Chapter 1

1111
2
Our remedies oft in ourselves
3 do lie *
4
5
6 Introduction
7
8
9
1011
1
2
31 Action learning has been used for workplace learning in business organisations
4 for over seventy years, but it is only in the last fifteen years that it has been
5 applied in schools to underpin teachers’ professional learning. It is timely
6 that the value of action learning is explored in this book as a contribution
7 to teacher learning and development literature. In this book we have examined
8 the roles, processes and outcomes of action learning in school contexts, bringing
9 together more than a decade of our research in action learning projects.
20111 Our research includes projects we have conducted using action learning,
1 as well as studies of school-based action learning conducted by teams of
2 teachers. The research projects discussed are rich and diverse, while they also
3 share the common goal of sustaining teacher professional learning to improve
4 classroom practice. We have drawn on more than a hundred case studies
5 of action learning in schools. Many of these involve teachers collaborating
6 with academic partners to facilitate action learning. By analysing these case
7 studies, we explain how action learning interacts with teacher development,
8 professional learning, community building, sustaining change and school-
9 based innovation. In the busy world of teaching, action learning can link
closely to classroom practice so that it becomes part of what teachers do
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30111
1 rather than an added imposition.
2 It will also be shown that understanding how action learning works and
3 how it can be organised is critical to its ongoing success, so that it does not
4 fail just as it germinates. This book describes the successes and failures of
5 action learning, and suggests some of their underlying causes. It provides
practical advice on when, how and why to initiate and sustain action learning.
6
It articulates theories of teacher learning underpinning action learning, as
7
well as notions of teacher professionalism that can inform individual projects
8
and large-scale innovations.
9
This book also spans significant fields of educational development to
40111
illustrate action learning, not merely as a process for implementation, but
1
as a dynamic and interactive tool that can link the teacher learning processes
2
of reflection, community, leadership, action and feedback. Action learning
3
44111 *
Shakespeare, All’s well that ends well, Act I, Scene I.

Aubusson, P., Ewing, R., Hoban, G., & Hoban, G. F. (2009). Action learning in schools : Reframing teachers' professional learning
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 2 Action Learning in Schools

1111 is a process at all levels, not just because it requires team members to respect
2 each other in their professional conversations, but also because it acknowledges
3 and utilises the creativity, wisdom and practice of teachers as professionals.
4 While traditional debates about school improvement have focused on a
5 dichotomy of top-down/bottom-up approaches, we believe action learning
6 can span the apparent differences in these approaches. Action learning provides
7 a framework to address the many challenges, problems, issues and concerns
8 that arise in schools. For example, in a school, the problem of poor student
9 engagement might be addressed by implementing a well-known pedagogical
1011 approach such as cooperative learning. Like many attempts to address such
1 problems, teachers face the question of how to arrive at the desired outcome.
2 The problem is not one of what is to be done, but how to get it done. In
31 this situation, action learning can be used as a process to find ways to
4 implement the new approach in the school to improve student engagement.
5 Alternatively, the same goal to improve student engagement may be achieved
6 by a different pathway, depending on the context of the school. Action
7 learning provides a means to create new possibilities for change, using the
8 resources of the people who know best: the teachers in the schools. Action
9 learning recognises the capacities of teachers with expertise and knowledge
20111 of their particular school contexts, which must be understood if innovation
1 is to succeed. Action learning that succeeds works because it is a collaborative
2 learning process that does not presuppose that the means to an end are
3 available a priori, and because it assumes that problems in real schools require
4 professionals to learn in situ if practical, productive change in education is
5 to be realised.
6 If the potential of action learning in education is to be realised, then its
7 underlying principles need to be clearly understood and its practices explained.
8 The book explains in depth the key aspects of action learning in schools.
9 The chapter entitled ‘Positioning action learning’ discusses the fundamental
Copyright © 2009. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

30111 character of action learning and explores its place in teacher learning, school
1 innovation and change. The chapter begins by examining the origins of
2 action learning in the writing of Revans in the 1940s, as he worked with
3 the managers of coal-mines to share and find solutions to their management
4 problems. It outlines action learning as a professional learning framework
5 and illustrates this framework using examples in various industries and the
6 public sector. This chapter also clarifies the differences between action learning
7 and action research, as well as between professional development and
8 professional learning.
9 Having established a prima facie case for action learning as a vehicle for
40111 professional learning and innovation in schools, the next chapter, ‘Enabling
1 action learning: Getting started’, explains how to initiate and promote
2 action learning in a school setting. Taking into account the external factors
3 that influence individual schools, including socio-political contexts, this
44111 chapter explains how action learning can be instigated to target real issues

Aubusson, P., Ewing, R., Hoban, G., & Hoban, G. F. (2009). Action learning in schools : Reframing teachers' professional learning
and development. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' targe
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 Introduction 3

1111 of significance to particular school communities. Matters considered include:

