Conference Agenda

Ongoing collaborative inquiry has proven to be an effective form of teacher professional learning in a wide variety of contexts worldwide. But even in what appear to be highly conducive contexts, collaborative inquiry-style professional development is not easy to enact. For example, there are often ingrained patterns of thinking and practice in education and structural and economic obstacles to overcome, including those exacerbated by the Covid19 pandemic. What does this mean, then, in contexts where there are structural, cultural, or economic barriers and/or where teachers have not had opportunities to engage in collaborative inquiry to realize the potential of situated, reflexive professional learning? Drawing on experiences from different projects involving various stakeholders in Canada, Chile, and Peru, this symposium seeks to highlight ways in which collaborative inquiry can promote locally responsive innovation and deep pedagogical change, with practical examples of what this might look like in a variety of contexts. The speakers will compare their experiences, speaking frankly about the specific challenges that they and their collaborators have faced; strategies they found effective for pushing forward with the work and making breakthroughs; work that was left undone; and things they might do differently in the future.

Objectives and problem of practice

Initiating and sustaining deeper learning in schools is difficult. Barriers include time pressures and competing priorities; structures that discourage innovation or adaptation; teachers’ lack of firsthand experience with the pedagogies they are expected to promote; and a technical rather than adaptive approach to promoting change in schools (Mehta & Fine, 2019).

Meanwhile, collaborative inquiry has emerged as a promising form of teacher professional development that can help address some of these challenges. However, it is not easy to implement, especially in contexts where inquiry, collaboration, and teacher autonomy are not foregrounded in everyday thinking and practice. This paper delves into the potential benefits of a “less can be more” approach.

Theoretical framework

We report on a four-year collaborative, design-based study involving researchers from Project Zero and practitioners from the Innova Schools network, which operates approximately 70 low-cost, K-12 schools across Peru. The paper focuses on the concluding nine-month phase, which involved supporting 28 coaches and academic coordinators to lead organizational change “from the middle” (Rincón-Gallardo & Fullan, 2016). The participants engaged in a series of online, researcher-facilitated workshops, developing inquiry projects in small study groups which culminated in an exhibition of short videos. Here we dig into the special power of one of the tools we introduced: the See-Think-Wonder thinking routine (Project Zero, n.d.), which is designed to support careful observation and help surface different perspectives and ideas within a group.

Methods

This paper draws on the varied and extensive documentation gathered as part of the nine-month learning process, as well as inductive analysis of participant surveys (n=28) and interviews (n=14).

Results

• Our participants initially applied the routine in ways consistent with their existing interpretive lenses and practices, but which felt rushed and instructor-centric.

• However, with careful modeling and targeted peer feedback, most participants became more adept over time at using See-Think-Wonder in ways that promoted inquiry, collaboration, and autonomy–in their own practice and that of the teachers they supported. Their final videos provided evidence of their use of the routine to engage in careful observation and listening, while helping teachers to do likewise in their classrooms.

• Over a third of participants identified See-Think-Wonder as the most important practice or idea they gained, describing it as a key mechanism of change.

Educational importance

While inconsistencies in practice and room for further growth remained, the work of these educators speaks to the benefits of identifying a simple strategy or routine and returning to it repeatedly to promote substantive pedagogical change–especially in contexts where deeper learning and collaborative inquiry deviate from established norms. This paper fits squarely with the conference focus on enhancing professional education.

Objectives

This study examined teacher professional development within the Through a Different Lens professional learning network (PLN). Participating teachers invited a student identified as “at risk” to inform teaching practice to remove barriers to success and create strength-based classrooms where students can learn in alternative ways.

Perspectives

PD opportunities for teachers are rarely set up in ways that help them to develop situated understandings and practices that increase student access to learning. Top down, one shot, and generic PD models tend to be ineffective (Ainscow, et al., 2016). Promisingly, teachers’ iterative cycles of situated collaborative inquiry have been related to shifts in practice and positive outcomes for diverse learners (authors, 2013; Datnow & Park, 2019).

