Professional Networks among English Language Teachers in Chile: a perspective from practice Florencia Gomez Zaccarelli Background of the Study ∎ English is taught by grade-level teachers (until 8th grade) and subject teachers (secondary).

∎ Large number of programs prepare English language teachers; most of them are offered by private institutions. ∎ In service teacher education has been largely influenced by the English Opens Doors (EOD) program from the Ministry of Education.

∎ Among different initiatives that EOD offers teachers are professional development courses and workshops, Winter and Summer retreats, academic visits to English speaking countries, and Professional Networks. ∎ Professional Networks supported by EOD are: • Locally originated.

Exploratory study on three purposefully selected English teachers professional networks. Data collection strategies: ∎ In-depth interviews with 8 teachers and an EOD program representative. ∎ Observation of meetings in two networks (conducted in English and Spanish) ∎ Review of relevant networks and EOD program documents. Analysis: ∎ Transcription of audio records and memo writing from researcher’s perspective in Spanish. ∎ Several reviews and coding of transcripted data in Spanish. ∎ Definition of categories and use of literature on teacher learning and learning communities to describe the networks.

• Formed by English language teachers from different schools in one locality.

Network

• Autonomous in their activities and functioning.

Valle

English Language Teaching (ELT) in Chile

#

ELT Institutions

47 166 19 146

Teachers of English in the system

Understanding the features of professional networks (PNs)

Methods

∎ English language subject in Chile is mandatory starting from 5th grade.

ELT Programs Public institutions Private institutions

[email protected]

Year established

Active members

School administration

Community*

2004

14

Public

Urban, high concentration of low-SES

2007

21

Public and private Urban, low subsidized concentration of low-SES

2009

20

Private subsidized Urban, medium concentration of low-SES

*Categories based in Chilean Census data study by Adimark (2002)

9,800 Source: Chilean Ministry of Education

Theoretical Perspective ∎ Teaching is a complex and unnatural activity. Teaching involves skills that are to be learned in order to improve (Ball & Forzani, 2010).

∎ Teaching needs to be supported for continuous development (Borko, 2004) with opportunities for teacher learning (Darling-Hammond & Richardson, 2009). ∎ One avenue for professional development is collaboration and joint work through interaction in professional communities oriented to teacher learning (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Borko, 2004).

Research Question How does teacher participation in the Chilean English Professional Networks can be an instance of professional development in the form of learning communities?

Defining Professional Learning Communities Review of literature on teacher learning, professional learning communities (e.g., Borko, 2004; Darling-Hammond, 1993; Lieberman & Wood, 2002; Little & McLaughlin, 1993), and on communities of practice theory (e.g., Wenger, 1998; Hoadley, 2012) Emerging themes in the literature were used to analyze the features of three examples of English language teachers’ professional networks. Themes 1. Building community

2. Analysis of teaching practice

Features Participation in social practice (Borko, 2004) Learning with/from others (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Darling-Hammond, 1993) Sharing narratives of what it means to be a teacher (Shulman, 1998) Joint enterprise (Wenger, 1998) Focus on subject matter (Lampert, 2010; Borko, 2004) Developing common language to talk about practice (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Lampert, 2001) Critical examination of practice (Ball, 1993; Putnam & Borko, 1997) Use of records of practice (Ball & Cohen, 1999; Putnam & Borko 2000)

3. Development of teacher knowledge

Reproduction and evolution of knowledge (Lave and Wenger, 1991) Development of a knowledge-building community (Hoadley, 2012) Wineburg, & Woolworth, 2001)

4. Encouraging good teaching

Relation of the intellectual and the moral in teaching (Shulman, 1992) (Brunner, 1960) Responsibility of the content taught and of the learner being taught (Fenstermacher & Richardson, 2005)

How are the PNs related to the definition of professional learning communities? ∎ PNs studied are strong in building community (e.g. creating a comfortable and safe environment for sharing about teaching) to support opportunities to learn from/with members and improve their practice. I think interaction is very important (…) because we share our work, we share ideas, we share our work, knowledge, we share strategies. I mean, that’s to improve our job as teachers (…) focused exclusively in that: the pedagogical work, 100%. I mean we meet and it’s for that. (Valle PN teacher, June 1, 2011) ∎ Beginning to look at their practice and analyze their work through examination of teaching. Also we assess each other. Also our classes are recorded. For example, Eduardo [coordinator] video records the lessons and says, for example, (…) ‘look, you are failing in this, it would be good if maybe you could do it in this way, or in this other way’. Or we share our classes. We watch the videos [asking] what do you think about this class? What was missing? What left? (Valle PN teacher, June 1, 2011)

∎ Teacher knowledge may be developing, yet there is not clear evidence in the data in which to draw (records). ∎ Good teaching is represented as declared responsibility for student learning.

Our goal is to grow as teachers to improve our practices with students. (…) We want to be better teachers for them. (Fundacion PN coordinator, June 10, 2011)

Discussion The features of the PNs in this study challenge the definition of Professional Learning Communities ∎ In the life of these networks some developmental phases seem to appear, beginning with building community and progressing towards building knowledge and encouraging good teaching. ∎ Good teaching needs to be understood in the framework of the discipline – English language as a subject – and the object of the discipline – English language as a tool.

References and more