2 selecting, defining and focusing the issue, concern or problem; setting targets
3 and timelines; the type of leadership required to promote action learning;
4 team formation, membership and shared responsibility; and meeting the
5 challenges of applying action learning in school environments.
6 Consideration of how to initiate and plan for action learning leads naturally
7 to an analysis of the principles and practices that underpin it. ‘The dynamics
8 of action learning’ expounds the four key processes of action learning to
9 show how they interrelate and enhance each other. The first process, reflection,
1011 involves participants thinking about something problematic to make sense
1 of their experiences and help them cope with similar situations in the future.
2 The second process, community, involves a group of six to eight members
31 sharing personal anecdotes to gain a deeper understanding of the meaning
4 of their personal experiences. The third process, action, entails participants
5 exploring ideas that have been generated by personal reflection and community
6 discussions. And the fourth process, feedback, utilises the important element
7 of responses to actions from colleagues and students. Independently, these
8 principles are not new, but action learning is a framework that integrates
9 all four processes to create a dynamic relationship, providing a helpful
20111 mechanism to support ongoing professional learning.
1 The following chapter on ‘Community’ elaborates on the synergistic
2 interactions between action learning and community. This chapter offers
3
insight into ways that the building of community can be enhanced.
4
It discusses different views of professional community and learning teams
5
to highlight implications for using action learning in schools. Barriers to
6
7 community formation are discussed in the context of ways action learning
8 can assist to overcome them. It is also acknowledged that, just as the genesis
9 of a professional learning community can lie in action learning, so too the
existence of a collaborative school community can lay the foundation for the
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30111
1 origin and evolution of action learning.
2 Effective, evolving professional communities are not isolated but have
3 mechanisms to generate new ideas from within, as well as ways to allow
4 new ideas to enter from outside. One device that supports this in action
5 learning is the external facilitator. The chapter on ‘Facilitating action learning:
6 The academic partner’s role’ is divided into two sections, examining two
7 aspects of external assistance to schools during an action learning project.
8 It begins by briefly examining the role that system personnel can provide
9 through external assistance in funding, framing and developing parameters
40111 to support action learning. The main part of the chapter then explores the
1 crucial role that an external partner can play as a critical friend in school-
2 based action learning. Both action learning team and academic partner
3 perspectives are discussed, and some frameworks for working productively
44111 are suggested, based on our experiences.

Aubusson, P., Ewing, R., Hoban, G., & Hoban, G. F. (2009). Action learning in schools : Reframing teachers' professional learning
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 4 Action Learning in Schools

1111 ‘Gathering and learning from evidence’ builds on previous chapters, arguing
2 that action learning depends on professional conversation from a committed
3 team of teachers. The basis for the team’s decision-making and learning can
4 be shifted to more robust ways of thinking by seeking evidence to inform
5 these conversations. The chapter explores the ways in which teachers gather
6 evidence in action learning, how this is analysed, and how it is used to
7 inform or promote innovation. It also discusses peer observation, the selection
8 and use of instruments, survey, focused discussions, reflection, reporting,
9 capturing episodes, stories, anecdotes and the role of professional sharing.
1011 While acknowledging the role of these elements in research, this chapter
1 focuses on the part they play in, and what it means to engage in, professional
2 learning with colleagues.
31 Rich conversation, the honest sharing of views, trust and genuine collabo-
4 ration are integral to action learning. This requires much of our personal
5 and professional selves – our beliefs, values and practices – to be exposed
6 to others. It also leads to actions that can have significant consequences for
7 others. These matters raise significant ethical questions for action learning.
8 Yet, to date, the ethics of action learning in schools have been largely
9 ignored in the literature. The chapter on ‘Ethical action learning’ explains
20111 what it means to be ethical in action learning by considering the consequences
1 of our actions for others.
2 As a professional learning framework, action learning promotes innovation
3 and change in schools. These are needed to ensure they maintain their key
4 role in our rapidly changing society. However, many efforts for educational
5 reform are short lived because they are not accompanied by processes and
6 conditions to support teacher learning. If developed effectively, action learning
7 provides the learning processes and conditions to underpin the longevity
8 of professional learning reform and to increase the possibilities for change.
9 Our chapter on ‘Sustaining professional learning’ proposes a model for
Copyright © 2009. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

30111 sustainable professional learning in schools and elaborates the implications

1 for organisational learning. It draws heavily on case studies of projects that
2 have been sustained over three or more years and advocates the establishment
3 of a broad and collaborative professional learning community.
4 Finally, in the Epilogue ‘Extending action learning’, we reflect on the
5 complex environment of modern schools and emphasise the need for schools
6 to redesign themselves if they are to maintain relevance in the twenty-first
7 century. Children are rapidly changing in our complex world. Teachers also
8 need to change. This chapter discusses the way in which action learning can
9 help to reinvigorate schools by promoting teacher professionalism and
40111 bringing new ideas and practices to the fore. The quality of student learning
1 in schools is dependent on the quality of teacher learning. In concluding,
2 we have speculated on how action learning itself might develop in the future
3 as it continues to fulfil the role of supporting teachers’ professional learning.
44111

Aubusson, P., Ewing, R., Hoban, G., & Hoban, G. F. (2009). Action learning in schools : Reframing teachers' professional learning
and development. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' targe
Created from hanuvn on 2020-08-18 23:35:23.