Christine Forde

The Social Dynamics of Changing Practice.

In this paper we develop a socio‐dynamic account for the impact of continuing professional development (CPD) on practice. The model we propose for changing practice challenges the essentially individualised explanation of practical learning offered by a number of writers and researchers in the field of CPD such as Joyce and Showers (1988), Eraut (1994), and Schön (1983). It also offers a basis for exploring the micro‐political realities of changing practice and the links between individual and group learning that are largely absent in the socio‐cultural accounts of organisational and situated learning (Senge, 1990; Lave & Wenger, 1991; Weick, 1995). It proposes a model that allows for tracking the influence of discourses in relation to teacher re‐professionalism from the level of policy to the point of enactment in the school and re‐examines the connections between individual and group learning to arrive at a dynamic framework for understanding changing practice.

challenging the ‘new professionalism’: from managerialism to pedagogy?

Abstract In recent years there have been changes made to the conceptualisation of continuing professional development for teachers in both the Scottish and English systems of education. These changes have been instigated by successive United Kingdom governments (and, more recently, by the Scottish Executive), together with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE). This article argues that these changes have not provided a clear rationale for CPD, but instead have introduced tensions between the concept of teacher education and that of training. The need for a less confused understanding of CPD and its purposes is underlined, as is the need for school-based approaches to continuing teacher education. Arguably, teacher education must move from technicist emphases to a model that integrates the social processes of change within society and schools with the individual development and empowerment of teachers.

Developing a Model of Practice: Designing a framework for the professional development of school leaders and managers

This paper describes the origins and evolution of a framework for leadership and management development in Scottish schools. In arriving at the current model the authors have been working with competence frameworks for 4 years. The design of the latest framework is underpinned by a model for professional action which should support experiential learning and critical reflection. The paper argues for the synthesis of a number of approaches to management development on the basis of a holistic model of practice.

Changing their minds: the social dynamics of school leaders' learning

This paper questions whether a focus on individual development is appropriate when it comes to attempting to change professional practice. Based on a study of the conceptual development of candidates on the Scottish Qualification for Headship Programme (SQH), the paper examines evidence from detailed case studies of the learning of some of the students. These were constructed using the reflective commentaries written by the candidates at the end of each year and the outcomes of semi‐structured interviews to explore their experiences of the course and what they felt they had learned as a result. The evidence indicated that there was a complex dynamic involved in learning to change practice where the conceptual development of individuals was closely related to their experience of enacting new behaviours in the social setting of the workplace. The sense that candidates made of school leadership and management was shaped and embedded in their social experience. Change and development on their part was closely bound to the capacity and willingness to change on the part of others.

Reshaping teacher education through the professional continuum

The current policy gaze on teacher quality is resulting in significant shifts in how teacher education is conceptualized, designed and delivered. Traditional approaches to teacher preparation and continuing professional development (CPD) are being challenged, and often displaced, by new models that expedite the process and experience of becoming a teacher, relocate teacher preparation from universities directly to schools and widen the pool of teacher education providers. This “reshaping” of teacher education and leadership development is at a critical point of reform in a number of systems, driven by the need to align with curriculum and wider education reform and the effect of the dual exposure of international comparative tests and economic performance. As a consequence the practice of teacher education, by which we mean the pedagogies, programmes and places through which and where teachers are prepared, must adapt to become more responsive to demands from government to deliver high quality teaching that is developed and sustained throughout a teacher’s career. This means reconceptualizing teacher and leadership development as a career-long process developed by and through the professional continuum. It requires the redesign of the practice of teacher education, necessitating new thinking and fresh approaches to the rich pedagogies that must underpin professional learning programmes, the sites of professional learning and new partnership arrangements. Crucially it also involves widening the pool of teacher educators so that all teachers and school leaders are recognized as teacher educators.

Rethinking professional standards to promote professional learning

This article explores some of the key issues that emerged in the revision of the professional standards in Scottish education. The revision of the professional standards was part of a wider project to build teacher professional learning in ways that had an impact on practice and on pupil learning. The article begins by examining the international literature to consider the two critical aspects of the design and the use of professional standards. The article then explores issues raised in the work to take forward the two recommendations from the Donaldson report related to, firstly, the professional standards providing a coherent framework and, secondly, the development of a ‘standard for active registration’. The article then considers the tensions posed by the dual purposes ascribed to standards, those of regulation and development. The focus then turns to an alternative way of constructing a professional standard in order to foster authentic forms of professional learning. The article concludes by exploring the issues that need to be addressed to facilitate the productive use of professional standards in the career-long professional learning of teachers.

