Teacher Learning and Professional Growth Plans: Implementation of a Provincial Policy

Y

24

Foreign Countries; Collegiality; Professional Development; Interviews; Teaching Methods; Educational Planning; Qualitative Research; Principals; Superintendents; Educational Policy; Program Implementation; Teacher Attitudes; Administrator Attitudes

0882-1232

This qualitative study explored the implementation of a supervision policy that mandated teacher professional growth plans across the province of Alberta. That policy and the present study are situated within the larger question, How can supervisory policy and practice foster teacher learning and school improvement? Alberta teachers, principals, and superintendents in various jurisdictions were interviewed about their experiences, perceptions, and challenges in the implementation of these new growth plans. Reported benefits of growth plans included greater authenticity and teacher commitment to their own professional development; increased teacher focus, accountability, and collegiality; and teachers' self-affirmation. Still, significant concerns became apparent; they included the rather rigid linearity of goal-action planning in shaping teaching practice and knowledge development, the concern for trust and teacher confidence, the ever-present time squeeze, and what some informants believed to be unclear links between professional development goals and practice. Both teachers and administrators developed approaches to work through some of these tensions.

Author

2006

EJ732629