Widening horizons - сhanging mind sets of teachers
In this Toolkit, we have been discussing how teaching and learning are changing. In order to maximise the benefits, learners should be able to obtain the most appropriate skill sets and qualifications. The individual examples we have collected from Partner Countries and through the success stories, the policy initiatives in Europe and international studies show that these changes are already part of today’s realities. It is possible to provide real-time information about changing skills needs, tools for managing individual career opportunities have been developed, and individuals can get more flexible blended learning opportunities. This will help them develop their competences in different settings, whether learning in classrooms, at home, with colleagues, in work places or through projects, taking account of the learners’ experience. However, these changes are not yet commonplace. Most teachers still spend most of their time on traditional group teaching. The question therefore is, how can we widen the horizons of all teachers, and help them make the transformation to these new approaches to teaching and learning?
Research carried out by Cedefop (2012; 2016) and the OECD (2017; 2019) shows that the introduction of competence-based approaches to the curriculum design does not lead to the expected changes in outcomes for learners, if teachers and learners fail to change their behaviours.
International practice demonstrates that it does not work to oblige all teachers to change, through compulsory training sessions in which they are told how they are expected to act in the new setting. Attitudinal change needs to preceed functional training, and training needs to be focused on learning. Professional development is about adapting teachers’ behaviour (concept of change) and improving learning processes (concept of instruction). A concept of improvement that explains how the professional development programme influences the behaviour of teachers, and how this changes learning processes, is necessary to focus the professional development intervention.
The idea is to start with widening a professional’s mindset, from restricted, i.e. relying heavily on existing experience to face new situations, to extended. This means giving them the information they need to adopt a rational approach to new situations, supported by theoretical underpinnings of practices, and experiences of colleagues at home or abroad. Old habits die hard, and teachers may have to unlearn old ways before they can learn new ways of teaching and learning. In order to minimise or eliminate resistance to change, it may be good to use colleagues to introduce the new concepts through peer-to-peer information sharing, meetings and email newsletters. This can help to set expectations, using recent experiences and new insights. The main principles of the future model should be well described, allowing the possibility to make contributions and improvements at grassroots level. The focus of these explanations is on what the new model for learning is about and how it could be implemented, rather than the why and when of planned reforms. If the focus is on why teaching and learning is inadequate and needs to change, and on how urgent these changes are, teachers are likely to feel provoked, and this can lead to attitudinal issues.
Instead of making teachers feel that they are the problem, they have to feel part of the solution. Explaining the reform in the context of future trends and developments is a necessary first step for teachers to understand how their own practices will be affected. Only if teachers perceive the need for change in their own practices will they be able to enter functional training. Teachers must have the space to relate reform elements to their own ideas.
Further reading:
- Cedefop (2012). Curriculum reform in Europe; The impact of learning outcomes. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
- Cedefop (2016). Application of learning outcomes approaches across Europe. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
- OECD (2017). Education 2030 – Curriculum analysis: Literature review on managing time lag and technology in education.
- OECD (2019). TALIS 2018 Results (Volume I) Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners. Paris: OECD Publishing.
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