engleski

Changing teaching practices through creating communities of critical friends and action researchers

All of those who have found themselves on the road of change are aware that there are no standards and guidelines to the destination. They have to lean on creative solutions and self-reflective examination of gained results. Therefore, everything is in the hands of teachers who cooperate to conduct evaluation of their impacts on students’ learning. It points out the importance of the new professional teacher’s roles as a critical friend and an action researcher. Making efforts to help the teacher to introduce significant changes we carried out action research projects over a period of seventeen years at national and international levels. Firstly, we established a self-reflective community in one school. Encouraged by the results of the cooperation at the school level we decided to establish a network of learning communities that included teachers and pedagogues from several Croatian schools. We continued to cooperate in school contexts but we also utilised online technologies for professional learning and critical friendship. Finally, we connected with practitioners on the international level and created an online community of action researchers. Based on the results of these projects it is possible to conclude that the communities of critical friends and action researchers contribute to achieving significant changes in teaching practice. These changes refer to applying active methods of learning, teachers’ theoretical understanding of education processes and taking new professional roles. Preconditions for these changes were enthusiastic teachers, invitational leaders, empowering mentors, head teachers along with other persons and institutions in charge who approved and supported projects. We determined that workshops and other forms of professional development conducted at the school levels contributed to developing collaborative and friendly relationships within learning communities. However, for the significant changes of teaching practice it was necessary that teachers interlace action, reflection, research and learning. A remote reflective communication about online videos of teaching practice proves to be particularly important factor of change. The most aggravating circumstance was the traditional school culture in which changes are considered to be more of a problem than a challenge. We realised that teachers who are expected to be implementers of the curriculum and transmitters of knowledge could hardly become critical friends and action researchers. However, there is no royal road to significant changes. All of those interested in the quality of education should exert themselves in creating the school culture where teachers cease to be implementers of somebody else’s ideas and become the agent of change themselves.

action research, changing in teaching, communities of practice, critical friendship

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