In May 2023, representatives of the Hashkafa R&D team presented and participated in the 10th summit conference in San Diego. The conference is focused on the continuous improvement of teaching and learning processes and is attended by educators from all over the world who are engaged in the processes of improving teaching and researching practice.
During the conference, we presented our work and shared the tools we developed such as The Learning Cycle, The Path of Impact and The Observation Fan. The delegation met with senior officials from San Diego County and visited a number of innovative schools on the West Coast.
How do administrators perceive the professional development of teachers in the communities, and what tensions arise from their perceptions?
At a conference held at the Mofat Institute in June 2023, we presented the findings of an evaluation study that examined these questions. Principals play an important role in assimilating learning and professional development of teachers in schools. An analysis of a survey we conducted among principals revealed that in the principals’ view, teachers’ learning communities contribute in two key aspects: the first is strengthening the sense of belonging of the teachers who are members of the community, and the other is tightening the school’s pedagogical language. According to the principals, these two aspects can improve teaching and learning in the school.
However, alongside the benefits of teachers learning in school communities, we found that there is a tension between the principal’s desire to implement changes in teaching and learning with immediate results and the teachers’ learning process in the community, which is a long-term one. Another tension we found was between the principal’s desire for teachers to learn from experts and external information and the perception that the teachers in the community are the source of knowledge and therefore they share their experience and learn from each other.
In order to bridge the tension between the desire to promote the learning of teachers in the community and the desire to see immediate results and bring in the knowledge of experts, we presented recommendations for action in three main circles of influence: the school, the district, and the national circle. In the schools, it is necessary to coordinate expectations with the school principal and share with him the learning processes of the community. In the districts, it is necessary to establish communities for principals who work in the district. There, they will share difficulties and issues and experience learning processes in a community. Whereas in the national circuit, we recommend defining criteria for optimal professional development of teachers based on school learning communities that promote long-term learning processes. Also, the national assessment methods must be adapted to this model.
