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This article was downloaded by: [University of North Texas]On: 12 November 2014, At: 20:18Publisher: RoutledgeInforma Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House,37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK
Journal of In-Service EducationPublication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjie19
Irish teachers' experiences of professional learning:implications for policy and practiceCiaran Sugrue aa St Patrick's College , Dublin, Republic of IrelandPublished online: 20 Dec 2006.
To cite this article: Ciaran Sugrue (2002) Irish teachers' experiences of professional learning: implications for policy andpractice, Journal of In-Service Education, 28:2, 311-338
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Journal of In-Service Education, Volume 28, Number 2, 2002
311
Irish Teachers’ Experiences of Professional Learning: implications for policy and practice
CIARAN SUGRUE St Patrick’s College, Dublin, Republic of Ireland
ABSTRACT Despite significant increases internationally in provision of professional learning opportunities for teachers, there is substantial evidence also that such provision continues to be fragmented and lacking in coherence. This article documents the experiences of Irish primary and post-primary teachers in this regard and interrogates them for their potential to illuminate conceptualisations of teacher professional learning, policy formulation, facilitation of, and support for, sustained learning as well as identifying areas requiring further investigation. The article concludes that the nature of provision is often inadequate and poorly conceived due to lack of differentiation that is sensitive to context and career stage, while there is need also to connect teacher and student learning in a more coherent and comprehensive manner that enables the voices of all learners to be heard and heeded within professional learning discourses.
Introduction
Throughout the decade of the 1990s, as the prospect of a new millennium became more of a reality, and the pace of change continued to gather momentum, the clarion call of lifelong learning for all became something of a mantra as the notion that all knowledge is tentative and provisional with a limited shelf-life was accorded the status of orthodoxy (Government of Ireland [GoI], 2000). When the post-modern condition of ‘globalisation’ (see Beck, 2000) is factored into this equation, and its consequences for markets, nations, families and communities – including schools, it is not surprising that the contemporary world tends to be characterised by uncertainty and instability (Hargreaves, 1994). D
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Schools, teaching and learning have not been immune to the vicissitudes of these trends, and there is ample evidence from a plethora of policy documents and research reports of frequently frantic attempts to alter the structure and organisation of schools and schooling to make them more efficient and relevant, to change curricula and pedagogy to align them more closely with the needs of the marketplace and national economic agendas, to alter assessment procedures to lend greater variety to the process, while simultaneously raising achievement levels. Schools too, as traditional family structures give way to such combinations as single parents, blended families etc. are increasingly being asked to be more caring and nurturing, rather than maintaining a more traditional and exclusive focus on cognitive development (Noddings, 1992; Egan, 1999). For these, and other reasons, teachers are increasingly being asked to reinvent themselves, to become facilitators of learning, rather than repositories of cultural wisdom to be transmitted to their pupils and students. Consequently, lifelong learning for teachers and school reform/improvement have become a kind of battle-ground as ‘education, education, education’ becomes governments’ major priority (see Riley, 2000).
In Ireland in particular in the wake of the OECD (1991) report at the beginning of the 1990s, the Government subsequently received a budget of 35 million from the EU to invest in teacher development, with a particular emphasis on improving the management capacity of the system, particularly at the level of the school. Despite such persistent efforts, the following appears to be an accurate reflection internationally, of the effect of continuing professional development to date:
Professional development for teachers has a poor track record because it lacks a theoretical base and coherent focus. On the one hand, professional development is treated as a vague panacea – the teacher as continuous, lifelong learner. Stated as such, it has little practical meaning. On the other hand, professional development is defined too narrowly and becomes artificially detached from ‘real-time’ learning. It becomes the workshop, or possibly the ongoing series of professional development sessions. In either case, it fails to have a sustained cumulative impact. (Fullan, 1995, cited in Guskey & Huberman, 1995, p. 253)
While there is growing recognition of the crucial importance of lifelong learning or continuing professional development of teachers, there is recognition also that much of current provision falls short of what is required or is unequal to the task, given its scale and complexity.
This is the international backdrop to the study of professional learning of Irish primary and post-primary teachers reported in this article. The study was commissioned by the Department of Education and
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Science (DES) in December 1999 and completed in June 2001(see Sugrue et al, 2001). The article is in six parts. First, a brief note on the use of terminology in the article is provided. Secondly, a succinct account of the policy context and the structure of the education system in Ireland are provided as a means of contextualising the study as part of the interpretive lens. Thirdly, a review of selected literature on teacher professional development is undertaken to provide a focal frame that serves the dual purpose of shaping the data generated in the study, as well as being the theoretical lens through which data are interrogated. Fourthly, appropriate accounts of the methodology of the study are provided. Fifthly, the most salient aspects of the study’s data are presented and discussed, and in the sixth and final section, the evidence of the study is scrutinised for its implications for how professional learning is conceptualised, as well as for policy and practice. The purpose of the study was to evaluate the quality of current provision, and to make recommendations for the improvement of policy and practice. However, an important caveat was entered from the outset, that current professional development provision is a ‘moving target’. Consequently, the approach adopted was of capturing a ‘snapshot in time’ in sufficient detail and with appropriate accuracy in order to ground recommendations in a combination of theoretical perspectives, policy documents and teachers’ experiences.
A Note on Terms
Four terms pervade the relevant literature – in-service, lifelong learning, professional development, and professional learning. The first of these is the longest serving, but as a consequence is outdated and outmoded. It carries overtones of ‘quick fix’ periodic episodes of ‘input’ that teachers are expected to bring back to schools. Additionally, there is a sub-text of a positivistic epistemology that is difficult to sustain in post-modern times. For these reasons, the term is avoided in this article except where it is part of a quotation. Lifelong learning has been supported and promoted by national governments, and the EU particularly in the last decade, often for reasons of vocationalism and marketplace competition. However, while it may be an important policy aspiration, it is rather vague in its importance for practice and, as yet, we are only beginning to scratch the surface of what this might mean over a career in teaching; hence, the term will be avoided, not wishing to minimise the import of the sentiment the term conveys. Professional development tends to be the more recent term of choice in Anglophone countries, while professional learning is gaining increasing currency on the North American continent. I am attracted by the emphasis on learning in the latter and, along with others, subscribe to the use of the term professional development as long D
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as it encompasses the personal also (see Day, 1999). These terms are used interchangeably throughout the text.
