Three page summary available.
--Haraclitus
If anything is certain, it is that change is certain. The world we are planning for today will not exist in this form tomorrow.
--Philip Crosby, Reflections on Quality
You have to do it by yourself, and you can't do it alone.
--Martin Rutte
Your future depends on many things, but mostly on you.
--Frank Tyger
Teachers are crying out for help in Ontario. They are facing an increased change in the nature and complexity of their teaching assignments, in severity of learning needs, budget cuts and in top down reforms. These stresses can be perceived as both a demoralizing and an empowering trauma, which can either make or break us. Teacher morale, defined (Mendel, 1987) as "a feeling, a state of mind, a mental attitude" is uppermost in the minds of those concerned with public education (Lemon, 2000).
Teacher morale has been classified in three categories: environmental, interpersonal and intrapersonal stress (Swick, 1980). Environmental stress includes outside factors, such as budget cuts, increased class sizes and new technological advances. Interpersonal stress encompasses the personal relationships we experience at home and at work, and lead teachers to leap to hypercritical conclusions about themselves. They feel that they are are under stress and can't cope and therefore, can't teach. Teachers believe they are inadequate as contributing members of society (Cole & Walker, 1989) .
Stress leaves us feeling powerless and open to undue internal and external physical, emotional and social pressures. Leaving these problems unresolved results in tension, stress and serious health problems. It is in our best interests to determine which challenges require a personal change and which could lead to renewal opportunities and new initiatives. Distressful working conditions and the characteristics of coping behaviours in teachers have been studied for a long time. Chronic job stress leads to job burnout (Ray et al, 1985) and an increased inability to take one's job seriously.
Researchers (Lumsden, 1998), (Rud, 1992), (Dunham, 1992) have been discussing the effects of the pressures of stressful working conditions and the characteristics of good coping strategies for many years, yet no solutions have emerged to allow teachers to take control of their professional lives. It is through Action Research that we will be able to sustain changes in professional practice and improve learning and working conditions and increase teacher morale.
Action Research is one method of allowing teachers to take control of their professional practice. It cannot be mandated and it needs to be facilitated (Fullan, 1993). This paper demonstrates the need for all stakeholders to empower front line workers to create collaborative communities and to integrate best teaching practices into their teaching portfolio (Hargreaves & Fullan, 1992).
Those able to encourage teachers to undertake Action Research include teacher mentors, principals, school boards, Universities, Federations, Ministries and Governments. We need to develop a personal and professional awareness to ensure that we meet our individual needs, to stop the erosion of teacher morale before it "increases exponentially" (Lumsden, 1998). The teaching profession requires a collaboration, as yet unrealized, in order to meet the needs of the children we serve, to encourage professional growth, to increase our sense of empowerment and allow us to develop our teaching practices to the best of our abilities.
- To empower teachers to increase professional effectiveness by establishing professional learning communities.
- To identify those stakeholders who can facilitate professional growth strategies.
Change has been a moving sidewalk on which teachers teeter precariously. New reforms have not compelled teachers to keep up with professional growth demands because they are disempowered and disenfranchised (Bencze & Hodson, 1998) (Robertson & Barlow, 1994). Teacher bashing in the Media and the myths of failing schools (Gallagher, 2000) , (Robertson & Barlow, 1994) has demoralized those who put their heart and soul into their professional practice. The public has increasing demands for accountability. The new initiative of teacher testing has sped stressed teachers faster along the sidewalk until they feel out of control and disempowered. Personal and professional demands have created a stressed cadre of teacher too weary to keep up with increasing demands on their time and energy.
The media reports failures, alleged abuses, and other headline grabbers. (Australia, 1999) The media has seldom been a friend to education. Headlines do not revolve around the thousands of students who have graduated and have been served by the educational system. They highlight those who fail. It is only recently that the media has been reporting the increasing shortage of qualified teachers, especially in the fields of math and science (Toronto Star, 2000). Burnout, retirements and better pay in the private sector have added to the difficulties in retaining good teachers (Fine, 2001).
Statistics demonstrate how severe the problem has become. Teachers are being stretched to the limit and the expectations placed on them seem to be expanding dramatically (ETFO, 1999). Drope (2000) cites statistics that confirm this problem. In 1992 2.9 % of teachers were absent due to illness, by 1998 4.3 % were absent in a typical school week. Overworking teachers have taken on unhealthy weight gains, increased their smoking and alcohol consumption and developed low self-esteem marital conflict and other psychological problems (Chisholm, 2000).
Numerous groups and commissions have explored the results of political changes to educational systems (Kidder, 2001) with similar conclusions. Fast-tracking changes to education policy, in the name of education reform and tax cuts, have had little impact on improving the quality of education, have demoralized the system and the profession. Despite the disappearance of numerous support services (OCDSB, 2000), teachers continue to demonstrate a deep commitment to education, despite the costs to their health (Bencze & Hodson, 1998).
