The weekly column
Article 69, August 2001
TEACHER DEVELOPMENT
Awareness, reflection and sharing
By
Graciela Miller de Arechaga
Introduction
Over the present school
year, as new head of the academic department at a private English language
institute, I have had the opportunity of getting an overall view of teachers´
performance in this particular place. Throughout the present year we have shared
staff meetings, conversations in the staff room, talks following the observation
of classes and even incidental chats in corridors!
It has been noticed that
more than often teachers talk about their teaching practice and their
students in particular, whenever they meet their colleagues. In addition, it is
quite revealing that the topics teachers touch on are frequently related to some
problematic classroom situation, some negative attitudes or some difficulties
students have in their learning process. Rarely do teachers speak about their
student´s achievements in a spontaneous way. We often hear teachers say:
“They don´t feel like studying and therefore they are getting low marks.” “They
never get the initiative in oral interaction, I have to push them on all the
time!” “They make too many spelling mistakes.” “Nothing seems to interest
them..” “They don´t care about their homework”, etc.
Although we may agree that
teachers´ complaints have become commonplace, we are inclined to think that when
teachers talk to colleagues about their students´ problems, difficulties
or attitudes they are expressing what they are really worried about or
dissatisfied at. Such conversations draw back to struggles and disappointments
which must be attended to in a reflective and professional way.
Defining terms
Despite the fact that the
vast majority of certified English language teachers in Argentina, graduated
from Teachers’ Training Colleges or Profesorados, have achieved a level
of skills and knowledge about their teaching profession that turns them into
initially competent professionals, we agree that “professional certification is
only the starting point on the way towards professional competence. Within this
perspective, professional competence is a constantly moving target, and
professional development comprises those activities in which professionals are
engaged for the purpose of achieving professional competence”. Banfi (1997: 15)
We believe this competence
relates to what Nunan and Lamb (1996: 1) call “the effective management of
teaching and learning processes in [second and] foreign language classrooms”. In
other words, the competent teacher is the one who creates “a positive
pedagogical environment” in the classroom and is able to make professional
decisions “to ensure that learning takes place effectively”. Nunan and Lamb
(1996: 1)
Professional development is
perceived as a variety of activities in which teachers are involved to be able
to improve their practice. Special stress is laid on teaching experience and
expertise, on the convenience of attending seminars and conferences and on
subscribing to professional journals and publications. Other important issues to
be taken into account are individual or group reflection and interaction with
colleagues.
From a humanistic and
psychological point of view, Underhill (1991) defines teacher development as
“one version of personal development [...] personal development as a teacher”.
He says he sees “the process of development as the process of increasing our
conscious choices about the way we think, feel and behave as a teacher. It is
about the inner world of responses that we make to the outer world of the
classroom. Development [seen] as a process of becoming increasingly aware of the
quality of the learning atmosphere we create, and as a result becoming more able
to make creative moment by moment choices about how we are affecting our
learners through our personal behaviour” Underhill (1991).
Setting the context
Our present concern about
teacher development is restricted to a private English language institute in the
city of Salta, where a quality ELT program has been at the core of its mission
for over forty years. Moreover, the focus on our subject of study is
twofold, if seen from an inner and outer standpoint regarding our own
institution. On the one hand, it is perceived that both less and more
experienced classroom teachers at our institute are regularly confronted with a
variety of situations and contexts where they are required to make use of
professional expertise in an autonomous and self-directed way. On the other
hand, there is an ever-increasing number of private English language
schools and institutes in our city that must share the local demand for English
language services, to put it in economic terms. Therefore, competing on
the basis of sound professional teaching should be regarded as surviving
tactics.
When is teacher development
started?
Let us first consider some
principles which are taken for granted at our institute, when considering those
activities English teachers engage in to promote their professional development:
Although it is easy to
agree on theoretical ground in the staff room or in staff meetings, the problem
may arise when the principles mentioned above, must sustain the course of a full
teaching schedule.
In order to take theory
into practice, teachers should become aware that within their own teaching
routine they have the main tools for personal professional progress: their own
teaching experience and their reflections on it, and the interaction with other
teachers in the institution. We firmly believe that “teacher development takes
place when teachers, as individuals or in a group, consciously take advantage of
such resources to forward their own professional learning” Ur (1999: 318).
Development does not just happen with time, it happens with awareness. An
awareness of a need to change. This means that awareness is the first step
towards change and improvement.