Context of Study: policies and structures
This section begins with a brief outline of general policy regarding teachers’ professional learning for Irish primary and post-primary teachers. This is followed by a brief account of the size of the system and the infrastructure in place for delivery of professional support for teachers.
One of the major policy shifts of particular import to all aspects of teacher professional development is the espoused position in the White Paper of the ‘teaching continuum’ (GoI, 1995). Building on the evidence provided and argument advanced in the OECD report, the White Paper, quotes this report with approval. The OECD report states:
The challenges that now faces the authorities and indeed the whole teaching profession is how to address in a comprehensive way the needs and aspirations of talented and well-educated young teacher as they make their first full-time professional encounters with the school (induction) and as they progress through their careers (continuing in-service) education and training). We believe that the best returns from further investment in teacher education will come from the careful planning and construction of a nationwide induction and in-service system using the concept of the teaching career as the foundation. (OECD, 1991, p. 98)
The report identified three key constraints to the advancement of such an agenda: policy, infrastructure and resources. While the infrastructure has been improved significantly, with the ongoing development of a network of Education Centres, and funding has increased exponentially, it is more difficult to point to particular policy documents that would demonstrate that progress has been made in this vital element of providing a more comprehensive, coherent and sophisticated approach.
The White Paper on education (GoI, 1995) recognises that current professional development ‘is fragmented’, and suffers because ‘teacher participation is voluntary’ and course content is ‘provider driven’. This policy document suggests that there is a need to shift emphasis to ‘ensure that the systematically identified needs of participants – teachers, parents and boards of management – will be the primary influence in determining the aims and the content of programmes’. Building on the deliberations of the National Education Convention (Coolahan, 1994) the White Paper also espouses the view that ‘there should be a variety of forms of in-service teacher education’ and this should include ‘an emphasis on school-based in-service provision. This policy position also
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recognises that the focus of such courses should be more broadly-based, embracing both ‘the personal and the professional needs of the teacher, as well as those of the school system’ (p. 87). These are important policy commitments that espouse a more inclusive understanding of professional learning during a career, but they need to be identifiable also in implementation strategies and in practice.
Arising from the commitments and beliefs outlined above, the policy-makers set important policy goals to achieve these ends. These goals are to:
• formulate ... a strategic framework for the in-career professional
development of teachers with explicit, achievable objectives, specified target groups and criteria for evaluating the impact of in-career development programmes;
• draw together into a coherent strategy ... the disparate elements of the present approach.
This policy perspective, in terms of its aspirations and specific commitments, recognises three major issues in relation to teacher professional development. These are:
• Teacher Professional Development begins with initial teacher
education and continues throughout the teaching career. • Teacher Professional Development needs to be planned systematically
to give coherence to current fragmented efforts, and it needs to balance personal and professional needs with system-wide goals.
• Systematic, ongoing evaluation needs to be embedded in the system and specific budgeting needs to be allocated on an annual basis.
The policy position draws attention to the notion of continuous learning. It recognises also that induction is a crucial transition from initial teacher education with heightened importance for learning at a critical stage in beginning teachers’ careers. There is increasing evidence internationally that in the absence of elaborate induction programmes the attrition rate from teaching in the first 5 years after graduation is 50% both in England (Day, 1999) and in the US also (Darling-Hammond, 1990). In an evolving context where traditional notions of career are no longer as stable as they have been, and where the ‘Celtic Tiger’ economy undermines such traditional employment and commitment patterns rapidly, there is some evidence that primary teaching in particular no longer continues to attract the same numbers of high calibre candidates. In these circumstances, there is an urgent need to pay greater attention in a coherent and systematic manner to the period of induction as an important and distinct learning phase in a teacher’s life and work.
While there has been a significant increase in the allocation of resources across school sectors and on a variety of initiatives, they
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appear, in large measure, to be single initiatives, responses to an emergent need or influential pressure groups. Such initiatives, however laudable, frequently induce feelings of ‘overload, fragmentation and incoherence’ among teachers (Fullan, 1999, p. 27). Such serial reforms commonly result in what have been called ‘Christmas tree schools- so many innovations as decorations, superficially adorned’ (Fullan, 1999, p. 27).
While the OECD (1991) report cited the absence of infrastructure and funding as two major constraints in relation to professional development, it indicates that the establishment of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) in 1987 was a significant and more recent development of the network of Education Centres, currently numbering 30, with 20 full-time directors, as a key core element of national infrastructure in the development of a delivery system for ongoing professional learning. However, it is significant that higher education institutions and education faculties are not construed in policy documents as being elements of this infrastructure. Although the Government’s White Paper on Education (GoI, 1995) advocated Regional Education Boards, these have not been established. Consequently, the system is at once highly centralised and decentralised with no intermediate structures between individual schools, each with it’s own Board of Management (BoM) and the national Ministry of Education and Science (DES). Very recent legislation has created a Teaching Council, and this resonates with similar structures in Scotland, Australia and Canada. However, despite these structural advances in recent years, the legacy of the evolution of the Irish education with its origins firmly rooted in nineteenth century politics, continues to cast long shadows in the present.
There are 3200 primary schools in the system, the vast majority of which are owned by the dominant Catholic Church, a small number of Church of Ireland Schools, a small, but expanding multi-denominational sector of 19 schools with plans to double this number within 5 years, and a larger Irish language medium sector with more than 135 schools; both of these sectors having their respective umbrella organisations – Educate Together and Gaelscoileanna. As indicated, each school has its own BoM, with parent, community and teacher representation, with the principal as a member, typically a secretary, but without voting rights. While it is no longer axiomatic that the chairperson of the board be the local clergyman, this continues to be the case in the majority of schools. Teachers’ salaries are paid by the state, but all teachers, including principals, are employed by the boards of individual schools and this has significant consequences for teacher mobility, particularly in a system that is small to begin with and in a career with little opportunity for advancement. More recently, in 1998, as part of a national wage agreement, a new system of middle-management for schools was created
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in an attempt to share responsibilities for school leadership and management more equally between principals and colleagues, but it is too early yet to indicate the impact this is having within schools.
