The impact of collaborative work-peer interactions and portfolio construction on professional development of teachers : a case study of an in-house in-service program

النوع : Mémoire

The purpose of this case study was to explore the effect of an in house professional development program based on collaborative work peer interactions. The main goal of the program was to improve instructional practices by: (a) creating a learning organization (Imants, 2002) or community of practice (Little, 2002) or community of learners (Erickson et al., 2005), or even "Collaborative Professional Communities" (Shank, 2006) among teachers that enhance teachers' professional development, and (b) encouraging teachers to prepare portfolios as a selfــevaluative tool which reflects the growth of teachers and students. The perspectives of the participant teachers, the subject coordinators, the supervisor, and the principal were considered.The research questions that guided this study were: (a) What is the impact of collaborative work- peer interactions on teachers' perceptions of their improvement on their instructional practices inside their classrooms? (b) What is the influence of teachers' self evaluation on their perceptions of professional growth? This study was conducted in a private school in the south of Lebanon throughout one academic semester. Participants in this study included: (a) four teachers (i.e. two science teachers and two English language teachers), (b) two subject coordinators, (c) one supervisor, and (d) one principal.Multiple measures of data collection were used. These included: (a) observing participants, (b) interviewing participants at the beginning and at the end of the program, (c) analyzing artifacts like samples of teachers' lesson plans, daily or weekly assignments, worksheets, exams and students' work, (d) examining teachers' portfolios that traced teachers' as well as students' growth, and (e) researcher field notes. Analysis involved descriptive interpretation of data collected from interviews, documents and observations (Glesne & Peshkin, 1992 & Merriam, 1998).Findings revealed the positive impact of collaborative work on participant teachers. The professional development program improved teachers' instructional practices and fostered professional conversation. In addition, findings revealed that the portfolios documented teachers' work more comprehensively than the traditional evaluation methods in place at the school and the participants reported that they believed the portfolios reflected their professional growth.