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Asia-Pacific Forum
on Science Learning and Teaching, Volume 12, Issue 1, Article 4 (Jun., 2011) |
The establishment of professional learning communities influenced these science teachers’ to engage in their learning. The process increased these teachers’ confidence with collaborative activities which they found created supportive ways for addressing improvements in their teaching practices. Moreover, it appears as though participants also felt more comfortable in exploring their own problems regarding their own practice and needs through this process of job-embedded learning. Through collaborative work with their colleagues they felt supported in establishing their commitment to their students’ learning. They became committed to finding the gaps or mismatches between their teaching and their students’ learning and making decisions about the challenges they faced regarding develop their practice.
Participant teachers also found themselves accountable for identifying issues to discuss with their colleagues. The process also motivated and created a results-oriented approach that gave them direction in terms of building a collective commitment to a shared vision which in turn fostered their shared mission. Moreover, the collaborative activities through the intervention process influenced participant teachers to think in terms of supporting change in their culture of professional practice. Participant science teachers found the collaborative aspects of the process as positive for enhancing their practice. They also expressed their commitment to continue these activities. So it could be helpful to think about professional development programs that could support these activities in schools in terms of resources rather developing didactic professional development programs that have little impact on teachers’ practice and are poorly regarded by participants.
These results then ultimately carry implications for these teachers’ own professional learning, science teachers’ practice and school administration in secondary schools in Bangladesh more generally, and pre and in-service education for secondary science teachers.
I would like to thank Professor John Loughran, Dean, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia and Associate Professor Amanda Berry, Monash University, Australia for providing their valuable time for this study.
