0 penilaian0% menganggap dokumen ini bermanfaat (0 suara)
35 tayangan7 halaman
A new book looks at how five countries acculturate their new teachers. Harry k. Wong, ted britton, and tom ganser offer a brief summary of findings. They say induction is a highly organized and compreh e n s I ve form of staff development.
A new book looks at how five countries acculturate their new teachers. Harry k. Wong, ted britton, and tom ganser offer a brief summary of findings. They say induction is a highly organized and compreh e n s I ve form of staff development.
A new book looks at how five countries acculturate their new teachers. Harry k. Wong, ted britton, and tom ganser offer a brief summary of findings. They say induction is a highly organized and compreh e n s I ve form of staff development.
A N EFFECTIVE teacher is perhaps the most im- portant factor in producing consistently high lev- els of student achievement. 1 Thus the profession must see to it that teachers are continually learn- ing throughout their careers, and that process be- gins with those newest to the profession. A new teacher induction program can acculturate those newcomers to the idea that professional learning must be a lifelong pursuit. A recent book edited by Ted Britton, Lynn Paine, David Pimm, and Senta Raizen provides a more detailed look at how five countries Switzerland, Japan, France, New Zealand, and China (Shanghai) ac- culturate their new teachers, specifically their science and mathematics teachers, and shape their entry into the profession. 2 In this article, we share a brief summary of the findings reported in that volume. The five countries studied provide well-funded support that reaches all beginning teachers, incorporates multiple sources of assistance, typically lasts at least two years, and goes beyond the imparting of mere survival skills. For example, in Switzerland, new teachers are involved in prac- tice groups, where they network to learn effective problem solving. In Shanghai, new teachers join a cul- t u re of lesson-preparation and teach- i n g - re s e a rch groups. New teachers in New Zealand take part in a 25-ye a r - old Advice and Guidance program that extends for two years. Lesson study groups are the mode in Ja p a n , while in France, new teachers work for an extended time with groups of peers who share experiences, practices, tools, and professional language. Be f o re we go into more detail about these programs, a basic definition of induction is in order. Induction is a highly organized and compre h e n s i ve form of staff development, invo l v i n g many people and components, that typically continues as a sustained pro c e s s for the first two to five years of a teach- e rs care e r. Mentoring is often a com- ponent of the induction process. The exponential growth in the num- ber of induction programs in the Un i t- ed States attests to the value that staff developers and other school leaders ascribe to them. Educational leaders What the World Can Teach Us About New Teacher Induction In the U.S., if new teachers receive any induction at all, it is typically delivered by a single mentor and is not well stru c t u red. The authors re p o rt on the much more systematic approaches to induction that five other countries have adopted. HARRY K. WONG is a co-author of The First Days of School and of New Teacher In- duction: How to Train, Support, and Retain New Teachers. He lives in Saratoga, Calif. TED BRITTON is associate director of WestEds National Center for Improving Science Education, Redwood City, Calif., and currently directs a study of the induction of math- ematics and science teachers in the U.S. TOM GANSER is director of the Office of Fi e l d Experiences, University of Wisconsin, W h i t e wa t e r. He also serves as a consultant for the design, implementation, and evaluation of new teacher mentor programs. 2005, Harry K. Wong. JANUARY 2005 379 h a ve eagerly adapted their appro a c h- es to induction to reflect the many changes in the teaching profession. 3 But induction programs are a global phenomenon, and here we offer U.S. leaders a summary of the best prac- tices of the international programs re- p o rted by Britton and his colleagues. SWITZERLAND In the Swiss system, teachers are assumed to be lifelong learners. Fro m the start, beginning teachers are viewe d as professionals, and induction focus- es on the development of the person as well as on the development of the professional. Induction begins during student teaching as teams of three students n e t w o rk with one another. It contin- ues for beginning teachers in practice groups of some half a dozen teach- ers and is carried forw a rd in mutual classroom observations between be- ginning teachers and experienced teach- ers. Thus induction moves seamless- ly from a teachers preservice days to n ovice teaching to continuing pro f e s- sional learning. The Swiss philosophy explicitly re- jects a deficit model of induction, which assumes that new teachers lack training and competence and thus need mentors. Instead, in several cantons, t h e re is a carefully crafted array of in- duction experiences for new teachers, including: Practice groups. These are a form of stru c t u red, facilitated network i n g that supports beginning teachers fro m different schools as they learn to be e f f e c t i ve solvers of practical pro b l e m s . St a n