There are numerous positive implications of collaborative inquiry in formal school settings. Collaborative inquiry (CI) is defined as a structured group within a community which goals are to reflect and examine concerns and questions regarding learning and teaching in which the knowledge gained can be transferred into classroom practices (Nelson & Slavit, 2008, p.103). Collaborative inquiry should be seen as a means to “investigate how change is appropriate, how this appropriation translates into practice but also how the system develops new approaches to problem solving” (Dolbec & Savoie-Zajc, 1996, p.2). It enhances team morale within the school culture and provides interpersonal opportunities. The environment also entices shared empowerment of professional and student learning in the inquiry group. As presented, there is an array of advantages that can be demonstrated, but the question now is how we can devise a way of encouraging collaborative inquiry for teachers, staff, and educational leaders. In this paper we will be investigating four sectors that play momentous roles to the engagement and involvement of collaborative inquiry interactively: the relationship between self-efficacy, relationship satisfaction, and motivation in collaborators; the use of resources and data in inquiry; leadership as a contributor to its implementation. In order to encourage collaborative inquiry, we need to understand the factors that greatly influence these decisions.
Teachers’ Self-Efficacy, Relationship Satisfaction, and Motivation
Literature Review
Before looking at specific ways to motivate staff in participating in collaborative inquiry, it is important to take into account the different cogs that are at play within a teacher’s motivation at the individual level (Canrinus et al., 2011; Davis & Wilson 2000). In addition, teacher empowerment through initiation by school leadership can also play a role in teacher motivation (Davis & Wilson 2000). In this paper, the role of professional identity and empowerment in relation to teachers’ motivation at the individual level will be investigated.
To test their hypothesis that teachers’ self-efficacy contributes to components of professional identity which changes the level of motivation within the teacher, Canrinus et al. (2011) first operationalized professional identity as a dynamic entity, as there are different influences that affect teachers as they gain more experience in the field. They elaborated on the aforementioned indicators of teachers’ professional identity as self-efficacy, job satisfaction, motivation, and commitment. Canrinus et al. hypothesized that teachers’ self-efficacy contributes to teachers’ change in level of motivation and job satisfaction; in addition, teachers’ job satisfaction contributes to teachers’ change in level of motivation. Canrinus et al. tested their hypothesis by collecting data through an online questionnaire distributed to 5,575 Dutch teachers working in secondary education. They found that there was a direct effect of teachers’ satisfaction with their relationships on teachers’ change in level of motivation, which proved to be the strongest effect. Furthermore, there was also a significant relationship between teachers’ classroom self-efficacy, relationship satisfaction (satisfaction in interpersonal relations and independence) and change in motivation. They suggested that providing or enhancing a supportive environment may promote relationship satisfaction where teachers feel they are listened to by the school board and develop strong feelings of relatedness between team members.
In Davis and Wilson’s (2000) article, principals’ empowering behaviour (PEB) in relation to teacher intrinsic empowerment (or motivation), job satisfaction, and job stress was studied in forty-four elementary schools, including 660 elementary teachers and 44 principals. Empowerment was defined as the ability to establish positive relationships within work settings which ultimately promotes collaboration and teamwork. The participants were asked to complete a questionnaire which addressed the aforementioned factors. They found that there is a strong relationship between PEB and teacher motivation, and the higher teachers’ intrinsic motivation, the more satisfied they were with their jobs and the stress they experience. No significant data suggested that PEB impacts teachers’ job satisfaction or job stress. Although they suspected that impact and choice may be associated with PEB because principals are more immediately observable to teachers, Davis and Wilson speculated that competency and meaningfulness may lie within teachers’ cognitive perceptions about themselves and are most likely not related to a principal’s actions. Thus, teachers may be able to control their own perceptions of competency and meaningfulness to enhance their own motivation rather than relying on an external source.
Proposed Solution
In order to enhance relationship satisfaction and perceptions of competency and meaningfulness within staff, K-12 teachers who scored themselves low on competency and experienced meaningfulness in a questionnaire will be asked to participate in a one-year long professional development workshop scheduled during already designated professional development days (PD days) as organized by the school district. Workshop activities will be centered around developing competence, experienced meaningfulness, and enhancing relationship satisfaction. This will be achieved by encouraging the development self-efficacy in a low-stake environment where risk-taking without consequences is promoted. All themes that are discussed will be foreign to participants to discourage a pedagogical environment so that teachers have an opportunity to exercise their own self-efficacy by accessing the “learner” within themselves. This allows participants to begin from a similar “starting point”, and they will be more likely to be vulnerable and take risks without fearing judgment. At the end of the year, participants will be asked to complete the same survey they took a year prior. If their scores improve, the methodology is effective.
Some strengths include time efficiency and practise. Since most districts already have designated PD days, the workshops can be carried out without adding to teachers’ responsibilities. Teachers will also have an opportunity to reflect on their own learning, which may in turn affect their practice and ultimately their students’ learning.
Some weaknesses are that individuals who decide to participate in this type of survey may have high self-motivation beliefs with high self-efficacy. Background information from individuals must be gathered to ensure that themes chosen are equally unfamiliar to all participants. Creating an environment of trust where participants are expected to be vulnerable may take more time.
This solution takes into account the needs of all stakeholders. Concentrating on developing self-efficacy among staff members with perceived low self-efficacy can prove to be beneficial to the entire staff. If growth is made within the participants, the effect may have long-lasting positive outcomes for future professional development opportunities. In addition, high self-efficacy may also contribute to high relationship satisfaction which will motivate individuals to collaborate more effectively. With regards to the needs of the administrator, an individual with self-efficacy and high motivation may be more likely to contribute to the greater school culture or cooperate with colleagues towards common goals.
Data Analysis, Collective Efficacy and Professional Tools
Literature Review
While examining many academic and professional resources, it appears there are many common themes based on collaborative inquiry and teacher engagement. Deborah Butler and Leyton Schnellert, writers of Collaborative inquiry in teacher professional development, focus much on setting practice goals within inquiry cycles through the use of models. Butler and Schnellert state, “emerging professional development models engage teachers in inquiry as a means of promoting skills in practice and teacher development (Butler & Schnellert, 2012, 1207). These authors stress the significance of engaging teachers in collaborative inquiry, as well as the development and properties of strong inquiry, and finally how the participation and trust in inquiry can lead to change in pedagogy and learning. Some of Butler and Schnellert’s (2012) findings encompassing teacher engagement relate directly to that of support of time, resources, and structured openings to work together.
Other articles identify and highlight collective efficacy and leadership. As written in When Teachers Believe, Students Achieve, written by Jenni Donohoo and Steven Katz, “collective efficacy refers to the shared perceptions of educators that, they can “organize and execute the courses of action required to have a positive effect on students” [and themselves]” (Donohoo & Katz, 2017, 21). This article identifies how to enhance collective efficacy and the process, leaders can follow to properly support to increase engagement. Much of the focus is on how school principals must lead by harnessing the creativity caused by tension, engaging in the work themselves, and continuing to keep collaborative groups concentrated. Donohoo and Katz explain the importance of “carving out time and space from the proverbial whirlwind to learn and improve in an intentional way” (Donohoo & Katz, 2017, 26).
As much of the literature focuses on engaging and supporting staff in CI, two authors – Linda Kaser and Judy Halbert, develop a process in The Spiral Playbook based on the phases of inquiry. Kaser and Halbert identify the importance of having a growth mindset, indigenous wisdom and creating a network of inquiry. They also identify the different stages of inquiry. As outlined in their works, “the spiral of inquiry involves six phases: scanning, focusing, developing a hunch, learning, taking action, and checking” (Kaser & Halbert, 2017, 23). As each of these resources places an emphasis on collaborative inquiry, they all have a common thread of how to support staff to engage in the process that will benefit teacher and student learning. Despite
being in its early years, evidence suggests that collaborative inquiry has a plethora of benefits for teacher and student learning. Yet, teachers may not actively participate in these group or school-based projects. According to Breakspear and Dunn, authors of Learning Sprints: How to help overloaded educators continuously enhance their expertise, “teachers often tell us that the professional collaboration feels like one more thing to add to their already overcrowded list of expectations” (Breakspear & Dunn, 2018, 1). However, participating in CI can have several long-lasting benefits. Leyton Schnellert and Deborah Butler state, “models often suggest that meaningful, sustained changes in classrooms are fostered by engaging teachers jointly in locally situated, inquiry-based, longitudinal and critical examinations of practice” (Schnellert & Butler, 2012, 1206). Therefore, by identifying methods (i.e., collective efficacy, leadership tools and innovative change to motivate staff to participate in collaborative inquiry, we can better inspire teacher and student learning.
