Abstract:
It is proposed that the paper will explain the model of teacher learning that has emerged from my PhD research completed in 1994. The model has arisen out of analyses of the literature on adult learning and on teachers as learners as well as other literature and from interviews with teachers in the USA, the UK and in Australia using a conversational-cum-conversational approach. Two different qualitative research computer programs (HyQual and N.U.D.I.S.T.) assisted in the processes of analysis and of conflation of concepts.
The S.P.A.C.E. model was developed not only as a way of summarising the findings of my research, but more importantly as a heuristic device, one which provides a new and useful way of conceptualising teacher learning and the influences on that learning. The model provides a particular definition of "conditions of teacher learning" in general and of each of the specific conditions: Self, Personal Meaning, Action, Collegiality, and Empowerment. They influence each other in ways that are described as being both synergetic and symbiotic. Other influences are described as being proximal and distal. The former involves a teacher's willingness and ability to learn, and amongst the latter can be found the answer to the question of what brings about a teacher's willingness and ability to learn.
The S.P.A.C.E. model was developed not only as a way of summarising the findings of my research, but more importantly as a heuristic device, one which provides a new and useful way of conceptualising teacher learning and the influences on that learning. The model provides a particular definition of "conditions of teacher learning" in general and of each of the specific conditions: Self, Personal Meaning, Action, Collegiality, and Empowerment. They influence each other in ways that are described as being both synergetic and symbiotic. Other influences are described as being proximal and distal. The former involves a teacher's willingness and ability to learn, and amongst the latter can be found the answer to the question of what brings about a teacher's willingness and ability to learn.