Stakeholders, parents, taxpayers and governments, have demanded greater accountability in education in demanding that the sidewalk move further and faster in a confusingly divergent direction. Other stakeholders demand that teachers return to "teaching the basics", an assumption disproven by current evidence of students who can read and write. A Statistics Canada study (Robertson & Barlow, 1994) showed that in 1956 was 30 % of students graduated high school. By 1971 52% of Canadians graduated high school and by 1991 82% graduated. It is all in our perception and discredits those who would believe that our schools are failing. Teachers always have and always will teach reading, writing and arithmetic, despite the fact that students are an increasingly diverse linguistic, cultural, racial and economically disparate population (Bascia, 2000).
Funding cutbacks are an international problem. Those who demand better schools also advocate for school change with little or no money to back up these reforms. Massive changes to school systems and infrastructure (Bascia, 2000) worldwide (Australian Senate, 1999) have resulted in many teachers jumping off of the sidewalk, either temporarily or permanently. In Ontario, with a turnover rate of 50% in administration (Funston, 2000) and a shortage of new teachers (Toronto Star, 2000), we are facing a crisis with a double-edged sword.Currently, in Ottawa Carleton 25% of teachers are new grads (OCETF, 2000) with little experience and expertise in the profession, managing and maintaining a classroom. Those who remain in the profession find few rewards to keep them in the system.
One new teacher in Ottawa estimates that 30 of her cohort of 100 have quit the profession, choosing alternative careers. Federation representatives estimate that two thirds of LTD claims are stress-related ( Falls, 2001), and Federation officers (Lemon, 2000) have been seeing more severe counseling cases each week. Research articles are looking for cures (Lumsden,1998) but simple solutions are not forthcoming.
Historically, the educational field has not been able to sustain change over time (Hargreaves & Fullan, 1992). In an attempt to create better schools teachers have had change forced upon them (O'Neil, 2000) without a clear vision and focus. It is by becoming change agents (Fullan, 1993) that we will create a personal vision and help us create a vision of where the sidewalk might lead with strong strides, strength and purpose. We can no longer afford, physically, financially and emotionally to take a chance on top-down directives without establishing systematic reasons for investing time and energy in such change. Progress will not be made until we understand more about the daily lives of teachers and create professional growth strategies that supports the individual teacher with individual needs in her classroom (Newman, 1998).
While school systems haven't changed over time, we still teach students in a class room, in the same manner as in the past 150 years. Pedagogical and andryogical practices have developed immeasurably yet teachers, as a group, have not put new research into practice. Frank Vellutino says, "We do more educational research than anyone else in the world, and we ignore more if it as well." (Hancock, 1996)
There is an increasing amount of knowledge available to practitioners through internet information services but this has not led to changes in practices. The information age has increased the data available on a world-wide scale but it has not led to the synthesis of new information into knowledge of best practices. There is a wealth of information available on pedagogical practices. They include: constructivism, left and right brain research, active learning strategies, peer mediation strategies, whole language, technological developments, classroom management techniques and schooling practices that increase student achievement but many harried teachers are unwilling or unable to invest the time, energy and financial resources necessary to develop skills and research such practices. They are fighting to maintain their sanity in an ever changing profession. We can see the difference between teaching thirty years and teaching one year thirty times. Experienced teachers juggle with increased class sizes and maintaining discipline, inexperienced teachers struggle to integrate theory and practice while putting in long hours preparing new materials, interpreting curriculum and juggling divergent abilities of learners.
When we facilitate opportunities for reflective practice on the part of the class room practitioner we can increase opportunities for empowerment and to create a collaborative community of educators. Moffett (2000) says that we must create a professional community in a school to balance reform with high quality staff who will undertake professional development, enact sustainable change and develop effective practices. Policies and mandates do not create quality schools and it cannot be forced but it must be encouraged and facilitated.
When we create a synergistic community and establish authentic enquiries into the tools a techniques of good institutions we create a framework for systematic change enquiries (Covey, 1989). The downward spiral of low morale will drag us away from the collective vision of school improvements and will discourage further research and inquiry (Fullan, 1999).
Stress can impel us to resolve a problem, find support, and create solutions to personal and professional dilemmas. It can create extra energy and act as a "motivational kick in the pants." (Rose, 1993) In the juggle to balance our personal and professional lives, teachers must choose to seek help in balancing their emotional, intellectual, financial, physical, spiritual and intimacy needs.
Parents demanding more individual support for their children, as well as integration, even in the light of severe cut backs, have faced frustration with a system that doesn't meet the needs of their disabled children (Cruickshank, 1983) (OCDSB, 2000). A press release explains the consequences that cut backs to Special Education have had in the OCDSB, a parent was arrested for trespassing when he attempted to escort his son into his home school (Flora Action Party, 2000). This parent is demanding integration, yet the cut backs in education do not allow for adequate support personnel to supervise his special needs child.