Proposed Solutions
To begin collaborative inquiry, it should be made clear the main goal is an attempt to identify a need or concern among our learners. This is not a directive, more an opportunity for a school community to better target an area in which our learners are showing a deficit. One of the key areas to create staff engagement is the use of data visualization prior to any school wide assessment. According to Katz and Dack, “becoming a skilled and confident consumer and user of data for school improvement is a way of thinking that interrupts the status quo in the service of real professional learning” (Katz & Dack, 2013, 35). Initially, recognizing data that is provided to us annually can be vital to identify where support should be focused. Each year, many schools may participate in the Middle Years Development Instrument initiated by the University of British Columbia (UBC) which surveys grade 4 and 7 students focusing on well-being, health and academic achievement. Additionally, schools are provided data from the Foundation Skills Assessment and the Learning Satisfaction Surveys by the Ministry of Education each year. Once again, this provides a glimpse into our learners prior to any form of formal inquiry or school assessment. While this data may only be a snapshot of students, there are other forms in which we have available to us. Power BI is a tool used for data visualization of our students. As this scoping review of information provides valuable information about what is needed for our learners, but also an appealing starting off point. This can be incredibly engaging for staff as we become the evaluators of the information.
After examining information using these initial instruments, we may initiate our own data collection. By administering school-wide assessments (i.e., literacy), we can better document the needs of our learning community. Faye Brownlie et al. mentions in Student Diversity, “[The Standard Reading Assessment] is used to monitor students’ independent application of the skills and strategies we are teaching in our reading program. These assessments occur regularly and are used to keep staff and our students informed of their performance and their progress.” (Brownlie et al., 2016, 26). According to Kaser and Halbert, “[this information] is essential at the outset to determine the extent to which learners are connected to the learning community” (Kaser & Halbert, 2017, 24). Through this analysis, a professional community may see the greater overarching needs of our school. As we acquire this information, the themes for inquiry should become more apparent. This “scanning” stage is partially focused on what we know about our students but also includes where to go to next. Kaser and Halbert state, “in the scanning phase, the inquiry team collects a variety of rich evidence about what is really happening” (Kaser & Halbert, 2017, 24).
As schools begin to develop an awareness of learners, providing support in the form of collective efficacy, collaborative tools and innovative change may become a motivating factor. Donohoo and Katz state, “in schools where there is a shared sense of efficacy, teachers have more positive attitudes toward professional development” (Donohoo & Katz, 2017, 21). A major component of collective efficacy is trusting the process and leadership. As mentioned by Goddard and colleagues, “a principal’s instructional leadership significantly predicts collective efficacy by influencing teachers’ collaborative work” (Donohoo & Katz, 2017, 26). As there are many ways to demonstrate instructional leadership, two ways stand out as motivating staff to participate in collaborative inquiry. The first is by facilitating Learning Sprints to encourage the “buy-in”. Breakspear and Dunn state, “the Learning Sprints process is simple, relevant, and achievable for already overloaded teachers and their leaders” (Breakspear & Dunn, 2018, 2). It is made up of multiple stages: prepare stage, sprint phase and review phase. Learning sprints is a “process [that is] job-embedded, collaborative, informed by research, involves disciplined experimentation, and generates evidence of impact on the students we teach” (Breakspear & Dunn, 2018, 3). One such example of Learnings Sprints is developing an inquiry question, but teachers are encouraged to narrow their focus to ensure collection and analysis of data is achievable. Simon Breakspear has developed a Learning Sprints Toolkit focusing on a process of prepare, sprint, and review. In the narrowing of an inquiry question example, he uses the metaphor of refining a question from boulder to sand as indicated in Figure 1. As these sprints have been developed to further student learning, they have also been created to engage staff and involve them in a meaningful process. These tools can be a major factor in motivating staff in collaborative inquiry.
Influence of Leadership
Literature Review
To enhance the development of collaborative inquiry and apply them into schools, we have to look at how the leaders of our education system understand collaborative inquiry and in what ways inquiries be incorporated into practice. It is also vital to note the significance that leadership holds in the promotion of collaboration. Leadership is defined as the process in which an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal (Northouse, 2022). Leadership plays an integral part in the successful implementation of collaborative inquiry within schools. Studies have consistently demonstrated that school leadership is second only to teachers in influencing student learning (Fuller et al., 2011). School leadership directly impacts the school culture and overall morale amongst staff which in turn can impact student learning. Strong leadership can create positive, collaborative, and reflective environments that are conducive to collaborative inquiry processes.
There are several leadership styles which promote the development of collaborative inquiry within a school setting. Adaptive, authentic, and transformational leadership styles allow for the creation of a positive school culture to tackle collaborative inquiries. Adaptive leadership is defined as how leaders encourage their followers to deal with problems, challenges and changes (Northouse, 2022). Collaborative inquiry by definition looks to solve a problem in the practice of teachers; therefore, adaptative leadership would be a suitable leadership style for this goal of encouraging teachers to investigate problems within their practice. A central tenet of adaptative leadership is the ability of these leaders to encourage their followers to explore and change their values in an ever-changing landscape (Northouse, 2022). Adaptive leaders: motivate, mobilize, organize, orient, and focus the attention of others which are all important skills in creating a culture of inquiry, mobilizing staff, and supporting staff throughout the inquiry process (Northouse, 2022). If administration is to play a key role in influencing a culture of collaboration and inquiry, it is necessary to have authentic leaders who are genuine (Northouse, 2022). Authentic leaders demonstrate a strong sense of purpose which makes them passionate about their work and tackling projects (Northouse, 2022). Moreover, authentic leaders can create real relationships with their followers which motivates them to work towards a common goal (Northouse, 2022). Finally, transformational leadership is rooted in its ability to change and transform people (Northouse, 2022). Transformational leaders look to create real connections with others in order to motivate and boost morale amongst their followers (Northouse, 2022). Motivation is intrinsically linked to the desire to engage in inquiry. Leadership theories provide a powerful platform for successful leadership that can assist in aiding school administration in choosing leadership approaches that create collaborative and reflective school environments.
There is also evidence to show that increased involvement of educational leaders and shared practical goal setting with teachers all lead to effective teacher development, increased problem-solving and inquiry, and positive social dynamics (Dolbec & Savoie-Zajc, 1996; MacNeil, et al., 2009; Robinson, et al., 2010). With appropriate leadership roles, this leads to changes in policies to sustain over longer periods of time (Robinson, et al., 2010). Studies by Dolbec and Savoie-Zajc (1996) and in Robinson, et al. (2010), showed that training leaders in CI is advantageous for problem-solving and learning. The effectiveness of CI is based upon the knowledge of the leaders and their ability to guide and model inquiry practices. When leaders and teachers both share the same inquiries and goals, their collaboration can reflect student performance and achievement. The findings in MacNeil (2009) also suggest that the shared social identity within the school is a factor to academic performance, meaning those who identify positively with their schools score higher. It is essential that education leaders have the training and knowledge to promote and facilitate collaboration in inquiries as it is beneficial for all stakeholders in the educational community.
Inquiry extracts various information that can be used to design and modify classroom practices, but the issue lies with how institutions use that information. Institutions gravitate towards overly simplified solutions for complex educational situations (Lee, 1990, p.5). The newly attained information is either too abstract or cannot be easily transferred into current policies. The application of the information holds limited practicality to classroom settings as these devices are not applicable to all teachers and classrooms; It is the information gap between the current classroom methods and the drafted proposal. As Lee (1990) states, “[n]o matter how much new information we obtain, we cannot improve our effectiveness as educators unless we engage in a continual process of sense-making about what we think we know" (p. 5-6). We sense-make our decisions when we analyze what we already know and how this new knowledge can be translated into sensible practices within our profession. Therefore, leaders need to understand individual needs of the teachers (Glickman, 1990; Glatthorn, 1984 cited in Lee, 1990, p.5). Research has consistently found that principals play an important role in the collaborative inquiry process. Principals are tasked with fostering a culture of collaborative inquiry, providing release time to engage in inquiry, and access to appropriate resources (Nguyen, 2019). This raises the concerns of the shared participation of administrative leaders and teachers in the implementation process.