d o rt b e s t i m m u n g. Pr a c t i c e g roups generally conclude with a gro u p St a n d o rt b e s t i m m u n g a form of self- e valuation of the first year of teaching that reflects the Swiss concern with developing the whole person as well as the teacher. Counseling. Counseling is gen- erally available for all teachers, but a g reater number of beginning teach- ers take part. It can grow out of the practice groups and can invo l ve one- on-one mentoring of classroom prac- tice. In some cantons, counseling is mandatory for beginning teachers. Courses. Course offerings range f rom obligatory courses to vo l u n t a ry courses available on a regular basis to impulse courses, put together on s h o rt notice to meet a short-term need. These practices are supported with training for practice-group leaders, counselors, and mentors. A professional team heads the whole set of induction activities and is in charge of the practice-group leaders. The group leaders, all active teachers t h e m s e l ves, are the key to the quality of the practice groups and other com- ponents of induction, such as class- room visits and individual counsel- ing. These individuals are re l i e ved of some of their teaching duties to make time for their responsibilities as prac- tice-group leaders. They also receive additional pay and are themselves sup- p o rted by the central team. The gro u p leaders are trained for their respon- sibilities and take part in a wide range of professional development offer- ings to increase their competence as leaders. CHINA (SHANGHAI) The teaching culture in Sh a n g h a i features research groups and collec- t i ve lesson planning. It is a culture in which all teachers learn to engage in joint work to support their teaching and their personal learning, as well as the learning of their pupils. The induction process is designed to help bring new teachers into this culture. There is an impressive array of learning opportunities at both the school and the district level, among them: welcoming ceremonies at the school; d i s t r i c t - l e vel workshops and courses; d i s t r i c t - o r g a n i zed teaching com- p e t i t i o n s ; district-provided mentoring; a district hot line for new teach- ers that connects them with subject specialists; district awards for outstanding novice/mentor work; half-day training sessions at col- leges of education and in schools for most weeks for the year; peer observation, both in and outside of school; 380 PHI DELTA KAPPAN public or open lessons, with debriefing and discussion of the les- son afterwards; report lessons, in which a new teacher is observed and given com- ments, criticisms, and suggestions; talk lessons, in which a teacher (new or experienced) talks through a lesson and provides justification for its design, but does not actually teach it; inquiry projects and action re- search carried out by new teachers, with support from those on the school or district teaching re s e a rch section or induction staff; district- or school-deve l o p e d handbooks for new teachers and men- tors; and e n d - o f - year celebrations of teach- e r s work and collaboration. In keeping with the collective and collaborative focus of the teaching c u l t u re in Shanghai, a number of oth- er critical components play a role in the induction process for new teach- e r s . L e s s o n - p re p a ration gro u p s. The heart of the professional learning culture is the lesson-preparation group. These g roups engage new and veteran teach- ers in discussing and analyzing the les- sons they are teaching. Te a c h i n g - re s e a rch gro u p s. A begin- ning teacher is also a member of a t e a c h i n g - re s e a rch gro u p, which pro- vides a forum for the discussion of teaching techniques. Each teacher, new or experienced, must observe at least eight lessons a semester, and most teachers observe more. It is ve ry com- mon for teachers to enter others class- rooms and to engage in discussion about mutually observed teaching. These conversations help new teach- ers acquire the language and adopt the norms of public conversation about teaching, and that conversation be- comes a natural part of the fabric of any teachers professional life. Teaching competitions. Districts or- g a n i ze teaching competitions with the goal of motivating new teachers and encouraging the serious study of and preparation for teaching. The com- petitions also identify and honor out- standing accomplishment. Lessons are videotaped so that the district can com- pile an archive for future use. Teach- ing thus becomes community pro p e r- t y, not owned privately by one teach- er, but shared by all. NEW ZEALAND In New Zealand, the induction phase is called the Advice and Guid- ance (AG) program. The AG pro g r a m is seen as the initial phase of the life- long professional development of teach- ers. Eve ry beginning teacher re c e i ve s 20% released time to participate in the program. Teachers and school-level admin- istrators are willing to invest in the effort to support beginning teachers p a rtly because schools are re q u i red to p rovide an AG program. Prov i s i o n a l- ly re g i s t e red teachers must document the AG support they re c e i ved during their first two years when they apply for a permanent certificate. But many of those who provide support for new teachers view their assistance as a