Martine Leclerc

Collaborativeness as the core of professional learning communities beyond culture and context: evidence from Canada, Finland, and Israel

ABSTRACT Professional learning communities (PLC) have been widely accepted as effective with respect to good atmosphere, adequate leadership practices, and functional working practices. However, the outcomes for school improvement depend on case-specific issues. To identify less culturally and contextually bound issues in 3 PLC settings in Canada, Finland, and Israel, we examined our cases through the notion of “collaborativeness”. It refers to a systematic and shared process consisting of efforts, ideas, and activities that aim at achieving synergy. By combining the 3 data sets and applying a special model, we were able to distinguish, through qualitative content analysis, ingredients of collaborativeness beyond culture and context that we consider particularly essential. The crucial factor proved to be a dynamic relationship between mutual and deep learning, realized through 5 different ways. We further believe that our results could serve other organizations striving for school improvement in other kinds of cultural and contextual settings.

Un nouveau regard sur les profils des enseignants à l’égard de l’intégration des TIC

Cette etude de cas trace le profil des enseignants d’une ecole elementaire francophone de l’Ontario a partir de trois modeles : les representations des enseignants face a leurs competences avec les TIC (Desjardins, 2005), les categories d’adoptants a partir des traits de personnalite (Rogers, 1995) ainsi que l’evolution des preoccupations et de l’utilisation de l’innovation (Hall & Hord, 1987). Elle met en evidence six regroupements : les initiateurs, les collaborateurs, les observateurs, les apprentis, les hesitants et les refractaires. Ces profils constituent un moyen pour mieux comprendre les enseignants face au changement qu’ils vivent en regard de l’integration des TIC et ainsi permettre aux decideurs de mieux intervenir. (A new perspective on teacher profiles with regards to their integration of ICTs) This case study highlights the profiles of teachers in a francophone elementary school of Ontario using three models: the representations of the teachers’ competencies in regards to ICT’s (Desjardins, 2005), the categories of adopters based on personality traits (Rogers, 1995) as well as the evolution of preoccupations and use of innovation (Hall & Hord, 1987). This study focuses on six profiles: the initiators, the collaborators, the observers, the apprentices, the hesitant and the refractory. These profiles constitute a way of better understanding teachers’ adjustment as a result of the changes they are currently facing regarding the integration of ICT’s and thus allows school administrators to better intervene.