Ongoing, In-school Teacher Development is Crucial for a Successful School
Ongoing, In-school Teacher Development is Crucial for a Successful School
Dr. Agnes Katsianos
Abstract: Teacher development seeks to facilitate the growth of a teacher’s general understanding of teaching and his/her identity and performance as a teacher. According to Jack Richards (2015) teacher development should be less concerned with finding more effective ways of delivering course content and more concerned with engaging teachers in the processes of understanding their role in the contexts in which they work, in developing a deeper understanding of themselves and their learners and in theorizing from their practice.
This article seeks to underline the importance of teacher development in relation to the welfare and success of a language school and the vital role of the director of studies (teacher trainer) Directors of studies need to understand students’ specific needs in the new global world and how teachers of the school need to respond effectively through good training, inspiration and preparation
Keywords: in-school approach, ongoing teacher development, effective teacher trainer , teacher researchers, reflective practitioners, “Glonacal” world.
Envisaging a thriving school
When envisaging a successful school, I believe investment in teacher development is the most important area to focus on. Undoubtedly we can, and should, invest in an interesting syllabus, in technology and in all other kinds of supporting material, but the crucial ingredient is the quality of teaching. As teachers, the success for our students requires that we work with consistent high standards, unity of purpose and in collaboration with each other. For this reason the ethos and culture of the school should include continuous professional development to be of utmost importance. With an on-going, in-school approach, teachers are not sent on out-of-school courses. On the contrary, most professional development is grounded in the classroom. Teachers also attend regular in-school seminars to discuss their concerns, findings and development. Here they are supported by their colleagues and receive direction and guidance from an in-school experienced trainer.
Teachers and Icebergs
Simon Borg (2013), in his talk, posed the question: “What do teachers and icebergs have in common?” He answered: Most of an iceberg proportion is beneath the surface .Only a small proportion of it is visible …When we think about teachers what lies beneath the surface is not observable . … We often only consider the observable part of teaching – we focus on what teachers do or say, but beneath “the doing” and “the saying” there is a lot more happening. “For example, in the classroom, teachers are likely to be drawing on their long-held beliefs about teachers’ roles, their previous classroom experience, or any number of other beliefs, attitudes and feelings ( Borg,2003). All these influences are unlikely to be directly or easily observable. Moreover, teachers may not be aware of the the sources of their teaching practices.. For this reason it is essential that teachers are explicitly encouraged to explore these influences. Without doing so, the gap between what a teacher professes to believe about his/her practice and their actual behavior in class is unlikely to be bridged, hindering their professional development. Furthermore, as Williams and Burden (1997) point out, if the discrepancy between beliefs and practices is too large “then learners are likely to receive confused and confusing messages” (p.54).
Director of studies as a good model
An effective approach to teacher training recognizes that teachers bring their whole person to the task of teaching. Likewise, a professional development program must recognize that teachers bring many powerful unconscious or implicit influences that shape their classroom behavior and professional beliefs. For this reason, it is essential that a professional development program be guided by a trainer, such as the director of studies , who can encourage the teachers to explore the connections and gaps between their professed beliefs and the reality of what is happening in the classroom. It is essential that the teacher trainer be well prepared, experienced and able to inspire and motivate teachers to undertake research into their own practice. Just as we cannot have effective learning without good quality teachers, we cannot have effective teaching without good quality teacher trainers to support teacher development.
Classroom Reflection
One important role for the teacher trainer is to introduce the teachers to the concept of being reflective practitioners (Shon1983) and encourage them to adopt this role. Being a reflective teacher in essence is about developing a questioning, thoughtful attitude towards one’s work. As Richards and Lockhart point out, “If teachers are actually involved in reflecting on what is happening in their own classrooms they are in a position to discover whether there is a gap between what they teach and what their learners learn” (1994, p. 4). Reflection-before-action (planning), reflection-in-action (thinking about and modifying one’s practice while teaching) and reflection-on-action (reflecting after the fact) should be part of a teacher’s daily routine. This can become a reality if teachers are given all the encouragement, training and time they need to see the real classroom benefits this brings. As McIntosh claims “reflecting becomes real and works when it is understood, not when it is merely required” (2010, p.44).