Bascia (2000) cites the changing morals and values of students as another stressor with an increasing number of conflicts created between students, parents and teachers. Teachers are increasingly frustrated as they must teach new curricula, increasingly diverse populations, teaching students how to disagree agreeably in the context of the schoolyard and the classroom, as well as morals and values.
Intrapersonal issues have a profound effect on the energy a teacher can bring to the curriculum. We seldom take the time to reflect on who we are, what we are doing and why we are placed where we are on the moving sidewalk. As teachers we desire to develop or refine classroom skills but these desires are slowed down by a beleaguered self-concept and a lack of motivation and energy.
The "fight or flight" response (Rose, 1993) prepared us to protect ourselves in the past. The body's reaction to the stress was to kick in the adrenalin, set the heart rate and muscles aflight in full dress battle. In recent years it has led to a rise in blood pressure and hypertension. Coping with a negative situation can lead to negative perceptions, thoughts, feelings and psychosomatic reactions (Cole & Walker, 1998). As teachers desire to develop new classroom skills, they are slowed down by a beleaguered self-concept, a lack of motivation and energy. Chisholm (2000) states that most teachers are in that sandwich generation, caught between young families and aging parents. These roles that may contradict and conflict with one another. The Globe and Mail (Feb. 5/01) cites a Manitoba teachers' union as seeing burn-out as rising by 40 per cent. In Ontario 15 to 16 out of every one thousand teachers are on long term disability claims, compared with traffic controllers who average eight to ten claims per thousand. (Fine, 2001). Bascia ( 1998) says that Federations must be more accessible, and increase the number of teacher-initiated projects.
In some schools repeated frustrations, including a combination of factors: inexperienced administration, excessive workloads, inadequate leadership, student discipline and regressive funding. These circumstances do not lead to the development of urgency-agency-urgency (Fullan, 1999) that impels us to research, collaborate and pursue an enquiry into school improvements. Covey (1990) writes of a synergy created by highly effective people. One which increases the energy, leads to empowerment and personal and professional growth. The upward spiral of this synergy (Covey, 1990) can lead to better schools and improved teaching practices in those schools in which a collaborative culture is created. Teaching staff are working in increasingly isolated environments in which new initiatives are seen as a burden, not an opportunity for growth.
Swick (1980) sees solutions to disenfranchised teachers which include intrapersonal growth, formation of new professional growth situations, refinement of previously learned skills, the formation of a more effective teaching style which leads to improved well-being and a sense of mastery of our teaching practices.
We know that many staff members require support in social and emotional issues. LTD claims and other indicators demonstrate this phenomena. (Lemon, 2000). Research articles are looking for solutions to the problems of teacher morale (Lumsden,1998) but these are not new problems (Dunham, 1992).
Hargreaves & Fullan (p. 79, 1992) state:"Balancing the work and the life is an important protection against burnout."
The reward for doing good work is often doing more work. We must balance head food and heart food. We must find our passions whether it is a good book, a walk or a game of tennis. One cannot expend all of their energies at work. Many teachers have turned to despair as they fight to keep control of the downward spirals of their lives. Morales and values of students and parents are changing. Incidents of violence are increasing, as are tempers. In a study of weapons use and violence in schools (Walker 1994) the media was found partly to blame, but few solutions are forthcoming. Schools are practicing lockdowns in the aftermath of stabbings and shootings in schools are reported in detail in the media.
Parents are increasingly stressed financially, personally and professionally while demanding, in this competitive information-age, to wrestle the best education for their children, despite budget cuts, increased class sizes and inadequate support services (OCDSB, 2000). They are quick to take offense. Teachers report parent-teacher interviews in which parents judge their classroom arrangement, seating plans, discipline strategies, ethics and curriculum.
Interpersonal stresses affect not only the teacher, but the staff and the entire community. Chisholm (2000) explains that a recent change he has noticed is that most Counseling Services involve entire school interventions following critical incidents in schools. Communications Committees across the province (Drope, 2000), including Ottawa Carleton Elementary Teachers' Federation Executive, (OCETF, 2000) have concluded that student, parents, and system constrictors have affected morale provincially.
Environmental stress results in wide-ranging and inter-connected morale issues as classroom working conditions have become more difficult, budgets have been cut, inadequate instructional materials are available, and integration increases differentiation of program which all costs us time, energy and patience. Keeping our sanity demands that we adapt, seek to develop our teaching techniques or lose all control.
These are the stresses which influence the physical realm of our profession. It is, by far, the most complex category, resulting in wide-ranging and interconnected morale issues. Classroom working conditions have changed, millennium technologies and new report card formats demand new skill sets. New curricula require that we reinvent and redevelop lesson plans. Budget cuts, cuts to support personnel, inadequate instructional materials, in French and English, have resulted in reduced resources. The threat of teacher testing affects us psychologically as we struggle with redefining our paradigm of teaching in the new millennium.