The active participation of leaders is needed throughout the entire inquiry process. Educational leaders should not be seen as separate components but treated as co-learners during the phases (Dolbec & Savoie-Zajc, 1996, p.6) in order to encourage collaborative learning development (Payne & Wolfson, 2000, p.16). Furthermore, principals are required to be active in the inquiry process as a co-facilitator or coach (Nguyen, 2019). In order to successfully co-facilitate and coach others, principals must first have a deep understanding of collaborative inquiry and data collection. Those in leadership roles “play a new role: to facilitate the development, the coordination and the implementation of the training plans” (Dolbec & Savoie-Zajc, 1996, p.4) as the new information will now be acquainted and relevant to both teachers and leaders who set new policies and practices. Leaders, such as principals, have the ability to “empower teachers [by] acknowledging their experiences, expertise, and professional autonomy” (Bredeson, 2000, p.394). Moreover, they must appropriately distribute decision making power amongst staff to allow for everyone to have their voice heard. With their expertise and active involvement in classrooms, teachers can provide proficient responses and interpretations in relation to the findings in the inquiry (Robinson, et al., 2010, p.53) considering that they are often the mediums who will practice the policies in class. Thus, the implementation should have a fair division of responsibility and decision making with teachers to strengthen engagement and ownership of the inquiry (Robinson, et al., 2010, p.60).
Collaborative inquiry can be one of the greatest tools for improving the teaching and learning of educators; however, it comes with many challenges that must be overcome in order to be successful (Ngyuen, 2019, p.39). One of the major problems that must be overcome is the issue of high teacher turnover and short administrative placements (Nguyen, 2019, p.39). Due to a variety of factors such as teacher transfers, leaves, and surpluses it is difficult to ensure a teacher group can maintain an inquiry for more than a year. Moreover, high teacher turnovers raise issues in terms of a school culture that is constantly in flux due to varying styles, personalities, and priorities. Furthermore, leadership is a crucial piece in creating the appropriate environment for collaborative inquiry; therefore, allowing such short administrative tenures at a school makes it difficult to bring about the changes necessary to create a culture of inquiry. While some barriers are systemic like high teacher and administrative turnover, there are others that are dependent on the individual school and staff. Buying into the culture of collaborative inquiry is one of the biggest hurdles encountered as it requires participants to change or adopt values that are out of their comfort zone which can create tensions amongst participants (Nguyen, 2019). Furthermore, time is one of the greatest challenges to successful collaborative inquiry. Collaborative inquiry requires great deals of time to sustain throughout a school year which is challenging to balance amongst all the other needs within a school. Appropriately trained school-based administration is another challenge as they are required to have a strong base in collaborate inquiry themselves such as the tools to guide others, moderate discussions, probe deeper into inquiry, and create a safe and positive environment to focus on their inquiry (Nguyen, 2019).
One of the purposes of collaborative inquiry is to ensure engagement within the group is maximized. If there is no support and cooperation from both parties, teachers, and administrators, then the results of the implementation will only be of structural changes, forced and artificial. Inquiry teams should first collectively identify with the group to increase team participation and genuine engagement. Meaning, building teamwork and mutual understanding towards the concerns and inquiry is required. Through these experiences, inquiry groups can bond and build a sense of identity and community. Educational leaders should focus and take “high priority to provide opportunities for building positive relationships” (Habegger, 2008, p. 44) so that teachers can have a comfortable environment to freely venture into different venues for resolutions. By encouraging risk-taking initiatives, inquiry teams can tackle more complex situations and out-of-the-box thinking which follows their ownership to their own learning development.
Once engagement and positive relationships are strengthened, they will all influence a stronger culture around collaboration and exploration of inquiry. Culture encompasses values, beliefs and climate (the behavior) of an organization (MacNeil, Prater & Busch, 2009, p. 75). It is important to consider how the teachers and learners view their school environment. As Freiberg and Stein (1999) stated, “school climate [is] the heart and soul of the school and the essence of the school that draws teachers and students to love the school and to want to be a part of it” (MacNeil, Prater & Busch, 2009, p.75). Without a strong culture and supportive administrative leaders to guide its culture, there would be no meaningful impact to develop learning, shape positive values and attitudes (MacNeil, Prater & Busch, 2009, p.76). This is because “the culture and climate of the school affects student achievement and the school [leaders] directly influences the culture and climate” (Maslowski 2001; Hoy et al. 1990; Hallinger & Heck 1998, Leithwood et al., 2002 as cited in MacNeil, Prater & Busch, 2009, p.76). If a school lacks the culture, then it is necessary to reculture, “reforming and reflecting the school culture around norms, values and beliefs” (Nelson & Slavit, 2008, p.102). The success of reculture needs leaders of the school to first be able to accurately identify the current existing culture before striving for a change (Bulach, 1999; Leithwood et al. 2001, as cited in MacNeil, Prater & Busch, 2009, p.74). Administrative leaders must have the awareness of existing culture as well as build meaningful opportunities for inquiry. Leaders who focus on improvement have the most optimal resources to produce reculturation in schools since “focusing on development of the school’s culture as a learning environment is fundamental to improved teacher morale and student achievement” (MacNeil, Prater & Busch, 2009, p.74).
Proposed Solutions
School administration plays a pivotal role in creating and sustaining the appropriate environment for teachers to engage in collaborative inquiry. School administration is directly involved in the hiring of hew teachers for the district. This is pertinent as research has demonstrated that principals are inclined to select candidates whose values such as collaboration, academic goals, and backgrounds mirror their own (Fuller et al., 2011). School districts can work to ensure that the hiring principals embody and value characteristics that are conducive to collaborative inquiry such as cooperation, a desire to improve their own practice, and high academic standards. By selectively hiring collaborative teachers who demonstrate a sustained curiosity about their profession and student learning; principals can begin to create shifts in the type of teachers being hired in the district. This can then have an impact in the classroom and teacher willingness to engage in collaborative inquiry. Furthermore, school administration can better prepare for the challenges and hurdles of collaborative inquiry practices in several ways. Firstly, it is critical that principals receive adequate training in collaborative inquiry themselves. There should be professional development opportunities and guided instruction from facilitators in teaching how to successfully engage in inquiry, compile data, analyze data, moderate discussions, and create safe spaces for teacher learning (Nguyen, 2019). Principals can overcome many of the barriers and challenges to collaborative inquiry by creatively finding release time for teachers to engage in inquiry, keeping the members of the inquiry focused, and the workload manageable (Nguyen, 2019). A focused group and a manageable workload ensure efforts are not wasted and teachers do not become overwhelmed. In addition, it is advantageous to frame collaborative inquiry within the existing paradigms of the school culture. Using terms such as collaborative inquiry can be overwhelming to teachers; instead, re-framing collaborative inquiry as exercises in reflection and collaboration can be helpful to reduce anxieties (Nguyen, 2019). Professional development programs specifically designed to guide principals in the successful implementation of collaborative inquiry would be advantageous in allowing more principals to successfully curate school cultures that welcome and eagerly tackle collaborative inquiries.
There are many solutions to the various barriers in the successful implementation of collaborative inquiry in theory. The theoretical side of education is far from the reality of day-to day teaching. Days in the classroom are hectic, fast-paced, and often require a teacher to wear many hats throughout the day. Principals have the power to organize for release time which is usually done by calling in substitute teachers to cover classes throughout the school day. In reality, we are currently in the midst of a teacher shortage; therefore, the chance of a substitute teacher arriving at the school is slim. Our substitutes are frequently re-assigned to other schools where there is a real staff shortage. Moreover, the idea of release time requires money and funding. Districts are constantly in the midst of budget shortfalls and left scrambling for funding. School flex funds must be used in a variety of manners and there simply never enough money. Finally, the idea of creating a collaborative culture and having staff buy-in is much easier said than done. Some school environments are so toxic and with a deep-rooted resentment towards administration that re-culturing is almost impossible; especially given the relatively short tenure of an administrator at any one job site. The solutions to the barriers of collaborative inquiry appear to be practical; however, deeper examination of our current educational system will show they are only practical in certain situations.
