EAPRIL 2021 – Adaptive capacity of teachers, schools and teacher education: shaping future teaching profession
Adaptive capacity of teachers, schools and teacher education: shaping future teaching profession
Teaching is becoming more diverse and increasingly complex. Teachers not only teach a diversity of students, they are also held responsible for developing new curricula, and integrating new technologies in their classrooms. Also, alternative routes for teacher education are designed to attract ‘new’ kinds of teaching professionals that can serve as catalysts for innovate teaching, resulting in more diverse teaching teams (Grossman & Loeb, 2021). How does the teaching profession stay ‘ahead of the curve’ in terms of technology and curricular innovation in order to stay future-proof?
Nowadays, the teaching profession requires stakeholders at all levels (individual teachers, teacher teams, school leaders, teacher education, policy) to coordinate their efforts for a future-proof teaching profession, and develop adaptive capacity to deal with the ongoing, various changes (Maslowski et al., 2015).
During the dialogue in this session a conceptual model on ‘adaptive capacity’ in the teaching profession will be outlined, that is developed in a Dutch long-term research project about the future of teaching (‘Expedition teacher-agenda’). Adaptive capacity is particularly needed in situations that trigger friction, for instance when teachers in a team have different views on how to innovate their teaching or when teacher education institutes envisions a different (future-proof) professional identity for their students than the internship schools that are responsible for supporting student teachers on the job. Adaptive capacity can assist individuals and organisations to balance the need for innovation (exploration) with the need for continuation of regular educational processes and building routines (exploitation) (Levinthal & March, 1993; Newey & Zahra, 2009). The research project provides insights in how different stakeholders relate to changes to the teaching profession and what kind of choices they make. The manifestations of adaptive capacity that come to the foreground can inspire other teachers, schools and teacher educators to shape their future profession.
Research Questions
The main research questions concerns ‘What are manifestations of adaptive capacity of Dutch teachers, schools and teacher education programs, in particular in situations in which friction is foreseen?’. In the discussion the first two research questions of the project will be elaborated on: 1) What does adaptive capacity of individual teachers, teacher teams and teacher educators look like (behaviour)?, 2) What are perceptions of adaptive capacity (emotions)?
Data collection
In ten case studies we explore the manifestations of adaptive capacity in the interaction of a teacher within a team, or a team within a school organisation. In addition these case studies feed the conceptual framework on adaptive capacity that is developed during the project. This conceptual framework is based on a literature study that captures the associated concepts of adaptive capacity of individuals and organisations.
Methods
Data in the ten case studies are collected through in-depth interviews, with a prestructured interview guide. The conceptual framework is used to conduct a coding scheme, which is applied to code the interview fragments. We use the software programme MaxQDA to conduct this analysis. We are open to new insights that come to the front by analysing the interviews (in line with grounded theory). Through constant comparison of the findings of the case studies, the analysis is performed. This means that new codes are put into place in the coding scheme, which are used for a second analysis of interviews.
Practical implications
The discussion in this session will centre around the manifestations of adaptive capacity that come to the front in this study. We will focus on the potential of adaptive capacity: how does it look like, what emotions play a role and what can others learn from it? Take for instance a teacher that is holding back in his collaboration with colleagues when being confronted with the need to implement online classes. We will elaborate on how this kind of behaviour and emotions are seen in the light of adaptive capacity. Insight into how adaptive capacity of teachers and organisations can be identified and strengthened could contribute to the teaching profession. We are curious how attendees of this session perceive adaptive capacity in their country and context.
References
Fairbanks, C. M., Duffy, G. G., Faircloth, B. S., He, Y., Levin, B., Rohr, J., & Stein, C. (2010). Beyond knowledge: Exploring why some teachers are more thoughtfully adaptive than others. Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), 161-171.
Grossman, P. & Loeb, S. (2021). Alternative Routes to Teaching: Mapping the New Landscape of Teacher Education. Harvard Education Press.
Levinthal & March (1993). The myopia of learning. Strategic Management Journal, 14, 95-112.
Maslowski, R., Deunk, M., Van Kuijk, M., & Bijlsma, H. (2015). Adaptief onderwijsbeleid: een verkenning onder besturen en scholen naar de mogelijkheden voor het invoeren van een adaptief onderwijsbeleid [Adaptive educational policy; an exploration among school boards and schools into the possibilities for implementing adaptive educational policies]. University of Twente, the Netherlands.
Newey, L.R. & Zahra, S.A. (2009). The evolving firm: How dynamic and operating capabilities interact to enable entrepreneurship. British Journal of Management, 20, 81– 100.
Snoek, M., Pauw, I., & Van Tartwijk, J. (Eds.) (2020). Leraar: een professie met perspectief [Teaching: A profession with perspectives]. Meppel: Ten Brink Uitgevers.