3.6 Arguing for a peer-driven model of teacher professional
development is to maintain and extend teachers’ professional knowledge, defined as: the knowledge possessed by professionals which enables them to perform professional tasks, roles and duties with quality. There is no doubt, when looking at the contributions made to professional development, that teachers, as professionals, need to have the kind of knowledge that will be deemed relevant and suitable for the curriculum they have to deliver.
The question as to how teachers experience the various courses and programmes they have to attend in the name of their professional development gives another dimension to the arguments on teacher development. The question arises as to who the “teacher” referred to in the discussions of teacher development actually is, and what the teacher brings to discussions of teacher development, as a person. Day (2003) supports models that focus on teachers-as-persons more than employees. However, he also acknowledges the danger of adhering to these arguments whilst oversimplifying the issue of meeting the needs of the system (Samuel, 1999). So, in short, one may agree with researchers who believe that both the socio-economic and organizational contexts have a pivotal role to play when looking into the provision of professional development for teachers. Within the social constructivist framework, teachers could be identifying with one another and giving one another that emotional support not easily realised in other models. Turnbill (1994) cited in Hoban (2002) argues for changing the learning culture of schools in such a way that teachers automatically become empowered.
In a project conducted in Australia, Turnbill (1994) propagates a Professional Learning System (PLS) whose focus is that of seeing teachers as professional learners within a flexible collaborative environment. He looked at the role of facilitators in changing teachers’ beliefs and practices. The success of the project was associated with the willingness of school managers to create space to accommodate teachers’ professional needs. Teachers worked in groups/teams under the guidance of a facilitator. He aligns the project’s success to the willingness of teachers to view themselves as thinkers and learners within a collaborative structure, rather than as ordinary individual “doers” or practitioners of someone else’s theory. The professional learning model used here is one that views school cultures as “social open system(s)” (Betts, 1992; Asayesh, 1993; Turnbill, 1994; Capra, 1996).
These cultures are seen as “open” systems, because ideas generated by teachers are allowed to be imported and exported, as opposed to “closed” individual classroom systems which do not allow for the two-way flow of ideas. The success of the project was also attributed to teachers viewing themselves as learners; asking questions which ultimately would have an impact on how they teach. It
was hoped that this kind of meta-cognitive awareness would help to improve their teaching skills as they addressed questions like:
What is learning?
What strategies do I use as a learner?
How do I feel when I’m successful or not successful?
What does this mean for my teaching?
This approach to teacher development is in line with the model argued for in this research. It is an approach that will help teachers whose training did not afford them opportunities to develop and use the critical thinking skills that are now demanded by the new curriculum. Such teachers could benefit immensely from this interactive approach. It should be remembered that the poor teacher training curriculum engaged in prior to the 1994 democratic elections had the specific political purpose of producing teachers who would not be critical thinkers. As a consequence, this was a system that researchers like Lortie (1975:77) referred to as:
…a knowledge-based system in which teaching remains largely personalised and experiential, meaning that those occasions when assistance is sought from others tends to be in the form of helpful “tricks of the trade” rather than broader conceptions which underlie classroom practice.
The South African approach to teacher development has utilised various models ranging from:
• face-to-face interaction – with expects directly delivering teacher-development programmes through contact sessions
• distance education – teachers studying as part-time students
• in-out lecture and practice teaching approach – a combination of contact sessions with school- based short-term teaching practice sessions
This indicates that for many years, Higher Education Institutions, various Departments of Education and service providers like NGOs have used in-service education and university courses to improve individual skills, qualify-for-salary skills and to meet certification requirements. Professional development rewarded teachers with personal and professional growth, greater job security and career advancement. However, the recent national curriculum mandates and initiatives within the South African education system have demanded a different approach to teacher development as teachers of today are required to be critical, efficient and relevant in terms of the new OBE approach. Within the
new Outcomes-Based Education (OBE) system, teachers have been seriously challenged to develop cooperative teambuilding skills so as to realize maximum benefit for the implementation of the new curriculum. This would, in turn, address and meet one of the national critical cross-field outcomes – that of producing citizens who can work together in teams.
