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: From the change hurts' perspective, teachers don't change' really means teachers aren't doing what I (or someone else) tell them to do.' As pointed out by Klein (1969) a number of years ago, " studies of change appear to be taken from the perspective of those who are the change agents seeking to bring about change rather than of the clients they are seeking to influence" (p. 499). I felt that it was time to look at change from the standpoint of teachers themselves. Do they change? And if they do, why? Voluntary Change
In my work with teachers, I noticed that they undertake change voluntarily, following their sense of what their students need and what is working. They try out new ideas. These changes, while often minor adjustments, can be dramatic (Richardson, 1990). In a long-term collaborative study of teacher change, my colleagues and I found that when a teacher tries new activities, she assesses them on the basis of whether they work: whether they fit within her set of beliefs about teaching and learning, engage the students, and allow her the degree of classroom control she feels is necessary.