Reflection example
However, teachers can find reflection tasks difficult to set up and carry out. This may be due to factors such as limited time, or a lack of appropriate focus such as the common tendency to want to address too many issues at once. It is here that an effective teacher trainer can help with guided reflective tasks. There are also excellent resources available such as those provided in the Cambridge English Teacher (2014).To give instructions to my students I can begin by compiling a few questions to reflect on each time I give instructions. For example, for reflections-before-action I might include: Are my instructions clear? Do they follow a logical sequence? Have I tried following them myself? Reflection-in-action is by its nature done on the spot. It is largely spontaneous and intuitive. However, I may plan to remind myself to consider some issues. For example, my class notes may include a reminder to ask a particular student if he/she has understood the instructions, or to ask the class after the task to comment on how clear the instructions were. Then I put some reflective-on-action questions such as: How successful was I? How can I adapt my approach in order to improve my lessons? How did the students respond to my instructions? I will attempt to answer these questions each time I give a set of instructions to my students over the course of the research period. Adjustments will be made throughout and positive results and feedback will be recorded.
A variety of research tools available
A good teacher trainer will provide the teachers with a strong framework and tools to help ensure a successful outcome to the teachers’ in-class research. For example, time limits will be set. This can be weeks, a semester or even a year. This focuses the teachers and requires them to actively reflect and evaluate their performance in order to determine how they can optimize their lessons. There are also a variety of research tools available. These include keeping a teaching diary, working collaboratively with peers on action research projects , joining the TEFL reading community of the school , doing self- observation projects ( video recording one’s lesson), peer observation and gathering students’ feedback through questionnaires or informal talks . Good examples of all of these should be provided to help teachers understand how to employ them effectively and without feeling overburdened or threatened. In-school seminars and workshops should be scheduled to go over all these issues. These occasions can also be used to watch and discuss webinars by senior educators and academics and to share strategies, express concerns and celebrate successes. These help, motivate and inspire teachers to continue in their research and help spread best practice throughout the school. They can also offer teachers a genuine sense of involvement in the running of the school.
Today learners want quick results
I watched an interesting talk between professor Jack C. Richards and professor Merrill Swain (Jan, 2018) where Merrill asked Jack what he thought were some of the real challenges that teachers face in today’s world. Jack answered: “One of the issues, I think, is that learners want quick results. They often have their specific needs, they’re getting ready for an interview or they have to have particular tests. Learners these days want fairly practical results and they don’t want to invest a huge amount of time on achieving these results. So that is one of the pressures teachers have to work with”. In order for teachers to be well armed to meet their students’ needs in a changing world they need to work in two capacities: that of a teacher and a teacher researcher. As Irvine- Niakaris states (2018, p. 6) continuous professional development “enables teachers to implement best teaching practices needed for a sustainable teaching institution in a competitive local and international market. Teachers can therefore become valuable assets to their institutions”. Effective teachers are driven and passionate about what they do as well as a passion to evaluate themselves and understand what changes need to occur in their classrooms. Donald Freeman (2011) claims that what the teacher knows about the “GLONACAL” world (global, national, local)and how this is brought into the classroom has a lot to do with the way he/she interacts with the students. In other words, the way the world comes into students’ learning as well as the specific students’ needs now are very much different than all this was before.
This new English language learning era can be supported by the director of studies of the school (teacher trainer) who needs to guide the teachers on the road to reflective practices, research and self-evaluation. In other words, it is the director of studies’
responsibility to teach, monitor and stimulate the teachers’ feelings to become empowered and feel more resourceful. This is going to be recognized by colleagues and students and this will be conducive to the school’s welfare and success. I realize that there are some schools already engaged in Continuous Professional Development ( CPD) . However, I hope that this article might encourage others to engage further in CPD , and focus on the important role of teachers as researchers .
REFERENCES
- Borg , S. ( 2003) .Teacher Cognition in Language Teaching . Cambridge Native Press.
- Borg , S.( 2013) . ELTDP Symposium, Keynote Speech, Teacher Engagement with Research. ELTDP Malaysia.
- Cambridge English Teacher (2014). Reflecting on Classroom Practices. Cambridge University Press and Cambridge English Language Assessment.
- Freeman, D. (2011). Teaching English in a “glonacal” world by Donald Freeman, YouTube. Cam TESOL Co. Feb 24, 2011.
- Irvine- Niakaris, C. (2018). Connect. Hellenic American University. Alumni Newsletter.
- McIntosh, P. 2010). Action Research and Reflective Practice. Creative and visual methods to facilitate reflection and learning. London & New York: Routledge.
- Richards , J. C. and Lockhart, C. (1994). Reflective teaching in second language classrooms. Cambridge, England; New York,
NY: Cambridge University Press. - Richards,J .C. (2015 ). Key Issues in Language Teaching. C.U. P.
- Richards,J.C. and Swain, M. ( Jan 18,2016 ). Key Issues in Language Teaching. YouTube. wwwGVPconz.
- Shon,D.A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. New York: Basic Books.
- Williams, M. and Burden, R. (1997). Psychology for Language Teachers: A social constructivist approach. C.U.P.
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