Conclusion
After examining a variety of academic and professional resources, it has become quite clear there must be necessary supports in place to further teacher motivation to participate in collaborative inquiry. At the individual level, perceptions of meaningfulness and competency within self-efficacy influence intrinsic motivation of teachers. When teachers are aware that they have influence over certain aspects of their self-efficacy and motivation, they will be able to work towards developing higher self-efficacy. This, in turn, can influence their motivation to collaborate with colleagues and contributes to higher relationship satisfaction which ultimately promotes teamwork and collaboration. At the administrative level, the use of data visualization, school wide assessments and data collection, engaging learning sprints, will make way for improved impetus to engage in collaborative inquiry. Lastly, we must consider the leadership styles and contributions to change and improvement; the involvement of teachers and administrative leaders throughout inquiry; facilitation of engagement. Furthermore, it is essential for school leaders to cultivate opportunities for inquiry for it is not only a great vessel for professional learning development, but also a means to social development and overall collective identity to the school culture. The proposed solutions emphasize the concerns brought forth in the literature review in hopes of expanding the growth in participation of collaborative inquiry.
References
Boulder Pebble Sand Tool. (2020). Teaching Sprints. https://teachingsprints.com/boulder- pebble-sand-tool
Breakspear, S. (2015). Bottoms up: How innovative change starts with frontline educators. The Challenge to Change.
Breakspear & Dunn, S. R. (2018). Learning sprints: How to help overload educators continuously enhance their expertise. Corwin Connect.
Brownlie, F., Feniak, C., & Schnellert, L. (2016). Student diversity, 3rd edition: Teaching strategies to meet the learning needs of all students in k-10 classrooms (third edition). Pembroke Publishers.
Butler, D. L., & Schnellert, L. (2012). Collaborative inquiry in teacher professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(8), 1206-1220. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2012.07.009
Butler, D., & Schnellert, L. (2014). Collaborative Inquiry - Empowering teachers in their professional development. Teaching and Teacher Education: An International Journal of Research and Studies, 28 (8), 1206-1220.
Bredeson, P. V. (2000) The school principal's role in teacher professional development. Journal of In-Service Education, 26(2), 385-401. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13674580000200114
Canrinus, E. T., Helms-Lorenz, M., Beijaard, D., Buitink, J., & Hofman, A. (2011). Self- efficacy, job satisfaction, motivation and commitment: exploring the relationships between indicators of teachers’ professional identity. European Journal of Psychology of Education, 27(1), 115–132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10212-011-0069-2
Davis, J., & Wilson, S. M. (2000). Principals’ Efforts to Empower Teachers: Effects on Teacher Motivation and Job Satisfaction and Stress. The Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, 73(6), 349–353.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00098650009599442
Dolbec, A., & Savoie-Zajc, L. (1996). Collaborative Inquiry with School Principals to Implement a Continuous Learning Culture. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED396450.pdf
Donohoo J., & Katz, S. (2017). When teachers believe, students achieve: Collaborative inquiry builds teacher efficacy for better student outcomes. The Learning Professional, 36 (6), 20-27.
Fuller, E., Young, M., & Baker, B. B. (2011). Do principal preparation programs influence student achievement through the building of teacher-team qualifications by the principal. An exploratory analysis. Educational Administration Quarterly, 47 (1), 173-216. https://doi.org/10.1177/00110000103
Habegger, S. (2008). The principal’s role in successful schools. Principal, September/October,
42-46.
Kaser L., & Halbert, J. (2017). The spirals playbook: Leading with an inquiring mindset in school systems and schools. C21 Canada – Canadians for 21st Century Learning and Innovation.
Katz, S., & Dack, L. A. (2014). Towards a culture of inquiry for data use in schools: Breaking down professional learning barriers through intentional interruption. Studies in Educational Evaluation, 42, 35–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2013.10.006
Lee, G. V. (1990). Instructional leadership as collaborative inquiry: Opportunities and challenges. Far West Lab. For Educational Research and Development, San Francisco, Calif.
MacNeil, A. J., Prater, D. L., & Busch, S. (2009). The effects of school culture and climate on student achievement. International Journal of Leadership in Education, 12(1), 73- 84. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603120701576241
Mertler, C. A. (2002, Autumn). Job satisfaction and perception of motivation among middle and high school teachers. American Secondary Education, 31(1), 43–53. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41064589
Nelson, T., & Slavit, D. (2008). Supported teacher collaborative inquiry. Teacher education quarterly, 35(1), 99-116. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ810660.pdf
Nguyen, Johnny. (2019). Principal leadership for teacher collaborative inquiry. (13860787) [Doctoral Dissertation, University of Toronto]. ProQuest
Northouse, P. G. (2022). Leadership: Theory and practice (9th ed.). Sage.
Payne, D., & Wolfson, T. (2000). Teacher professional development—the principal's critical role. Nassp Bulletin, 84(618), 13-21.
Robinson, Marian A.; Passantino, Claire; Acerra, Marsha; Bae, Lauren; Tiehen, Katie; Pido, Eric; Kannapel, Patricia; Duffy, Mark; and Langland, Connie. (2010). School perspectives on collaborative inquiry: Lessons learned from new york city, 2009- 2010. CPRE Research Reports. Retrieved from https://repository.upenn.edu/cpre_researchreports/59/
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PME 801 – Process Account
*All meetings took place online via Microsoft Teams.
When
Who
Discussion Points
To do for Next Meeting:
30/07/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
- Christina took the initiative to make a WhatsApp group for easy communication between group members
-Looking at expectations
- Sarah: how can we support new teachers in collaborative inquiry?
- Sherry: Leadership, how does that play into Collaborative Inquiry? What kind of leadership skills do we use for collaborative inquiry
- Encouraging collaborative inquiry (team-work building, reaching out, informal discussions)
- Christina: How do you create a culture of inquiry within schools?
-What role does self-regulation have in collaborative inquiry?
- Chris: Major concern: motivating/inspiring aspect on both sides (teacher/admin), “buy-in”, moving away from confirmation bias
- Narrowing our focus
- Schedule Next Meeting: Tuesday at 10am.
- Use Microsoft 365 as collaboration tool
- General Theme: How can we inspire staff (tools) to participate in collaborative inquiry to further student and teacher learning? Subtopics: new teacher support, leadership, SRL
- Sarah: post process account document, make collaboration document and references page
- Everyone: browse resources, share some ideas that you extracted from the reading on the collaboration document, post in reference page
3/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
- touching base on what we’ve accomplished so far, looking for resource,
-resources (look at rubric), responsible for our own piece.
- Intro, resource summary, proposed solution, next steps
-each person responsible for all steps
-divide up today?
-put together intro after
-Chris: motivational piece (what do we already know about our students? 2 PD at the beginning at the school, mini staff meeting, full length staff meeting at the end of sept., school-wide reading assessment, data collection at the district level by agencies bower BI model that gathers data use that to start conversation, MDI learning years survey, provided feedback by this organization, Simon Brakespeare tools, ) ---> Chris is interested
-Sarah: looking at the relationship between job satisfaction, self-efficacy and motivation, relationship
- Christina: leadership styles (transformational and adaptive)
-good collegial relationship, how can we make so that they are more likely to collaborative? How can we motivate?
- Sherry: leadership, implementation, administration, talk more about how to use information and implement it into policies, reculturing in schools, self-regulation (interesting piece), group-setting people focus on team building then team regulation (administration, implementation side)
-8 to 12 pages, draft done
-Draft due on the Sunday
-Meet on Sunday 10am
-Put together Intro and Conclusion together
8/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
- Weaknesses
-Christina – leadership, resource from Queen’s, lots of stuff for lit review, proposed solution, trying to find academic solution, feeling comfortable,
-Sarah: question for lit review (summary or reflection?), confirmed: summary, overwriting need to narrow down.
