Teacher Learning Insights From Two Practice-Based Inquiries in South Africa and New Zealand
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Teacher Learning Insights From Two Practice‑Based Inquiries in South Africa and New Zealand Jyoti Jhagroo1 · Sarah Bansilal2 · Patricia Stringer1 Received: 19 November 2019 / Accepted: 29 October 2020 © New Zealand Association for Research in Education 2020
Abstract Practitioner inquiry has become part of the research tradition in many teacher professional development programmes across the world and allows teachers to conduct research into their own practices by engaging in systematic inquiry into their personal classroom practices. In this paper, we explore the inquiry reflections of two teachers that engaged in inquiries of their practice with a specific focus on their teaching of measurement. Both these teachers had completed practitioner inquiries as part of two different programmes of study, one in South Africa and the other in New Zealand. The purpose of this study was to identify factors which supported teacher learning. The findings showed that learning opportunities were created by their motivation and willingness to engage in critical reflections, while professional support from colleagues and mentors enhanced teachers’ learning experiences. Furthermore, despite the different contexts, each inquiry expands our understanding of locally generated knowledge in terms of local knowledge of context as well as local knowledge of learners and content. Keywords Practice-based inquiry · Teacher professional development · Locally knowledge
* Jyoti Jhagroo [email protected] Sarah Bansilal [email protected] Patricia Stringer [email protected] 1
School of Education, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
2
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Mathematics and Computing, Durban, South Africa
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies
Background Some researchers argue that how we teach is an internally learned habit based on the way we were taught which makes change difficult because it requires one to internally deconstruct embedded habits in order to reconceptualise new habits (Kelly 2006; Wallace 2003). Teacher educators and researchers have grappled over what professional development programmes that help teachers reconceptualise their understanding of effective teaching look like. The notions of teacher learning and professional development are inextricably linked since teachers’ professional development is about “teachers’ learning, learning how to learn and transforming their knowledge into practice for the benefit of their students’ growth” (Avalos 2011, p.10). There has been much research which has provided more insights into teacher learning. Teacher learning is a multi-faceted dynamic process that has been attributed to teachers engaging in critical reflective practice (Benade 2015; Brookfield 1995; Rinke and Stebick 2013; Rosenberg and Bansilal 2011), teachers’ inquiry (Cochrane- Smith and Lytle 1993), teachers producing local knowledge from practice (Rinke and Stebick 2013), and teacher motivation and agency to learn from their own practice (Avalos 2011; Ri
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