From professional development initiative to improvement in teachers’ practices : a case study

Abstract

The Knowledge explosion and technological advancement coupled with the need to educate a diverse student body to achieve high academic standards to meet the expectations of the globalized world in recent years have compelled Hong Kong schools and teachers to engage in continuous learning and improvement in teaching. In the 21st century, a secondary school is proud to be named as “A learning community”, which is made up of team members (mainly teachers) who regularly collaborate to achieve continued professional improvement in pedagogy in meeting learner needs through shared desire. The important feature of a learning community, facilitated by a supportive leadership and school structural conditions, is the foundation for teacher development practice. From the teachers’ perspective, a collective of discussion, sharing and reflection on team-designed lessons and instructional practices is the essential feature of a learning community. This study focuses on the teacher development initiative of developing collaborative action learning (which is premised on the conceptual framework of a learning community) a secondary school in Hong Kong and explores how teachers perceive their emerging experiences as impacting on their practices of reflective teaching. Administrators' perspectives on teacher development were also sought as part of a conceptual framework of teachers’ learning, collaborative efficacy of learning environments, supportive supervision, and leadership. This study adopts the approach of a single case study, which focused on a single phenomenon in a bounded system, that is, teacher development and its impact on teacher practices, in a single school. Data were collected through multiple methods, which included audio recorded interviews with school administrators, focus group and individual interviews with teachers, a questionnaire for thirty full time teachers in the case study school, site observations, and the use of school and teacher artifacts, including the school's mission statement, the school's strategic plan, the annual school survey, and documents in the school for teachers’ development. The major findings of the study provide insights into the interaction of factors affecting the success of professional development. A learning community provide medium for relationship building between effective teacher development and improvement in teacher practices. School Principals, as a partner and instructional leader in the school, should exercise a significant influence on professional development. For teachers, to have direct involvement of teachers in the design and content delivery of professional development can help to transform teachers’ trainings to teachers’ practices.