Mediating influences in professional learning: Factors that lead to appropriation & principled adaptation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Understanding factors that influence teacher use of professional development learning is critical if we are to maximise the educational and financial investment in teacher development. This study used a multi-case mixed methodology to investigate the factors that influence teacher adoption, adaption, and abandonment of teacher-directed learning. The theoretical framework of activity theory provided a useful way to investigate multiple factors that influence the appropriation of pedagogical practices from a professional development experience. This framework accounts for a multitude of elements in the context of teacher learning. In this study educational appropriation is understood through a continuum of how an educator acquires and implements both practical and conceptual aspects of learning within localised contexts. The variability associated with instructional changes made from professional learning drives this inquiry to search for better understandings of the appropriation of pedagogical practices. Purposeful sampling was used to identify two participants within a group of teachers engaged in professional development designed to enhance the use of technology within science classrooms. Data from this investigation identified eight factors that can positively influence principled appropriation professional learning. Findings support a purposeful adaptive approach where teachers develop ownership attributes allowing for contextual adaptation within conceptual boundaries.