-Sherry over writing, narrowed down to 3 pages, focused on solution, narrow down to away from literature review can be broken down into diff parts, can fuse together with other parts, fluid, possible weaknesses?
-By tonight, copy and paste, then divide out tasks, intro/concl, weaknesses
-aim for 4 pages per person, submit online
-Intro/concl, meet on tuesday 10am? Divide tasks up,
-Sherry volunteered to start the concl since she already narrowed down her part
-Sherry: start on intro (around half a page?)
-Sarah: create joint document for everyone to paste their part in
-Everyone: narrow down your part to ~4 pages, post to group folder
-Meet on Tuesday (10am) to divide tasks up.
10/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
-Chris: Touching base with what we’ve accomplished
-Sherry: to revise, introduction can be combined, made a general one so that we could adapt/work with, who should go first, seems a little choppy,
-Christina: overlap in Sherry + Christina, both are about leadership from different perspectives, combine **negotiations -->
-Chris: leaders out there, emphasize being relational, component of collaborative inquiry,
-Sarah, Christina, Chris
-Sherry will incorporate hers into where it can fit in (reculturing, changing how we looked at school, working together, co learner, involvement of teachers, team building,
-How to get people inspire?
-Christina: Solution + next steps, conclusion, start off as a general statement, for leadership piece: administrative must be competent in CI, training, facilitation, in the trenches with them,
-Chris: statement or two about your main argument,
-References: hanging format, indent on the second line,**Christina noticed
-Chris: title page
-Sherry + Christina: end of tomorrow night, separate document to fix overlap, and streamline, sherry will make document.
-Sherry: Intro, general,
-Christina to Sherry clarifying her part: leadership theories, foundation in collaborative inquiry, (trust part)
-Meet together on Friday for the last time (10am) before submitting
-Chris: create title page
-Christina: final edits on reference page, APA format
-Everyone: Add one or two statements to the concl, take a look at introduction,
-Christina & Sherry: meet together to work on their part. Sherry will be away on Friday, Christina will report back to group on what they discussed.
-Sherry: create separate document to fix overlaps, and streamline
12/08/2021
Sherry, Christina, and Chris
-Messaging via WhatsApp group
-Sherry touched base with the group (references, organization of paragraphs) as she will not be able to attend Friday’s meeting.
-Feedback from Christina: paragraphs need to be put in the right order, issues with some references (not sure if it’s a book or journal), question for organization (intro, all lit reviews, all the solutions, then conclusion), take a look at overall cohesion.
13/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sarah
*Sherry away
- Reference Page: touching up grey areas, done formatting, hanging cliff note, page top right hand corner
-Page count: 19 pages (innovation and creativity) often supported through administration and teacher leaders, Chris will pull this part out, since Sherry and Christina already talked about it.
-Chris: Introduction to lit review + solution: can chop that part out to lessen it, if those key points are identified earlier on
- Chris: Put everything in new document, -Christina: add a part, anecdotal pieces into the barriers, EOC /LST teachers, personal context, failure to fill
- For order, keep themed sections together (Lit Review 1, Proposed Solution 1, Lit Review 2, Proposed Solution 2 etc.) (Sarah, Chris, Christina/Sherry)
-Chris: copy and paste draft into a new document (Good Copy)
-Christina: submit final assignment in PDF format Saturday morning.
-Sarah: Go through Intro & Concl, make sure all is streamlined in the right order for intro/concl
Collaboration Document
Theme of Inquiry: How can we inspire staff (tools) to participate in collaborative inquiry to further student and teacher learning?
Subtopics: New Teacher Support, leadership, SRL
Group Member
Subtopic
Resource(s)
Main Points/Interesting ideas
Christina
Leadership – Styles & Role
Motivation
Leadership & Theory
Peter Northouse
Leadership Reflections: Complexity and Our Adaptable Minds - Collaborative Inquiry and Presence-Based Leadership-
Schlak, Tim
Principal Leadership for Teacher Collaborative Inquiry
Johnny Nguyen
Do Principal Preparation Programs Influence Student Achievement Through the Building of Teacher-Team Qualifications by the Principal? An Exploratory Analysis
Fuller, Ed ; Young, Michelle ; Baker, Bruce D
Collaborative Teacher Inquiry
Motivation & Self-Regulated Learning
Schunk & Zimmerman
Adaptive, Transformational, and Authentic leadership
Traits, Skills, and Behaviour Approach- maybe?
Adaptive leadership is about how leaders encourage people to adapt—to face and deal with problems, challenges, and changes. Adaptive leadership focuses on the adaptations required of people in response to changing environments. Simply stated, adaptive leaders prepare and encourage people to deal with change. P.285
adaptive leadership is the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive”p.285
In addition, adaptive leadership is about helping others to explore and change their values. The goal of adaptive leadership is to encourage people to change and to learn new behaviors so that they may effectively meet their challenges and grow in the process. In short, adaptive leadership is the behavior of and the actions undertaken by leaders to encourage others to address and resolve changes that are central in their lives p.286
As its name implies, transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals. It includes assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings. Transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them. It is a process that often incorporates charismatic and visionary leadership. P.185
He wrote of leaders as people who tap the motives of followers in order to better reach the goals of leaders and followers p.186
transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. P.185
Authentic leadership represents one of the newer areas of leadership research. It focuses on whether leadership is genuine and “real. P.224
five dimensions of authentic leadership identified by George: purpose, values, relationships, self-discipline, and heart. The figure also illustrates each of the related characteristics—passion, behavior, connectedness, consistency, and compassion—that individuals need to develop to become authentic leaders. P.224
George found that authentic leaders have a real sense of purpose. They know what they are about and where they are going. In addition to knowing their purpose, authentic leaders are inspired and intrinsically motivated about their goals. They are passionate individuals who have a deep-seated interest in what they are doing and truly care about their work. P.224
The work of transformational leadership begins with the recognition that we do have a choice in how we respond to the complexity around us. P.3
The wisest among us remind us that our job is simply to show up and be present emotionally, mentally, and physically for the world around us as it is. Most importantly, we are here to discover the authentic role we might play in the here and now and to occupy our space with the presence and intention we are able to bring as leaders.p.8
principals’ roles in the CI process include (1) fostering the CI culture; (2) providing teachers with time and resources; (3) acting as an active co-learner, co-facilitator, and coach; (4) supporting models of shared decision-making and distributed leadership; (5) adapting CI to the school context; (6) setting the direction for the CI inquiry teams; and (7) sustaining CI. (p.1)
principals need to lead and support CI includes knowledge of CI and data, facilitation skills, and a growth mindset and perseverance for CI, which can be acquired in various ways including: reading CI resources, engaging in the CI process, attending professional learning sessions, accessing Ministry resources, participating in professional networks of colleagues, and listening to teachers who are involved in the CI process. (pii)
challenges and barriers principals encounter include (1) lack of time and resources for the teachers to conduct CI, (2) facilitation skills to develop a culture of inquiry and learning, (3) getting teachers to buy into the CI culture, (4) embedding a true learning CI culture at school, and (5) the stance of teacher unions which is claimed to be one source of teachers’ resistance to engagement in the CI process. P.iii
To overcome these barriers and challenges, principals use some common strategies such as (1) finding time creatively for the teachers to conduct CI, (2) keeping things as focused and practically manageable as possible, (3) setting norms for building trust and ensuring a variety of opinions, (4) not using the term CI but associating CI with the existing norms and practices of collaboration and learning at school P.iii
Evidence suggests that school leadership is second only to classroom instruction in influencing student learning p.7
The greater the percentage of teachers appointed by a principal with high academic goals, the higher the student test score gains; the greater the percentage of teachers appointed by a principal with low academic goals, the lower are student test score gains. P. 6
Principals select new teachers for the district! They can look for those inclined to collaborative inquiry
Research further suggests that principals influence teachers through direct and indirect actions and that these actions are informed by their professional backgrounds; their beliefs about leadership, teaching, and supervision; and their responses to district and state policies p.7
“The climate had to be established that it was okay to take a risk; we needed to have avenue to have courageous conversations …The climate is so important because … we were able to talk about our struggles.”p.2
Chris
-School Wide Processes (Scan)
-What do we know about our learners?