From a total of 750 second level schools, 550 are religious owned though publicly funded, with teachers' salaries being paid by the state. The vast majority of these schools do not charge tuition fees to students. The remainder of schools includes Vocational Schools, originally established in 1930 and managed by Vocational Education Committees, but without permission until 1970 to provide the full range of secondary school programmes. More recently, community, comprehensive and community colleges (also under the management of Vocational Education Committees) have increased the state sector in secondary education. For this reason the term post-primary schools is used throughout the article as a more inclusive term than secondary, which, in the setting tends to refer to the traditional secondary, religious run schools. Additionally, there are approximately 50 elite private religious run secondary schools that levy tuition fees, but also receive (reduced) state funding and in recent years there has been a growth in private sector type schools that are generally labelled pejoratively as ‘grind schools.’
There are three teachers’ unions in the setting, one that includes the vast majority of primary teachers, including principals, while the other two have membership in the post-primary sector. In recent years, all have become committed and active in the provision of learning opportunities for membership, with the primary teachers’ union (INTO) particularly active in this regard (see Sugrue & Uí Thuama, 1997). Consequently, an increasing amount of provision consists of teachers (often seconded from classrooms) working with teachers, sharing ‘craft knowledge’.
Theoretical Perspectives
Space does not permit a report on the comprehensive literature review that was undertaken as an integral element of the study, but it is necessary to indicate briefly how professional learning is conceptualised in the literature as a means of framing the study and of providing a lens through which to analyse the data generated in the study (see Sugrue et al, 2001).
In the current literature on continuing professional development three broad conceptualisations are readily identifiable and have been particularly well delineated by Cochran-Smith & Lytle (1999). The three are ‘Knowledge for Practice’, ‘Knowledge in Practice’ and ‘Knowledge of Practice’. I begin by representing key features of these three conceptualisations diagrammatically and provide a brief elaboration with particular focus on their implications for the study.
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Knowledge for Practice
Knowledge Policy Professional Learning
Research
A body of empirically verifiable knowledge is generated by experts
Disseminate/ update teachers’ knowledge-base to attain pre-determined goals
Teachers ‘bring back’ ‘best practice’ to their classrooms: knowledge users
Researchers, not teachers, generate knowledge
Knowledge in practice Constructed by Teachers in specific contexts
Focus on schools as learning communities for teachers and learners
Teachers: active agents- knowledge construction & re-inventing their practice
Systematic documentation of teachers’ knowledge
Knowledge of practice Is problematic and contested
Should empower teachers as transformative agents
Learning is social and communal: committed to seeking significant questions
Conducted by teachers as agents of their own learning
Figure 1. Representations of teachers’ learning.
The diagrammatic representation in Figure 1 understands the above conceptualisations as points of emphasis on a continuum, rather than discrete approaches to provision and practice, albeit with important consequences for the manner in which teachers-as-learners are understood and engaged. The major tendency within the first conceptualisation is to perceive teachers as knowledge users and not knowledge producers, where professional researchers generate knowledge and teachers are ‘instructed’ to put this new knowledge into practice, to bring it back to their classrooms. This stance is described by Bennis et al (1985, pp. 22-45) as an empirical-rational approach that puts its faith in knowledge generation and dissemination as widely as possible throughout the system, while its critics have labelled it technical-rational (Schön, 1983). Policies that adopt this approach emphasise what works. Consequently, a typical policy initiative is to advocate what Lieberman & McLaughlin (1999, p. 2) label ‘standards-based’ approaches that they describe as follows:
The logic of standards based reform is that, once clear goals are specified, the other mechanisms of schooling- curriculum, D
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teaching, teacher training, organisational features, and other resources will be marshaled to attain them.
It is assumed within this approach that ‘the key elements in educational change is the knowledge, skills and norms of practice that professionals hold and use, and that a cadre of teachers who meet such standards will be a powerful lever for change’ (Lieberman & McLaughlin, 1999, p. 4). By contrast with this relatively optimistic view of what this approach can achieve, Grossen is very clear about the consequences of the notion of ‘bringing back’ for teachers and the complexity of the task they are expected to perform arising from this perspective. He says:
The reformers who provide teachers with theories ... and no details for how to use them – are really demanding that teachers do most of their work for them. To ask that teachers create all of their own tools and curricula is like asking doctors to invent all of their own drugs; like asking airplane pilots to build their own airplanes. When would teachers have time to do this? Engineering a highly effective instructional sequence would more than consume most teachers’ private time. (1996, p. 27)
In a climate of rapid change and greater competition between research-orientated institutions for funding, this approach has increased in appeal to some researchers and many policy makers.
The second conceptualisation (knowledge in practice) is firmly grounded in the work of Dewey, but received significant popularisation in more recent years in the work of Schön (1983, 1987). It frequently takes as its point of departure what is often absent from the first way of seeing, namely teachers’ knowledge, the craft wisdom of the profession (see Sugrue, 1997). Such knowledge is typically referred to as practical knowledge, or personal practical knowledge and often documented as teacher narrative (Elbaz, 1983; Clandinin, 1986; Connelly & Clandinin, 1988, 1999; Beattie, 1995). An underlying assumption of this conceptualisation is that ‘teaching is to a great extent an uncertain and spontaneous craft, situated and constructed in response to the particularities of everyday life in schools and classrooms’ (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 20). Implicit in this perspective also is the idea that much of what teachers know is tacit, that the knowing is embodied in the doing. Consequently, it cannot be easily articulated or documented. Some commentators take this concept a stage further and describe teaching through this lens as craft or artistry (Eraut, 1994; Grimmett & Erickson, 1988). A crucial element within this conceptualisation is reflection. It is assumed that teachers learn by having opportunities to reflect on their practice, and that they are capable of this in isolation or in partnership with a trusted colleague or in small groups. Grimmett & MacKinnion (1992, p. 387), for example, suggest that ‘craft knowledge’ is a blend of Shulman’s pedagogical content knowledge and what they describe as
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‘pedagogical learner knowledge’ or ‘pedagogical procedural information useful in enhancing learner-focused teaching in the dailiness of classroom actions’.
