Topic and aim
Professional learning in schools is about a collective and transparent responsibility built on confidence, competence and critical feedback from colleagues. When teachers take responsibility for their own learning as well as that of their colleagues, it can lead to a shift in attitude towards professional learning. This study presents a specific situation of professional learning where teachers are supposed to process, reflect and learn together from research-based literature. The aim of the study is to illuminate insights and lessons learned from the literature seminaries as a part of professional learning.
Methodology/research design
The present school participated in a collective educational programme where teachers were intended to take active part in the work to improve the school’s results. As a part of the programme teachers combined the practical work with theoretical studies at university level. The analysis is based on reflections protocols from 50 literature seminars during one year. As a tool in the analysis process we used a developed form of "learning loops".
Findings
We conclude that teachers choose to participate in different ways, either as actors or as passive implementers. The actors chose to problematize the content (double loop) while the implementers chose to present the literature (single-loop). Thus, the learning outcome was affected by the teachers' ways of participating.
The results revealed that some teachers tried to understand practice through literature or vice versa. They negotiated different understandings of the literature in their discussions. Also, they examined the implications of new concepts by reformulating them to concrete situations. On the other side, there were teachers who performed the seminars as a task to please the facilitator. As a consequence of the seminars, teachers learn to problematize their pre-conceptions through literature. It also provided support to problematize their own ”every-day-work” and enabled a more distant discussion.