A Teacher Educator Learns How to Learn from Mistakes: Single and Double-loop Learning for Facilitators of In-service Teacher Education

Abstract

Professional development intended to change teachers' teaching practices is often unsuccessful. This article explores a case set in a developing country. Although some researchers have attributed failure to factors that are external to the teacher educators involved, this study explores the role that teacher educators themselves may play in instances of limited success. The first author used self-study to explore how his framing of his facilitation role created a defensive rather than an open-to-learning professional development experience. Through engagement with the literature of Argyris and Schön, he began to realise how, despite his best intentions, his actions communicated a persuasive and controlling sub-text. This article documents how, with commentary from the second author, he learned to learn from his mistakes in order to act more consistently with the collaborative values he espoused. His double-loop learning enabled him to understand teachers' reluctance to change and to experiment with teachers in the use of more child-centred pedagogy. The article suggests how teacher educators could become more aware of their theories of action and of the implications for fostering the learning of teachers within developing countries.