A Management Practicum Programme in Teacher Education: From Teacher To Teacher-Leader
A Management Practicum Programme in Teacher Education: From Teacher To Teacher-Leader
A Management Practicum Programme in Teacher Education: From Teacher To Teacher-Leader
ISSN 2164-4063
2014, Vol. 4, No. 3
Eti Gilad
Faculty of Education, Achva Academic College
POB Shikmim 79800, Israel
Mobile: 052-3969418 E-mail: [email protected]
Abstract
This study aims to characterise the unique elements of a Management Practicum Programme in
teacher education and to explore how the programme enables pre-service teachers to study the
school as an educational organisation as part of their development as teacher-leaders. The
study was conducted in a qualitative approach. The participants were 17 pre-service teachers
learning for a B.Ed. in the Department of Education SystemsManagement at an academic
college of education in Israel. A qualitative-interpretive content analysis of 34 reflective
diaries, syllabus of the Department of Education System Management and a syllabus of
Management Practicum Programme was performed. The results illustrate unique elements of
the programme which allowed the pre-service teachers to study school as a dynamic and
complex educational organisation. No longer class-teachers but teacher-leaders who perceive
their role,their class and school in a systemic approach, leading towards pedagogical growth
and preparing their pupils as value-oriented and educated graduates.
1. Introduction
The issue of school leadership lies at the core of the public and academic debate and
preoccupies researchers and educators (Avolio, 2007; Crowther et al., 2009; Inbar, 2009; Levi,
2009; Oplatka, 2010). Various theories and approaches which have developed in the field of
educational leadership enhance the need for developing teachers' leadership combined with
developing head teachers' leadership (Cuban, 2010; Katz et al., 1998). There is an increasing
number of studies dealing with the development of teachers as effective pedagogical leaders as
a structured strategy in teaching and learning processes in an era of changes and reforms
(Bangs & Frost, 2012; Frost, 2012; Muijs & Harris, 2006). Teacher-leaders who might improve
the quality of their teaching, lead the school towards pedagogical growth and prepare their
pupils as value-oriented and educated human beings who are optimally integrated in society
and the labour market (Harrison & Killion, 2007; Schleicher, 2012; Sergiovanni, 2002). The
research assumption is that the school leadership comprises also the teachers and that leaders
play a key role in decentralising authorities and developing leaders among the school teachers
(Crowrther, 2001; Crowther et al., 2002; Frank, 2013). This study explored the elements of a
Management Practicum Programme and its input to pre-service teachers (hereunder –
"students") in the context of school leadership.
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2. Theoretical background
2.1 Teacher-leaders
There are worldwide education programmes for head teachers based on the belief that school
leadership is one of the elements of school effectiveness. Some researchers argue that it has the
second most important effect on pupils' learning, after the quality of teaching in class (Angelle,
2010; Frank, 2013; Leithwood et al., 2006). In addition to head teachers as leaders, researchers
attribute importance to the development of teachers as educational leaders and initiators(Blasé
& Blasé, 2006; Hunzicker, 2012; Poekert, 2012). We witness more and more the growing
awareness of developing teachers as leaders who shape their pupils' learning processes. The
teachers are the formal and major leaders in the class and they represent the education system,
its values and goals. Teachers' leadership cannot be undermined and they are the ones who
affect the class climate and class management (Danielson, 2006; Goleman, Boyatzis &McKee,
2002).
Bart (2011) argues that teachers who become leaders might experience a personal and
professional satisfaction, lower level of isolation, a sense of instrumentality and new learning.
Such teachers will invest at school rather than be mere residents and they will turn into
professionals. Furthermore, a study of teachers' leadership which was conducted in Britain
(Muijs & Harris, 2006), indicates that teachers' leadership empowers the teachers themselves
and improves the school. These researchers maintain that a variety of conditions such as a
culture of trust, support, strong school leadership and innovative professional development
programmes can constitute meaningful factors in the success of teacher-leaders at school.
