Title: NCSALL: How Teachers Change
Headings: How Teachers Change
How Teachers Change
What will lead to change that most benefits student learning?
Change Hurts
Voluntary Change
Laissez Faire?
Vision of Teachers
Training Model
Reflective, Collaborative Models
Community of Practice
Conclusion
Endnotes
References
About the Author

Content: If all teachers make decisions autonomously, the schooling of an individual student could be quite incoherent and ineffective. This, too, suggests that help, direction, or encouragement provided to staff rather than to individuals could be necessary to promote change that is valuable to the learner. I will come back to this later. Vision of Teachers
Over the course of this century, our concept of teaching has shifted from an industrial model teachers replicating a specific set of instructional tasks to a "complex, dynamic, interactive, intellectual activity" (Smylie & Conyers, 1991, p. 13). This shift occurred for many reasons, including a change to a much more diverse student body (Devany & Sykes, 1988) and changes in our economy. We therefore need teachers who approach their work with a change orientation: an orientation that suggests that constant reflection, evaluation, and experimentation are integral elements of the teaching role. We now expect teachers to alter curricula on the basis of new knowledge and ways of knowing, to change styles of teacher-student interaction depending on needs of the student population, and to change methods when research indicates more effective practice. This requires teachers who are inquirers, questioning assumptions and consciously thoughtful about goals, practices, and contexts. Gary Fenstermacher (1994) suggests that reflecting on one's work as a teacher must be undertaken within the framework of a clear sense of purpose in relation to the learner.