Why should teachers get excited about yet another system change, new idea or reform structure? Bruce Joyce, in his article, ‘How Are Professional Learning Communities Created? History Has a Few Messages’ (2004), asks ‘why should teachers go along with the consensus of the experts? After all, teachers have been subject to…some dreadful [efforts]’ (p. 81-82). Joyce reviews some past attempts at building professional learning communities and offers a few reasons why these attempts were incomplete and therefore failures. He expresses his need to review and learn from past attempts, in order to have our recent efforts at building these communities ‘work out well this time around’ (p. 77).
Teachers are fed up with all of the change. They are fed up because nothing ever seems to stick. Nothing sticks because these changes are often mandated from outside and disconnected from the teacher. Joyce, along with many others, offers a solution that involves collaborative inquiry and models this with the question: ‘[How can we] generate the means to ensure that effective school improvement is a lot more common and that more schools feel like – and indeed are – self-renewing organizations [?]’ (p.82).
We know that when students are involved in producing criteria and assessments they are more connected to their learning, motivated and clear about expectations. Why do we isolate teachers from decision-making and research processes? Aren’t teachers the people who know, most of all, what works and what doesn’t? If you take away teachers autonomy with mandated schemes and structures, you take away motivation by devaluing the good work teachers do everyday. We are just asking for people who are ‘mad as hell’ (p.82), with no motivation to self renew, because we have taken away the teacher’s ability to create an environment wherein they are intrinsically connected. I agree with Joyce completely when he expresses the fact that when teachers are part of an effective learning community, they will be able to create effective change.
Role of an effective leader
Joyce believes that the effective leader prepares the culture for teachers to be valued and respected. He points out that ‘Helping people gain knowledge and adopt new models of teaching or new curricula is not incompatible with fostering their independence as inquirers or valuing their experience’ (p.81). Not only is it not incompatible, it is essential to a leaders ability effect change. Valuing teachers, by fostering independence and including teachers in decision-making, is critical to successful education systems.
Discuss presentationReferences
Joyce, Bruce (2004). ‘How Are Professional Learning Communities Created? History Has a Few Messages’. In Phi Delta Kappan. September 2004, 76-83.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ms Catherine Neumann is the District Fine Arts Specialist for School District No. 74 (Gold Trail), in British Columbia, Canada. She is a teacher coach/mentor and resource person for Fine Arts Programs in all of the district’s elementary schools. The School District in British Columbia, Canada, is geographically large and serves the learning needs of approximately 1,800 students. Ms Neumann has a B.A. (English) and B.Ed. (Expressive Arts) in Music, Drama, Visual Arts and Movement. She is working on her Master’s degree in Leadership Studies at the University of Victoria.