Exploratory task 1.3

Exploratory task 1.2

Read the following Japanese miniature and think of at least three implications it has for an individual teacher thinking about change

Poem	Implications
No one forces me To undertake this journey I think on the whole I will call it too trying And turn around And go back

The teachers have always been is search of a more effective instruction. In order to achieve the goal, it is necessary to go through the process of change as a professional. Vital factors of change are the purpose of change, the context of change and the culture of change. The “purpose” is the driving force of the change that the teacher is to undertake. Why should a teacher change something in the teaching ways? For this one needs sound reasons. The “purpose” is also an anticipated picture in the teacher’s mind of what will happen as a result of the change process. The “context” is a set of circumstances, in which the teacher works. These circumstances can either limit or liberate the teacher in what they venture to achieve. The “culture” in teaching is a set of professional beliefs, prejudices, habits, attitudes, strategies and values that are endemic to a particular teaching community. The process of change is not an event. It is an initiative that is better “ to think big (to have longer goals in mind) but to start small (taking one small step at a time) ” (Hargreaves, A. 1994. Changing Teachers, Changing times. Teachers’ College Press. N.Y.). Introducing innovations in one’s job is fraught with a conflict. It can be either internal conflict between one’s old views and new ideas or an interpersonal conflict between the participants involved in the process. The reason for a conflict can be “ clash of interests”, “potential rewards”, “clash of new and old”, “breaking organizational traditions”, “swapping status”. Possible ways of handling the conflict are “avoidance of the problem”, “compromise”, “confrontation” (Torrington, D. and L. Hall. 1995. Personnel Management. L.: Prentice Hall International. P. 642). The process of change is a continuous process because a change is not an end to the problem. Rather, the introduction of innovations “redesigns the job” and this can and does cause many new problems.

Exploratory task 1.3

Think of possible conflicts that can arise in the teacher’s job as a result of exploratory teaching. Rank the given reasons for conflict in order of their probability, give your real world illustrations of these conflicts and suggest the ways to resolve them.

Reason	Illustrations	Resolution
· Clash of interests
· Potential rewards
· Clash of new and old
· Breaking traditions
· Swapping status

The idea that research in teaching makes it more effective is becoming commonplace. Yet, turning a teacher into a researcher of one’s own work or that of one’s colleagues still has to win its status. A productive way of integrating research and pedagogy (teaching and learning) is exploratory teaching (Allwright, D. 1993. Integrating “research” and “pedagogy”: appropriate criteria and practical possibilities. In Teachers Develop Teachers Research. Heinemann. P. 125-127). Exploratory teaching means exploring the developments in the classroom that puzzle teachers and learners because they create problems for the participants in the process. Exploratory teaching is more appropriate and effective in some models for teacher development than in others. Let’s consider first those models where exploratory teaching appears to be in many instances an alien element. The first model is the craft model. Here all the wisdom of the profession and all the resources necessary for success reside in an experienced teaching practitioner, a “guru” in teaching. Less experienced teachers learn from the “sages” by imitating their techniques and following their advice. A conflict between the expert and the teachers is simply unforeseen in this model nor is the learners’ reaction taken into consideration. This model is largely the result of the behaviorist views on teacher training when the input from a “guru” is considered to be the “stimulus”, which in its turn produces a predictable output from the teacher. The “craft model” is shown graphically:

The applied science model means that the findings of scientific knowledge and experiments are passed down to the teachers by experts in the relevant areas. The trainees are expected to put the recommended knowledge into their practice. All failures are explained either by the fact that the trainees have not understood the findings properly or have not properly applied the recommendations. There is an almost complete separation of research on the one hand and the teaching practice on the other. This model provides for the teacher autonomy in finding the ways to introduce theory into practice. The “applied science model” is shown by the graph:

The reflective model is closest to the idea of exploratory teaching. According to this model the teachers get the “received knowledge” i.e. concepts, theories, skills and “experiential knowledge” i.e. one’s own practical “knowledge-in-action”. These two types of knowledge are put to practical use and are regularly reflected upon through the prism of critical thinking. As a result of critical reflection, “practice” gets modified on a regular basis. Only after that the professional competence is said to be achieved. This model is based on the cognitive (problem-solving) approach to teacher development. The “reflective model” is shown in the graphical form

(Adapted from Wallace, M. 1994. Training Foreign Language Teachers. CUP. P. 2-17).

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