com- mitment to the teaching pro f e s s i o n . The National Ministry of Educa- tion also provides limited regional re- s o u rces for professional deve l o p m e n t s e rvices to beginning teachers. Re g i o n- al meetings, which attract teachers fro m d i f f e rent schools, provide for the fre e exchange of induction experiences among a wide variety of part i c i p a n t s . Although there is a national hand- book outlining the goals of the AG p rogram, the extent, nature, and qual- ity of the local programs va ry widely. At the local school, an adminis- trator or a staff member is typically the coordinator of the AG program. The people involved most directly in supporting beginning teachers are typically the AG coord i n a t o r, depart- ment heads, buddy teachers, and, to a lesser extent, all other school staff members. In those schools that have m o re than one beginning teacher, the AG coordinator will convene all the beginning teachers every two weeks t h roughout most of the ye a r. Ob s e r- vation of teaching is a key activity in s c h o o l - l e vel induction programs and comes in several varieties. As in Sw i t z- erland, facilitated peer support is an important induction strategy. Ted Britton explains that one re a- son New Zealand was chosen as a sub- ject for study was the contrast it of- f e red with countries that place a gre a t deal of the responsibility for assisting beginning teachers on a single men- tor or on just a couple of people. (He was alluding to the United States.) Indeed, we were struck by the vari- ety of the sources of support in New Zealand and by how the schools make use of a range of induction activities. T h roughout the education system in New Zealand, there is a universal com- mitment to support beginning teach- e r s . JAPAN Teaching in Japan is regarded as a high-status occupation, a dignified p rofession. New teachers re c e i ve a re- duced teaching load and are assigned guiding teachers. The guiding teacher is the key to success in the Japanese system. In school. All new teachers typi- cally teach two or more demonstra- tion lessons in their first year, with the lessons viewed by prefectural ad- ministrators, the guiding teacher, the school principal or assistant princi- pal, and other teachers in the school. The demonstration or study teach- ing lesson, a traditional Japanese JANUARY 2005 381 method for improving teaching, is a formal public lesson, which is observe d and then subjected to critique by col- l e a g u e s . James Stigler and James Hiebert view these lessons and their subse- quent public analysis as the core ac- tivity of in-school teacher educa- t i o n . 4 To pre p a re for their public les- sons, the new teachers will have writ- ten and rewritten their lesson plans, practiced teaching the lesson with one of their classes, and modified the lesson with the help of a guiding teach- e r. They might even call teachers fro m neighboring schools, whom they know from their university or prefectural classes, and seek their help and ad- vice. In Japan, as in Shanghai, teaching is viewed as a public activity, open to s c rutiny by many. The induction pro c e s s welcomes beginners into that open practice and provides beginning teach- ers with many regular opportunities to observe their peers, their guiding teachers, and other teachers in their school, as well as those in other schools. No special arrangements need to be made, for schools and teaching are o r g a n i zed to allow for such open ob- servations. Indeed, the method is so u n i versal that all teachers have experi- enced it, and all seem to see its wis- dom and believe in its efficacy. The most critical factor is that it is the l e s- s o n that is criticized, not the t e a c h e r. New teachers are also required to submit a culminating action re s e a rc h project, based on a classroom lesson they would like to investigate. This p roject is usually about 30 to 40 pages in length and is to be handed in to the p refectural education office (though no formal feedback on it is prov i d e d ) . These projects are accumulated in the prefectural inservice offices and are available for other teachers to use. Japanese teachers do not have their own, isolated offices. Rather, teams or even an entire staff will occupy one large room with individual desks and the accompanying equipment and supplies. Thus a new teacher re c e i ve s help from many teachers, since most veteran teachers believe it is their re- sponsibility to help new teachers to become successful. Out of school. Most out-of-school activity occurs under the guidance of a city or prefectural inservice cen- t e r. Such a center is usually housed in a rather large building, is well staffed with specialists in most disciplines, and is dedicated to the inservice de- velopment of local teachers. Induction is only the first phase of a teachers professional learning. All Japanese teachers must part i c i p a t e in sponsored inservice programs five , 10, and 20 years after their induction program has been completed. FRANCE To become a certified secondary teacher in France, one must success- fully pass a highly competitive na- tional secondary recruitment exam- ination, both oral and written. A new teacher is referred to as a stagiaire, which translates roughly as someone who is undertaking a stage of devel- opment or formation. A pedagogical advisor, appointed