Professional learning communities as a vehicle for sociocultural competence and humanizing PD for DLBE teachers

• In Event: Promoting Sociocultural Competence and Critical Consciousness in Dual Language Bilingual Education Programs

Abstract

Scholarship highlights that dual language bilingual education (DLBE) teachers frequently receive limited professional development (PD) relevant to their context and the needs of their programs and students (Author et al., 2022; Palmieri, 2021; Spychalski, 2020). This is concerning since DLBE teachers are often left interpreting strategies and approaches for the needs of their students, particularly around sociocultural competence (SCC), individually without the opportunity for continued professional learning on the topic, targeted PD, or space to share their own expertise. This study explores participating teachers’ shifts in their professional competence about SCC after participating in a collaboratively constructed year-long professional learning community (PLC).

This study builds on the work of Hammerness et al. (2005). It combines their Framework for Teacher Learning: Learning to Teach in Community with the intercultural competence Reference Framework of Competences for Democratic Culture (RFCDC) (Council of Europe, 2018), together with key tenets of PLCs (Lomos et al., 2011; Martin et al., 2020; Stoll et al., 2006; Voelkel & Chrispeels, 2017). Combining and adapting these frameworks allowed secondary DLBE teachers to develop their ideas and understandings of SCC through professional learning and discussions.

This paper emerges from a case study with collaborative tenets at an urban 6-8th grade middle school. Participants were identified using convenience sampling (Miles et al., 2020). All DLBE teachers were required to participate in the PLC meetings due to district commitments; their participation in the research, however, was voluntary. Data sources include open-ended semi-structured interviews and reflective journals written by participants and researchers. The data points were analyzed using Miles, Huberman, and Saldaña’s (2020) coding guidance.

Findings indicate that participants recognized a positive impact on their professional competence about SCC after partaking in a yearlong PLC. Teachers reported feeling validated in their instructional approaches and newfound confidence in themselves, which promoted a desire to grow in their practice and a willingness to ask difficult questions. Additionally, teachers shared that their dialogue with colleagues provided space for them to process and share the good and the difficult experiences. Simultaneously, participants developed their own SCC, applied a critically conscious lens to their program and practice, and shared their expertise with one another.

DLBE teachers are often tasked with participating in general education PD with their district colleagues. They thus are left to figure out the translations of those suggestions to their DLBE classrooms by themselves. This frequently leaves DLBE teachers on their own to attempt to decode the ambiguity and confusion surrounding SCC and perpetuates the construct as often neglected third goal of DLBE programs (Feinauer & Howard, 2014). This study offers crucial insights for research on DLBE teachers’ PD and the possibilities of PLCs serving as spaces to promote conversation and teacher voices that help remedy and repair inequities that may exist in programs and move towards a renewal of systems and practice.

Author

• Sandra S. Silva-Enos, Providence College