This recognition of and respect for teachers’ craft knowledge suggests that they need to be actively engaged in their own (re)education:
... in the solution of human problems, in the identification of needs for change, and in the working out of improved knowledge, technology, and patterns of action in meeting these needs, man must participate in his own re-education if he is to be re-educated at all. And re-education is a normative change as well as a cognitive and perceptual change. (Bennis et al, 1985, p. 31)
Lieberman & McLaughlin summarise policies that follow from this ‘way of seeing’ in the following terms:
... the effort to create greater participation and a collective perspective among school staff is viewed as a resource for reform and an opportunity for teacher learning and change. The leverage for change is thought to lie initially in the transformation of professionals’ sense of purpose and mission and consequently in renewed instructional work they undertake together. (1999, p. 4)
Unlike the first conception, here teachers are constructed as actively generating new knowledge and understandings that will enable them to transform their practice. Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin (1995, p. 597) conclude that: ‘professional development today ... means providing occasions for teachers to reflect critically on their practice and to fashion new knowledge and beliefs about content, pedagogy and learners’. Additionally, this approach espouses ‘a learner-centred view of teaching and a career-long conception of teachers’ learning’ (p. 604). Professional development initiatives within this perspective can be expected to support as well as advocate teacher collaboration and reflection.
This policy perspective translates into understanding schools as ‘sites and sources of learning’ for teachers, as well as students (Barth, 1990; Darling-Hammond & McLaughlin, 1995; Lieberman & McLaughlin, 1999; McLaughlin, 2001). From a research perspective, documenting teachers’ knowledge may be undertaken primarily by researchers, more collaboratively through participatory or by practitioners and researchers espousing more emancipatory approaches to changing practice through action research.
Cochran-Smith & Lytle’s (1999) delineation of this third perspective shuns the notion that it forges a synthesis between the other two conceptualisations. Rather, they argue that this perspective focuses more on individual professional development and is intended to be transformative. They suggest that not all epistemological possibilities are exhausted by formal propositional knowledge (the first conception) nor
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by practical/experienced knowledge (the second conception) so that conflating the two is not a resolution to the question of what counts as legitimate knowledge. Rather, they argue that knowledge can be both local and public at once, and that it does not necessarily have to be constructed by the rules of social science or as a bi-product of the act of teaching per se. Implicit in their way of seeing:
... knowledge-of-practice is the assumption that through inquiry, teachers across the professional life-span – from very new and very experienced – make problematic their own knowledge and practice as well as the knowledge and practice of others and thus stand in a different relationship to knowledge. The third conception of teacher learning is ... based on fundamentally different ideas–that practice is more than practical, that inquiry is more than an artful rendering of teachers’ practical knowledge ... (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 37)
This perspective eschews notions of hierarchy implicit in the other conceptualisations. It espouses the view that every participant/ contributor has a perspective and a point of view that becomes part of the process of constructing new insights and understandings, as well as part of more democratic decision-making. However, within this perspective also there are multiple approaches, from commitment to collaborative learning in groups, communities and networks to a more overtly political approach that seeks continuously to challenge the status quo with the deliberate intent of fostering and promoting more democratic schooling, and a more just and equitable society. There is a strong action research orientation with a major focus on teacher inquiry as the fulcrum for learning, reform and a continuous challenging of epistemological, pedagogical and policy orthodoxies.
Other advocates of this perspective argue that there are continuities between conceptions two and three, or at least there are many strategies that they both use in common. Many policy-makers who perceive their role as primarily prescriptive, setting the contours of the educational agenda that teachers are to implement, have difficulty accepting the degree of autonomy that this stance implies. The kinds of policies that ought to be pursued according to advocates of this approach would enable teachers to build inquiry communities that:
... use a wide range of texts, not all of which are published or disseminated but are essential to teachers’ individual and collective gathering, recording, and analysing of data. These include reports, and accounts of teacher researchers, action researchers, and other practitioners as well as selections from the extensive theoretical and research literatures in the many fields related to teaching, learning and schooling. (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 71)
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This stance would be determined by teachers, rather than something espoused by senior bureaucrats or high-ranking administrators. However, this would not result in an exclusive focus on teachers’ craft knowledge; teachers would work continuously towards ‘forming and reforming frameworks to understand their practice’. However, they would do this in a widely-contextualised manner by creating frameworks:
... informed not only by thoughtful consideration of the immediate situation and the particular students they teach and have taught but also by the multiple contexts within which they work. (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999, p. 65)
Some adherents of this approach to teacher professional learning project a particular political stance that broaches no alternatives, while other advocates espouse this approach with less overtly political ends, but with potential nevertheless to empower teachers. It is important to acknowledge that both interpretations advocate networks and learning communities as a means of improving practice that may or may not lead to more democratic schooling or a more equitable society. There is more explicit recognition, therefore, that schooling does not exist and function in a vacuum, but is connected to larger social forces so that being a teacher requires engaging with these wider movements towards more democratic, just and equitable ends. The research agenda is set by teachers in collaboration with researchers, rather than the latter co-opting the former to ends predetermined by policy-makers or those who fund research.
From a theoretical perspective, these conceptualisations may be understood as points of departure arranged on a continuum of options. Nevertheless, practice is typically more ‘messy’ and complex than theoretical perspectives frequently convey. Professional learning is quite likely to involve a mixed approach that may include more than one locus on this continuum, though it may also have a dominant and decisive fulcrum point.
These are the collective lens through which data for this study were both generated and analysed in a cumulative effort to provide a comprehensive picture of current professional development provision, to locate existing provision and to position it within this framework as a means of discussing possible policy and practical implications.
Methods
Four data sets contributed to the analysis in this study, two of which were already extant and the other two were generated specifically as part of the inquiry’s research design. The existing data were contained in policy documents, annual reports of education centres, as well as previous studies undertaken by various stakeholders in the system or
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specifically commissioned by the DES. A meta-analysis of this documentation contributed significantly to the framing and analysis of the other data sets. The second consisted of inspectors’ evaluations of summer courses for primary teachers for the years 1996-99, and this data had not been previously examined. Data sets specifically generated as part of the study were a questionnaire survey of a representative sample of primary and post-primary teachers. After preliminary analysis of this data, 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted with a random sample of primary teachers to triangulate initial emerging issues from the survey and to explore them in greater depth. What is reported in this article is primarily data generated by the survey instrument, while the other data sets are used as a means of further contextualising the study and are part of its interpretative lens also.
