Development of teachers in the workplace Dr. Paul Hennissen Professor in School-Based TE

Technical University/Eindhoven: “A smart regio does not depend on technical aspects only... But people make the difference. Innovation must be encouraged by cooperation of all stakeholders.” “Eindhoven, the smartest region of the world” (June 2012)

Focus: Developing teachers’ excellence within learning communities

What? Why? How & what do we learn? How can we realize? Learning communities

An example ‘a mentor says’ 1. What are learning communities?

Theory Learning Communities is a container concept Specific forms are:  Community of Practice (CoP)  Community of Learning (CoL)  Professional Learning Community (PLC)

2. Why learning communities? Changing professions Hargreaves (2000): new professionalism 1993: Dutch Government paper

4 years old 66 years old Initial Training Pre & In-service teachers “Serving the School” (2001)

 More hands  Action research  Collegial learning  Feedback Opportunities Shrinking population

Idea The more theory they know, the better they perform in practice Doesn’t work Gap between theory and practice

Strong preconceptions Feed-forward problem Different kind of knowledge Socialisation Different place of storage Gap T & P Solutions More time in the workplace, but.. Integration is necessary

The final exam or assessment should be: working together in finding solutions for problems and developing new knowledge. Knowledge develops by social interaction (Vygotsky) Social-cultural perspective

Changes within profession Reinforcing innovative capacity Vitalising the teacher profession Life-long Learning (LLL) Shrinking population Reducing gap between theory & practice Perspective on workplace learning So Why learning communities?

3. How and what do we learn in learning communities?

How do we learn? (Bolhuis & Simons, 2001) FormalInformal Intentional Implicit Outside the contextWithin the context

v v v v v v From the water Practical knowledge perspectives

v v v v v v From the side From the water Practical theory Practical knowledge perspectives Externalization (Nonaka, 1995)

v v v v v v From the air From the side From the water Theory Combination (Nonaka, 1995) Practical theory Practical knowledge perspectives

Autonomous behaviour What do they learn? What do we learn?What not? Practical knowledge Theory, conceptual development and analytic skills Knowledge base Too instrumental Workplace-specific routines

Results pupils When is ‘schooling’ effective?  Feedback  Dissonance Context-specificity Integration theory-practice

Active own learning process:  Cyclic  Systematic Collective learning processes Shared leadership When is ‘schooling’ effective?

So what & how do they learn? What? practical knowledge, routines, autonomy Necessary: link with theory How? reflection dissonance feedback dialogue working together cyclic ressearch

4. How to realize learning communities?

Cooperation requirements: Professional Development Schools (PDS) Research effects: after 10 years PDS  95% stays within the profession  better teachers Reason:  Improved cooperation

School requirements Capacities: Personal Interpersonal Organizational: culture, structure, leadership (Verbiest, 2008 ) (Mitchell & Sackney, 2000) pupils

Integration of practice – theory:  Integration works (Brouwer & Korthagen, 2005)  Who decides on curriculum:  Department (competence-based curricula)  Learner (learning communites) Curriculum requirements

CoP requirements: cyclic Reading 1. Topic 2. Current situation 3. Analysis & Expectations 4. Actions for improvement 5. Results 6. Quality assurance

Interpretation by collegues Together analysing results Joint practice CoP requirements: cyclic Reading 1. Topic 2. Current situation 3. Analysis & Expectations 4. Actions for improvement 5. Results 6. Quality assurance

Which theory can we use? Interpretation by collegues Together analysing results Can we use theory to choose the right action? Possible explanations from theory Joint practice CoP requirements: cyclic Reading 1. Topic 2. Current situation 3. Analysis & Expectations 4. Actions for improvement 5. Results 6. Quality assurance

Pre- service teacher Mentor teacher: SB-teacher educator UB-teacher educator Teacher educators requirements: The Skilled Mentor

So, which requirements?  PDS  Professional learning communities  Integration Theory & Practice  CoPs: cyclic  Teacher Educators

Learning communities  A lot of conditions are important  Research  Program topics:  Learning communities  Curriculum  Teacher educators

Maastricht, the smartest region of the world in 2025

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