focus of the study is an examination of the extent and nature of participation of a number of teachers and school leaders in the NQSF online community. It describes the positive and negative influences on the use of the NQSF online environment, and reports on the impact on the professional learning and other school-based practices of 13 teachers and school leaders whose experiences cover a range of behaviours within the NQSF online environment. The findings suggest that schools participating in the NQSF Pilot Project did not have a strong culture of collegial, reflective sharing of practice and that most teachers had limited experience in using computer mediated communications tools, both of which acted as a barrier to teachers participating in the NQSF online community. Further, without a well-defined sense of commonality and a perceived need or purpose and without a critical mass of meaningful responses to discussions that were initiated, teachers and school leaders were less likely to allocate time to be an active contributor to the online community. The findings indicate that the NQSF online community required further time and facilitation to progress beyond a pre-birth phase of development within the six-month time frame of the project. The findings of this research could inform the design and development of future versions of online teacher professional development environments created to facilitate professional dialogue and reflection through online communities. Further, the findings of this study could provide insight into the types of organisational, structural and cultural support mechanisms that may need to be considered within schools so that online teacher communities designed to support teacher professional learning through collegial sharing and reflection may achieve their objectives.
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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.