-Teaching Sprints
-What does support look like?
The Spiral Playbook - Kaser & Halbert
Simon Breakspear – Bottoms Up – How innivative change starts with frontline educators
Butler & Schnellert – Collaborative Inquiry in teacher professional development
Donohoo & Katz - When Teachers Believe, Students Achieve
Several additional resources placed in our reference page
What do we know about our learners? - Data Collection – Katz and Dack
Brownlie – school wide reading assessment
MDI and BI forms of data of learners
Scan – Spirals of Inquiry
Mindset
Network of Inquiry
Indigenous Wisdom
Learning Sprints – tools – Breakspear
Innovative Change
Collective Efficacy – Donohoo
Trust
Principal leadership
Sherry
Challenges & Opportunities to encourage CI
(in relation to leadership – eg, administration)
Lee (1990)
Encouraging CI
(re-culturing in schools)
Nelson & Slavit (2008)
Robinson, et al. (2010)
action research plan – principals as co-learners
Dolbec & Savoie-Zajc (1996)
Payne & Wolfson (2000)
Climate & Culture (principals changing school culture)
MacNeil, Prater & Busch, (2009)
Habegger
(2008)
Bredeson (2000)
Relationship between CI & SRL (study)
extra
Saab, van Joolingen & van Hout-Wolters (2012)
Sarah
Exploring relationships between Professional identity, Self-Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, and Motivation
Canrinus et al. (2011)
Pp. 116
“professional identity is related to how teachers respond to educational reforms”
Pp. 118
Self-efficacy: “A teacher’s perception of his or her ability to (a) perform required professional tasks and to regulate relations involved in the process of teaching and educating students and (b) perform organizational tasks, become part of the organization and its political and social processes.”
“Self-efficacy beliefs [play] a key role in motivational processes.”
Pp 120
“Five core job dimensions (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback) influence three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for outcomes and knowledge of the actual results) which influence personal and work outcomes including work motivation.”
Pp. 124
“Teachers’ classroom self-efficacy was significantly related to teachers’ relationship satisfaction, affective occupational commitment and change in level of teachers’ motivation.”
“The strongest significant relationship was found between relationship satisfaction and affective occupational commitment.”
Pp. 125
“Although a teacher’s satisfaction with his/her salary may decrease when this teacher’s classroom self-efficacy increases, it will decrease less when the teacher is, at the same time, satisfied with his/her relationships at work.”
Pp 127
“the extent to which teachers are satisfied with their colleagues, the support they receive and the extent to which they feel competent in dealing with school administrators influence teachers’ rating of the other indicators”
“Relationship satisfaction could be strengthened by providing or enhancing a supportive environment, making sure that teachers feel they are listened to by the school board and developing a strong feeling of relatedness between team members.”
How leadership can support job satisfaction
Canrinus et al. (2011)
Pp. 127
“Another factor which has been found to influence teachers’ relationship satisfaction is the leadership style of a teacher’s superior (Bogler 2001; Nguni et al. 2006). Bogler (2001) concluded that a transformational leadership style (which includes intellectually stimulating their teachers and having charisma and a clear vision) contributes positively to...teachers’ relationship satisfaction.
Mertler (2002)
“teachers might value a somewhat different system of rewards, based on the focus of particular incentives. For example, based on an exploratory factor analysis, teachers in a recent study classified ten incentives of teaching performance into three main categories – namely, student-centered rewards, professional development incentives, and school district recognition awards (Mertler, 2001).”
Davis & Wilson (2000)
Pp. 349
The type of empowerment that allows one “to exercise one’s craft with confidence and to help shape the way that the job is to be done” and “when individuals ‘perceive that they have power or when they believe they can adequately cope with events, situation, and/or people they confront” (473)
Pp. 350
“job satisfaction is clearly related to levels of intrinsic empowerment”
Pp. 352
“the more principals participate in empowering behaviours, the greater the impact teachers feel they are able to make by fulfilling work-related tasks and the more likely they are to see that they have choices in selecting actions that will lead toward positive outcomes.”
“Even though a principal may be perceived as engaging in behaviour that help develop the capacity of individuals within the school to work collaboratively and to work toward accomplishing a vision for the school, these perceived efforts are not associated with the value that teachers assign to tasks, goals, and the purpose of their work as classroom teacher.
“competency and meaningfulness...are not likely to be associated with what the principal does”
“it may be that principal empowering behaviours are associated with teacher job satisfaction and job stress in an indirect manner, through teacher motivation.”
Teacher experience and job satisfaction
Mertler (2002)
Pp. 47
“The numbers of years of teaching experience made a statistically significant difference in the distribution of responses for job satisfaction.”
“Percentages of satisfied teachers with experience ranging from 1-5 years, from 21-25 years, and 31-35 years were substantially greater than the overall value of 77%. Additionally, the percentage of teachers with experience in the rage of 6 – 10 years who indicated satisfaction with their jobs were substantially lower at 65%”
Pp. 51
“why mid-career teachers and those in suburban settings tend to experience greater frequencies of job dissatisfaction and lower levels of motivation”
*All meetings took place online via Microsoft Teams.
When
Who
Discussion Points
To do for Next Meeting:
30/07/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
- Christina took the initiative to make a WhatsApp group for easy communication between group members
-Looking at expectations
- Sarah: how can we support new teachers in collaborative inquiry?
- Sherry: Leadership, how does that play into Collaborative Inquiry? What kind of leadership skills do we use for collaborative inquiry
- Encouraging collaborative inquiry (team-work building, reaching out, informal discussions)
- Christina: How do you create a culture of inquiry within schools?
-What role does self-regulation have in collaborative inquiry?
- Chris: Major concern: motivating/inspiring aspect on both sides (teacher/admin), “buy-in”, moving away from confirmation bias
- Narrowing our focus
- Schedule Next Meeting: Tuesday at 10am.
- Use Microsoft 365 as collaboration tool
- General Theme: How can we inspire staff (tools) to participate in collaborative inquiry to further student and teacher learning? Subtopics: new teacher support, leadership, SRL
- Sarah: post process account document, make collaboration document and references page
- Everyone: browse resources, share some ideas that you extracted from the reading on the collaboration document, post in reference page
3/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
- touching base on what we’ve accomplished so far, looking for resource,
-resources (look at rubric), responsible for our own piece.
- Intro, resource summary, proposed solution, next steps
-each person responsible for all steps
-divide up today?
-put together intro after
-Chris: motivational piece (what do we already know about our students? 2 PD at the beginning at the school, mini staff meeting, full length staff meeting at the end of sept., school-wide reading assessment, data collection at the district level by agencies bower BI model that gathers data use that to start conversation, MDI learning years survey, provided feedback by this organization, Simon Brakespeare tools, ) ---> Chris is interested
-Sarah: looking at the relationship between job satisfaction, self-efficacy and motivation, relationship
- Christina: leadership styles (transformational and adaptive)
-good collegial relationship, how can we make so that they are more likely to collaborative? How can we motivate?
- Sherry: leadership, implementation, administration, talk more about how to use information and implement it into policies, reculturing in schools, self-regulation (interesting piece), group-setting people focus on team building then team regulation (administration, implementation side)
-8 to 12 pages, draft done
-Draft due on the Sunday
-Meet on Sunday 10am
-Put together Intro and Conclusion together
8/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
- Weaknesses
-Christina – leadership, resource from Queen’s, lots of stuff for lit review, proposed solution, trying to find academic solution, feeling comfortable,
-Sarah: question for lit review (summary or reflection?), confirmed: summary, overwriting need to narrow down.
-Sherry over writing, narrowed down to 3 pages, focused on solution, narrow down to away from literature review can be broken down into diff parts, can fuse together with other parts, fluid, possible weaknesses?
-By tonight, copy and paste, then divide out tasks, intro/concl, weaknesses
-aim for 4 pages per person, submit online
-Intro/concl, meet on tuesday 10am? Divide tasks up,
-Sherry volunteered to start the concl since she already narrowed down her part
-Sherry: start on intro (around half a page?)
