The purpose of this self-study was to explore how I can learn from my own experiences to promote lifelong teacher learning more effectively as an Intermediate Phase (Grade 4–6) Head of Department (HoD) in a primary school. Lifelong teacher learning is valued in this rapidly changing world and is also encouraged by the Department of Education through teacher professional development, which includes organizational learning and change. I used a personal history self-study methodology to re-examine myself and my experiences as a lifelong learner, with the aim of understanding how I can better encourage and promote lifelong teacher learning in my school.
These strategies can also be used by other teachers to develop themselves professionally through lifelong teacher learning. The purpose of this self-study is to explore how I can learn from my own experiences to promote lifelong teacher learning more effectively as an Intermediate Phase (Grade Four – Six) Head of Department (HoD). Furthermore, I look at how I can draw from my deeper understanding of relevant literature and from my lived experiences to improve my daily practice to promote lifelong teacher learning.
For clarity, I highlight three significant themes from the literature in relation to my study of lifelong teacher learning, thereby identifying two complementary theoretical perspectives that have helped me understand this key concept. Here I provide a brief introduction to particular scientific perspectives on lifelong teacher learning that gave me a sense of direction when I began my study (Mitchell & Weber, 2005).
Understanding Lifelong Teacher Learning as a Concept
Next, I give the reasons why I am interested in doing this personal history self-study and explain my research questions. Wenger's (1998) social theory of learning and Kelly's (2006) socio-cultural perspective on teacher learning are two complementary theoretical perspectives that help me understand the concept of teacher learning in a way that is relevant to research. my personal history self-study. Thus, I hope to use what I learn from my self-study to better support lifelong teacher learning within a community of practice at my school.
Thus, I understand the lifelong learning of teachers as something that happens through the social cooperation of teachers in the different contexts in which they find themselves throughout their lives. In addition to Wenger's social theory of learning, I draw on Kelly's (2006) socio-cultural view of teacher learning. This perspective highlights how culture also plays a role in teacher learning, as we share and sometimes change our habitual beliefs and practices during social participation.
Kelly (2006) sees teacher learning as an interactive process of developing expertise, with an emphasis on sharing information, experiences and ideas. Therefore, I understand that sharing information, experiences, ideas, beliefs and practices through both formal and informal learning processes is a central part of teachers' learning. 2004) explains that such sharing also plays a central role in personal history self-study research.
Lifelong Teacher Learning as an Opportunity for Professional Growth
He argues that “[t]he process of knowing-in-practice does not reside in individuals; rather it is distributed among teachers”. Therefore, in my study, I reflect on past experiences to rethink my daily practice to promote lifelong teacher learning. I re-examine my experiences to help me understand my own social, emotional and moral development as a teacher with the aim of learning from my experiences to better support my fellow teachers.
Currently, South African teachers are expected to act as facilitators of learning rather than providing prescribed knowledge, and students are supposed to produce knowledge, while the teacher's role is to initiate, guide and influence their thinking (DHET, 2011). He argues that teachers may be "slowly but deliberately moving back from center stage to an invisible position on the fringes of the classroom" (p. 242). It is thus important for teachers to maintain confidence in ourselves as professionals, while adapting to changing policies and official expectations (Jansen, 2001).
Consequently, teachers' self-reflection about who we are and what we value as professionals can form an important part of our lifelong learning (Beauchamp & Thomas comment on the value of teachers' self-knowledge and maintain that we need to understand that teaching involves live in a world that makes multiple demands on us, so with the help of lifelong teacher learning we should better adapt to these changes.
Lifelong Teacher Learning for the Well-Being of Schooling
In chapter two, I give an in-depth account of my personal history self-study research process. Using the personal history self-study method has helped me understand how revisiting the past through a self-study lens can be a form of lifelong teacher learning. In the previous chapter, chapter two, I give an account of my personal history self-study research process.
The purpose of this study is to learn from my own educational journey to see how I can better encourage lifelong learning among middle school (grades 4-6) teachers in my elementary school. In the previous chapter, chapter three, I present the lived experiences that have played a role in my own lifelong learning. This chapter addresses my second research question, which asks what I can learn from my personal story about promoting lifelong teacher learning.
My personal story also reminds me how school uniforms played an important role in my school life. Thus, as I look at my personal story, I can see that “poverty in the family never hindered my learning progress. My personal story shows that it is important to me to make a difference in the learning and lives of my students.
My personal history story has taught me that being motivated from within and by others promotes lifelong learning. The next major theme to emerge from my personal history self-study is the impact of gender in education. Looking back on my personal history, I have come to the conclusion that I experienced the impact of the language barrier when I failed my first year of Teacher Training.
In the last chapter, Chapter Five, I give a summary of my thesis and reflect on the suitability of my personal history self-study methodology. In the previous chapter, Chapter Four, I re-examined my personal history, as presented in Chapter Three, and discovered four key themes that emerged from my personal history. My personal history self-study research therefore helped me to become more aware of the value of teachers' lifelong learning.
I reflected on these life experiences in order to increase my awareness of the lifelong learning of teachers in the context of my own life. Using a self-study methodology of personal history helped me understand how revisiting the past through a self-study lens can be a form of lifelong learning for teachers. STUDY TITLE: Encouraging lifelong learning of intermediate teachers: A self-study of a head of department.
REQUEST FOR CONSENT TO USE FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHS IN A RESEARCH STUDY Promoting lifelong learning of intermediate teachers: A self-study of a department head.