Bottery (2005) and Bryk & Schneider (2002) stipulate that head teachers' trust in their teachers
is one of the essential elements in the process of empowering teachers as teacher-leaders.
Researchers in Australia (Crowther et al., 2002) advocate acknowledgement of teachers as
meaningful factors in permanent change processes at school. According to these researchers,
teachers' leadership is a transformative process which can assist in leading the school and in
introducing reforms. In a process of pro-active cooperation, head teachers can share the
leadership with the teachers, be assisted by the teachers' creativity and together lead the school
to success. Carter (2011) refers to the head teacher-teacher cooperative work as a 'parallel
leadership', underscoring their mutual respect while benefitting from the teachers' advantages
in the school leadership.
In the United States, the educational organisation Teacher Leadership Exploratory Consortium
(2010) published a model which defines the knowledge, competences and capabilities which
teacher need in order to undertake leadership functions. The standards focus on seven aspects
which describe what teacher-leaders do: (1) nurture a collaborative culture in order to support
the development of educators and the pupils' learning; (2) use research in order to improve the
practice and the pupils' learning; (3) promote professional learning for continuing
improvement; (4) facilitate improvements in teaching and pupils' learning; (5) enhance the use
of assessments and data for upgrading the school and the district; (6) provide better systematic
assistance services to the families and the community as well as promote the collaboration
between them and the school; and (7) support pupils' learning and the teaching profession.
These seven aspects highlight the goals and achievement of the report published by the
researcher group, while focusing on knowledge systems, competences and elements which
form the teachers' leadership.
Similarly, the researchers Harrison &Killion (2007) argue that teacher can be teacher-leaders,
proposing ten varied ways for achieving the success of the pupils and the school: (1) share
teaching resources; (2) help colleagues to implement effective teaching strategies; (3) focus
standards and assessments related to the curriculum; (4) teach in class with acceptance and
support; (5) lead a professional community; (6) mentor new teachers; (7) share the
development of the school vision and be partners to the school initiatives and activities; (8)
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assist colleagues to analyse and use the information in order to support the teaching; (9) strive
to achieve constant improvement; (10) learn and develop as part of the perception of life-long
learning in order to support the teaching and the learning. Data of the OECD (Schleicher, 2012)
depict a comprehensive picture which is prevalent in the different countries on the topic of
developing school leadership and preparation for the 21st century. According to these data, the
changes which transpire in society have far-reaching implications for teachers and teaching
and learning processes as well as for school leadership. We need to re-think and re-define the
teachers' role and responsibility as well as teachers' professional development as a continuing
learning designed to enhance pupils' attainments.
2.2 Syllabus of the Department of Education Systems Management at the college
The main goal of the Department of Education Systems Management is to develop teachers'
leadership in class and at school and to ensure the mobilisation and education of teachers for
management positions in formal and informal education systems. A follow-up of the
development processes of the education system in Israel illustrates that today teachers are
required to cope with social and educational challenges which are more complex than in the
past. Hence, there is a growing need to develop teachers as leaders capable of identifying their
work environment and harness its powers in order to actualise the educational vision and the
pedagogical performance.
During their studies at the college, the students get acquainted with a wide variety of
philosophies, theories, approaches and theoretical models. Moreover, they experience and
practice competences and techniques designed to help them to translate and bridge between
theory and practice. The staff of the Department of Education Systems Management believes
that the education system including schools should be a dynamic organisation which can trace
new trends and adapt themselves to changing demands.
The key idea which orients the syllabus of the department is: developing students as
autonomous people with a systemic view and developing teachers as leaders in their classroom
who can identify the pupils' needs, leading them to learning and empowerment processes. The
studies inculcate competences which should help the graduating students to trace and raise the
human and intellectual capital of their organisation as well as the economic, political and
cultural resources of their environment. Then they can channel them to constant growth, while
upgrading the quality of the processes which they manage both at the class level and the
organisation level (Department of Education Systems Management, 2013).
