CONCLUSIONES

Teacher independent practice

The teacher interviews gave further evidence that they were independent practitioners when it came to their classroom practice. There were several aspects to this theme; teachers attempting to meet needs from within their own resources, little support from colleagues, and guidance from school policies and procedures absent from teacher pedagogy.

(Researcher) Is there anything you do with other teachers, plan with other teachers, any activity you plan?

(Janine) Our integrated units are sort of. The general overview of it is discussed as a team. Like tabloid sports, one off activities like that we do as a team. But as I say day to day classroom learning is done individually.

(Researcher) But for instance you haven’t done something like sat down the three of you and said “Right we’ve got the three classes, the variability in maths is huge, let’s pick all the kids up and re-group?

(Janine) No it’s been discussed but it’s something that has always been put in the too hard basket because of timetabling

[TI – J – 2004] This teacher also mentioned that when bereft of ideas for her lessons she was more likely to go to the internet than to a colleague, although the other teacher indicated that she would seek the view of her team leader.

Individual characteristics of a teacher may be a barrier to cooperation with colleagues, and, consequently, teacher cooperation in pedagogy may need to be planned for, supported, and mentored. In answer to a question around collegial cooperation Janine had this to say.

(Janine) You know it’s hard sometimes Ron because I’m me and I’ve come into teaching with a lot of personal experiences that I think shaped who I am and how I teach and I often clash with a lot of teachers because they are quite staunch in the opposite sense.

[TI – J – 2004] Critical reflection, as a teacher initiated behaviour, would assist Janine to examine the assumptions underlying her pedagogy and, with the help of a mentor, may point the way to lessen these clashes and encourage collaboration and cooperation with her colleagues.

Pedagogical Change

Pedagogical change can occur as a result of influences from outside the classroom and from within the classroom. Professional development which comes from outside but is incorporated inside appears to be both enduring and an enabler of change. Both of the teachers, as evidenced in the extracts below, found that where the professional development was delivered in a manner that was supportive, contextual and ongoing they found it meaningful and, therefore, were prepared to incorporate into their practice. This particular piece of professional

development also contributed to the theme of inclusive practice as it encouraged the teachers to focus on the needs of the individual.

(Researcher) You mentioned that you’ve had some in-service training since you came to [R] school, and you talk about [TT]. What is it about that course that has helped you?

(Janine) The fact that she’s the first person, and I’m meaning this in the sense of teachers college, who has actually given professional development in a meaningful context. At teacher’s college we were trained but it didn’t mean anything to us. We’d never taught before and so it was a real gross generalisation and an overview of everything, whereas [TT] has come into [R] and got to know [R]. Got to know the classes and she’s worked with the teachers, not quite one on one but very specialised for the children we’ve got. It’s such a big difference. Everyone raves about how wonderful it’s been and it’s because she knows what she’s talking about because she’s also been a teacher and a principal. So she’s realistic about what is achievable and I think that’s what also it is - it’s not the lip service. She’s been honest and she’s given it to us as appropriately as possible.

[TI – J – 2004] And from Tina

(Tina) Our professional development for the last two years here at [R] has been looking at formative assessment, with [TT] from [named] University, so that’s probably more what you are talking about isn’t it? And that’s using the likes of your learning intentions and success criteria, feed forward comments and those sorts of things. So for me that’s been huge and made a huge impact in my teaching I think, probably because A came last year and I was back in the classroom again and it was just the perfect timing for me cause it gave me something to work with and I think I found too that it does work

[TI – T – 2004] Context, relationship with the facilitator, and facilitator’s knowledge of the teacher and their needs were three important elements of successful professional development highlighted by the teachers, and that encouraged them to adapt the

for a self examination of practice. Tina noted in her interview that it was the children not taking risks and not engaging with the lessons that would encourage her to change her practice. Janine also referred to the behaviour of the children as stimulants for teacher change.

Reflective thinking

Reflective thinking is considered an important element in pedagogical change and was a part of the teachers’ pedagogy but it tended to focus on technical matters such as accountability, content and delivery. In the following extract, however, the teacher is beginning to move from a technical interest to a pedagogical one. (Researcher) Do you look at yourself?

