The Significance of Teacher Communities from the Perspective of the Congruency of Learning Processes: Collaborative reflection, classroom practice, and teachers’ social identities

Accepted Paper

Yumi Nixon (University of York) Megumi Bailey (University of York)

Paper long abstract

The purpose of this presentation is to clarify how learning within Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) may influence not only classroom practice but also teachers’ personal values and their ways of engaging with others and society. PLCs function not only as spaces for reflecting on practice but also as social environments that foster connections and mutual support among participants. Within such spaces, teachers engage in processes of confirming and reinterpreting their sense of self, which can provide opportunities to reconsider their ways of living as individuals beyond the framework of their professional roles.

This study is based on the perspective of the congruency of learning (Watanabe, 2019), which assumes a structural correspondence between teachers’ learning processes and those experienced by learners. From this perspective, the ways in which teachers learn, reflect, and collaborate are considered to exert congruent influences on learners’ learning through classroom practice. Furthermore, given that styles of teaching are closely related to the formation of future citizens, learning within PLCs is reconsidered as a form of social practice.

The data analysed in this study consisted of teachers’ learning within PLCs, their educational philosophy, their teaching practices in university beginner-level classes, learners’ responses, and records of reflective dialogue among teachers examined from the perspective of the congruency of learning. The study clarified the relationship between teachers’ learning within PLCs and their classroom practices and conducted a narrative analysis of the dialogue records to explore the process and significance of collaborative reflection. The results revealed that perspectives such as ‘collaborative learning’ and ‘connections with others and society’ emerged as shared elements across both the teachers’ learning context and their classroom practices. Furthermore, the findings suggest that connections fostered through collaborative reflection and learning within PLCs may lead not only to transformations in teaching practice but also to synergistic and long-term changes in teachers’ educational values and their ways of engaging with society.

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References

渡辺貴裕（2019）「教育方法と教師教育の専門家としてのアプローチ」『全国大学国語教育学会・公開講座ブックレット』11，pp. 70–77．

Abstract in Japanese (if needed):

「学びの同型性」から捉える教師コミュニティの意義 ― 協働省察と授業実践、教師の社会的在り方― ニクソン　由実（ヨーク大学）ベイリー　芽生（ヨーク大学）本発表の目的は、教師コミュニティ（PLC）における学びが、授業実践のみならず、教師個人の価値観や社会との関わり方にどのような影響を及ぼし得るのかを明らかにすることである。PLCは、実践の振り返りや省察を行う学びの場であると同時に、人と人とのつながりや支え合いを生み出す社会的な場でもある。そこでは、教師が自己の存在のあり方を確認し意味づけを行う過程が生じ、仕事の枠を越えて、一個人としての生き方を捉え直す契機が生まれる。本発表は、教師の学びのプロセスと学習者において実現されるべき学びのプロセスが構造的に対応するという「学びの同型性」（渡辺2019）の視点に依拠する。この視点に立てば、教師の学びや省察、協働の在り方は、授業実践を通して学習者の学びに同型的な影響を及ぼすと考えられる。さらに、授業のスタイルが次世代の市民形成とも深く関わる可能性を踏まえ、PLCでの学びを社会的実践として位置づけ直す。分析対象としたのは、PLCにおける教師の学び、教育理念、大学の初級クラスでの実践、学習者の反応、および「学びの同型性」の観点からの教師同士の振り返り対話記録である。PLCでの学びと授業実践との関係を明らかにするとともに、対話記録についてナラティブ分析を行い、協働省察のプロセスと意義を検討した。その結果、「協働的な学び」や「他者・社会とのつながり」といった視点が、教師の学びの場と教室実践の双方に共通して現れていることが明らかになった。さらに、PLCでの協働省察や学びを通したつながりは、授業実践の変容にとどまらず、教師の価値観や社会との関わり方にも相乗的かつ長期的な変化をもたらし得ることが示唆された。 ________________________________________________________________ 参考文献渡辺貴裕（2019）「教育方法と教師教育の専門家としてのアプローチ」『全国大学国語教育学会・公開講座ブックレット』11，pp. 70–77．

Contribution AJEP2
Exploring "Dynamic Professionalism" through Professional Learning Communities (PLC): A two-year study of experiential practical knowledge in UK higher education
Session 1