The unit sampled was the school, 140 primary schools were selected randomly, but schools with less than five teachers were not included. 1430 questionnaires were distributed leading to a return of 52%, a rate of return that exceeds by 2% the norm established by recent postal questionnaires in the setting. However, a similar sampling technique used with the post-primary schools, yielded a response rate of 32% primarily due to the fact that, at the time, teachers were in dispute with the DES in relation to salary and were engaged in industrial action where all ‘voluntary’ work was withdrawn.[1] Nevertheless, we think that the data are broadly representative of the school types and size, as well as the range of positions occupied by teachers. The questionnaire consisted of six sections with a series of questions relating to teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of recent CPD experiences. Items were generated from a combination of literature review, document analysis and our own knowledge of provision in the setting. A typical five-point rating scale was used throughout and the figures presented in tables below are raw percentage scores.
As already indicated, a questionnaire was distributed to a sample of Irish primary and post-primary teachers, and the primary focus of analysis is the data generated by this source. However, two other data sets (interviews with 32 teachers and inspectors’ evaluations of summer courses from 1996 to 1999) are availed of in the analysis and discussion to elaborate, illuminate, extend and lend greater veracity to the data derived from the surveys of both groups. Using these data in this contrastive yet complimentary manner, makes it possible to comment on aspects of policy and practice with greater authority as issues are ‘grounded’ (Glaser & Strauss, 1967; Strauss & Corbin, 1997, 1998) in three data sources, two of which are intimately related, while the third was accumulated independently of this study and gains in significance accordingly as a means of ‘triangulation’ (Lincoln & Guba, 1985).
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Analysis
Analysis in this article is confined to three elements of the survey data. It is worth recording, however, that the document analysis reveals – a significant increase in course provision, but in an ad hoc uncoordinated manner with providers competing for customers. Consequently, increased availability has led to further fragmentation rather than increased coherence (see Sugrue et al, 2001).
Three types of course provision are investigated in some detail, as well as teachers’ general perceptions of CPD provision. The effectiveness of general courses is first scrutinised, and while these courses are not compulsory, they are the most widely attended. This is particularly the case at primary level where there have been a number of ‘curriculum days’ provided for all teachers as part of a national strategy for the implementation of a revised primary curriculum disseminated to schools in September 1999 (see GoI, 1999). Similar courses on a subject basis were available to post-primary teachers so that data for both samples refer to teachers’ most recent experience – during the previous school year. The second category is ‘elective’ courses that were selected by teachers to attend of their own volition and for which they pay from their own resources. The third category is courses for credit, for an additional qualification and possible additional remuneration. In addition to these three levels of courses, participants were also invited to comment on their perceptions of CPD in general. Similarities and differences between the perceptions of primary and post-primary teachers are highlighted throughout.
Effectiveness of General Professional Development Courses
Courses in this category are provided predominantly by seconded teachers who are employed on short-term contracts by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA), and delivered through education centres and/or local conference centres in the private sector.
Table I indicates that the vast majority of teachers were very satisfied with some features of their experiences. In particular, four-fifths of the respondents (primary and post-primary) thought that courses were very satisfactory/satisfactory at promoting an understanding of the changes in the revised curriculum, and in explaining the aims and objectives of the new subjects. Conversely, only a minority of about 6% or less took the view that these features were unsatisfactory/very unsatisfactory.
There were four other features that about two-thirds (somewhat less in the case of primary respondents) found satisfactory. These relate to motivating teachers to try new methods, explaining new methods and explaining the rationale of the curriculum and enabling teachers to discuss their difficulties with ease.
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Very satisfactory/ satisfactory
Hard to say
Unsatisfactory/ very unsatisfactory
Understanding of the changes in the curriculum
80.0 88.2
13.8 7.2
6.2 4.2
Explaining aims and objective of new subjects
79.1 84.1
14.2 10.5
6.7 5.4
Providing an understanding of new methods of teaching
56.0 62.0
27.9 25.1
16.7 12.9
Explaining the rationale for the changes in the curriculum
56.1 59.2
27.2 27.3
16.7 13.4
Deepening teachers’ understanding of subject matter
56.2 72.2
24.1 19.0
19.7 8.7
Motivating teachers to want to try new methods of teaching
63.8 66.3
22.0 18.9
14.3 14.7
Giving information on resources relevant to the changes
48.4 76.1
23.8 11.4
27.8 13.5
Equipping individual teachers with the skills to teach the new content
27.3 53.6
38.9 26.4
33.8 19.5
Equipping school staffs to teach the new courses
26.9 41.6 31.5
Enabling teachers to discuss their difficulties with ease
55.6 67.5
35.3 23.7
19.9 12.8
Increasing the confidence and enthusiasm of teachers
44.9 63.5
35.3 23.7
19.9 12.8
Table I. Teachers’ perceptions of general course effectiveness – previous year.
Some course features were rated more highly by post-primary teachers than by their primary colleagues. In the case of ‘equipping teachers with new skills’, over half of post-primary teachers were satisfied, but only just over one-quarter of primary teachers. There were also major differences between the two groups on acquiring information on sources relevant to the changes and on deepening teachers’ understanding of subject matter.
Data suggest that courses were successful in communicating information regarding revised curricula, aims and objectives. It is reasonable to suggest that a lecture-style format is an appropriate and efficient means of achieving such objectives. It may be the case also that the first of these courses regarding the revised curriculum (primary) were primarily intended as consciousness raising about changing
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emphasis, rather than dealing with the pedagogical implications of such changes. Nevertheless, cumulative evidence is beginning to establish a definite, if tentative, pattern, that when it comes to dealing with pedagogical issues, courses are significantly less successful, and this point was reinforced repeatedly by many of the interviewees. Research evidence generally, particularly in relation to learning networks and learning communities, indicates clearly that active participation and dialogue that respect participants’ expertise, in addition to support and constructive feedback are vital ingredients in the difficult and complex process of changing pedagogical repertoires and classroom routines (Little, 1993; Lieberman, 1995; Sarason, 1996; Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999; Grossman et al, 2001). This research also suggests that a single subject focus, rather than generic courses on teaching and classroom management are more likely to have greater impact on classroom routines, which may help to explain the more positive data reported by post-primary teachers, with potentially important implications for professional development provision at primary level also. However, there is almost no evidence available from this research that indicated the nature of teacher learning, what it looks like over time – an entire career, and how it impacts on students’ learning and this is a significant gap in current literature.