In the development theory, the teacher is described by a number of researchers as a development practitioner, whose role is that of facilitating the emergent consciousness of others (Kaplan, 1996). It is also a fact that this function and other roles that teachers are expected to perform can never be achieved in isolation. These roles or functions will always be aspired to and realized within specific contexts that will have to embrace the complexities of policies, personal identities, as well as socio-economic factors which teachers often experience simultaneously. This then implies that the democratic South Africa needs to provide an enabling and supportive environment for teachers, thereby enhancing their professional development. This paradigm within the South African context illustrates the desperate need for fresh approaches to teacher-development models and programmes which will directly address imbalances inherited from the apartheid regime. Reminiscent of the bold assertion that introduced the paradigm of the School Effectiveness Movement – that the schools “make the difference” – I agree with Blunkett (1998), who claims that “teachers make a difference”.
This assertion provides a strong argument for the notion that teachers need significant development for themselves to enable them to offer high-quality teaching Day (1993) also introduces similar arguments by saying that it is axiomatic that any attempt to improve children’s learning depends upon some form of teacher development. I therefore intend questioning the models in current use regarding whether they address the demands and needs of teachers.
Certain researchers reviewed professional development in terms of self-directed learning opportunities Clark, (1992); Marsick, (1987); Marsick and Watkins, (1990). South Africa had a number of institutions or colleges which offered teacher-development programmes that were participative and contextually relevant and consistent with the above researchers' ideas.
Professional development has also been considered as being related to issues of personal and professional identities Fuller, (1969); Huberman, (1992); Smyth, (1992, 1993a); Nias, (1984, 1989); Samuel, (1998; 2005); Sikes et al. (1985). There are also studies which looked at the nature of professional activity that could include aspects like helping others Nixon et al. (1997);
Pring, (1993). Professional growth and professional activity was noted by Dean (1991), while Griffin (1983) looked at teachers’ beliefs and attitudes. Professional accountability was another
aspect of interest to researchers like Eraut (1994), while other researchers focussed on other areas of interest such as teacher autonomy Hargreaves and Fullan, (1992); Smyth, (1995), and empowerment Carr and Kemmis, (1986); Smyth, 1998; Webb, (1996).
From the discussions above I note that researchers have focussed on the key aspects of putting the teacher at the centre of CPD like: teachers’ personal identities, self-directed teachers; the agency element in teachers helping others; teachers’ professional growth and professional accountability.
If these are at the core of CPD, which model should then be used to ensure that we provide teacher-development programmes that will enhance professionalism of teachers in South Africa?
There are some researchers who viewed professional development as the integration of individual and organizational development Day, (1999); Hargreaves and Fullan, (1992); Loucks-Horsley, (1995). The development and performance evaluation of teachers is gradually shifting from the conventional, traditional notion of professional development. Teachers are gradually being developed, evaluated and assessed along the lines of performance – giving rise to politically attractive alternatives to state investment (Ball, 2003). The new voices in teacher development have given rise to teachers having to contend with a multitude of systems for monitoring their work, as well as dealing with the prescribed and intrusive national curriculum. This kind of environment dictates the need to have high levels of support where there are challenges of implementing curricular changes. This is especially true to the newly appointed teachers that could be perceived as “novices: in the profession, if they are to grow professionally. Low levels of support tend to limit the professional development of teachers especially when challenges are high
Growth requires both support and challenge as illustrated by the following figure (See Figure 1).
Novice grows through the development of new knowledge and images
C H A Novice withdraws from
the mentoring relationship with no growth possible
LOW L HIGH
L
SUPPORT E SUPPORT
N G
E
S
Novice is not encouraged to
consider or reflect on knowledge images
Novice becomes confirmed in pre- existing images
Figure 1. Key to continuing teacher development is an appropriate level of support and challenge.
Day (1999)
The figure exposes the fact that newly young and inexperienced teachers will initially have no confidence with low or no support and mentoring in their jobs. However, with high support their knowledge increase, enhancing and sharpening their focus on their professionalisms. Within the peer-driven model, teachers are the creators, producers and implementers of knowledge. They therefore need support through exposure to ongoing professional development. Pursuant to the argument of the model from the figure above, I believe that teachers both as newly appointed and newly introduced to curricular changes, need a huge amount of support to realise the policy implementation outcomes intended.
There is widespread recognition that countries need to have clear and concise statements of what teachers are expected to know and be able to do, and these teacher profiles need to be embedded throughout the school and teacher education systems. The profile of teacher competencies needs to be derived from the objectives for student learning, and to provide a profession-wide and shared understanding of what counts as accomplished teaching.