ANALYSIS OF EXPERIENCES OF COLLEGIAL COOPERATION PROMOTING TEACHERS’ PERSONAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

Teachers’ personal professional development is related to personal learning performing practical activities, learning from own and others’ experiences in different situations, reacting to authentic cases, observing colleagues’ activities and discussing improvement of teaching/learning practices. Directly acquired experience and collegial cooperation developing personal competences in joint activities with colleagues are the most essential spheres of recent professional development of teachers. The latter sphere is evaluated as an interactive and social process based on the context and community’s practice creating conditions for effective professional growth and capacity building. The aim of the research – to analyze experiences of teachers’ collegial cooperation promoting personal professional development in their practical activities. Case analysis of one school that applies a distinctive system of personal professional development (PPD) was selected for the research. For more than ten years the selected school has implemented the system of teachers’ personal professional development with the aim to create reflective practice-based activities – teachers’ community encouraging purposeful concern about constant personal professional development observing and analyzing one’s own and colleague’s activities, cooperating and learning from each other, foreseeing the ways of improvement of organization’s activities. The following methods have been used for data collection: observation, semi-structured interview of nine teachers, teachers’ reflection notes. Essential elements of PPD system cover teachers’ consultations with PPD mentor formulating annual PPD aim that is to be achieved during the year; reflection of PPD successes and failures discussed in groups with colleagues, completing reflection notes, distinguishing successful moments and planning further activities. While exchanging experiences and pursuing meaningful cooperation, teachers observe colleagues’ teaching activities and discuss them. The method of thematic analysis used to process data allowed to distinguish main topics and subtopics on how collegial cooperation stimulates teachers’ personal professional development. We distinguished and analyzed main topics and subtopics which content is related to teachers’ collegial cooperation promoting professional development; personal competences and their improvement opportunities through mutual help and support; organizational culture that promotes collegial cooperation and personal professional development at present and in the future while improving the processes of PPD system. The results show that teachers as learners having opportunities to purposefully cooperate with colleagues, to relate learning with the aims, needs and particular context of personal professional development are able to effectively change their teaching practice promoting pupils’ learning progress and to become constantly evolving professionals enjoying the process itself and its outcomes. Analysis of teachers’ experiences expands understanding about effective practices of professional development through collegial cooperation in a specific context. In addition, the research results reveal the importance of conditions for teachers’ development and activities’ planning based on successful cases of PPD and effective reflection practices linking collegial cooperation with PPD foreseeing opportunities for improvement of the system and changes in the future.