It is also interesting that on the broad issue of ‘explanation of rationale’, both groups of teachers were not especially enthusiastic about increasing the time on this area. Just one-quarter of the post-primary teachers and somewhat less primary teachers thought that more emphasis on this area would be ‘very helpful’.
On two matters there were substantial differences between the primary and post-primary teachers. Nearly half of the primary teachers took the view that more time for discussion would be ‘very helpful’ in similar courses, while less than one-third of the post-primary teachers were of this opinion. There was an even greater difference with regard to ‘integration of in-service with whole-school planning’. Nearly three-fifths of the primary teachers thought this would be very helpful, but this view was held by less than one-third of post-primary teachers. This difference may indicate a concerted effort in recent years to promote a whole-school planning approach in primary schools with greater attention being paid to continuity throughout the 8-year cycle, while confirming other research evidence that a more Balkanised approach to planning in secondary schools prevails due to subject specialisms and departmental structures (Lieberman, 1995; Sarason, 1996; Grossman et al, 2001).
Because the literature generally indicates that workshops and one fit for all courses have relatively little impact on teachers’ pedagogical routines, participants were asked specifically to indicate the effectiveness of courses in this regard. Table II indicates that these courses have relatively low impact on this aspect of practice.
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Primary
Post-primary
Yes to a very significant extent
3.3
14.6 Yes to a significant extent 22.3 47.4 Hard to say 29.2 12.3 Only to a limited extent 38.4 22.8 Not to any extent 6.9 3.0
Table II. Recent general course(s) impact on competence and skills.
Greater identification with course content rather than pedagogy on the part of post-primary teachers may explain why 25% (approximately) of primary teachers reported a significant impact on skills and competence, while the figure for the former is more than twice the primary teachers’ rating. This question was carefully selected to correspond as precisely as possible with a similar question completed by primary inspectors when evaluating summer courses for primary teachers, the vast majority of which are taken during the first week of vacation in early July.[2] General figures available from the ICDU indicate that approximately 10,000 teachers avail themselves of these courses on an annual basis. Table III reveals that there is considerable and consistent discrepancy between inspectors’ projected impact of courses on competence and skills in comparison with teachers’ views expressed above.
Year
Number evaluated
1
2
3
4
Cancelled
No data
1996
82
39
38
1
1
3
1997 140 66 62 4 2 6 1998 77 42 23 1 2 9 1999 79 42 30 2 1 4 Total 378 189 155 8 1 8 19 % of Total 50 41 2 – 2
Table III. Inspectors’ predictions of course impact on participants’ competence and skill.
These data are consistent across four years, and the categories. The disparity between the two sets of perceptions may, in part be explained by the timing of courses so that it is several weeks (6-7) after course completion when teachers return to school, and their initial pre-occupations are more likely to be with getting to know a new class and establishing routines, rather than experimenting with pedagogy. More significantly, perhaps, these data resonate with research evidence more generally that without support and feedback for teachers at the level of the school when new methods are being ‘tried’, the pedagogical status quo is likely to prevail. More generally, the data on general courses
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supports the view that this approach to CPD has limited impact on school and classroom routines due to the deeply embedded nature of ‘the grammar of schooling’ (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). While a general ‘lecture format’ may be useful for communicating new ideas, and enthusing teachers, if the object of the exercise is to improve the quality of teaching and learning, then a more sustained and supportive approach seems vital, as well as the necessity in the setting to generate research evidence that seeks to connect teacher and student learning.
Effectiveness of Elective Professional Development Courses
Courses being evaluated here are courses selected and paid for by teachers themselves, though they might be funded by the DES, and provided through the network of Education Centres. Table IV indicates the number of primary and post-primary teachers who participated in such courses during the pervious school year. It also indicates the practice among primary teachers of attending summer courses that are usually of 20 hours duration over a period of 5 days. While a significant number in both groups did not elect to attend any course during the previous year, the pattern among primary teachers may be distorted by the amount of curriculum days provided (six) in relation to the revised primary curriculum introduced in September 1999.
No. of days
Primary
Post-primary
None
43.1
54.5 One day 9.7 16.8 Two days 3.2 9.9 Three days 2.2 6.9 Four days or more 41.9 11.9
Table IV. Number of elective course days in last year. Table V indicates that satisfaction on each of the dimensions is very high with more than half of both groups of teachers reporting that courses were satisfactory on each of these dimensions. It is also evident that these elective courses received very high ratings with respect to three matters – explaining the background to new areas of learning, giving sources of new learning and inspiring teachers to explore new areas of learning. Table V also indicates that there is little difference between perceptions of primary and post-primary teachers. With regard to most of the dimensions that were being rated there were only a few percentage points between them.
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Very satisfactory/ satisfactory
Hard to say
Unsatisfactory/ very unsatisfactory
Explaining background to new area of learning
85.4 81.9
9.8 12.5
4.8 5.6
Giving sources of new learning
85.2 76.7
8.7 13.0
5.9 10.3
Inspiring me to explore new areas of learning
86.0 76.4
9.0 15.3
5.1 8.1
Giving an insight into learning
66.9 55.6
22.8 26.4
10.4 18.0
Leading me to read about educational issues
40.9 42.6
31.3 21.3
27.8 35.9
Acquiring teaching/facilitation skills
72.2 63.0
14.8 18.5
13.1 18.4
Table V. Effectiveness of elective courses. The second last item in the Table indicates that teachers perceived courses to be least effective in fostering private reading as a consequence of engagement while the third conception of professional learning regards inquiry as integral. This suggests that inquiry as constructed within the second and third conceptualisations of professional learning outlined earlier are not sustained beyond the confines of courses, if fostered at all. Although many courses are provided by practitioners, a general lecture format does nothing to support teachers in efforts to transform their practice. While there is evidence from the interview transcript with primary teachers that recent curriculum days have been more interactive and participative, and these kinds of learning opportunities have been received very positively, the interviewees also acknowledge that the norms of ‘individualism’ and ‘privatism’ continue to characterise their schools (Lortie, 1975; Hargreaves, 1992, 1994). In such circumstances professional support at the level of the school becomes even more vital, as school cultures as well as dominant pedagogical routines need to be transformed simultaneously.
