Page 148 - The SpeakTeach method - Esther de Vrind

Chapter 6. General conclusions and discussion
contextual constraints and the personal goals of the teachers. Furthermore, it has been suggested that reforms should build on existing teaching practice and provide steps which enable the incorporation of the new teaching proposal (e.g. Bransford, Derry, Berliner & Hammerness, 2005). In this study, two interrelated principles were used to realize this: modularity and self-evaluation by the teacher. In order to see differences between the current teaching practice and the desired innovative teaching practice, both were represented in similar modules or building blocks (modularity) and evaluated by the teacher (self-evaluation). By recombining these existing building blocks in accordance with a number of procedures, different learning trajectories could be followed by the teachers to implement an innovative teaching practice. Since teachers differ in their circumstances and their goals, there would be a need for adaptive learning routes.
In this study, we investigated whether, within a development trajectory based on modularity and self-evaluation by teachers, adaptive learning routes could be realized in which teachers could achieve both the goals of the innovation (the adaptive teaching approach, the SpeakTeach method) and their own objectives in a way that fitted in with and built on what they were already doing in their teaching.
The results showed that almost all teachers (10 out of 11) succeeded in expanding their teaching repertoire in line with the goals of the innovation (the SpeakTeach method) and followed adaptive learning routes to their own satisfaction. We distinguished three different successful learning routes. First there were the builders who stayed close to their regular teaching practice and built stepwise on their routines towards a new teaching practice. Innovators with big steps back experimented with new practices at the beginning and then took big steps back. A related group, innovators who refined, also experimented directly with new practices but did not take big steps back afterwards. Instead they consolidated and refined the application of the procedures of the new teaching approach (the SpeakTeach method).
In conclusion, the professional development based on modularity and self-evaluation by the teachers enabled all teachers except one to follow their own learning routes in line with their goals and in line with their teaching practice and at the same time move in the direction of the intended innovation.
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