-Sarah: create joint document for everyone to paste their part in
-Everyone: narrow down your part to ~4 pages, post to group folder
-Meet on Tuesday (10am) to divide tasks up.
10/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sherry
Sarah
-Chris: Touching base with what we’ve accomplished
-Sherry: to revise, introduction can be combined, made a general one so that we could adapt/work with, who should go first, seems a little choppy,
-Christina: overlap in Sherry + Christina, both are about leadership from different perspectives, combine **negotiations -->
-Chris: leaders out there, emphasize being relational, component of collaborative inquiry,
-Sarah, Christina, Chris
-Sherry will incorporate hers into where it can fit in (reculturing, changing how we looked at school, working together, co learner, involvement of teachers, team building,
-How to get people inspire?
-Christina: Solution + next steps, conclusion, start off as a general statement, for leadership piece: administrative must be competent in CI, training, facilitation, in the trenches with them,
-Chris: statement or two about your main argument,
-References: hanging format, indent on the second line,**Christina noticed
-Chris: title page
-Sherry + Christina: end of tomorrow night, separate document to fix overlap, and streamline, sherry will make document.
-Sherry: Intro, general,
-Christina to Sherry clarifying her part: leadership theories, foundation in collaborative inquiry, (trust part)
-Meet together on Friday for the last time (10am) before submitting
-Chris: create title page
-Christina: final edits on reference page, APA format
-Everyone: Add one or two statements to the concl, take a look at introduction,
-Christina & Sherry: meet together to work on their part. Sherry will be away on Friday, Christina will report back to group on what they discussed.
-Sherry: create separate document to fix overlaps, and streamline
12/08/2021
Sherry, Christina, and Chris
-Messaging via WhatsApp group
-Sherry touched base with the group (references, organization of paragraphs) as she will not be able to attend Friday’s meeting.
-Feedback from Christina: paragraphs need to be put in the right order, issues with some references (not sure if it’s a book or journal), question for organization (intro, all lit reviews, all the solutions, then conclusion), take a look at overall cohesion.
13/08/2021
Christina
Chris
Sarah
*Sherry away
- Reference Page: touching up grey areas, done formatting, hanging cliff note, page top right hand corner
-Page count: 19 pages (innovation and creativity) often supported through administration and teacher leaders, Chris will pull this part out, since Sherry and Christina already talked about it.
-Chris: Introduction to lit review + solution: can chop that part out to lessen it, if those key points are identified earlier on
- Chris: Put everything in new document, -Christina: add a part, anecdotal pieces into the barriers, EOC /LST teachers, personal context, failure to fill
- For order, keep themed sections together (Lit Review 1, Proposed Solution 1, Lit Review 2, Proposed Solution 2 etc.) (Sarah, Chris, Christina/Sherry)
-Chris: copy and paste draft into a new document (Good Copy)
-Christina: submit final assignment in PDF format Saturday morning.
-Sarah: Go through Intro & Concl, make sure all is streamlined in the right order for intro/concl
Collaboration Document
Theme of Inquiry: How can we inspire staff (tools) to participate in collaborative inquiry to further student and teacher learning?
Subtopics: New Teacher Support, leadership, SRL
Group Member
Subtopic
Resource(s)
Main Points/Interesting ideas
Christina
Leadership – Styles & Role
Motivation
Leadership & Theory
Peter Northouse
Leadership Reflections: Complexity and Our Adaptable Minds - Collaborative Inquiry and Presence-Based Leadership-
Schlak, Tim
Principal Leadership for Teacher Collaborative Inquiry
Johnny Nguyen
Do Principal Preparation Programs Influence Student Achievement Through the Building of Teacher-Team Qualifications by the Principal? An Exploratory Analysis
Fuller, Ed ; Young, Michelle ; Baker, Bruce D
Collaborative Teacher Inquiry
Motivation & Self-Regulated Learning
Schunk & Zimmerman
Adaptive, Transformational, and Authentic leadership
Traits, Skills, and Behaviour Approach- maybe?
Adaptive leadership is about how leaders encourage people to adapt—to face and deal with problems, challenges, and changes. Adaptive leadership focuses on the adaptations required of people in response to changing environments. Simply stated, adaptive leaders prepare and encourage people to deal with change. P.285
adaptive leadership is the practice of mobilizing people to tackle tough challenges and thrive”p.285
In addition, adaptive leadership is about helping others to explore and change their values. The goal of adaptive leadership is to encourage people to change and to learn new behaviors so that they may effectively meet their challenges and grow in the process. In short, adaptive leadership is the behavior of and the actions undertaken by leaders to encourage others to address and resolve changes that are central in their lives p.286
As its name implies, transformational leadership is a process that changes and transforms people. It is concerned with emotions, values, ethics, standards, and long-term goals. It includes assessing followers’ motives, satisfying their needs, and treating them as full human beings. Transformational leadership involves an exceptional form of influence that moves followers to accomplish more than what is usually expected of them. It is a process that often incorporates charismatic and visionary leadership. P.185
He wrote of leaders as people who tap the motives of followers in order to better reach the goals of leaders and followers p.186
transformational leadership is the process whereby a person engages with others and creates a connection that raises the level of motivation and morality in both the leader and the follower. P.185
Authentic leadership represents one of the newer areas of leadership research. It focuses on whether leadership is genuine and “real. P.224
five dimensions of authentic leadership identified by George: purpose, values, relationships, self-discipline, and heart. The figure also illustrates each of the related characteristics—passion, behavior, connectedness, consistency, and compassion—that individuals need to develop to become authentic leaders. P.224
George found that authentic leaders have a real sense of purpose. They know what they are about and where they are going. In addition to knowing their purpose, authentic leaders are inspired and intrinsically motivated about their goals. They are passionate individuals who have a deep-seated interest in what they are doing and truly care about their work. P.224
The work of transformational leadership begins with the recognition that we do have a choice in how we respond to the complexity around us. P.3
The wisest among us remind us that our job is simply to show up and be present emotionally, mentally, and physically for the world around us as it is. Most importantly, we are here to discover the authentic role we might play in the here and now and to occupy our space with the presence and intention we are able to bring as leaders.p.8
principals’ roles in the CI process include (1) fostering the CI culture; (2) providing teachers with time and resources; (3) acting as an active co-learner, co-facilitator, and coach; (4) supporting models of shared decision-making and distributed leadership; (5) adapting CI to the school context; (6) setting the direction for the CI inquiry teams; and (7) sustaining CI. (p.1)
principals need to lead and support CI includes knowledge of CI and data, facilitation skills, and a growth mindset and perseverance for CI, which can be acquired in various ways including: reading CI resources, engaging in the CI process, attending professional learning sessions, accessing Ministry resources, participating in professional networks of colleagues, and listening to teachers who are involved in the CI process. (pii)
challenges and barriers principals encounter include (1) lack of time and resources for the teachers to conduct CI, (2) facilitation skills to develop a culture of inquiry and learning, (3) getting teachers to buy into the CI culture, (4) embedding a true learning CI culture at school, and (5) the stance of teacher unions which is claimed to be one source of teachers’ resistance to engagement in the CI process. P.iii
To overcome these barriers and challenges, principals use some common strategies such as (1) finding time creatively for the teachers to conduct CI, (2) keeping things as focused and practically manageable as possible, (3) setting norms for building trust and ensuring a variety of opinions, (4) not using the term CI but associating CI with the existing norms and practices of collaboration and learning at school P.iii
Evidence suggests that school leadership is second only to classroom instruction in influencing student learning p.7
The greater the percentage of teachers appointed by a principal with high academic goals, the higher the student test score gains; the greater the percentage of teachers appointed by a principal with low academic goals, the lower are student test score gains. P. 6
Principals select new teachers for the district! They can look for those inclined to collaborative inquiry
Research further suggests that principals influence teachers through direct and indirect actions and that these actions are informed by their professional backgrounds; their beliefs about leadership, teaching, and supervision; and their responses to district and state policies p.7
“The climate had to be established that it was okay to take a risk; we needed to have avenue to have courageous conversations …The climate is so important because … we were able to talk about our struggles.”p.2
- Role of intrinsic motivation
- True motivation creates optimal and long lasting learning
- Real learning creates lasting changes to one’s thoughts and actions
- Motivation is key for any type of learning
- Internal/external motivators
Chris
-School Wide Processes (Scan)
-What do we know about our learners?