While superficially, courses may have many of the hallmarks of conception two, (practitioners taking to practitioners), in practice they differ little from the ‘bring back’ perspective embedded in the first conception. Although inquiry requires teachers to be more actively involved in and less dependent on others when addressing their professional needs, the absence of a ‘native’ literature with a focus on
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practice is an additional inhibiting factor (Sugrue, forthcoming). From a strategic planning perspective, practitioners need to be encouraged to provide a scholarly literature that will begin to sustain and support inquiry and reflection about the nature of practice. This perspective suggests also that it is necessary for policy makers to move beyond concerns about increasing provision to a more inclusive and comprehensive notion of what constitutes lifelong learning for teachers. Strategic planning of this nature has potential also to encourage partnerships across perceived ‘rifts’ between theory and practice that have potential to bring greater depth and rigour to professional development programmes. While learning communities are not a panacea for teachers’ learning (see Little, 2001), greater effort to support such initiatives would be a welcome addition in the setting. There is an absence of support for teachers at the point of experimentation – their classrooms and this inadequacy needs to be addressed as a matter of priority. This last point is reinforced by teachers’ perceptions as indicated in Table VI.
Primary
Post-primary
Yes, to a very significant extent
27.2
20.7 Yes to a significant extent 45.9 40.7 Hard to say 8.5 14.7 Only to a limited extent 15.9 20.0 Not to any extent 2.6 4.0
Table VI. Elective courses increased competence and skills? While teachers indicate that their competence and skills have been influenced positively, in the absence of a research agenda that connects professional learning with student learning such positive reports remain perceptions in the absence of appropriate evidence. This, too, is an obvious inadequacy in the system, where research, if it receives any funding, is fragmented and frequently does not connect policy, practice, teacher as well as student learning. However, it must be remembered that the evidence does not address the motivations of teachers for taking elective courses and it is assumed that they are highly motivated to ‘select’ a particular course. Consequently, there may be a ‘halo’ effect in terms of their perceived benefits.
Effectiveness of Courses for ‘Credit’
Respondents to the survey indicate that approximately 24% of primary teachers and 22% of post-primary teachers attended a course for credit, most likely leading to an additional qualification, during the previous 3 years. Such courses are almost certainly part of graduate certificate,
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diploma or Masters programmes accredited by Universities, and delivered on or off campus. These teachers pay their own tuition and may, on successful completion of a Diploma or Degree, receive additional remuneration. Consequently, motivation is likely to be different in comparison with general courses, and enthusiasm higher given the degree of personal commitment involved and the sacrifices in terms of time and resources.
Table VII provides evidence that both groups of teachers found the elective courses to be satisfactory or very satisfactory with respect to all of the features that were listed. This was especially the case with regard to ‘motivational’ or ‘inspirational’ dimensions of courses, such as provision of new sources of learning. There were no substantial differences in the responses of the two samples of teachers.
Very satisfactory/ satisfactory
Hard to say
Unsatisfactory/ very unsatisfactory
Explaining background to new area of learning
92.2 86.1
4.5 9.3
3.2 4.7
Giving sources of new learning
96.1 90.9
0.6 6.5
3.2 2.8
Inspiring me to explore new areas of learning
93.5 86.9
4.5 11.2
1.9 1.8
Giving an insight into learning
87.1 81.1
9.0 10.4
3.9 8.5
Leading me to read about educational issues
79.2 68.6
13.0 19.0
7.7 12.4
Acquiring teaching/facilitation skills
82.4 73.1
10.5 15.4
7.2 11.5
Enhancing personal development
85.1 88.9
9.1 7.4
5.8 3.7
Developing critical thinking
81.4 82.2
13.5 13.1
5.1 4.7
Table VII. Effectiveness of accredited elective courses. It is reasonable to assume that participants in elective accredited courses are obliged to study more systematically, and to complete projects or assignments as an integral element of course evaluation in comparison with summer courses, for example. Consequently, intensity and engagement are more likely characteristics of such learning encounters that combine elements of the following – a mixture of social interaction, reflective dialogue and private study that are sustained for a longer period of time than is normally the case with non-accredited professional
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learning. The evidence suggests that when this occurs, the enthusiasm, motivation and commitment of participants are challenged, while reading is taken-for-granted as integral to the process. Such conditions may begin to account for the very positive comments of the participants in relation to personal development, critical thinking, motivation and inspiration. This evidence contrasts sharply with an apparent pre-occupation on the ‘practical’ reflected in the vast majority of comments included in the evaluations completed by the primary inspectorate on summer courses. This is not to decry the importance of a practical or pedagogical orientation as an element of course provision. However, the evidence in the above Table, evidence that is corroborated repeatedly in the interview transcripts, suggests courses should include a focus on personal needs that move beyond the functional and instrumental to embrace intellectual challenge and the inspiration derived from ideas. It is important that the professional learning opportunities provided for teachers challenge their capacities. This evidence corroborates a substantial body of research evidence that underlines the necessity of including the personal and professional as part of continuous learning (see Day, 1999).
Additionally, partnerships that combine the best of what ‘academic’ institutions have to offer with the craft knowledge of practitioners may be one of the more effective means of meeting this challenge, rather than an exclusive focus on ‘what works.’
Teachers’ Perceptions of Effectiveness of CPD Provision
The final section of the questionnaire sought teachers’ perceptions of general issues that are central to professional learning. A number of conclusions are warranted on the basis of the information provided in Table VIII. First, teachers are very positive about their experience of professional development with just over one-third agreeing that courses have had little impact on classroom practice and about half of them disagreeing with this statement. More than four-fifths of the respondents take the view that the time devoted to CPD should be greatly increased.
Secondly, the evidence provides some indication as to the kind of courses that teachers consider most valuable. The vast majority indicate that courses should focus on one area and, as already indicated, this is consistent with research findings internationally. They also take the view that an emphasis on critical thinking is appropriate. It is also worthy of note that the majority of teachers consider that courses should, as far as possible, be based on the experiences of the participants. A majority also thought that courses should be tailored around the needs of individual schools and a similar number were of the view that the courses should place a particular emphasis on personal development. While this is D
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consistent with international research, this evidence also emphasises the necessity for professional support.
Thirdly, the vast majority of respondents in this study rejected the view that CPD should be provided outside school hours. It is interesting that the pattern of results for primary and post-primary teachers is very similar for this and other general matters relating to CPD.
