Principals’ Professional Learning as Praxis-Oriented Change – Leading Digitalisation in Preschool Education

Year 2024, , 1 - 38, 30.03.2024

Emelie Johansson , Anette Forssten Seiser

https://doi.org/10.30828/real.1416955

Abstract

This article takes a practice perspective on professional learning to contribute through an empirical example of how professional learning can be arranged to enable change in and for professional practice, as well as for nurturing praxis. The theory of practice architectures is used to analyse the process of an action research (AR) in which principals investigated and changed their ways of leading digitalisation in preschool education. The theorising of the co-production of practices was used to visualise how the changes were enabled in this process, as the practices for professional learning and leading became interdependent through shared practice architectures. The findings describe how such a co-production of practices enabled a process in which the principals went from a technical to a practical approach to change, when leading digitalisation, which further resulted in a critical stance. This was a process that manifested professional learning as praxis-oriented change in which the principals’ professional judgement increased.

Keywords

co-production of practices, digitalisation, leading, preschool principals, theory of practice architectures

References

• Aas, M., & Blom, T. (2017). Benchlearning as professional development of school leaders in Norway and Sweden. Professional Development in Education, 44(1), 62–75. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2017.1355840
• Adamson, F., Åstrand, B., Darling-Hammond (2016). How privatization and public investment influence education outcomes. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315680361
• Bergson. H. (1911). Creative evolution (A. Mitchell, Trans.). Henry Holt. (Original work published 1907) Biesta, G. (2007). Why “what works” won’t work: Evidence-based practice and the democratic deficit in educational research. Educational Theory, 57(1), 1–22. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1741-5446.2006.00241.x
• Biesta, G. (2019). Reclaiming teaching for teacher education: Towards a spiral curriculum. Beijing International Review of Education, 1(2-3), 259–272. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004538351_002
• Boylan, M., Coldwell, M., Maxwell, B., & Jordan, J. (2018). Rethinking models of professional learning as tools: A conceptual analysis to inform research and practice. Professional Development in Education, 44(1), 120–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2017.1306789
• Carr, W. (2009). Understanding and researching professional practice, Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789087907327_005
• Carr, W., & Kemmis, S. (1986). Becoming critical: Knowing through action research. Falmer Press.
• Deleuze, G. (1988). Bergsonism (H. Tomlinson & B. Habberjam, Trans.). Zone.
• Edwards-Groves, C., & Grootenboer, P. (2021). Conceptualising five dimensions of relational trust: Implications for middle leadership. School Leadership & Management, 41(3), 260–283. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2021.1915761
• European commission. (2018) EU-comissions Recommandation (EU) 2018/790 the 25th of april 2018. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/SV/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32018H0790&from=EN
• Forssten Seiser, A. (2021). When the demand for educational research meet practice: A Swedish example. Research in Educational Administration and Leadership, 6(2), 348-376. https://doi.org/10.30828/real/2021.2.1
• Forssten Seiser, A., & Söderström, Å. (2022). The impact of the Swedish national principal training programme on school leaders’ actions: Four case studies. Research in Educational Administration and Leadership, 7(4), 826-859. https://doi.org/10.30828/real.1120909
• Giddens, A., & Pierson, C. (1998). Conversations with Anthony Giddens: Making sense of modernity. Polity Press.
• Groundwater-Smith, S., & Mockler, N. (2018). Practitioner research in the company of others: Resistance in the face of normalising practice. In C. Edwards-Groves, P. Grootenboer, & J. Wilkinson (Eds), Education in an era of schooling: Critical perspectives of educational practice and action research—A festschrift for Stephen Kemmis (pp. 107–120). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2053-8_8
• Hardy, I. (2010). Critiquing teacher professional development: Teacher learning within the field of teachers’ work. Critical Studies in Education, 51(1), 71–84. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508480903450232
• Hardy, I. (2012). The politics of teacher professional development: Policy, research and practice. Routledge.
• Heikkinen. H. L. (2018). Education, work and life. In C. Edwards-Groves, P. Grootenboer, & J. Wilkinson (Eds), Education in an era of schooling: Critical perspectives of educational practice and action research—A Festschrift for Stephen Kemmis (pp. 79–90). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2053-8_6
• Huber, S. G. (2010). Preparing school leaders - International approaches in leadership development. In S. Huber (Ed.) School Leadership - International Perspectives. Studies in educational leadership, vol 10. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-3501-1_12
• Hylander, I., & Skott, P. (2020). Samordning för ett hållbart elevhälsoarbete [Coordination for sustainible student health work]. Härnösand: Specialpedagogiska skolmyndigheten.
• Jerdborg, S. (2022). Learning principalship: Becoming a principal in a Swedish context [Doctoral thesis, University of Gothenburg]. GUPEA. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/handle/2077/70566/Avhandling_E_version.pdf
• Johansson, E. (2023). Reconceptualizing time to understand how to lead digitalization in education. Forskning og Forandring, 6(1), 3-21.
