Published: 2019-02-28 01:38 |
Category: Collaboration | Tags: action research, connection, leadership, literature review, professional development, quick thought
This is a copy/paste of a post I wrote in a graduate class. I'm posting it here so I can get back to the ideas after the blackboard course finishes.
I'm still working on my lit review and I've come across two articles that propose classifications of types of PD typically offered in school. Hargreaves & Dawe (1990) discuss "coaching" as a larger construct. The term has been used more recently (even my title has "coach" in it) but it's been poorly defined in terms of the job description and my actual, day to day work. The authors cite Garmston's (1987) model, which defines structures: technical, collegial, and challenge coaching. Hargreaves & Dawe describe each model and then evaluate its effectiveness in changing school culture. The article is timely because I'm asking similar questions as I reflect on my own work with teachers.
The other helpful article (Kennedy, 2005) I found provides a framework for analyzing and qualifying nine models of professional development and proposes a structure for analysis of effectiveness with teachers. Categories align with Hargreaves & Dawe and provide more nuance in determining the type from a teacher's perspective rather than the coach's.
Two do not represent a statistical sample, but both articles reach similar conclusions nearly 30 years removed from one another. Development for teachers must include reflection not only on individual practice but processing the political and power structures in place on the teachers and their functioning within those structures. Challenging the status quo through methods like peer review, paired or collaborative action research, or even something more elaborate like instructional rounds, is critical if lasting change is going to take effect.
Hargreaves, A., & Dawe, R. (1990). Paths of professional development: Contrived collegiality, collaborative culture, and the case of peer coaching. Teaching and teacher education, 6(3), 227-241.
Kennedy, A. (2005). Models of continuing professional development: A framework for analysis. Journal of in-service education, 31(2), 235-250.