by a regional pedagogical inspector, is p rovided for all new secondary school stagiaires. When new teachers need advice, the advisors give it, but the teachers are encouraged to proceed on their own. St a g i a i re s o b s e rve one anothers classes on numerous occa- sions. Off campus, all new teachers are re q u i red to attend sessions several days per week at the nearest IUFM (In- stitut Universitaire de Formation des Ma t re s), an institution created in 1991 specifically to handle teacher educa- tion and development. The main goal of the IUFMs is to increase both the intellectual status of teacher educa- tion and the professionalism of teach- e r s . At the IUFM, groups of stagiaires meet, and their work is directed by their f o rm a t e u r, an experienced teach- er educator who teaches in the class- room part time and is employed part time by the IUFM. Fo rm a t i o n is the name given to the process a new teach- er undergoes to become a member of the teaching profession, and the f o rm a t e u r is the person who prov i d e s f o r m a t i ve experiences. Fo rm a t i o nt r a n s- lates roughly as development or shap- ing. A typical day for a new teacher might include: p reparing several lessons, teach- ing the lessons, and marking the pu- pils homework; tutoring a smaller group of pu- pils; observing the pedagogical advi- sor teach and discussing features of the lesson; observing, participating in, and discussing lessons taught by a teach- er in a different school in the same town; and working on aspects of teaching for a day and a half at the IUFM. A professional memoir, written under the guidance of a memoir tu- tor, is required of every new teacher. The memoir is a re p o rt on some de- tailed exploratory work relating to some aspect of teaching practice or to an academic issue. It can be done either individually or by a pair of s t a- giaires. The compulsory learning oppor- tunities for stagiaires are varied. In France, first-year teaching and learn- ing about teaching take place in a num- ber of settings, and a certain amount of flexibility is re q u i red, as s t a g i a i re s m ove between institutional settings. The French view working with dif- f e rent teachers as ideal for f o rm a t i o n, 382 PHI DELTA KAPPAN because these experiences bring the s t a g i a i re s into contact with a consid- erable number of different people in varied roles: the f o rm a t e u r s; the peda- gogical advisors; the school staff in d i f f e rent schools, including adminis- trators and teachers of various subjects; the memoir tutor; different groups of pupils; parents; and possibly the regional pedagogical inspectors. T h e list is very long. St a g i a i re s can come to think of the group with whom they work at the IUFM as a tribe, a group of same- subject teachers working together in their joint area of specialization. And the notion of tribe is an important one. Various things support the in- tegrity of a tribe: shared experience, shared practices, shared tools, and shared language. To an outsider, this process might look like induction that ends after the first year of teaching. But the Fre n c h view it as simply part of teacher for- m a t i o n; it is the method by which the system takes in new members. A P P L I CATION TO NORT H A M E R I CAN SCHOOLS Although the approaches to the induction of new teachers in the five countries discussed above differ fro m one another, they do have three ma- jor similarities that can provide use- ful ideas for staff developers re s p o n- sible for induction programs in the U.S. First, the respective induction a p p roaches are highly stru c t u red, com- p re h e n s i ve, rigorous, and seriously mon- itored. There are well-defined roles for staff developers, administrators, instructors, mentors, or formateurs. In contrast, the professional de- velopment programs in the United States are often sporadic, incohere n t , and poorly aligned, and they lack ad- equate follow - u p. 5 The amount of time d e voted to professional deve l o p m e n t on a given topic is most commonly about one day during the year for any given teacher. 6 Second, the induction programs of the five countries focus on pro- fessional learning and on delivering growth and professionalism to their teachers. They achieve these ends with an organized, sustained pro f e s s i o n a l d e velopment system that employs a variety of methods. These countries all consider their induction pro g r a m s to be one phase or a single part of a total lifelong professional learning process. In contrast, in more than 30 states, the nearly universal U.S. practice seems remarkably narrow: mentoring pre- dominates, and often there is little m o re . 