Title: Supporting development by facilitation in action research
1Supporting development by facilitation in action
research
- Anette Olin, Karin Rönnerman
- Göteborg University, Sweden
- Rachel Jakhelln, Torbjørn Lund
- Tromsø University, Norway
2Teachersstatements on facilitation
- The facilitator has been very good
(knowledgeable, good listener, focused on the
topic). - Didn't know what the facilitation would contain
but came from every occasion with new thoughts
and insights in my rucksack.
3- Got good help to focus on what was important, to
narrow when work was sprawling. And to get going
when it felt tough got inspiration. - Very good for finding and keeping focus but still
get more angles of approaches and ways of
thinking.
4- Has been valuable to put words on what you are
working with and that others have been listening
and commenting. That the facilitator has
conducted/lead the developmental work forward. - The facilitator has asked questions that has made
me come up with solutions. Very learnable.
5Question to guide our analyses
- Can specific features/elements be discerned?
- What are the common features in the three cases?
- Can facilitation be understood by using different
rationalities?
6Case 1 Course in AR
- Start in practice
- Use experiences from practice
- Use theory and tools from social science
- View the workplace as a place for improvement
- Collaboration with others
- Learning and improvement goes hand in hand
7Two tracks
- Litterature/theory
- The idea and theoretical standpoints for AR
- Different perspectives of quality and development
- Action/Practical work
- Tools
- Analyse
- Documentation
- Facilitation
- Reflection(individual and collective)
8Theoretical knowledge Tools Analyse
Practical knowledge Questions Experiences
Action
9- Teachers in groups of eight
- Facilitation seven times during one year
- Four lectures during one year
- Carrying through a project
- Time for doing action research
- Present the project for other teachers in the
municipality
10Facilitating groups of teachers
- Elucidate the participants expectations on the
meeting - Be able to see different perspectives
- Use the journal in facilitating
- All participants have equal right to time and
room - Reflection
- Theory oriented
11 Facilitating Collegial knowledge
School improvement
Documentation Communicative knowledge
Journal writing personal knowledge
12Case 2Facilitating new Teachers up North
- Professional Qualification in the Tension between
Education and Work
13Background
- Critic of the teacher education
- what professionalism imply for teachers
- focused on isolated subjects, not seeing these as
an integrated part in the construction of a
teacher practise and a teacher identity - The new teachers experience a practice shock
- The schools are not concerned about caretaking of
newly certified teachers.
14Organization of the facilitation
- Attendance is optional
- The new teachers get a local mentor an
experienced colleague local guidance group - The school are facilitated by a supervisor from
one of the Teacher educations in the region - Guidance and facilitation in common
meetings/sessions among all the participants in
the region
15Distance to practice is shaped by
- Different meetings and guidance situations (new
new/ experienced experienced/ - new experienced teacher trainer)
- Writing papers based on practice experiences and
theoretical reflection (discussed in the
guidance) - Reading literature
- Professional discussions on the Internet
- All the participators, new as experienced, are
offered a 10 ECTS educational program
Professional development through experience and
guidance
16Experiences
- The structured meetings shapes both reflection
and action - Contribute to inclusion of the new teacher
- The experienced teacher are seeing her own
organisation in a new perspective - The different meetings strengthen the
participants
17Case 3 Action research through dialogue
conferences and networks
- More than 130 school leaders
- 4 communities (region)
- 4 researchers
- Period 2006-2009
- Action research based on
- -dialogue conferences and
- -network activities
18 Action learning Dialogue based Experience
based Networksoriented
Knowledgebuilding and action
Network meeting 1
Network meeting 2
Network meeting 3
2. Dialogue conference
3. Dialogue conference
4. Dialogue conference
Qualifying school leaders to handle the new
school reform (School development, Leadership)
19Basic ideas for conferences
- Oriented towards ideals for democratic
communication - Structured communication
20(No Transcript)
21 Basic activities during the conferences
Voices
Facilitator
Who meets?
About what?
Researcher vs practitioner Plenum(2 hours) Concepts Reflection on ongoing activity in the project, new concepts
Practitioner vs practitioner Heterogene (diff schools)groups(1 hour) Ideas and concepts Monitoring
Practitioners vs plenum Plenum (1 hour) Followed by questions Ideas and reflection Monitoring Discussant
Practitioner vs researcher Homogeneous schoolgroups (4-6 hours) Reflection Planning Facilitating in groups or networkgroups
22Dialogue conference as an arena for expanding
reflection
Structuring, focusing
writing
talking
reading
critical
perspectives
23- How are ideas from constructing
conferences/dialogues transformed into school
leaders practice? - How can this result in school development
according to the New School Reform in Norway?
24Action researchdialogue conferences
- Challenge 1
- How to handle the facilitors work in dialogue
conferences? - A ) as a program coordinator
- B) as a facilitator in smaller groups
- Challenge 2
- How to monitor the activity while at the same
time run the activity?
25Common features in the three cases
- Structured communication
- Supporting their school development
- Based on experiences from their ongoing projects
- Oriented towards democratic dialogues
- Facilitator - a model for facilitating
- Closeness distance - closeness
- Groups of teachers/school leaders
26Facilitation as
- Master-apprenticeship
- model creation
- instructive
- Mutual peer guidance
- Supporting
- Confirming
27Dimensions in facilitating
Technical rationality Communicative rationality Critical rationality
28Questions to discuss
- Other ways to analyze facilitating?
- Is facilitating in AR specific compared to
facilitating in general?