Agree/strongly agree
Hard to say
Disagree/strongly disagree
In-service courses have little impact on classroom practice
35.5 36.2
12.8 15.4
51.7 48.5
Amount of time given to in-service courses should be increased
83.3 86.6
11.2 8.5
5.8 4.9
Courses should draw on experience, rather than be didactic
76.8 75.5
14.7 14.4
8.5 10.0
In-service courses should focus on one area
89.4 86.2
7.3 8.4
3.4 5.4
In-service courses should be tailored to suit individual schools
68.6 61.2
19.2 21.7
12.3 17.1
Courses should take into account experiences and qualifications
68.5 76.2
18.7 13.7
12.8 10.1
Critical thinking should be a central feature
83.5 82.1
13.8 13.2
2.7 4.7
Courses should give more attention to personal development
69.0 64.8
21.2 21.3
9.7 13.8
There is a need for a different approach to in-service education
63.0 63.5
28.2 25.7
8.9 10.8
Courses should normally be outside school hours
20.2 24.1
15.0 19.7
64.8 56.2
Table VIII. Teachers’ perceptions of the effectiveness of CPD generally.
Figures in Table VIII may appear to contradict some earlier evidence about the impact on practice of courses. However, there is significant evidence internationally that influences on classroom routines are frequently indirect so that practitioners may not be consciously aware of them, thus leading to under-reporting. The cumulative impact of the evidence suggests very clearly that increased provision during the past decade has created an awareness of the significance of continuous learning for professional well being. Consequently, expectations too have
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increased to a significant, but unquantifiable degree. A more sophisticated, discerning and demanding consumer poses a considerable challenge to policy makers and providers alike.
Concluding Discussion
The following conclusions seem warranted on the basis of the evidence presented above. • Professional learning provision should be sufficiently broadly-based to
include personal development, and move beyond the merely functional and instrumental.
• While there are many facets of professional learning about which primary and post-primary teachers agree, there are differences in emphasis also about the relative importance of whole-school planning, classroom management or subject specific courses that warrant further investigation.
• Participants agree that professional learning provision has been more successful in communicating cognitive knowledge than impacting positively on competencies and skills.
• As provision has increased, teachers have become more sophisticated and critical consumers so that it becomes more of a challenge to policy-makers and providers to create and maintain a balance between system needs and individual needs.
• There is general welcome for increased provision and a corresponding awareness of the need for continuous and sustained learning.
• There is a great deal of satisfaction from a variety of perspectives with the quality of accredited programmes as a contribution to an increasing number of teachers’ professional development.
• The vast majority of teachers favour the provision of professional development opportunities during school time.
This study is limited by the fact that there is virtually no evidence available in the setting on the nature of teacher learning, as well as the lack of infrastructure and appropriate teaching career differentiation to facilitate the provision of support for teachers at the level of the school. It is necessary to generate such a literature, and to connect it with students’ perceptions of their teaching and learning.
The evidence presented here strongly suggests that much of current provision, thought provided by practitioners for their colleagues, may combine some of the more negative features of ‘knowledge for practice’ and ‘knowledge in practice’ where teachers are being ‘talked at’ or even when they are engaged more actively as participants, the absence of support at school/classroom level means learning is not sustained as it lacks appropriate support and context sensitive feedback. This absence of support is likely also to generate more ‘single loop’ than more
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necessary and appropriate ‘double loop’ learning (Cousins, 1998). It has been demonstrated repeatedly by a growing body of research that, without such supports, the grammar of schooling persists; thus stasis, rather than transformation is maintained. This research also points to the necessity for new ideas and research evidence as a stimulus to new ways of seeing and doing.
The distinct absence of research evidence and a research culture in the Irish education system highlights two important limitations on the present study. One, there is no evidence concerning the claims made by the respondents to the survey other than their own perceptions that their practice gains from professional development courses. Two, neither is there any evidence of an observational nature that would address the connections between teachers’ learning and the quality of learning that they facilitate for their students in their respective classrooms. Given the continuing pervasiveness of a ‘legendary autonomy’ among Irish teachers, such evidence becomes an urgent requirement (OECD, 1991). The absence of a culture of inquiry in Irish schools also suggests that a ‘culture of dependency’ continues to be perpetuated and current provision, both in terms of content and process, may actually be contributing to its perpetuation (Coolahan, 1994).
Teachers may be expressing a long established trade union position when they assert that CPD should occur during school hours. In an international context where the influence of teacher unions on policy and practice has been significantly eroded, others may look enviously on the fact that Irish teachers have not had their conditions of employment altered structurally (see Bascia, 1998). However, if there is almost no time available during school hours for collaborative inquiry, not to mention ongoing professional learning, then the issue of time as a concern needs to be addressed as a major structural issue that currently is inhibiting both professional learning and school reform.
From a practice perspective, there is need for systematic inquiry into the quality of current provision to build and expand on what is currently available. This will necessitate moving beyond current proliferation of courses and competition between an increasing number of providers to a more coherent and coordinated approach, where collaboration between sectors becomes embedded in routines of collective service. In this regard, it will be necessary also to examine the lack of a differentiated teaching career in the setting, to create positions specifically tailored to supporting teachers’ experimentation with new courses and pedagogies. In this manner, professional learning can be enriched and enhanced, but this work will also need to be connected more systematically than at present to student learning and their voices inserted into this ongoing discourse. Research evidence of a longitudinal nature that connects teacher and student learning is an important emergent concern that awaits attention, not only in the setting, but
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internationally also. When this level of synchrony is evident, it is likely also that the three conceptions of professional learning identified at the beginning of this article will be deployed in complimentary ways, rather than seeking to monopolise provision.
Acknowledgements
I would like to acknowledge the contribution of my colleagues, Mark Morgan (St Patrick’s College), Dympna Devine and Deirdre Raftery (University College Dublin), to the Report from which data for this article are drawn.
Correspondence
Ciaran Sugrue, St Patrick’s College, Drumcondra, Dublin 9, Republic of Ireland ([email protected]).
Notes
[1] Due to the particular circumstances of the ongoing industrial dispute, the research team decided that it would be unwise to seek post-primary teachers for interview, which was the original intention as part of the research design.
[2] The inspectors’ pro forma evaluation form uses a 4-point, rather than a 5-point scale. Four of the five categories are identical, the middle category on our 5-point scale being an addition to the inspectors 4-point scale.
References
Barth, R. (1990) Improving Schools from Within: teachers, parents and principals can make a difference. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
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