7 In many schools, one-on-one mentoring is the dominant or even the sole strategy for supporting new teachers, and it often lacks real stru c- t u re and relies on the willingness of the veteran teacher and the new teach- er to seek each other out. Many men- tors are assigned to respond to a new t e a c h e rs need for day-to-day surv i va l JANUARY 2005 383 Although the induction approaches in the five countries differ from one another, they have three major similarities they are highly structured, they focus on professional learning, and they emphasize collaboration. tips, and so they function primarily as a safety net for the new teachers. T h i rd, collaboration is the stre n g t h of each of these five induction pro- grams. Collaborative group work is understood, fostered, and accepted as a part of the teaching culture in all f i ve countries surve yed. Ex p e r i e n c- es, practices, tools, and language are shared among teachers. And it is the function of the induction phase to engender this sense of group identi- ty in new teachers and to begin tre a t- ing them as colleagues. In contrast, isolation is the com- mon thread and complaint among new teachers in U.S. schools. New teachers want more than a job. They want to experience success. They want to contribute to a gro u p. They want to make a difference. Thus collegial interchange, not isolation, must be- come the norm for teachers. 8 Indeed, the most successful U.S. induction programs go beyond men- t o r i n g . 9 They are stru c t u red, sustained, intensive professional development programs that allow new teachers to o b s e rve others, to be observed by oth- ers, and to be part of networks or study g roups in which all teachers share with one another and learn to respect one anothers work. Michael Garet and his colleagues confirmed this find- ing when they showed that teachers learn more in teacher networks and study groups than with mentoring. 1 0 In their examination of over 30 new teacher induction programs in the U.S., Annette Breaux and Ha r ry Wong also found the inevitable pre s- ence of a leader. 11 These leaders have c reated organized and compre h e n s i ve induction programs that stress col- laboration and professional grow t h . Teacher induction programs that re l y on networking and collaboration can be found in such places as the Flow- ing Wells Schools in Tucson, Arizo- na (the Institute for Teacher Renew- al and Growth); the Lafourche Pa r- ish Schools in Lafourche, Louisiana (the Framework for Inducting, Re- taining, and Su p p o rting Teachers pro- gram); and the Dallas Public Schools in Dallas, Texas (NewTeacher Initi- a t i ves: New Teacher Su p p o rt and De- velopment Programs and Services). The district staff developer and the building principal are the keys to establishing the commitment to teacher improvement and student a c h i e vement. But the bottom line re- mains: good teachers make the dif- ference. Districts that provide struc- t u red, sustained induction, training, and support for their teachers achieve what every school district seeks to achieve improved student learn- ing through improved professional learning. 1. Eric A. Hanushek, John F. Kain, and Steven G. Rivkin, Why Public Schools Lose Te a c h e r s , Working Paper 8599, National Bureau of Eco- nomic Research, Cambridge, Mass., 2001; and Aubrey Wang et al., Preparing Teachers Around the World (Princeton, N.J.: Educational Testing Se rvice, 2003), available at www. e t s . o r g / re s e a rc h / pic. 2. Edward Britton et al., eds., Comprehensive Teacher Induction: Systems for Ea rly Ca reer Learn- i n g (Dordrecht, Neth.: Kluwer Academic Pub- lishers and WestEd, 2003), available at www. WestEd.org. 3 . Tom Ga n s e r, The New Teacher Mentors: Fo u r Trends That Are Changing the Look of Men- toring Programs for New Teachers, American School Board Journal, December 2002, pp. 25- 27; and Tom Ganser, Sharing a Cup of Coffee Is Only a Beginning, Journal of Staff Develop- ment, Fall 2002, pp. 28-32. 4. James Stigler and James Hiebert, The Teach- ing Gap (New York: Free Press, 1999). 5. Wang et al., op. cit. 6. Basmat Parsad, Laurie Lewis, and Elizabeth Farris, Teacher Pre p a ration and Professional De ve l- opment, 2000 (Washington, D.C.: National Cen- ter for Education Statistics, 2001). 7 . Ed w a rd Britton et al., Mo re Swimming, Less Sinking: Pe r s p e c t i ves from Ab road on U.S. Te a c h- er Induction, paper prepared for the National Commission on Mathematics and Science Te a c h- ing in the 21st Century, San Francisco, 2000. 8 . Ha r ry K. Wong, Collaborating with Colleagues to Improve Student Learning, Eisenhower Na- tional Clearinghouse, ENC Fo c u s, vol. 11, no. 6, 2003, available at www.enc.org/features/focus; and idem, Induction Programs That Keep Wo rk- ing, in Marge Schere r, ed., Keeping Good Te a c h- e r s (Alexandria, Va.: Association for Su p e rv i s i o n and Curriculum Development, 2003), chap. 5, available at www.newteacher.com click on Published Papers. 9. Annette L. Breaux and Harry K. Wong, New Teacher Induction: How To Train, Su p p o rt, and Re- tain New Te a c h e r s ( Mountain Vi ew, Calif.: Ha r ry K. Wong Publications, 2003). 1 0 . Michael Ga ret, What Makes Professional De- velopment Ef f e c t i ve?, American Educational Re- s e a rch Journal, Winter 2001, pp. 915-46. 11. Breaux and Wong, op. cit. K 384 PHI DELTA KAPPAN Isolation is the common thread and complaint among new teachers in U.S. schools. New teachers want more than a job. They want to contribute to a group.
Harry K. Wong, Ted Britton, and Tom Ganser, What the World Can Teach Us About New Teacher Induction, Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 86, No. 5, January 2005, pp. 379-384.
Copyright Notice The authors hold copyright to this article, which may be reproduced or otherwise used only in accordance with U.S. law governing fair use. MULTIPLE copies, in print and electronic formats, may not be made or distributed without express permission from the authors. All rights reserved. Distributed with permission.