Being a Leadership Development Coach A Multi-Faceted Role

The use of coaching as a developmental methodology has been instituted as a way to develop leadership in schools in Scotland as elsewhere in the UK. While there are studies that examine the skills and impact of coaching, there is only limited discussion of the process of coaching and the role and experiences of the coaches. This article examines the role of coach in a development programme for aspirant headteachers, ‘The Flexible Routes to Headship’ (FRH), piloted in Scotland, UK in 2007–2009. Coaching was as the core learning process and consequently the quality of coaching is a major consideration in the success of this programme. This development programme is intended to enable candidates to demonstrate their achievement of a professional standard, The Standard for Headship and, as a consequence, the coaches have to undertake a number of different tasks including coaching, mentoring, facilitating, tutoring and assessing. This article draws from the data gathered from coaches and candidates in the evaluation of the FRH Pilot Project which suggests that while there are potential benefits for the coach as well as for candidates, there are some inherent tensions. The question of a model of leadership development based predominantly on coaching is explored.

Exploring the Impact of Continuing Professional Development on Practice in the Context of the Scottish Qualification for Headship.

Abstract In this article the authors look at how aspiring headteachers conceptualise school leadership and management. The authors have earlier identified some of the ways in which the Scottish Qualification for Headship (SQH) candidates understood the notion of critical reflection. Since then their thinking has developed further as a result of some of the evaluative feedback from the first year of implementing the qualification. This has led the authors to want to focus on some of the social processes that influence and mediate the learning of established practitioners. They believe that these factors operate rather differently for those who have already established a professional role within their workplace than they do for those new to the profession whose learning, in terms of socialisation, has been the subject of investigation in the past. They suspect that social processes have a crucial and, as yet, relatively unexplored effect on the impact of CPD

Redefining what it means to be a teacher through professional standards: implications for continuing teacher education

Abstract This article connects with an international debate around the place of professional standards in educational policy targeted at enhancing teacher quality, with associated implications for continuing teacher education. Scotland provides a fertile context for discussion, having developed sets of professional standards in response to a recent national review of career-long teacher education. That review called for a reprofessionalisation of the teaching profession and the revision of the standards was an element of this process. Scotland is utilised as a lens through which one country’s response to international trends is viewed, with a focus on ‘teacher leadership’ and ‘practitioner enquiry’ as policy endorsed sets of practices. The analysis demonstrates the complex and contested nature of these terms and the tensions posed between the need to meet professional standards as part of teacher education and aspirational dimensions of the current policy project of reprofessionalisation. The article concludes by considering the implications for continuing teacher education.

Leadership for learning: educating educational leaders

The role of school headteachers/principals has evolved significantly, particularly as the demand for high performing schools has become a political imperative globally and so the question of how educational leaders should be educated is a central concern. However, this question of the development of educational leaders is contentious because the nature of professional learning is itself complex, particularly the relationship between leadership development and practice in schools. This chapter examines one specific area of leadership development, that of headship preparation. There is, as Davies, S. et al. (School leadership study: Developing successful principals, Stanford Educational Leadership Institute, Stanford, 2005) argue, only limited evidence about how to prepare and develop school leadership or headship and the role and scope of educational leadership continues to evolve. The chapter considers how this relationship between leadership and learning (Macbeath, J. and Dempster, N., Connecting leadership and learning: Principles for practice, Routledge, London, 2009) might best be forged in headship/principalship preparation programmes. Approaches to leadership development can be characterised as three broad models: apprenticeship models, knowledge-based programmes and experiential learning programmes. This chapter begins by examining critically a number of different approaches to the development of leadership in education. Then the chapter sets one educational system – that of Scotland, UK – as a case study and draws from a number of recent research and development projects on headship preparation. In this final section the discussion focuses on the tension between individual transformation and institutional transformation and the construction and place of knowledge in the preparation of headteachers/principals.