Daily interruptions, integration, differentiation all require an increased and more reflective practice which will focus pedagogical practices and further refine our daily work. Stress factors related to our students have a profound effect upon us: changing societal values, child poverty, inadequate parenting skills all bring teachers down and this, in combination with negative media reporting, seek to give some teachers little or no strength and belief in themselves as professionals. Some of these stressors are out of our control, which leaves us feeling powerless and open to undue internal and external pressure. Leaving these problems unresolved results in physical, emotional and health problems. It is in our best interests to determine which challenges require a personal change and which challenges could lead to renewal opportunities.
An article available on cyberspace asks the question: "So, you wanted to teach?" and goes on to list the duties and obligations of teachers in this millennium: instill a love of learning, pride in their ethnicity, modify disruptive behaviour, observe them and report for sign of abuse, teach patriotism, good citizenship, sportsmanship and fair play, how to balance a check book and how to apply for a job. Those in elementary positions must also collect hot dog money, send home homework for the two-week holiday the family is planning and check that planners are signed by parents and that homework has been completed.
We are to fight the war on smoking, drugs and STDs, diagnose and remedy antisocial behaviour, write recommendations for employment and scholarships, encourage cultural diversity while respecting all religious and socioeconomic groups. We are to maintain certification, pursue higher learning and create a collaborative culture in which student test scores are improved and performance standards are increased.
In the past, most teachers have been able to manage the changes in education and in their personal and professional lives. Unfortunately, the increased pace of change in this the Information Age, inadequate time and resources to facilitate the traditional professional development in conjunction with an increasingly complex body of knowledge has meant that there are many barriers to professional growth. With increasing numbers of illnesses, including stress and burnout, teachers must take action to help themselves deal with demands and to prepare themselves for future change. The only thing we can depend upon is change and change we must to remain current and to develop more effective schools. Burke (2000) likens school change to juggling. Every year poses a new challenge, should we rise to it. The danger lies in giving up and dropping the balls. He says that keeping it fresh (p.12) means continuing to learn.
Andy Hargreaves calls for a recognition of the paradoxes of educational change.
Stronger orientation to the future creates greater nostalgia for the past.
Traditional Professional Development activities (Falls, 2001) will not meet our needs. No longer do staffs benefit from Professional Development days which allowed them to collaborate in a school, to sit down and reflect on their professional practices and their curriculum. In the past schools have invited professionals in to help develop better learning strategies and thereby gain access to others techniques that will further expertise and develop competence. This traditional "sit & git" (Fleming, 2000) workshop practice has been much more difficult to enact, inadequacies of the strategy aside. As much as we encourage our students to grow, we must continue to empower teachers to learn and grow, to continue to reflect and develop a culture of change which systematically improves our the quality of our teaching.
McChesney & Hertling (2000) found that the key to comprehensive school reform is in giving staff the choice problems to solve. Their researchers found that change is implemented more effectively when schools are ready for reform, when it is not handed down from above and teachers have a hand in the design of research strategies. It is through teacher learning that we can support student learning to ensure success by connecting theory and practice (Darling-Hammond, 1998).
Spady & Marshall (1991, p.67) state that Transformational Outcome-Based Education strategies empower schools to restructure themselves.
They believe that
Spady & Marshall (1991, p.67) go on to say that our systems need "new theoretical and operating paradigms" to ensure that schools become more successful. All this is true of Action Research. Not all teachers have the same needs in the area of professional development. Successful teachers become empowered and take responsibility for their professional practice. Not all teachers learn in the same ways, to the same extent and not all schools are successfully controlling conditions of learning on behalf of staff and students. It is through Professional Learning Communities that we will be able to integrate new research and pedagogical strategies, in order to be able to integrate the complex realities of what we do. Covey (1990) says the synergy is the crowning achievement of all the habits of highly effective people. It is in collaboration that we can build a team, create unity and harmony and fulfill Maslow's needs for security, love, belonging and acceptance. Goleman, (1998) purports that it is only through using our Emotional Intelligence and working smarter to look after our emotional needs in the workplace, that Information-Age workers will make it through these demanding times. Covey (1990) stresses that one must learn to be proactive and recognize that our Areas of Concern cannot demand all of one's energies but that one must focus on the Areas of Influence and put our time and energy into areas in which you can be successful and make a difference.
Sustaining school change requires an infrastructure which will develop policies, practices, communication mechanisms, support structures that will identify, research and change dysfunctional practices ( Moffett, p.35, 2000). Creative communications networks of stakeholders to share ideas and discourse and share information to teach lessons about professional development are required in order to facilitate sustained change in school systems. We must nurture professional communities to build a culture of change into a system.
Strategies for professional growth and support can be both formal and informal, facilitated and independently created within a particular school. It is our peers who may be able to sympathize most, as well as know us and our students and community best; however, this is not enough. Yet, Ray et al (1985) has demonstrated that a school-based support group, in which teachers meet, share best practices and failures, will not relieve stress. This study evaluated stress before and after the creation of support group networks, facilitated by university staff. They found that little stress and burnout was relieved simply be talking about what is wrong with daily teaching practices. These groups shared concerns, gave each other support and shared innovations yet this sessions did not foster higher self-esteem, reduce stress-related symptoms nor improve teaching practices. They found that already depressed staff brought less depressed staff down and they hypothesized that there is a "contagion effect" (p. 13) that occurred. Talking about innovative ideas did not lead to the reduction of stress and improved perceptions of teaching practices.
