Mutual Learning Community: Teachers’ Opinions about Their Learning Possibilities in Schools Implementing International Programmes

Marcin Rojek, Joanna Leek, Małgorzata Kosiorek, Gabriela Dobińska

Abstract


The purpose of the study is to identify teachers’ opinions on their learning opportunities in schools implementing the following international programmes in Poland: International Baccalaureate (IB), Advanced Placement (AP), and International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE). The study was conducted using the diagnostic survey method on a group of 103 teachers. The theoretical basis was Wenger’s (1998) model of learning in communities of practice, which assumes that adult learning (in this case, teachers) can be analyzed in four areas: (1) Belonging, (2) Doing, (3) Becoming, and (4) Experiencing. Therefore, the socio-cultural situation of teachers and their common but specific educational practices conditioned by the specificity of international schools were adopted. The results show that teachers do not feel fully prepared to work after graduation, they use the knowledge and skills acquired in the workplace more often than that acquired during studies, and international programmes create favourable conditions for their learning and professional development. Teachers form a learning community at three levels: school, national, and international. Thus, they form a type of community of communities that Wenger calls a ‘constellation’.


Keywords


workplace learning; teacher education; international educational programmes; international schools

Full Text:

PDF

References


LITERATURE

Doherty, C., Shield, P. (2012). Teachers’ Work in Curricular Markets: Conditions of Design and Relations between the International Baccalaureate Diploma and the Local Curriculum. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(3), 414–441. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-873X.2012.00596.x

Edwards, D., Underwood, C. (2012). IB Graduates in Australian Universities: Entry and Outcomes. A Case Study of Two Institutions. Australian Council for Educational Research.

Gullbekk, E. (2016). Apt Information Literacy? A Case of Interdisciplinary Scholarly Communication. Journal of Documentation, 72(4), 716–736. DOI: 10.1108/JDOC-08-2015-0101

Illeris, K. (2004). Adult Education and Adult Learning. Roskilde: Roskilde University Press.

Kilburn, D., Nind, M., Wiles, R. (2014). Learning as Researchers and Teachers: The Development of a Pedagogical Culture for Social Science Research Methods? British Journal of Educational Studies, 62(2), 191–207.

Lampinen, M.S., Konu, A.I., Kettunen, T., Suutala, E.A. (2018). Factors that Foster or Prevent Sense of Belonging among Social and Health Care Managers. Leadership in Health Services, 31(4), 468–480. DOI: 10.1108/LHS-09-2017-0054

Leek, J. (2022). From Educational Experiment to an Alternative to the National Programme. International Baccalaureate Programmes in Poland – Policy and Practice Perspectives. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 52(3), 475–491. DOI: 10.1080/03057925.2020.1777842

Lloyd, A. (2009). Informing Practice: Information Experiences of Ambulance Officers in Training and On-road Practice. Journal of Documentation, 65(3), 396–419. DOI: 10.1108/00220410910952401

Lloyd, A. (2010). Lessons from the Workplace: Understanding Information Literacy as Practice. In: A. Lloyd, S. Talja (Eds.), Practising Information Literacy: Bringing Theories of Learning Practice and Information Literacy Together (pp. 29–49). Wagga: Centre for Information Studies. DOI: 10.1016/B978-1-876938-79-6.50002-9

Maire, Q. (2021). Credential Market: Mass Schooling, Academic Power and the International Baccalaureate Diploma. Springer. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-80169-4

Mann, K.V. (2011). Theoretical Perspectives in Medical Education: Past Experience and Future Possibilities. Medical Education, 45(1), 60–68.

Moring, C. (2011). Newcomer Information Practice: Negotiations on Information Seeking in and Across Communities of Practice. Human IT, 11(2), 1–21.

Outhwaite, D., Ferri, G. (2017). Critical Reflections on Modern Elite Formation and Social Differentiation in the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme in England. Oxford Review of Education, 43(4), 402–416. DOI: 10.1080/03054985.2017.1329719

Reicher, S., Stott, C. (2020). On Order and Disorder during the COVID-19 Pandemic. British Journal of Social Psychology, 59(3), 694–702. DOI: 10.1111/bjso.12398

Resnik, J. (2014). Who Gets the Best Teachers? The Incorporation of the IB Programme into Public High Schools and Its Impact on the Teacher Labour Market in Ecuador. In: R. Arber, J. Blackmore, A. Vongalis-Macrow (Eds.), Mobile Teachers, Teacher Identity and International Schooling (pp. 95–119). The Netherlands: Sense Publishers.

Tarc, P. (2009). Global Dreams, Enduring Tensions: International Baccalaureate in a Changing World. Peter Lang.

Tyler, T.R., Lind, E.A. (1992). A Relational Model of Authority in Groups. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 25, 115–191. DOI: 10.1016/S0065-2601(08)60283-X

Tyler, T.R., Blader, S.L. (2003). The Group Engagement Model: Procedural Justice, Social Identity, and Cooperative Behavior. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 7(4). DOI: 10.1207/S15327957PSPR0704_07

Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice: Learning, Meaning, and Identity. New York: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511803932

Wenger, E., Trayner, B., Laat, M. de (2011). Promoting and Assessing Value Creation in Communities and Networks: A Conceptual Framework. The Netherlands: Ruud de Moor Centrum, Open University of the Netherlands.

Wright, E., Lee, M. (2020). Does the International Baccalaureate ‘Work’ as an Alternative to Mainstream Schooling? Perceptions of University Students in Hong Kong. Studies in Higher Education, 47(3), 693–708. DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2020.1793929

Yuan, Y., McKelvey, B. (2004). Situated Learning Theory: Adding Rate and Complexity Effects via Kauffman’s NK Model. Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and Life Sciences, 8(1), 65–101.

ONLINE SOURCES

AP Central. (2023). AP at a Glance. Retrieved from https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/about-ap/launch-grow-ap-program/ap-a-glance

Cambridge Assessment International Education. (2021). Designing the School Curriculum. Retrieved from https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/Images/505318-designing-the-school-curriculum.pdf

International Baccalaureate. (2022). Poland. Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/country/PL

Kolb, A., Kolb, D. (2009). On Becoming a Learner: The Concept of Learning Identity. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/275714187

Lee, M., Leung, L., Wright, E., Yue, T., Gan, A., Kong, L., Li, J. (2014). A Study of the International Baccalaureate Diploma in China: Programme’s Impact on Student Preparation for University Studies Abroad. Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/contentassets/d1c0accb5b804676ae9e782b78c8bc1c/ibchinafullreportenglish.pdf

Siskin, L.S., Weinstein, M. (2008). Supplemental Survey to Creating Support Structures and Services for Title I High Schools Implementing the International Baccalaureate Programmes. Retrieved from https://research.steinhardt.nyu.edu/scmsAdmin/uploads/003/248/Supplemental%20Survey%20to%20Creating%C2%A0Support%C2%A0Structures%C2%A0and%C2%A0Services%C2%A0for%C2%A0Title%C2%A0I.pdf

Theokas, C. (2013). Finding America’s Missing AP and IB Students. Retrieved from https://edtrust.org/resource/finding-americas-missing-ap-and-ib-students




DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17951/j.2023.36.1.27-43
Date of publication: 2023-06-13 12:01:57
Date of submission: 2022-12-28 12:52:40


Statistics


Total abstract view - 594
Downloads (from 2020-06-17) - PDF - 295

Indicators



Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.


Copyright (c) 2023

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.