(Tina) Yeah I suppose I do and there are times when you do things and it hasn’t worked and you know why. You have to think in your head, “I thought that would be a good little unit I was going to do and it didn’t work out”. And thinking about - well ok we didn’t really approach it in the right way or the kids just didn’t have the interest level in that particular thing, so I think you are probably forever reflecting on what you do as a teacher, and [on] your planning. And often you do some pretty good planning and then that impromptu lesson that comes out of the blue, because someone brought something along, that you didn’t actually even plan for, is a better lesson

[TI – T – 2004] Whilst in the above extract Tina is really talking about evaluating her practice, the fact that she is thinking about what she is doing as a teacher is the beginning of critical reflection because it is moving her thoughts inwards towards examining her rationale, her feelings, and her assumptions. But as yet, she has not moved beyond the immediate experience towards an examination of her tacit knowledge (Teekman, 2000).

Assessment and analysis

Ongoing and continual assessment guided both teachers’ planning. This theme is important because assessment is considered to be the kernel of individual planning. Both teachers were frequently assessing their students’ progress, formally in tests and informally as they moved around the classroom or listened to

answers from questions they posed to the children. However, a deeper, and more focussed, analysis of the assessment results would have assisted the teachers to better plan to meet individual needs. In the extract below Tina reveals that much assessment is a requirement from senior staff, generally for the purpose of reporting progress, both individual and class.

(Researcher) What you’re saying is that what you see in the classroom guides your future planning.

(Tina) Yeah I think it does. I do do a lot of assessment. But I think sometimes probably the observations over-run the assessment because sometimes on paper kids might have really good alphabet recognition but they’re not using it. So it’s sort of like they might look good - oh yes they know all those basic sight words but when it comes to strategies they don’t know how to attack the unknown words. A lot of assessment is because we have to, but I think a lot of it, especially at this level, is observation based and seeing what their needs are.

[TI – T – 2004] As was evident from the classroom observations individual assessment did not, in the majority of instances, lead to individual planning. Rather, assessments were primarily used to group children so that teaching instruction was better facilitated, or to plan for the whole group or class. Where individual instruction was delivered it tended to be from informal teacher observations in the classroom and delivered immediately and serendipitously. Grouping in both classes also tended to be around a level e.g. reading age or math stage, rather than around the need to understand a concept e.g. multiplication of fractions.

(Researcher) How do you plan for the needs of all your kids?

(Janine) Children for maths are grouped by their test outcome, their results from the Nump4 tests that we do. Children are grouped for reading by their running records and also through their level of comprehension when I test them with prose inventory. So it’s sort of, my planning for the needs of the kids is sort of done as a group, overall of the group and then you modify each activity and help each kid as you go along.

(Janine) Just ongoing assessment. Assessing where the kids are at, constantly. Knowing my kids. Working with them in group situations. With our class sizes it is impossible to work individually with each child each day so it is just through working with them in groups and group discussion.

[TI – J – 2004] In the above extract, Janine acknowledges implicitly that individual assessment should lead to individual planning but offers the size of the class as a reason for not planning for individuals. Janine’s action research study facilitated individual planning and delivery (discussed in Chapter 6).

5.6.3 Researcher reflection

Teachers were prepared to share their thoughts, feelings and practices with the researcher. The trust that I had been hoping for in this cycle did eventuate. The information was varied because many aspects of classroom practice were revealed from planning, through intervention to evaluation and reflection, so mirroring the action research cycle. As well, some insightful revelations came to the surface. One such example was Janine’s disclosure regarding her worries about not being sufficiently prepared to teach the children, and how that worry affected her behaviour.

I do a lot of it (planning and preparation) at home not at school. I’d hate to come to school in my nightie. That would be my biggest fear Ron. It would be seriously like sitting in front of an audience naked to do a speech, I just hate, if I’m not prepared I feel very scared.

[TI – J – 2004] Teacher interview data triangulated themes that had emerged in the classroom observations and the children’s interviews. In particular the isolation of the teachers within their classrooms, the individual assessment leading to group, rather than individual student, teaching and the stimulants for change in practice were evident in these findings.

Finally, the teacher interviews presented me, as the researcher, with a dilemma. One of the objectives of this cycle was to be able to identify enablers and barriers

to inclusive practice. What I discovered was that those practices that could be termed as enablers also became barriers in certain situations, for example, assessment. Both teachers were assiduous in assessing the children’s progress, both formally and informally. Individual assessment is viewed as an enabler of inclusive practice because it has the potential to identify individual needs and plan to meet them. However, it becomes a barrier when the analysis of the assessment does not lead to planning for the learning of individual students.