It is through action research that teachers can control the direction and pace of their development (Bencze & Hodson, 1998).Teachers must learn to critically reflect on their teaching practices, to find an approach and develop or refine good curriculum design, rather than simply reenacting curriculum because it's always been done in this manner. Bencze & Hodson (1998) cite emancipatory research in which we document current practices, reflect on this practice, revise schemes, document and reflect again, enables teachers to create, stimulate and create sustainable change through fundamental explorations of practices and philosophy. Teachers must reflect on their beliefs, attitudes, skills and values, no more than we demand of our students, in order to develop an expertise and to answer the questions of what we do, why we do it and how we do it.
This is a constructivist approach to professional learning, constructing meaning of one's practices, in which teachers are establishing their own compelling questions. It results in developing improved work habits and take control of the moving sidewalk we are on. If teachers can balance the pressures of reform, and transfer knowledge and skills to their daily practices, they can control, rather than resist change. Piaget, and other constructivists, have theorized that by assimilating and accommodating new ideas into the framework of our understanding that we can engage learners.
An old Chinese proverb:
Tell me, I'll forget.Show me and I may remember.
Involve me and I'll understand.
This is the rationale for what it is that teachers must do: develop a strong, research-based, professional framework to construct a knowledge base that will enable us to understand and critically examine our thinking. It is in this approach that we provide teachers with opportunities to develop new strategies that construct the foundation of our belief systems and our practices..
Financial and moral support for classroom teachers has been fractured at best. In this, the Information Age, with the increasingly complex body of knowledge and our changing society, traditional Professional Development activities (Falls, 2001) will not meet our need for change. Gardner (1999) purports that it only through using our Emotional Intelligence, working smarter to look after our emotional needs in the workplace, that Information-Age workers will make it through these demanding times. Covey (1989) concludes that it is only through interdependence that we will realize effectiveness and become proactive, rather than reactive to stress.
These demands on our energies inhibit intellectual growth and renewal and prevent us from moving away from perceiving our work as an unbearable burden (Rud, 1992). It is important to develop ourselves holistically, just as we must focus on the whole child. Rud also points out that by developing pedagogical content and knowledge we will develop personal qualities of intellect and attitude that will carry us through these aforementioned morale busters. Swick (1980) sees the solutions which include intrapersonal growth, formation of growth situations, development of previous skills,the formation of a more effective teaching style and improved well-being.
Leithwood et al (2001) believe that certain factors must be thoughtfully reflected upon in order to facilitate professional learning: school culture, strategies of support, school structure and environment. Meaningful reforms must come from within a school culture which fosters organized, documented growth strategies. Many teachers self-evaluate but collaborative growth comes from documenting strategies, evaluating them clearly and carefully, and to deliberate with colleagues for reflection purpose.
Conditions that foster organizational learning include collaborative environments which include opportunities for staffs to develop a strong sense of purpose and collective responsibility. If one can create a cohesiveness from motivation, we can create continuous professional growth. In a strongly developed sense of purpose teachers are more likely to develop and think deeply about assumptions presumed to be true, but unproven. If staffs can create restructuring that is meaningful, school change will be deeper and longer lasting. Many school Boards have experienced turbulence from demands placed on them from top-down organizations. Governments, change, policies and standards are refined and yet that which remains the same is that teachers will still be teaching, principals will still be supervising them.
Managing, leading and instructing teachers has traditionally been the mandate of school Boards but many are promoting an awareness of how much the staffs must take responsibility for professional growth.System colleagues, principals, Board Professional Development Staff, the universities, and the Federations, (Falls, 2001) both Local and Provincial must work together to ensure that teachers' professional development needs are met. Many School Boards have developed mentoring programs (OCETF, 2001). Strong leadership leads to more effective teaching and student learning. Good leadership leads to good teaching, which leads to greater student achievement (Blase & Kirby, 2000).
The staff room is often the first avenue of support. We can engage in reflective practice, become members of a collaborative team in order to promote team thinking and to create a synergistic environment which nourishes reflective practices. The staff room has increasingly become a place where teachers vent and problem solve but we need to formalize the process. Teachers create quality schools.
Moffett (2000) says that we must create a professional community in a school to balance reform with high quality staff will to undertake PD and enact sustainable change. Policies and mandates do not create quality schools. Many Boards have developed effective Peer Coaching and Mentoring programs (Falls, 2001) which create an environment in which reflective brainstorming takes place. It is not enough to meet regularly and discuss issues. There must be reflective practices facilitated by those interested in coherent reform and to provide the energy for professional learning.
