Jj Jannet Doppenberg

Collaborative teacher learning in different primary school settings

During the last two decades there has been a growing awareness of the potentially strong role teacher collaboration can play in relation to teacher and team learning. Teachers collaborate with their colleagues in different formal and informal settings. Because most studies have focused on teacher learning in one collaborative setting or are related to a specific innovation, little is known about how teachers learn within the different collaborative settings that emerge out of their teaching work. The aim of this exploratory study was to gain deeper insight into collaborative teacher learning during regular work at primary schools. Collaborative teacher learning was investigated within multiple settings, taking into account both the undertaken learning activities by teachers and the learning outcomes. Teacher and principal perceptions were collected through semi-structured interviews that were conducted with two teachers and one principal per school, including seven primary schools. Results show that teacher learning occurred within different collaborative settings in schools, however, with different degrees of intensity and outcomes across these various settings. Thus, depending on the collaborative setting, more or less different learning activities and learning outcomes were reported by teachers and principals. The results suggest that high quality team meetings can be a powerful context for teacher learning.

Organisational influence on lecturers’ perceptions and behaviour towards change in education

ABSTRACT What lecturers do and think are a prerequisite for educational change. It is therefore important to gain insight into factors that influence their involvement in educational reform. This study considers the effect of leadership and managerial constructs on lecturers’ commitment to the newly implemented honours programmes in a Dutch University of Applied Sciences, by combining two models: (a) the Excellence Acceptance Model and (b) the Organisational Influence Model. This combination connects two important change factors of content and context included in a combined quantitative measurement framework. A full structural equation analysis on lecturers’ questionnaire data (N = 406) results in insight into the direct influence of executive managers’ leadership style on lecturers’ commitment in a situation of educational change. Especially, visionary leadership and the perceived discussion culture on excellence are of large influence on lecturers’ behaviour towards honours programmes. Based on these findings, directions for future research are suggested.