Teacher Educators’ Professional Learning Described through the Lens of Complexity Theory

Abstract

In this study we review our own experience of coordinating learning in a professional community of student supervisors in the context of curricular change that took place in the elementary school program of our teacher education college. We present an analysis of four excerpts of conversations about change selected from a larger corpus of data, consisting of transcripts of the weekly department meetings that took place during an entire academic year in which the curricular change was implemented, representing four critical events that brought about the emergence of the interactive dynamic of this self-organizing community. We explain the catalytic power of these events through the theoretical framework of complexity theory. We show how complexity theory can be used for focusing on the dynamics of professional learning at work, as a process of influencing each other's learning and development, possibly leading to the reciprocal transformation of the members of the community.

Teachers As Learners: Implications Of Adult Education For Professional Development

“…She explains the difficulty of teachers to question their prior understanding and belief, emphasizing the need for acceptance and support from others as they challenge themselves to become better, more effective teachers. Potentially, pain and loneliness are felt due to the risk of new ideas and loss of comfortable patterns (Zellermayer & Margolin, 2005). The best teachers are continually experimenting with new methods and ideas to create the best learning environment for their students.…”

Impacts of School Organizational Restructuring Into a Collaborative Setting on the Nature of Emerging Forms of Collegiality

“…The nature of these driving forces or discourses affects the characteristics of a collaborative organizational school structure, its internal functioning, and the types of emerging collegial interactions (Lavié, 2006;Zellermayer & Margolin, 2005). As highlighted by some authors (Graham, 2001;Hoy & Sweetland, 2001;Marks & Louis, 1999;Smith & Scott, 1990;Tschannen-Moran, Uline, Woolfolk Hoy, & Mackley, 2000), the various notions of collaborative school structures have been portrayed as having some specific generic characteristics.…”

“…The primary motivators of particular interactions and connections among members of a school influence its collective organizational form (Zellermayer & Margolin, 2005). Lavié (2006) differentiates among five complementary discourses that provide an understanding of the multisided phenomenon of collaborative organizational school structure in terms of its focus of attention (strategic purposes), the meaning it attaches to teacher collaboration, its purpose, and its value orientation (see Table 1).…”

Complexity science and professional learning for collaboration: a critical reconsideration of possibilities and limitations

“…Educational researchers have also adopted particular concepts from complexity science that will be explained further on, such as emergence, nested systems, and self-organisation, to analyse processes in curriculum, policy, teaching/learning, and educational change, and to propose new educative approaches. Particularly in the area of professional practice and learning, a body of work has developed that promotes the value of complexity science for analysing collaborative and inter-professional work, and for suggesting approaches to enhance professional learning in this work (Haggis 2009;McMurtry 2007;Wolf-Branigin 2009;Zellermayer and Margolin 2005).…”