The teacher testing debate rages, but are we teaching to the test? The former CBE created a Supervision for Growth strategy that developed a plan for professional development, many teachers have reported that their supervision has not been completed and is more than a year overdue. Cruickshank & Haefele (2001) believe that testing has resulted from a push to describe the competent teacher, to create criteria and data which will quantitatively assess objective evaluations of teacher performance. They cite research which finds that in the early years,the first half of the 20th century, schools, school districts and colleges "cranked out" checklists and rating scales to score such traits as professional attitude, understanding of students, creativity, control of class, planning, individualization and pupil participation. Unfortunately, these subjective standards were unclear and subject to interpretation. A great deal has been written about professional portfolios and how, through Action Research, teachers can improve and document professional research and professional practices and growth strategies. It is through portfolios that teachers can demonstrate competence, collect artifacts, reflect on past present and prepare for future endeavours (Painter, 2001). Painter goes further to say that with this kind of feedback we can develop better professional practice, not simply test and collect data on teacher performance. This process creates a climate of collaborative venturing into best practices , goal setting and reflection on the part of the researcher, allowing an open-ended process that connects gaps between beliefs and practices. Artifacts include student work, lesson plans, professional awards, communications between home and school, personal reflections, including philosophy of education, critiques of lessons, reflective contemplation of previous work and the growth that has ensued. As with behaviour management strategies, these reflective collaborative efforts will support the experienced teacher struggling with change and help the inexperienced teacher to set manageable goals and to attack one problem at a time in a manageable fashion.
Who is best to help define your needs, your interests and your problems other than your principal who would know you, your school, your students and your teaching style best? Principal leaders formerly had open door policies and an available ear for problem solving opportunities. With increasing demands of paperwork, meetings and other administrative demands, including coordinating the downloading of tasks handed to individual schools, they have less time to provide support. Principals in successful schools work at the connectedness of staff, they know that "fragment, overload, and incoherence are endemic problems" in schools. (Fullan, 1999)
Heck (1990) reports that principal time and attention as they are clarifying, coordinating and communicating a school vision, leads to school achievement, not the traditional clinical supervision of teachers. Principals can influence by expecting a vision and particular attitudes and behaviours. Hargreaves & Fullan (1992 )believe that it is too much to expect that Principals and Vice Principals by themselves can transform the culture of a school. Their vision is to see every teacher as leader.
Blase & Kirby (2000) include initiative, confidence, tolerance for ambiguity, analytic abilities, resourcefulness, vision, democratic participation styles, listening skills, problem-centeredness, openness, high expectations of staff, knowledge of the curriculum and the ability to locate resources as being signs of strong school leadership. The Ontario Principal's Association has found a turnover rate of between 50 and 55% in administration in the past three years (Funston, 2000). Some boards have developed Principal mentorship programs in order to increase the learning curve of a newly appointed group of inexperienced leaders.
Principals, as managers, are experiencing an incredible downloading of responsibilities and many are overwhelmed by the paperwork (Cram, 2000). 75% of school principals in the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board have less than three years experience as principals, while 25% of their teachers had less than a year's experience (OCETF, 2000).
With these kinds of turnover rates and the level of inexperienced leadership, principals are hard-pressed to keep up with new curriculum, meetings and paperwork. There is little time for him or her to familiarize with the culture of a school. Hargreaves & Fullan (1992) warn against principals driving premature changes that interrupt and are insensitive to the culture of a school. They counsel teachers to have patience and take ownership of change opportunities.
Davis & Wilson (2000) found that teacher empowerment has included giving teachers decision making powers, which increases their job satisfaction. They profess that according to their research, principal behaviours which encouraged this empowerment explained a 14 percent variable in teacher motivation.
Judith Azzara (2001) is a recently retired principal who now mentors new principals. It is her theory that it is the "principal who takes time to pat a teacher on the back or to dry the eyes of a frightened child is the most effective leader." Education, she says, must focus on the people and the school community, not paperwork and new technology. This is the heart of education.
It is possible to be creative and take risks to empower school staffs to create time for collaboration. Principals can arrange common preparation periods during which teachers can plan and can collaborate in research projects. Monthly assemblies are another opportunity for common time. For example a principal can arrange to have 1/3 of the staff involved in Action Research, another third supervising students and a final third are creating a new theme for an assembly for the next month. It is not a program that can be forced upon staff but this strategy will create a method, mindset and motivation for collaborative networks. A shared vision of a quality schools.
Another avenue of teacher support is senior staff and Board personnel. The Ottawa Carleton Board of Education (Dempsey, 2001) boasts that 6200 staff attended workshops last year. Of all the workshops, 70 % were conducted on personal time. How many professions demand that employees be accountable, change their tools and technology, the very paradigms of their profession every few years, and expect pay for Professional Development with their own time and money? School Boards have withdrawn traditional resource supports in Board offices, support personnel who write curricula and provide training to teachers. Teachers must increasingly face a long day in the school, a hurried rush to prepare for the next day, only to rush off to a traditional Board-sponsored workshop, perhaps which may or may not include the support an individual teacher is seeking.
