Asst.Prof.Dr. Bengi Sonyel Faculty of Education EASTERN MEDITERRANEAN UNIVERSITY (November,2006)

“Building reflective communities through exploring the role of teachers’ and senior managers’ voice in decision making” B.S, November 2006

Introduction The aim of this research is to understand more about the nature of reflective practice and in particular the contribution of teachers’ and senior managers’ voice in a reflective school community. B.S, November 2006

The focus is on exploring the views of senior managers (or administrators, as they are the decision makers within an educational institution) and of teachers on their understanding of teachers’ voice within the context of building a reflective community. B.S, November 2006

Literature Review In the first part, I explored key constructs (teaching and reflection, understanding voice in reflection, and building a reflective community) in the literature pertaining to this research before presenting the data and analysis. B.S, November 2006

Teaching and reflection Teaching is a complex activity that requires teachers to think, take certain actions and reflect within a given context. As Goodson indicates: B.S, November 2006

“Teacher thinking, action and knowledge are of vital importance in the endeavour to understand how classrooms are the way they are. How teachers’ thoughts, actions and knowledge have evolved and changed throughout their personal and professional lives will help us to understand how classrooms have come to be the way they are and how they might become otherwise.” (Goodson, 1992, p.57) B.S, November 2006

As Jackson et al allude more explicitly to the moral responsibilities of teachers: “ …teachers must be seen as occupying key roles in classrooms – not simply as technicians who know how to run good discussions or teach encoding skills to beginning readers B.S, November 2006

but as persons whose view of life, which includes all that goes on in classrooms, promises to be as influential in the long run as any of their technical skills. It is this extended view of teacher’s responsibility that makes it appropriate to speak of teaching as a moral enterprise.” (Jackson et al., 1993, p.227) B.S, November 2006

Furthermore, Day recommends: “A necessary condition of effectiveness as a teacher is regular reflection upon the three elements that make up teaching practice: the emotional and intellectual selves of the teacher and students; the conditions that affect classrooms, schools and students’ learning and achievements; the experience of teaching and learning.” (Day,1999, p.116) B.S, November 2006

Building on these tenets from my own perpective as researcher and teacher educators, the purpose of reflective practice is three folds: to engage teachers to be more aware of their teaching styles to help attain professional self awareness to focus on, identify and engage in professional development B.S, November 2006

Reflective practice and building up reflective communities It is fundamental to community building, that we, as teachers need to engage in professional discourse and reflective action to adjust ourselves into the developing and changing era and avoid becoming alienated from our own needs and feelings. B.S, November 2006

This engagement is fundamental to promoting not only reflective teachers/senior managers but also reflective communities in a school setting. B.S, November 2006

This could be achieved through building up networks between teachers ↔ teachers, senior managers ↔ teachers and senior managers ↔ administrators in the Ministry of Education and teachers ↔ administrators in the Ministry. B.S, November 2006

The significance of voice in reflective practice and building up reflective communities In order to achieve breaking The ‘typical collusion of silence' teachers need to voice their voices. B.S, November 2006

Therefore, the notion of voice is fundamental to reflective practice when it is perceived as being situated in a wider social context. B.S, November 2006

Hargreaves (1996) and Goodson (1992) stated that: ‘Voice’ is an inclusive idea. It recognizes different ‘voices’ and the diverse nature of individual experience. B.S, November 2006

‘Voice’ is about issues of participation and empowerment. ‘ ‘A key consideration of any approach concerned with ‘voice’ is the need to examine and challenge the process that silence people.’ B.S, November 2006

Research Questions How are teachers and senior managers engaged in reflection? How do teachers and senior managers in reality use their voice in decision-making contexts? B.S, November 2006,

What is the role of voice in building a reflective community? This study was carried out in the Eastern Mediterranean High School with teachers and senior managers. B.S, November 2006

students ranging in their age from (13-17) and 41 full time teachers, In the school there are 363 students ranging in their age from (13-17) and 41 full time teachers, including senior managers (administrators) and 18 part-time teachers. B.S, November 2006

Methodology In order to explore further these issues a small-scale investigation in a private 13-17 college of North Cyprus, Eastern Mediterranean High School, was taken as a case study and the senior managers and teachers of this school were interviewed. B.S, November 2006

Four teachers (T1, T2, T3, T4) and four senior managers (SM1, SM2, Participants Four teachers (T1, T2, T3, T4) and four senior managers (SM1, SM2, SM3, SM4) were selected randomly for face to face semi-structured interviews. B.S, November 2006

Findings and Discussion Teachers and senior managers agreed on the issue that being engaged in continuous reflection enables individuals to be responsible, give and receive effective feedback, reevaluate actions, ideas and develop self professionally. B.S, November 2006

Both teachers and senior managers supports the idea of building up ‘reflective communities’ in schools, in order to voice their voices during the decision-making process and, at the same time, to develop themselves further in their professional lives. B.S, November 2006

There was a consensus between both teachers and senior managers that teachers’ voice is crucial in community building and that, moreover, this can be facilitated through reflective practice. B.S, November 2006

As it is supported in the literature by scholars like (Day 1999, Recommendations As it is supported in the literature by scholars like (Day 1999, Osterman and Kottkamp 1993, Argyris and Schön 1974), keeping journals is one of the best techniques used to reflect and evaluate the views of individuals. B.S, November 2006 B.S ‘006

As a reflective practitioner, I believe that the process of carrying out research into reflective practice can help researchers to develop their own voice as a researcher, teacher educator and theoretician through both the content and process. B.S, November 2006 B.S 2006

THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR PARTICIPATION & ATTENTION... B.S, November 2006 B.S 206