UV9915H15 – Teachers work in schools: micropolitics, collaboration and leadership as organisational working conditions
Course content
Subject: Macropolitics caugt up in micropolitics – collegiality as workplace conditions
Location: University of Oslo, Helga Engs Hus, U 35
Dates: October 26-27, 2015
Responsible: Professor Jorunn Møller and Associate Professor Kirsten Sivesind, University of Oslo.
Guest Professor: Geert Kelchtermans, Center for Educational Policy, Innovation & Teacher Education, University of Leuven, Belgium
Work format: Open lectures and seminars
Registration deadline: October 18, 2015
Subject outline:
Claiming that teachers are working in schools may sound like stating the obvious. Yet, in much research and teacher education the focus is often very much on the micro-level of the classroom (teacher, students, curriculum), while implicitly or explicitly neglecting or ignoring the fact that practices in the classroom are in a pervasive way determined by the organisational and institutional realities in schools and policy.
In this seminar we will focus on three of these essential working conditions: teacher collaboration and collegiality (and its balance to autonomy), leadership and leadership practices and the micropolitical dynamics driving life in schools.
Through introductory lectures each of the working conditions will be presented, including relevant theoretical framework and based on empirical research. In combination with the preparatory readings, the lectures will set the floor for in-depth discussions and interactions of the participants. The final slot of the seminar will be devoted to research methodology (more in particular narrative-biographical approaches), with a focus on the actual enactment of methodological principles and techniques in practice and the inevitable complexities and compromises they bring with them. Put metaphorically: the session will focus on the practice of “cooking” rather than the rules and recipes from the “cooking books”.
Learning outcome
Aims:
- Presenting relevant theoretical perspectives for the empirical study of essential organizational working conditions for teachers
- Relating the theoretical concepts to the participants’ own research practice
- Providing opportunities to share concrete experiences, issues and concerns related to data collection and analysis and discuss them as practical issues as well as reflecting methodological principles.
Admission
Open lectures for all signed up for the seminars. Closed workshops for course participants after lunch on the second day. PhD-candidates enrolled in NATED will be given priority, but it is also possible for other PhD-candidates to apply for the course. Candidates admitted to a PhD-program at UiO: Apply by Studentweb. Other applicants: apply through registration form.
Prerequisites
Recommended previous knowledge
Recommended Reading:
- Kelchtermans, G., Piot, L., Ballet, K. (2011). The lucid loneliness of the gatekeeper. Exploring the emotional dimension in principals' work lives. Oxford Review of Education, 37 (1), 93-108.
- Kelchtermans, G. (2007). Macropolitics caught up in micropolitics: the case of the policy on quality control in Flanders (Belgium). Journal of Education Policy, 22(4), 471-491.
- Kelchtermans, G. (2006). Teacher collaboration and collegiality as workplace conditions - A review. Zeitschrift für Pädagogik, 52 (2), 220-237.
- Kelchtermans, G. & Piot, L (2014). Living the Janus Head: Conceptualizing leaders and leadership in schools in the 21st century. In Flores, M.A., Carvalho, A.a. Ferreira, F.I. & Vilaca, T. (Eds.). Back to the Future: Legacies, Continuities and Changes in Educational Policy, Practice and Research. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
- Piot, L. & Kelchtermans, G. (2015). The micropolitics of distributed leadership: four case studies of school federations. Educational Management Administration and Leadership, 1-18 DOI: 10.1177/1741143214559224.
- Vangrieken, K., Dochy, F., Raes, E. & Kyndt, E. (2015). Teacher collaboration: a systematic review. Educational Research Review, 15, 17-40. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2015.04.002
Teaching
Programme:
Monday, October 26
09.15 – 09.30: Welcome by Jorunn Møller
09.30 – 11.30: Open lecture by Professor Geert Kelchtermans: Will teacher collaboration save the schools and educational quality? Towards a balanced answer
11.30 – 12.30: Lunch
12.30 – 14.45: Open lecture by Professor Geert Kelchtermans: Unpacking the micropolitical dynamics in schools: power, influence, interests and literacy
15.00 – 17.00: Plenary discussion and workshop activities for course participants
1900: Dinner
Tuesday, October 27
09.15 – 11.30: Open lecture by Professor Geert Kelchtermans: Conceptualizing leadership practices: positions and processes, actions and feelings
11.30 – 12.30: Lunch
12.30 – 17.00: “Welcome to my research kitchen! Methodological stories from the research practice” Seminar/workshop activities for course participants.
Examination
Paper after the seminar: 5000-6000 words.
Send to track leaders no later than December 6, 2015.
Email addresses:
Track 3 and CLEG: Jorunn Møller or Kirsten Sivesind
SISCO: Kirsti Klette
TEPEC: Eyvind Elstad