-Teaching Sprints
-What does support look like?
The Spiral Playbook - Kaser & Halbert
Simon Breakspear – Bottoms Up – How innivative change starts with frontline educators
Butler & Schnellert – Collaborative Inquiry in teacher professional development
Donohoo & Katz - When Teachers Believe, Students Achieve
Several additional resources placed in our reference page
What do we know about our learners? - Data Collection – Katz and Dack
Brownlie – school wide reading assessment
MDI and BI forms of data of learners
Scan – Spirals of Inquiry
Mindset
Network of Inquiry
Indigenous Wisdom
Learning Sprints – tools – Breakspear
Innovative Change
Collective Efficacy – Donohoo
Trust
Principal leadership
Sherry
Challenges & Opportunities to encourage CI
(in relation to leadership – eg, administration)
Lee (1990)
- New information is difficult or not transferable to current knowledge and implement into new policies
- “No matter how much new information we obtain, we cannot improve our effectiveness as educators unless we engage in a continual process of "sense-making about what we think we know." (p. 5-6)
- Sense-making - What you know & how you translate information into our profession
- “Promoting school-wide instructional excellence requires administrators to develop strategies to work with and empower their staffs collectively so that the group can effectively address the operation of the school as an instructional organization” (p.6)
- Leadership characteristics: encouraging others reflect their own knowledge, theories, beliefs, experiences, and values, supporting others on their reflection of their own work, encouraging others to explore their solutions instead of guiding them to a particular answer, allowing others to examine various points of view, theories, or interpretations of their challenges, providing opportunities for others to return to their own work with a sense of accomplishment from the experience (p.9-10)
Encouraging CI
(re-culturing in schools)
Nelson & Slavit (2008)
Robinson, et al. (2010)
- Teacher reflection and student learning are often seen as different components - CI supposed to gap that isolation (p.102)
- “reculturing can only occur if teachers feel empowered to see beyond their immediate contexts and have the confidence and ability to attempt to influence, and not just be influenced by, the various forces that shape their immediate work and development” (p. 102)
- Reculturing - reforming and reflection of the school culture around norms, values and beliefs (p.102)
- 2 types of support: “(1) Support for the teacher collaborative inquiry process, and (2) Support for the inquiry environment” (p.104)
action research plan – principals as co-learners
Dolbec & Savoie-Zajc (1996)
Payne & Wolfson (2000)
- Implementation evolved: “the concern is to investigate how change is appropriate, how this appropriation translates into practice but also how the system develops new approaches to problem solving and how a new organisational culture is implemented as a consequence” (p. 2)
- Action plan - “a cyclical process consisting of planning, acting, observing and reflecting” (p.6)
- Similar to self-regulated learning
- The importance of dialogue among collaborators - understanding shared concerns (p.6)
- “One strategy to encourage ongoing learning is for the principal and teachers to participate in professional development activities together. Both the principal and the teachers benefit from learning together.” (p.16)
Climate & Culture (principals changing school culture)
MacNeil, Prater & Busch, (2009)
Habegger
(2008)
Bredeson (2000)
- climate - behaviour & culture - the values and norms of the school or organization (Hoy 1990, Heck and Marcoulides 1996) (p.74-75)
- “the culture and climate of the school affects student achievement (Maslowski 2001, Hoy et al. 1990, 2006) and the school principal directly influences the culture and climate (Hallinger and Heck 1998, Leithwood et al. 2004)” (p.76)
- “Within schools, the principal is in a unique position to influence the implementation of these guiding principles and to affect the overall quality of teacher professional development” (p.386)
Relationship between CI & SRL (study)
extra
Saab, van Joolingen & van Hout-Wolters (2012)
- “Although inquiry learning can be a useful didactic method, by itself it may not result in learning gain. Additional support and guidance for inexperienced learners is needed” (Klahr and Nigam 2004; Mayer 2004) (p.8)
- Results: “students overall used more team regulation than task regulation [,focus on their own learning process]” (p.18)
- “Given that team regulation seems important in collaborative inquiry learning, students should not only learn domain specific knowledge, but they also should learn how to regulate their collaborative learning process. In this way, their learning process in diverse learning environments and situations will be improved, even when no added support is provided” (p.20)
Sarah
Exploring relationships between Professional identity, Self-Efficacy, Job Satisfaction, and Motivation
Canrinus et al. (2011)
Pp. 116
“professional identity is related to how teachers respond to educational reforms”
Pp. 118
Self-efficacy: “A teacher’s perception of his or her ability to (a) perform required professional tasks and to regulate relations involved in the process of teaching and educating students and (b) perform organizational tasks, become part of the organization and its political and social processes.”
“Self-efficacy beliefs [play] a key role in motivational processes.”
Pp 120
“Five core job dimensions (skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback) influence three critical psychological states (experienced meaningfulness, experienced responsibility for outcomes and knowledge of the actual results) which influence personal and work outcomes including work motivation.”
Pp. 124
“Teachers’ classroom self-efficacy was significantly related to teachers’ relationship satisfaction, affective occupational commitment and change in level of teachers’ motivation.”
“The strongest significant relationship was found between relationship satisfaction and affective occupational commitment.”
Pp. 125
“Although a teacher’s satisfaction with his/her salary may decrease when this teacher’s classroom self-efficacy increases, it will decrease less when the teacher is, at the same time, satisfied with his/her relationships at work.”
Pp 127
“the extent to which teachers are satisfied with their colleagues, the support they receive and the extent to which they feel competent in dealing with school administrators influence teachers’ rating of the other indicators”
“Relationship satisfaction could be strengthened by providing or enhancing a supportive environment, making sure that teachers feel they are listened to by the school board and developing a strong feeling of relatedness between team members.”
How leadership can support job satisfaction
Canrinus et al. (2011)
Pp. 127
“Another factor which has been found to influence teachers’ relationship satisfaction is the leadership style of a teacher’s superior (Bogler 2001; Nguni et al. 2006). Bogler (2001) concluded that a transformational leadership style (which includes intellectually stimulating their teachers and having charisma and a clear vision) contributes positively to...teachers’ relationship satisfaction.
Mertler (2002)
“teachers might value a somewhat different system of rewards, based on the focus of particular incentives. For example, based on an exploratory factor analysis, teachers in a recent study classified ten incentives of teaching performance into three main categories – namely, student-centered rewards, professional development incentives, and school district recognition awards (Mertler, 2001).”
Davis & Wilson (2000)
Pp. 349
The type of empowerment that allows one “to exercise one’s craft with confidence and to help shape the way that the job is to be done” and “when individuals ‘perceive that they have power or when they believe they can adequately cope with events, situation, and/or people they confront” (473)
Pp. 350
“job satisfaction is clearly related to levels of intrinsic empowerment”
Pp. 352
“the more principals participate in empowering behaviours, the greater the impact teachers feel they are able to make by fulfilling work-related tasks and the more likely they are to see that they have choices in selecting actions that will lead toward positive outcomes.”
“Even though a principal may be perceived as engaging in behaviour that help develop the capacity of individuals within the school to work collaboratively and to work toward accomplishing a vision for the school, these perceived efforts are not associated with the value that teachers assign to tasks, goals, and the purpose of their work as classroom teacher.
“competency and meaningfulness...are not likely to be associated with what the principal does”
“it may be that principal empowering behaviours are associated with teacher job satisfaction and job stress in an indirect manner, through teacher motivation.”
Teacher experience and job satisfaction
Mertler (2002)
Pp. 47
“The numbers of years of teaching experience made a statistically significant difference in the distribution of responses for job satisfaction.”
“Percentages of satisfied teachers with experience ranging from 1-5 years, from 21-25 years, and 31-35 years were substantially greater than the overall value of 77%. Additionally, the percentage of teachers with experience in the rage of 6 – 10 years who indicated satisfaction with their jobs were substantially lower at 65%”
Pp. 51
“why mid-career teachers and those in suburban settings tend to experience greater frequencies of job dissatisfaction and lower levels of motivation”