Rud (1992, p. 45) suggests that most educational reforms assume that there is a deficiency, not a strength, in educational systems, hence the demand for reforms. He sees teachers primarily as learners and inquirers in a continuous renewal of education and exploration. We are beyond simply understanding learning expectations, we must have pedagogical content knowledge in order to apply best available methods and strategies to allow for uninhibited growth.
It is up to senior staff to facilitate Action Research collaborations by creating supervision for growth strategies that incorporate the results of Action Research into professional practice. Senior staff must support professional growth strategies, which, while encouraging risk-taking, encourage teachers to glean the best possible practices and incorporate them into their daily practice. They can encourage principals to creatively develop authentic research projects which will encourage teachers to reach out, to teach from a position of strength and competence.
Some initiatives on the part of Federations have included:
Bascia (1998) says that it is up to the Federations to create new strategies to empower teachers on a level which is as yet unseen. We have seen that cut backs and other ramifications of Bill 160, have resulted in teaching staff with little or no reason to obtain to further professional development since many non-classroom resource positions have been cut. (Bascia, 1998)
The British Columbia Teacher's Federation (2001) cites three reasons why Teacher Unions should become involved in Action Research
The perception of Teachers' Federations has changed. In the past it was possible to stand apart from traditional union bosses who were perceived as political animals. When Federations changed from being representative of teachers and as they become more reactive in responding to top-down change, especially with cutbacks and further erosion of teacher morale, teachers have become proactive in their fight for fair working and teaching conditions. Federations have traditionally fought for the rights of teachers but they have also delivered Professional Development opportunities, counseling services, team building activities but grassroots change is in the making. New teachers are not familiar with how long and hard Federations have fought for the right to have pensions, maternity and paternity leave, and other financial rights. There is an increasing apathy on the part of young teachers (BCTF, 2001) who do not see the need for Federations and unions. Federations can provide a continuum of services for teachers which range from lobbying the government and reacting to political changes, to creating professional learning opportunities for its members.
There is a big role that the Federations could play in ensuring that teachers are developing to their potential and rising to the challenge of the new reforms. With the facilitation of Action Research, Unions could ensure that stressed teachers are receiving the kinds of professional development that will develop them as professional learners and create a climate for change that will improve teaching strategies and styles and thereby lower stress levels. This kind of research could relieve busy Union leaders who spend much time in counseling situations, helping teachers find stress relief by empowering them to find creative, research-based solutions to classroom problems.
The teacher can be trained, through Union support and union support staff and services, to become an Action Researcher, capable of identifying personal and professional investigations into their teaching practices, instruction, assessment strategies, student response patterns, use of time, classroom organization AEL, (2000), then s/he is empowered to resolve the dilemma that is the paradigm of teaching in the new millennium.
It has been seen that with cuts to professional leadership opportunities, it is often the Federations which hold the only avenue for leadership training (Bascia, 1998). The Federations, concerned with burnout and fatigue (Lemon, 2000) could be another organization which would facilitate Action Research. Numerous Federations provide counseling, support and awareness of teacher's rights and responsibilities but much more can be done to create a collaborative network of teachers seeking help for similar problems. Collaborative Action Research groups can be formed, using Federation offices and support staff, to revisit Professional Development by giving the space and wherewithal to form supportive networks of like-minded researchers. Many Federations currently provide traditional "sit & git" (Fleming, 2000) workshops but much more can be done to provide an opportunity for teachers to develop professionally by giving them control over their learning needs.
Teacher unions have always awarded bursaries and prizes to those who excel in their profession. Unions have rewarded exemplary practices. It is time we chose to create exemplary practices through the creation of Action Research grants which will encourage the dissemination of best practices. In a thoughtful paper (BCTF, 2001) states three identifying principles which form the basis for constructive critiques of curriculum and implementation of new assessment strategies.
Such a framework will provide a cohesive strategy and a solid platform from which unions may discuss and debate school change and better lobby for solid research-based initiatives which will improve the educational system. Currently, school change appears to assist those who have political agendas which drive financial cutbacks to education. This form of collaborative effort would shift unions from a defensive mode to a critically reflective mode in which public perceptions would provide increased support.
Unions would have to develop committees for research studies with representatives dedicated to the monitoring and facilitating of Action Research. Unions will be able to create libraries of information, to disseminate authentic learning opportunities which will further the information available to the classroom teacher. Partnerships would be more likely with School Boards which could provide the materials and resources necessary to maintain positive change in this climate of increasing stress and workloads. Traditionally, Professional Development has been the mandate of the School Board, delivered in the traditional lecture format. It is an initiative that has been lacking in most areas of the public and private sector. It is costly and may or may not be effective in creating new strategies and implement new initiatives. Solid Action Research opportunities allow for risk-taking and failures. There must be an understanding and tolerance on the part of stakeholders, including trustees and senior staff and taxpayers to allow teachers to take these kind of risks. By undertaking research opportunities Unions and School Boards working collaboratively can create a data base of teacher-focused resources and materials. This information will relieve burdened teachers and create an environment for positive school change. Our goal should be to create research-based effective teaching practices, rather than the apparent government agendas of tax cuts, be our sole motivation for school change.