Models of teacher
development
There are three main models
as described in Wallace (1993), namely: the Craft Model, the Applied Science
Model and the Reflective Model. We adhere to this last model since we believe
that reflection guides future action. This model is briefly described by
Ur (1999) as follows:
The trainee teaches or
observes lessons, or recalls past experience; then reflects, alone or in
discussion with others, in order to work out theories about teaching; then tries
these out again in practice. Such a cycle aims for continuous improvement and
the development of personal theories of action.
It is interesting to note
that Ur (1999) also considers that the Reflective Model can tend to
over-emphasize teacher experience, with a relative neglect of external input –
lectures, reading, and so on – which can make a real contribution to
understanding. The same author comes to the conclusion that a fully effective
Reflective Model should make room for external as well as personal input. She
calls this model “enriched reflection”.
What is reflection?
Even though we are
restricting the term to “reflective teaching”, it is hard to find a single
definition. Farrell (1998) presents a wide range of definitions which he has
taken from different authors: “Pennington (1992) defines reflective teaching as
deliberating on experience, and that of mirroring experience”; “Richards (1990)
sees reflection as a key component of teacher development. He says that
self-inquiry and critical thinking can help teachers move from a level where
they may be guided largely by impulse, intuition, or routine, to a level where
their actions are guided by reflection and critical thinking”. In an interview
with Farrell (1995), Richards says that critical reflection is a response to a
past experience and involves conscious recall and examination of the experience
as a basis for evaluation and decision-making and as a source for planning and
action.
For some authors, the
broader aspect of society also plays a significant role in critical reflection.
Bartlett (1990) in Farrell (1998) says that in order for teachers to become
critically reflective, they have to transcend the technicalities of teaching and
think beyond the need to improve their instructional techniques. Thus he locates
teaching in its broader social and cultural context.
Ur (1999), when
talking about personal reflection, says that the first and most important basis
for professional progress is simply the teacher’s own reflection on daily
classroom events. But she adds that very often this reflection is quite
spontaneous and informal, therefore it is helpful only up to a certain point
because it is not organized and it is solitary.
Planning an in-service
teacher development program
How can our language
institute provide a forum for teacher improvement? First, an in-service
program must be developed. The program should include opportunities for
learning and sharing ideas and should be designed by the teachers in
cooperation with the head of the academic department. A range of activities
should be provided for teachers to reflect on their classroom practice.
Implementing the in-service
development program : sharing experiences, problems and successes
Some possible activities
are the following:
1. Meetings or discussions
with a colleague or some colleagues which may take the form of spontaneous,
informal chats, or a kind of more formal interaction. It is sometimes felt
that more formally structured meetings enable everyone’s participation.
Conscientious professionals are always looking for solutions to problems and
most colleagues are likely to be sympathetic and suggest solutions or encourage
their peers to look for their solution.
2. Individual presentation
made by a member of the staff on new teaching ideas, classroom experiences,
something they have read, etc.
3. Observation of other
teachers’ classes. In this particular case, certain understandings need to be
negotiated ahead of time since observation has always been a sensitive
issue.
4. Journal writing which
can be carried out alone or in groups if teachers build in some ground
rules on the entries to be included.
Despite the fact that
sometimes there is a feeling of rivalry between teachers which stops them from
revealing professional successes to one another, the entire staff should
understand that everyone can gain by learning from everyone else and that
everyone loses if they cannot do so.
We believe that interaction
with a colleague can contribute a lot to teacher development within the
institution.
Conclusion
Our institute should
provide opportunities for teachers to reflect and share ideas, on one’s own,
with colleagues and with the head of department. A collaborative in-service
development program has to be designed that reflects the needs of the
institution and plans for improvement.
An important component of a
teacher development program is “time”. Time availability should be
negotiated by the group at the start of the process.
Constant teacher
development is a necessary contributor to more efficient teaching and
personal satisfaction in our profession.
Bibliography
1. BANFI, C. (1997) “Some thoughts on the
Professional Development of Language Teachers”, in ELT News & Views
Supplement 4.1 – Teacher Development, March 1997, 13-16.
2. ENGLAND, L. (1998)
“Promoting Effective Professional Development in ELT”, in English Teaching
Forum, Vol. 36 N° 2 Apr-Jun 1998, 18-23.
3. FARRELL, T. (1998)
“Reflective Teaching”, in English Teaching Forum, Vol. 36 N° 4 Oct-Nov
1998, 10-17.
4. NUNAN, D. & LAMB,
C. (1996) The Self-Directed Teacher: managing the learning process.
Cambridge: CUP
5. UNDERHILL, A. (1991) in
Best of British ELT. Plenary talk on Teacher Development
6. UR, P. (1999) A
Course in Language Teaching: Practice and theory. Cambridge. CUP
By Graciela Miller de
Arechaga. E-mail:
gmiller@unsa.edu.ar