Theme 3 – A Supportive Environment

According to both Tankersley (2010) and Hargreaves (1998), teaching is an

emotionally demanding profession that necessitates a supportive environment if both teachers and students are to strive. In order to ensure that teachers continue to remain in the profession and cultivate positive attitudes, support structures that involve the formation of positive relationships and rewarding practises must be in place to ensure continued teacher growth (Cameron & Lovett, 2015). Following on from the idea outlined by Zepeda (2012) in Chapter Three, I turn to examine two aspects of professional learning communities that are central in creating a supportive environment: creating a positive climate and inclusion.

7.4.1 Creating a Positive climate

From the outset of this research, the teachers were aware that participating in a QLC involved more than the discussion of theory; it required them to actively trial techniques in their classrooms and change their teaching habits which they felt were not useful to their practice. As a result, the teachers were liable to take risks and create the potential for failure, as well as success. However, as the teachers were striving towards common goals (i.e., decreasing judgements and increasing empathy), the QLC provided a space where trust, support, and guidance contributed to a positive climate and the teachers felt safe to take risks (Hargreaves, 1997; Zins & Elias, 2007). For instance, even though Michael said that he “felt clumsy using NVC”, he still trialled the approach and experienced ‘failure’, before ‘getting it right’ (e.g., interactions with his colleague Stephanie). Throughout the QLC, the group supported him by listening, providing advice, and connecting with Michael’s feelings and needs, which provided a platform to trial NVC with Stephanie again. As the consequences of repeated failure can produce avoidance towards learning in individuals (Michou,

Vansteenkiste, Mouratidis, & Lens, 2014), the emphasis on creating a positive environment in the group was beneficial in helping Michael to focus on the constructive aspect of the encounters, which reinforced his motivation to approach his colleague again. This type of response, whereby the teachers focused on the social and emotional aspects of interpersonal communication, has also been noted in other studies (e.g., Kimber, Skoog, & Sandell, 2013).

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Overall, multiple authors argue that teachers need a climate that supports them, both personally and professionally, so that they can re-examine and re-frame their pedagogical practices according to their students’ needs, as well as their own (Bickmore & Bickmore, 2010; Hunzicker, 2011; Zepeda, 2012).

7.4.2 Inclusion

An inclusive environment takes into consideration the needs of all the members within the QLC group, and in the case of teachers, expands out into the classroom as well (Zepeda, 2012). Florian and Graham (2014) contend that “inclusive pedagogy” takes teachers away from the judgemental conceptions of challenging student behaviours, towards more understanding and empathetic viewpoints, which emphasise “the ways that teachers respond to individual differences, the choices they make about group work and how they utilise specialist knowledge that differentiates inclusive practice from other pedagogical

approaches” (p. 466). This type of inclusive attitude could be observed during the QLCs on multiple occasions. For instance, the dialogues between the teachers in the QLCs were often centred on fostering empathy, and as such, the teachers supported each other by intentionally using perspective-taking to put themselves in the position of another. In addition, the teachers also fostered more inclusive attitudes towards their students. For example, Peter stated in the final interview that, “rather than thinking this student is being bad and annoying, and is trying to wreck my class, I now think they probably need some empathy because something is not going right for them”. This highlights a shift towards a more inclusive attitude and may represent an extension of the supportive processes that were happening inside of the QLC.

However, in presenting the positive shifts towards inclusion, it must also be noted that at one point, Michael stated that a child with autism was “not going to understand what …

[empathy] is”, which led him to not attempt NVC with that student. While research shows that children with autism do have difficulty in interpreting social cues, they do not lack the ability to feel empathy (Markram, Rinaldi, & Markram, 2007), as many adults often assume based on a child’s ability to verbally express themselves (Bevan-Brown, Carroll-Lind,

Kearney, Sperl, & Sutherland, 2008). Michael’s statement is in accordance with a recent New Zealand study by Lyons (2013) who interviewed ten participants (teachers and owners) from different early childhood education care centres and found that while most communicated in inclusive terms, they still put the disability before the child, which led to exclusionary

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processes based on double-standards. This demonstrates that greater discussion surrounding inclusionary practices is needed and perhaps if the QLC would have continued for a longer period, the teachers would have had a chance to explore this issue further.

7.5 Chapter Summary

In this chapter I have discussed the key themes of the QLC part of the study. In the first theme, QLC structure, emphasis is placed on the importance of setting up a group that is run by teachers, for teachers. Specifically, this involves members actively participating in learning that is both, experiential and ongoing, in order to establish practises that are job- embedded and enduring. Additionally, the role of facilitation in a QLC was examined and found to provide several benefits, including setting boundaries and providing expertise when required. In the second theme, collaborative learning culture, collegial learning provided the teachers with opportunities to engage in shared talk about practice and distributed leadership within the group. In the third theme, a supportive environment, a positive environment that promoted inclusive attitudes was highlighted as a necessary pre-requisite for establishing conditions where teachers felt safe to take risk. Overall, these three themes were found to form an integral part of what constitutes a successful PLD experience for teachers in the QLC.

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Chapter Eight: Conclusion

In my final chapter I link key findings from the Non-violent Communication (NVC) and Quality Learning Circle (QLC) elements of the study back to the main research

questions, focussing on the potential of both approaches. The implications of the research are then examined, followed by an outline of its limitations and suggestions for future research.