Educational changes bring in and require a lot of training through professional development to help support teachers’ knowledge, beliefs and practices when faced with their implementation (Horden, 2013). Fullan and Hargreaves (1992, p. 2) reasoned the characteristics for teachers’ professional development should comprise of both formal components (workshops) and informal components (teachers exchanging ideas by discussions) that are related to changes to educational practice during the implementation stage of educational changes.
The pressure for change creates further challenges for the teachers, particularly in equipping them with appropriate competence to achieve government targets. It is further argued by Rodd (2015, p. 2) that if teachers have experienced lengthy years of changes, but are only provided with limited training and support, such situations can cause a barrier to acceptance as they are exhausted and cautious of acknowledging more demands for change.
Professional standards are also pressured as these are involved in the international discourse relating to education reforms. The increase in calls for high quality ECEC services has also impacted on the teachers; there are now drivers from governments to have all graduate teaching forces. Waters and Payler (2015, p. 162) stated that teachers’
68 qualification levels for ECEC have been raised in England, Australia, and the USA. On the other hand, although the number of teaching graduates has increased, the majority of the ECEC teachers internationally are not graduate teachers. Therefore, professional learning needs to cater to diverse ECEC academic backgrounds, to enable opportunities for everyone to become highly proficient and competent, thereby enabling every teacher to competently implement the prescribed educational reforms.
Growing levels of attention towards the demand to raise the quality of ECEC settings, have led to the increased requirement for professional training of those involved in the change processes, especially the teachers. To facilitate change, Guskey (2002) provided a model of teacher change in professional development, as a way of supporting teachers’ beliefs and attitudes (see Figure 3.4 below). Changes in teachers’ professional development is only possible when teachers have experienced trying out any new teaching method, the use of new materials or curriculum or any changes in classroom teaching and learning. Significant changes in teachers’ attitudes and beliefs then take place, after the teachers have experienced delivering the new practice and have seen that the new practice offers evidence of increments in students’ achievements. The experience of successful implementation and evidence provides valuable support that the new approach works so enabling, or at least encouraging, the teachers to change their attitudes and beliefs. Figure 3.4 below shows the patterns of the major goals of three professional development programmes which are: i) change in teachers’ classroom practices, ii) change in students’ learning outcomes and iii) change in teachers’ beliefs and attitudes.
Figure 3.4. Guskey (2002) model of teacher change Professional Development Change in Teachers' Classroom Practices Change in Student Learning Outcomes Change in Teachers' Beliefs and Attitudes
69 Guskey (2002) further explains that the model above also reviews the process of teacher change, in order to act as a guide for effective professional development programmes. It is argued that professional development programmes that fail to consider teachers’ motivation to be involved and engaged with the change processes that usually occur, will inevitably become an ineffective programme. Guskey (2002) highlighted support for the teachers’ changes in a) their perceptions, b) their beliefs and c) their behaviour is provided and facilitated by professional development training initiatives.
For the implementation of change to be sustained Fullan (2007, p. 37) emphasised the need to address the understanding of teachers’ beliefs and behaviours towards the teaching approaches to be addressed, via a continuous learning platform shared with other teachers. It is appropriate for the discussions to take place after the teachers have experienced trying to implement the new teaching strategies. Hence, the continuous learning platform and discussions provide a further benefit to professional teachers’ learning development. Fullan (2010, p. 90) proposed that policymakers need to acknowledge and understand that teachers make changes to children’s learning and to acknowledge that therefore “each and every teacher must be very good”.
It is important for teachers to understand the new curricula well, in order to enable them to provide effective teaching and learning to achieve the desired learning outcomes, as specified in each curriculum. The continuous professional development (CPD) training for the teachers needs to be in line with the new curricula to provide support for the teachers in facilitating the teaching and learning for the children (SEAMEO and UNESCO, 2016). Therefore, professional learning development needs to support the quality of a “systematic, sustainable and transformative” approach to enable the ECEC teachers to be proficient in delivering high quality teaching and learning (Waters and Payler, 2015, p. 165).
CPD is usually provided to help and support the implementation of educational changes by applying the model of CPD and matching to its training purpose and requirement. There are nine spectra of CPD models presented by Kennedy (2014) in Figure 3.5 below, with the three categories of purpose model: i) transition, ii) transitional and iii) transformative. The nine types of CPD models are explained and summarised briefly from Kenny (2014, p. 338-348) as follows;
70 1) The training model of CPD provides teachers with the passive role of receiving training concerning specific new knowledge delivered by an ‘expert’. The training model is a decontextualised venue which is out of school.
2) The award-bearing model involves accreditation and certification of an award-bearing study programme, authorised by universities, to provide quality assurance for the teachers.
3) The deficit model used in CPD is designed to support and resolve weaknesses observed in teacher practice.
4) The cascade model includes teachers attending ‘training events’ independently and then cascading or spreading the information and material to colleagues. This model supports a technical interpretation of sharing learning and teaching skills, and knowledge is regarded as more important than attitudes and values.
5) The standards-based model uses standards to support professional development and deliver shared understanding, particularly involving professional discussion between teachers.
6) The coaching/mentoring model of CPD is dependent on one-to-one relationships between teachers, aiming towards increased professional learning by sharing confidential professional dialogue with colleagues. 7) The community of practice model comprises of two or more people and the
existence of a learning community as a result of professional interactions. Learning in a community of practice can either be positive and proactive or a passive experience. Power is regarded as significant in the community of practice model and can act as powerful positions of transformation, where the amount of whole individual knowledge and experience is enhanced through shared work.
8) The action research model enables teachers to be critical of their practice and may change the power balance from policy to the teachers through identification and implementation of related teaching-research activities. This model has the capacity for facilitating transformative practice and professional autonomy.
9) Finally, the transformative model is the combination of practices and conditions that support a transformative agenda. The transformative model
71 helps to balance the teachers’ power during the implementation of change processes, which enables them to identify, evaluate, adopt and adapt the changes into their classroom context.
Therefore, the distinct purposes of CPD will require different models of CPD, as explained earlier and presented in Figure 3.5 below.
Figure 3.5. Spectrum of CPD models
Source: Kennedy (2014, p. 349)
3.15. Summary
In this chapter, it has been argued that there is no one right method to lead change in early childhood education, as that change or changes will depend on several factors including: a) communication and interpersonal competence; b) a culture of ongoing learning and development; c) critical thinking and reflection; d) collaboration and collective responsibility; e) consolidation of new learning and practice into daily routine; f) conflict resolution and consensus; and g) a compelling vision that champions continuous quality improvement (Rodd, 2015, p. 138). The purpose of this study is to explore some of these concepts and trends in the context of policy and practice changes in Brunei’s preschool education system. The following chapter identifies the research methodology and design employed to achieve this aim.
72 CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
4.1. Introduction
This chapter presents the research design and methodology used to gather data for this study: “The Impact of Educational Change Processes in Brunei Preschools: An Interpretive Study”. This methodology chapter will address the following issues: i) the research aims and questions, ii) the orientation of the research, iii) the theoretical framework of the study, iv) sampling, v) the methods of data collection along with the justifications for the chosen methods adopted in this research, vi) the pilot study, vii) stages of data collection, viii) approach to analysis of the data, ix) ethical considerations and x) the summary.