Toward a theory of Pedagogical Change: The role of Leadership and Teacher Professional Learning for Pedagogical Reform

Abstract

The implementation of the Australian Curriculum has brought unprecedented curriculum change in New South Wales (NSW) primary schools for the first time in two decades. This study focuses upon the way in which two schools in NSW have worked to enact the new English syllabus. The study uses a constructivist grounded theory methodology, which assumes that people form new perspectives from their actions in relation to space, time and circumstance. This research sought to understand how teachers and leaders in two primary schools implemented this significant curriculum change, and the extent to which the new curriculum was used as a catalyst for pedagogical change. Grounded in the data, this research builds towards a theory of pedagogical change. It explores school culture, leadership and pedagogy during change, acknowledging their contested, complex, interdependent relationship. The research highlights salient issues related to the interplay of practice and inquiry during a period of imposed change; teacher understanding and enactment of pedagogy, particularly considering the emergent tension between holistic and individualised approaches to learning on the one hand and pedagogies that lend toward measured collective school improvement on the other; and professional development and learning. Pedagogical leadership and teacher professional development and learning are seen to be key to shaping curricular and pedagogical change, and the study explores the different manifestations of these in the two contexts, and their implications for the school communities. In particular, it highlights the critical role of school leaders in building distributed pedagogical leadership, fostering collegiality and collaboration and cultivating trust during curriculum change. The study contributes to the body of research on pedagogical leadership by exploring teacher professional learning about curriculum change. Its key contribution lies in the way that it builds a grounded theory of pedagogical change, highlighting the importance of leadership and teachers’ involvement in building pedagogical practice. This theory emphasizes the importance of trust and teacher professional autonomy while developing individual pedagogical identities as well as a collaborative and shared collective pedagogy.