An important indicator of an effective school,
operating as a learning community, is the readiness
of the teaching staff to actively engage in open
ended professional conversation about teaching and
learning.
The purpose of this Unit is to begin to set some
of the parameters for critical and yet supportive
professional conversation. The approach is based
on the recognition that all participants in the conversation
about classroom practice are learners and that while
there are no right or wrong ways to teach, some ways
are better or more appropriate than others in encouraging
pupil learning, given the particular circumstances
of the lesson. This requires that each participant
is able to respect the views of the others.
In this Unit we begin to develop
the kinds of routines and language that will help
contribute to the professional development of both
novice and experienced teachers, when observing and
discussing their own or other colleagues' practice.
The activities focus on:
- Establishing a productive learning environment
for professional discussion
- Accepting and dealing with differences of opinion
- Handling personal feelings in a positive and
supportive way
- Allowing space in the discussion for all involved
to participate
These four activities are intended to progressively
deepen discussion on the topic of teachers’ professional
conversation about classroom practice. However, as
in all Units in this pack, facilitators are encouraged
to devise additional or alternative activities as they
see necessary. They may also wish to vary the instructions
and timings given for each phase of the Unit, to suit
their own group’s needs.