2.3 Management Practicum Programme
The goals of the programme are to teach in an analytical and experiential way the unique
characteristics of school as an educational organisation operating in a changing technological
environment; bridge between the theoretical knowledge and the applied knowledge with a
focus on the managerial and organisational issues; inculcate models and tools for studying the
school which functions in its social, cultural and political environment; provide tools for
identifying and tracing management styles of the head teacher and position holders at school;
discuss various issues emerging from the field in the context of school organisational culture;
develop the students' competences of critical reflection and systemic view; and teach
competences of reflection, teamwork and empowering dialogue among those attending the
programme.
The major subjects learnt in the programme are: the organisation as a system in an era of
change; the individual and the group; diagnosis and organisational development; change
processes; competences of systemic thinking; power and authority; coping with conflicts;
communication and dialogue channels; centralisation processes, decentralisation and
autonomy; and reflection processes.
The programme consists of three main parts: preparing the students to theirentryto school,
presenting the school profile with an emphasis on the managerial and organisational aspects of
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the head teacher and other position holders (towards the end of the 1st semester) and submitting
the applied project (at the end of the academic year). The learning processes underscore the
connections to theoretical courses which the students have attended during the first academic
years in the pathway. They allocate a central place to the group as a model of peer learning
while sharing information. During discussions conducted at the college the students raise
managerial issues following their visits at school. Moreover, there is a site which accompanies
the programme where learning materials, presentations and additional relevant materials are
available to the students (Gilad, 2010).
3. Methodology
3.1 Research methodology
This study was conducted by a qualitative approach and constitutes a case study. One of the
important advantages of the case study resides in its ability to provide insights about events in
the contexts and actual sites where they transpire. The case study is inductive since it presents
the data from the situation regardless of the assumptions. It facilitates expression of great
sensitivity, diagnosis and description of situations from different points of view (Shkedi,
2012).
3.2 Research population
This study was conducted for two years. The participants were 17 3rd-year students who studied
in the Management Practicum Programme within the framework of the B.Ed. in the
Department of Education Systems Management. They practiced one day per week from
0800-1400 at various schools: school in the Jewish and Arab sectors, elementary and high
schools as well as state and state-religious schools. The students attending this programme
participated also in practical work within the additional discipline they were studying.
3.3 Research tools
Data were collected from the following documents: reflective diaries written by the students,
syllabus of the Department of Education Systems Management and the syllabus of the
Management Practicum Programme. Every student wrote two diaries throughout the year, one
diary in each semester, a total of 34 student diaries. In the reflective diaries the students
documented events and situations of the school life and presented thoughts and impressions
during their visit at school or thereafter. The documentation in the diaries was mainly
facilitated by the students' encounter with four sources of information at school: a. talks with
the head teacher and other position holders; b. observations of the school space; c. learning of
documented materials found at school; and d. participation in social and pedagogical events.
3.4 Data processing
The data obtained from the various documents were content analysed as is customary in
qualitative research. The content analysis was performed at two levels: normative content
analysis in order to distinguish prominent trends and interpretive-qualitative content analysis
for the purpose of disclosing essences and comprehending various insights (Shkedi, 2012).
4.Findings
The findings emerging from the documents analysis illustrate unique components of the
programme and deep approach to learning of the school organisational culture and the head
teacher's role.
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4.1 Components of the Management Practicum Programme
The students studied the school as an educational organisation with an emphasis on three
stages: studying the school prior to their entry to it, diagnosing the school according to the
model they learnt in the programme and building an applied project for the development of
school.
Pre-entry to school
The pre-entry to school was the first stage in studying the school as an educational
organisation. At this stage the students studied the school from different sources such as:
school website, Ministry of Education website, personal or collective knowledge as well as
other kinds of knowledge. As part of the practice competences of the practicum programme,
the students trained at the college by means of role games and simulations as to the way they
should present themselves to the head teacher and what is their request.
