26/11/2013

2 Structure-Culture

3 Where do we come from? Centralisation of the Greek-Cypriot educational system Educational and curricular decisions - Top-down Educational policy and planning- MoEC Educational laws and guidelines Schools Follow national curricula, syllabi, textbooks Teachers Appointed, transferred by Educational Committee Evaluated by ‘inspectorate’

4 Data in/for Cyprus Schools No quality control measures- Indicators for school quality remain practically non-existent Valid, reliable and standardized pupil assessment data to measure pupils’ attainment is not collected No ‘successful’ schools are identified as examples of best practice SSE instruments/tools are absent Scarce self-evaluative activity/Action research?

5 Change? New Curricula Teacher and School Evaluation Teachers’ appoinment

6 Educational Reform (Rhetoric) Transition towards establishing research-oriented reflective practitioners and school self-development Teachers as independent reflective professionals-Encouraging experimentation on teachers’ daily praxis The teacher as a well-informed professional that acts as a dynamic researcher and can design research, analyse data with regards to his/her classroom and explore various teaching situations (Republic of Cyprus, 2004, p. 226) Schools can design and invent their own solutions for specific problems through the systematic collection and analysis of information, related explicitly to objectives, criteria and values with regards to input, processes and outcomes, such as human and physical resources, leadership and management, teaching and learning activities as well as students’ learning results.

7 School leaders/Teachers (Practice) Where do they come from (background)? Elementary schoolteachers often employed after attending four- year university teacher-training programmes. During academic undergraduate studies, usually required to engage in research methods courses. During their professional career, encouraged to participate in CPD by attending seminars, usually offered by the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute; attendance optional. Upon promotion, required attendance of leadership training programme

What do Greek Cypriot teachers say about AR? Preferred forms of PD: Κaragiorgi, Y. & Symeou, L. (2007). Teachers´ In-service Training Needs in Cyprus, European Journal of Teacher Education, 30 (2),

Papanastasiou & Karagiorgi (2012) The Research-Oriented Professional Teacher: An Illusion or a Possibility? – The Case of Schoolteachers in Cyprus Involvement in RRA over the last five years%Overall Mean Assisted in conference organization Collected research data Analyzed quantitative data Analyzed qualitative data Attended research conferences Presented at research conferences Read research articles total A sample of 420 public school elementary and secondary schoolteachers during the academic year 2010/2011. Background in research (81.4% at least one course) 21.8% undergraduate 21.5%graduate 38.0% both levels

10 Action Research Training Specialised courses as part of pre-service training (research methodology courses for pre-service teachers) In-Service courses by the Cyprus Pedagogical Institute Optional courses (opportunity for in-class interventions/sandwich courses) Other schemes e.g. two-day training courses for all school teachers Leadership Preparation Courses Courses offered as CPD by universities/organizations Support to schools In response to school needs/interest by the CERE or CPI Linking systematically schools, school networks, universities and local institutions The role of the critical friend

11 Involvement in projects Project RELEASE  University of Cyprus and CPI  Teachers- Researchers  Examples:  Differentiation and Literacy improvement  Differentiation and Teaching of Mathematics  Critical Thinking and Meta-cognition  Creativity Development  Classroom Management and Conflict Resolution  Goal’s Achievement Benchmarks  Active Learning’s Encouragement

12 Regio project  European University, the CERE, schools (two regions, Cyprus and the UK)  Leaders- Researchers  Examples: …

13 Challenges Development of research-oriented reflective practitioners and school self- evaluation (evidence-based teaching practice/leadership) - Teacher as researcher (Stenhouse) Establishment of evidence-based policy making (links between research and practice) Transforming education (Carr & Kemmis, 1986) Individual Initiatives Sustainability of results beyond individual