I have attempted to show that through Action Research teachers can be empowered to take control of the moving sidewalk and take responsibility for their own learning. There are many stakeholders who are able to create Action Research opportunities but it is ultimately up to the teacher to require, create and demand such opportunities. In a brainstorming session a cohort of teachers and administrators created a list of ways and means by which stakeholders could support Action Research in our schools. They are summarized below.
Traditionally teachers and the government have had an adversarial relationship. In the best interests of our students to begin a new relationship for the new millennium. No one can work alone and all stakeholders must become involved in creating quality schools. Funding cuts in education and health care has resulted in a further stressed system in which no one's needs are being met. We cannot fund a system based on a per capita funding formula. Students have needs for equipment, support systems and experienced professionals to help them acquire the best education possible.
It is possible that the Ontario College of Teachers (OTC) could provide the kinds of services that all their members require. The OTC cannot provide workshops and in-service opportunities that will assist a diverse population of teachers in developing individual needs and create learning opportunities for all segments of the teaching profession.
As is the case with their unions, support staff and released officers are experiencing an increased workload as they are hard-pressed to provide counseling to members ( Drope, 2000). Teachers are stressed. Morale is plummeting and student's needs are not served by harried education workers.
As is true with public education for students, Universities budgets have been severely cut back. Those who may most be able to assist us in practicing Action Research and creating professional learning opportunities have limited time, energy and budgets to provide assistance.
Traditionally, parents have been teacher's most consistent and strident supporters. Teachers have received continuing support from parents who know what it is that education workers do best: provide opportunities for growth and learning in the classrooms of our nations. Most parents indicate in Board surveys that they are pleased with what it is that their students are doing in the classrooms. Most parents understand that research provides opportunities for further growth and learning in the classroom.
As is usual, most of us focus on what is wrong, not with what may be improved, nor on what has been done well. Most teachers have coped well with an increasingly divergent, unpredictable and hard to serve population. A few teachers, who are in the headlines, have not. The media needs to reward excellence and focus on the positives, not find headlines in failure. A bumper sticker created by a Teacher's Federation reads: "If you can read this thank a teacher! "
An increased sense of agency (Fullan, 1999) will halt the further erosion of teacher morale. Those who care about education must find ways and means to empower themselves to learn and grow, rather than allow skills to remain stagnant (Newman, 1998) and face our classrooms with an uncertainty of vision and an unclear purpose. Reforms that have the least effect on schools are those laid down by policy makers and senior staff who know little about the collegiality and collaboration possible in a school and know little about the personal and professional issues teachers face on a daily basis (Tyack & Cuban, 1995). It is up to the teacher to determine which stressors are the most problematic and find solutions to these problems. This is the strength in Action Research: it can involve all stakeholders in creating a collaborative learning environment which will lead to continued professional growth, to reduce stress and increase the synergy reflected by Action Research opportunities in our schools (Covey, p. 83, 1989) (Bencze & Hodson, 1998).
Action Research is a practical way to test new ideas and participate in PD that goes beyond traditional in-service. It is not a goal to which many teachers aspire. Teachers, many untrained in Action Research, require some facilitation and training in establishing their needs and priorities and professional development.
All stakeholders must be involved. Increasingly, our role as lifelong learners will give us opportunities to create collaborative, creative work environments in which teachers and students can achieve a sense of control. Acting as a classroom leader encompasses not only teaching specific content and mentoring students in the love of learning, but functioning as front line social workers, parents, priests and psychologists. Teachers must choose to refine teaching practices, indeed demand resources and seek research opportunities.
Critical reflection is crucial to creating the kind of working environment that will encourage teachers, principals and senior staff to take risks, to dare to dream and create real change through authentic research opportunities. Teachers, like students, are not empty vessels to be filled with outdated or unproven teaching strategies. How much more creative we will be if we learn to collaborate and create reflective learning opportunities in an embracing environment? The possibilities are endless and the opportunities empowering. We become active, reflective, lifelong learners, carefully considering our philosophy of education with like-minded professionals.
It is time for a whole new mindset. It is time for teachers to realize that help comes from within. The answers in choosing creative growth and professional learning opportunities.
Teachers must dare to dream. Teachers must dare to take risks and create a vision for the future. Our students depend upon us.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On-line Action Research bibliography. Action Research
Wadsworth, Y. (1998) What is Participatory Action Research? Action Research International, Paper 2. Available on-line.
This
work is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Canada License.
Feel free to link to it!
[ Jennifer Jilks | Other articles | Last updated: July 24/03 ]