Professional development of teachers at a private high school : a peer mentoring initiative

Abstract

In the South African context valuable academic contributions regarding Whole Brain® facilitating learning have been made in the last decade. Research has been conducted on professional development of teachers at primary schools, as well as professional development of lecturers at institutions of higher education. I identified a gap in existing literature, regarding what was being done at high school level and the possibility that Whole Brain® facilitating learning could be a beneficial learning tool to use in one's teaching practice. Thus the study commenced with the research premises based on a mixed methods approach, including quantitative and qualitative data sets. This study investigates to what extent transformation took place in the teaching practice of a group of volunteer professionals at a private high school, using an Action Research design. My Action Research was supported by the professionals' own action learning during the commencement of the fieldwork and we would regularly collaborate and reflect on the new knowledge. The afore-mentioned underpins the constructivist theory, which assumes that collective life experiences and multiple realities of the participants and myself add to a collective knowledge base. Thus new knowledge and constructed knowledge becomes part of a living theories practice. The study also focuses on an asset-based approach where the assumption is made that the professionals take responsibility for their own learning, becoming professional selfregulated learners in an environment where they are supported and encouraged to become more flexible in their thinking styles, not only to utilise their non-preferred thinking preference but also to capitalise on their preferred thinking preference and to set Whole Brain® learning tasks and plan Whole Brain® facilitating learning. Therefore the participants were challenged not only to be more flexible in their own thinking preference and to explore the possibilities of their less preferred thinking preference or preferences, but also to design learning tasks that would facilitate learning by accommodating those learners whose thinking preferences are divergent from those of the professionals. The fieldwork consisted of workshops (including non-participants) and one-on-one peer mentoring sessions that included cooperative learning through collaboration and experiential learning to encourage the professionals to become more familiar with their iPads. The workshops and one-on-one peer mentoring sessions focused on the extent to which the iPads could be used as a tool to facilitate Whole Brain® learning. The fieldwork focused on exploring in greater depth the possibilities of innovative ideas to transform the teaching practice of each individual participant, promoting Whole Brain® thinking and learning. Since this is an Action Research study, more cycles were discovered and probed during the course of the fieldwork and it will still continue after submitting the thesis. The data sets consisted of exploratory and preliminary interviews, observations of the workshops and one-on-one peer mentoring sessions that were recorded in my field journal, observations of the professionals' teaching practices, the completed HBDI® survey by the professionals and myself, as well as semi-structured interviews and observation sheets of my mentorship practice completed by the professionals. In course of the professional development program I observed professionals taking up their role and taking responsibility for their own professional development and self-regulated learning, underpinning lifelong learning. In the process I also observed that the professionals showed flexibility in their thinking styles, designing innovative ways of learning and applying them in their teaching practices. Moreover, I realised my own transformative learning that underpins the constructivist theory and I continue to aim to transform my own teaching practice as well as my mentorship practice with the knowledge that I am also a lifelong learner.