Theme 4

From O’Connell, P -- presentation on sustainability of PD

The work of Pam O'Connell has really resonated with me. It's all very well and good having effective professional learning, but often we neglect the long run. In her work she describes two key components of sustainable PL - self-regulation/cycles of inquiry and coherence. I've been doing some thinking about coherence and what I think O'Connell is getting at is that PL relate to what the school/teachers believe is effective learning.

Being part of the KEP programme, my school has done a bunch of PL around CR&RP. In terms of seeking coherence, there was some initial resistance and I think that was mainly due to the terminology used. If connected the aspects of CR&RP (KEP's version) with the 7 Principles of Learning as researched by the OECD. As you can see from the image below, there is quite a bit of 'coherence' and if PL is related back to these principles then it, according to O'Connell, more likely to be sustained.

I have also been reflecting on the importance of the relational aspect and how that impacts on professional learning. In a reading on Blended learning by Vaughan & Garrison (2006), they talk about Social Presence (see table below). Effective PL not only needs to pay attention to sustainability but also to the social interactions that learners (teachers) are having.

Bibliography

O’Connell, P. (2011). Coherence and Inquiry as Key Dimensions for Sustainability of Professional Learning. Learning Media.

O’Connell, P. (2012). Is Sustainability of Educational Reform an Article of Faith, or Can it be Deliberately Crafted? Presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada.

Vaughan, N., & Garrison, D. R. (2006). How blended learning can support a faculty development community of inquiry. Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks, 10(4), 139–152.