Dumont, Istance and Benevides (2010) call for learning environment transformation to foster critical skills/abilities of 21st century citizens. We need to enable all students to succeed in a world with far reaching technological change and profound transformation that require self-directed, lifelong learning. This PLN study drew from universal design for learning, culturally responsive teaching, and Indigenous perspectives to (re)design instruction with diverse learners as capable, contributing members of classrooms.

Methods

We conducted an in-depth case study. 77 teachers participated in year 7 of the Through a Different Lens (TADL) network. The PLN met 7 times over the school year as one large group and then subdivided into four inquiry teams based on common interests (assessment, literacy, inclusion, hands-on learning). Multiple forms of data were collected in order to: 1) trace whether and how collaborative inquiry fostered teacher learning and practice change, 2) support teachers to increase access for students to learning, and 3) trace relationships between TADL, practice change, and perceived outcomes for students in participants' classrooms, particularly the most vulnerable learners. Data was collected in the form of student case studies, teacher interviews, field notes, and artifacts. Data was iteratively analyzed. As patterns emerged themes were supported, reframed, and/or collapsed using confirming and disconfirming evidence.

Results

Teachers made significant shifts in practice in several domains: differentiation, explicit teaching, fostering self-regulated learning, and student leadership. Overall, we noted that educators benefited from choice and autonomy as learners just as students do. While teachers inquired with a particular student in mind, they saw benefits for the focus student and many other students in their classes. We found three themes in terms of student outcomes: affect/engagement, academic confidence/agency, and academic performance. Students tended not to make gains academically without increases in the other two domains.

Educational Importance

This study offers an example of teachers and diverse “at-risk” students co-creating pathways to learning. Findings from the TADL PLN study suggest that when students, teachers, and researchers have opportunities to engage in collaborative inquiry they can transform teaching practices. More specifically, this research suggests that equity-oriented PLNs can develop more ownership and agency in teachers and students by (re)framing diversity as a strength, creating pathways for at-risk learners based on their strengths/interests, and making innovations for diverse learners accessible to all students.

Objectives

This research explores the value of collaborative inquiry networks of headteachers and curriculum coordinators to cope with 2020’s coronavirus pandemic in Chile, the study emphasizes describing the main challenges, collaborative practices, and the influence of the networks supporting teachers’ innovative responses to address educational challenges in their own schools.

Perspectives

In times of uncertainty and crisis, collaboration has been crucial to effectively respond to educational challenges. School networks facilitate peer learning and strengthen professional learning communities to face the difficulties posed by the coronavirus pandemic (Chapman and Bell, 2020). School networks specifically allow for the establishment of a collaborative culture that allows the use of multiple platforms and resources, for that leadership requires focusing on leadership interactions more than actions, which translates into building capacities (Harris, 2020). The collaborative inquiry networks have been guided by this literature and it is sustained in national evidence about its positive outcomes before COVID-19 (Author, 2020).

Methods

This is a mixed-method study using different methods and data of a project implemented with a total of 54 headteachers and curriculum coordinators. The data sources were participants’ individual reports, network teams’ reports of their collaborative inquiry projects, and a short open-ended questionnaire responded by teachers that did not participate directly in the networks but benefited from their work. The data were analyzed using content analysis, categories were created to organize and describe the main findings.

Results

Participants of the networks reported that their active participation in the collaborative inquiry allows them to share knowledge among different schools and has helped them to support innovative practices in their own schools. Specifically, they have reported that collaborating has permitted them to maintain a pedagogical focus, foster distributed leadership within the school communities, provide them with greater autonomy, and develop skills to favor the emotional containment of their teams.

Educational Importance

This research highlights how networks’ collaboration should not be reduced to exchanging experiences to address complex challenges due to the pandemic, but even more so, the strengthened skills of school leaders that use this knowledge to implement innovations and changes at the school level. This work offers insights into how the Chilean school system has responded to COVID-19 challenges and shows how despite the negative aspects of the pandemic, it has become an opportunity to recognize and enhance teachers’ professional development through collaboration among different schools. Most headteachers and curriculum coordinators reported that an active collaborative inquiry changed how they used to think about their leadership and strengthened the value of professional relationships to address extremely difficult challenges because of the pandemic. These lessons can be taken to rethink and rebuild educational systems, specifically to support school improvement promoting teacher professionalism.