Teaching and Learning: Collaborative Teacher Inquiry in Australia

• In Event: Teacher Professional Collaboration and Learning: Lessons From an International Teacher Policy Study

Abstract

With a growing body of research showing that teacher professional collaboration is a major source of teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction (OECD, 2014; Skaalvik & Skaalvik, 2011), and has a positive impact on student learning (Jackson & Bruegmann, 2009), increasing attention is being paid to policies that can facilitate such collaboration. This paper will highlight findings from New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria, Australia that show how national and state policies intersect to foster teacher collaboration and learning.

The paper first discusses how nationally-agreed Australian Professional Standards for Teachers provide a common framework and discourse for high-quality teaching, underpin teacher registration and professional learning processes, and promote policy coherency across pre- and in-service teaching. Developed with strong input from the teaching fraternity, they are part of a series of policies intended to promote equity and excellence in education across states and school sectors, and for indigenous students, English language learners, and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. The standards explicitly define teacher professional engagement and learning as elements central to teaching, and embed a cycle of reflective practice centered on student learning needs.

We illustrates how national- and state-level policies intersect to position teacher professional collaboration as a cornerstone of school improvement. In Victoria’s system of autonomous schools, school strategic plans link individual teacher performance and development to team and school goals. Teacher collaboration is increasingly centered on analysis of student outcomes data, and teacher professional learning is often ‘in-school’ in the form of intentional, structured professional conversations connected to long-term, school-wide improvement strategies.

In NSW, a systemic policy framework provides the infrastructure for schools to align teacher professional learning funding and strategies to school improvement plans, and to teacher performance and development plans. There has been an increasing awareness of the power of collaborative inquiry as a key driver of teacher quality. The Great Teaching, Inspired Learning policy funds all teachers two hours a week of reduced teaching load to enable teachers to teach together, observe other teachers, and collaboratively plan lessons and assess student work.

The paper then shows how state policy fosters school collaboration networks to share practices across schools, and present findings from state-level data showing that professional learning has had a significant impact on teaching practice and student learning.

This two-year study used a multi-method approach combining extensive document analysis with audio and video interviews with policymakers, teacher educators, teachers, principals, and union representatives, and with observations of teaching practices. The team comprised local and international researchers to provide both ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ perspectives. These materials were supplemented with analyses of international, national and state data, including longitudinal survey data of 2250 schools and 7500 teachers in NSW.

Over the past decade, Australia has implemented a series of nationally-agreed policies to address excellence and equity in educating for a diverse, 21st century democracy. In illustrating how teacher professional collaboration and learning have been placed as central to school improvement, this paper will be of interest to educators, scholars, and policymakers.

Authors

• Ann Elizabeth McIntyre, The University of Sydney

• Dion Burns, Stanford University