At school: a school-based diagnosis
At the entry to school stage the students learnt models and theories and acquired tools and
competences for diagnosing the school. The first semester was mainly dedicated to the study of
organisational diagnosis models, putting an emphasis on three key stages: entry to school stage,
data collection stage and data analysis stage. The final product of these three stages was a
written organisational diagnosis report which focused on the organisational and managerial
aspects of school as an educational organisation.
Post study of school: school-based development
The second semester was devoted to the inculcation of tools for writing the applied project,
through a focus and in-depth learning of the project topic. In order to choosing the topic of the
project, the students were required to exercise professional judgments. For example: to what
extent is the project applicable? Who are the partners to the project implementation? Will the
project lead to objections on the part of the school staff and if it does, how does one deal with
it? And so on.
School vision: the practicum enabled the students to study and know the educational vision of
the head teacher and the school. They learnt to identify elements from the head teacher's
perception and belief and the extent to which these elements affect his or her role as head
teacher. For example: to what extent does the head teacher distinguish between educational
ideologies and valued-moral perceptions? How is the head teacher's credo manifested in the
school credo? How compatible are the head teacher's level of statements and level of action of
the head teacher?
Management style: the students identified and learnt about the head teachers' role and
connected it to models of management styles and manager types which they studied in the
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programme. For example: managementaccording to the scientific management approach,
inter-personal relations, loosely-coupled organisations, the X and Y theory.
Conflict settlement: the students were exposed to conflicts or crises which transpire at school
at the class or organisation level. They learnt about the nature of the conflicts, their reasons and
course and mainly about the way the conflict was managed by the head teacher.
Decision-making process: while observing the head teacher, the students studied his or her
decision-making process. Observation of and spending time with the head teacher taught the
students the following points: considerations of decision-making, obstacles in making
decisions, personal style of decision-making, compliance between the personal style and the
relation to the management and leadership style.
Budget management: the practicum enabled the students to be exposed to and get acquainted
with the principles of the head teacher's economic perception. The head teacher applies these
means when exercising economic, pedagogical and value-based judgments which are the basis
of decision-making at school. Moreover, the students confronted economic dilemmas facing
the head teacher as part of the education system which handles issues such as:
self-management in education, choice, opening registration districts andprivatisation.
Getting acquainted with school as an educational organisation
The programme gave the students an occasion to study theoretically and practically the school
organisational culture, emphasising the unique characteristics. Entry into school opened before
the students a window of opportunities and facilitated exposure to social, pedagogical,
political, economic, managerial and organisations aspects which are intertwined. The students
realised that additional processes transpire at school beyond the learning and teaching
processes. These additional processes, i.e. economic and managerial processes, affect and
shape the school organisational conduct. Moreover, the students comprehended that perceiving
school as a system facilitates coping with complexity and change.
School organisational structure
Being exposed to and studying the school organisational structure allowed students to obtain a
super-picture of age groups, classrooms and functional specialisation. After learning the
organisational structure, the students were capable of raising questions such as: what type of
organisational structure exists at school? What are the meanings and implications of an
organisational structure on the human activity at school? To what extent are the organisational
structure and the role definitions compatible? How does the role definition helps
accomplishments of the school targets? Are there relevant communication and coordination
mechanisms designed to solve problems?
Bridging between the theoretical knowledge and the applied knowledge
In fact the students do not experience in practice management and coordination roles.
However, the programme helped and encouraged them to connect the theoretical knowledge to
the managerial practice. The programme provided practicum while inculcating relevant and
updated theoretical knowledge from the field of management and of the organisation and the
translation thereof into managerial tasks at school.
Peer learning
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The success of the learning in the programme was based on synergetic connections formed
between the participants. These connections were essential for the programme professional
conduct and the growth of each of the students and the tutor. Studies during sessions at the
college offered peer leaning and built up an intimate educational community with shared goals
of the experience at school principles. The fact that the students were different one from the
other in their personality and professional profile, enhanced collective identification and
derived maximum benefit from the group members, side-by-side with difficulties stemming
from the heterogeneous composition of the group.
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active role in the school life, the school development and growth as an educational organisation
(Harrison & Killion, 2007; Schleicher, 2012).
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