Mentoring for educational transformation in Galapagos Islands: a metacognition centered approach for in-service teacher development

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday I)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Education for sustainability in action where it is most needed: presenting and discussing the largest teacher professional development program in Galapagos Islands

Proposal

There is a growing recognition that providing updated knowledge and teaching strategies are not enough to motivate teachers or warrant changes in classroom practices (Ashton, 2014). Professional teacher development experiences have advance the finding that mentorship is a key strategy for pedagogical reflection and metacognition, that empowers teachers to transform their practices (Desimone & Pak, 2017). Supported by the teaching for understanding approach (Perkins, 1999; Pogre, 2012) this applied research paper presents the conceptual framework for teacher mentoring, the specificity of its implementation in the Galapagos Islands, monitoring and assessment data, lessons learned and expected areas of growth for the second phase of the ESG project.

A diagnostic ‘listening phase’ showed that daily life in Galapagos’ schools is still marked by traditional pedagogical approaches and a lack of inclusion of students’ voices and their families in the classroom (GC & SF, 2014). Within this context, the Education for Sustainability in Galapagos (ESG) professional development model was designed with a conception of active learning for professional adults that recognizes the existence of learning moments, the importance of relationships for learning, and the need of experiences, modeling and metacognition for teacher learning to occur. The model recuperated an important experience in Ecuador with a pilot mentorship program by the Ministry of Education (Ministerio de Educación, 2014). In practical terms, teachers participate on three main learning moments: (1) A week-long Institutes twice a year, where trainers model high leverage practices (HLP) (Garcia & Shaughnessy, 2015), strengthen disciplinary knowledge, integrate the transversal sustainability principles, facilitate lesson planning, and promote pedagogical reflection and metacognition with the goal of encouraging implementation of new strategies and approaches at the classroom level; (2) Bi-weekly study circles, teacher reflection group build around the principles of a community of practice, where teachers replicate and practices the strategies learned on the Institute, connect experiences and pedagogical theory through metacognitive processes, plan lessons, analyze class videos, analyze students data, and define actions for their classrooms; (3) Instructional coaching sessions in the classroom, mentors visit teachers twice each semester, upon an agreed schedule to observe the class and promote reflection through the use of questions.

Based on observations to these professional development strategies by external evaluators three major findings have been identified. First, that the close work of mentors residing in the Galapagos is highly valued by teachers, and that its effectiveness is related to the capacity to build strong relationships based on trust and reciprocal learning. Second, the need to regularly revise, based on teachers feedback, the emphasis placed on Institutes in teachers conceptual understanding of disciplinary knowledge, modeling of ready-to-apply active learning strategies, and metacognitive moments to reflect on pedagogical transformation connecting experiences and practices. Finally, the mainstreaming of the sustainability principles across the program require teachers, trainers, and mentors to become sustainability champions, adding a new level of expected coherence between theory and practice, as expressed in the teacher development curriculum, trainers approaches, and general organizational practices.

Authors

• Zaynab Amelia Gates, UCSD

• Miriam Chacon, Scalesia Foundation

• Isabel PATIÑO, VVOB

• Sebastian Pinto, FARO