• Kaukko, M., & Wilkinson, J. (2020). “Learning how to go on”: Refugee students and informal learning practices. International Journal of Inclusive Education, 24(11), 1175–1193. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603116.2018.1514080
• Kemmis, S. (2021). A practice theory perspective on learning: Beyond a “standard” view. Studies in Continuing Education, 43(3), 280–295. https://doi.org/10.1080/0158037X.2021.1920384
• Kemmis, S. (2022). Transforming practices: Changing the world with the theory of practice architectures. Springer Nature. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-8973-4
• Kemmis, S., Edwards-Groves, C., Wilkinson, J., Hardy, I. (2012). Ecologies of Practices. In: Hager, P., Lee, A., Reich, A. (eds) Practice, Learning and Change. Professional and Practice-based Learning, vol 8. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4774-6_3
• Kemmis, S., McTaggart, R., & Nixon. R. (2014). The action research planner: Doing critical participatory action research. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-4560-67-2
• Kemmis, S., & Smith, T. J. (2008). Enabling praxis. Brill. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789087903275_003
• Kennedy, A. (2014). Understanding continuing professional development (CPD): The need for theory to impact on policy and practice. Professional Development in Education, 40(5), 688–697. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2014.955122
• Kennedy, A., & Stevenson, H. (2023). Beyond reproduction: The transformative potential of professional learning. Professional Development in Education, 49(4), 581–585. https://doi:10.1080/19415257.2023.2226971
• Liljenberg, M. (2021). A professional development practice to enhance principals' instructional leadership – enabling and constraining arrangements. Journal of Professional Capital and Community (6)4, pp. 354-366. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-12-2020-0102
• Mahon, K., Kemmis, S., Francisco, S., & Lloyd, A. (2017). Introduction: Practice theory and the theory of practice architectures. In K. Mahon, S. Francisco, & S. Kemmis (Eds), Exploring education and professional practice (pp.1-30). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2219-7_1
• Miles, B. M., Huberman, A. M., & Saldana, J. (2014). Qualitative data analysis: A methods sourcebook (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications.
• Ministry of Education (2017). Nationell digitaliseringsstrategi för skolväsendet [National digitalisation strategy for the school system], Dnr U2017/04119/S
• Nehez, J. (2019). Rektorers utvecklingspraktiker: möjligheter och begränsningar [Principal’s professional development practices: possibilities and limits]. In I. Henning Loeb, L. Langelotz, & K. Rönnerman (Eds.), Att utveckla utbildningspraktiker: Analys, förståelse och förändring genom teorin om praktikarkitekturer (1st ed., pp. 63–88). Studentlitteratur. https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:hb:diva-21714 Nordberg, A., & Jacobsson, K. (2021) Approaches and educational assessments of children’s speech, language and communication development in Swedish preschools, Early Child Development and Care, 191(14), 2188-2203. https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2019.1697693
• Norlund, A., & Levinsson, M. (2023). Ett neuropedagogiskt ideal på lärares kompetensutvecklingsmarknad: Kännetecken, konsekvenser och kritik [A neuropedagogical ideal at the market for teachers’professional development]. Nordisk Tidskrift för Allmän Didaktik, 9(1), 20–37. https://doi.org/10.57126/noad.2023.19543
• Prop. U2022/02319. (2022). Uppdrag om nationellt professionsprogram [Assignment on the national professional programme]. https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/e9564a1f93674f95b7385552f614c4ae/uppdrag-om-ett-nationellt-professionsprogram/
• Rizivi, F. (2018). Recollecting the dilemmas of reform. In C. Edwards-Groves, P. Grootenboer, & J. Wilkinson (Eds), Education in an era of schooling: Critical perspectives of educational practice and action research—A festschrift for Stephen Kemmis (pp. 47–60). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-2053-8_4
• Salo, P., Francisco, S., & Olin Almqvist, A (2024). Understanding professional learning in and for practice. Professional Development in Education, 50 (3).
• Schatzki, T. R. (2019). Social change in a material world. Routledge. SFS 2010:800. Skollag. [Swedish Educational Act]. https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/dokument/lagar/dokument/svensk-forfattningssamling/skollag-2010800_sfs-2010-800
• SKOLFS 2018:50. Lpfö 98 (2018). Läroplan för förskolan: reviderad 2018. Swedish National Agency for Education.
• Stevenson, H. (2019). Professional learning: What is the point? Professional Development in Education, 45(1), 1–2. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2019.1549306
• Strom, K., Mills, T., & Abrams, L. (2021). Illuminating a continuum of complex perspectives in teacher development. Professional Development in Education, 47(2–3), 199–208. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2021.1901005
• Swedish Research Council. (2017). Good research practice. Swedish Research Council.
• Swedish Research Council. (2002). Research ethical principle within humanities-social science research.
• Webster-Wright, A. (2009). Reframing professional development through understanding authentic professional learning. Review of Educational Research, 79(2), 702–739. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654308330970
• Wenger-Trayner, E., Fenton-O’Creevy, M., Hutchinson, S., Kubiak, C., & Wenger-Trayner, B. (Eds.). (2014). Learning in landscapes of practice: Boundaries, identity, and knowledgeability in practice-based learning. Routledge.
• Wilkinson, J. (2021). Educational leadership through a practice lens: Practice matters. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-7629-1