Understanding the conditions to support the on-the-job learning of teachers: A case study of a P-12 school

© 2020 Beth Louise CiliaThis study investigates the important concept of informal, on-the-job learning of teachers in a P-12 school in the Australian state of Victoria. Literature that examines how teachers learn within their school environments typically focuses on either Primary or Secondary schools. However, in recent times there has been an escalation in the prevalence of a new type of school, the P-12 model, which combines these sectors. Therefore, this thesis confronts how the P-12 school environment facilitates the professional learning of its teachers so that we can better understand the relationship between environment and learner. Whilst informal learning is understood to be a significant aspect of teacher learning, the dedicated research pool on this topic can be described as “limited”. Therefore, the focus of this study will not be on structured external Professional Development courses or formal examples of educational programs. Instead this study highlights how the everyday informal incidental learning of the practitioner is encased within a school environment embedded in its contextual conditions. This is done through an ethnographic case study which uses online survey, face-to-face interviews and observation fieldnotes. All data have been collected and analysed by a researcher-practitioner working within the college environment. This allows for a strong connection between researcher and context and as the environment in question is highly significant the methodology allows for a deeper connection. The data extracted is used to understand the interaction between environment and professional learner as the learning that takes place. Specifically, this study interprets and understands the case through an ethnographic lens using the concept of “Five Rs”: routines, rules, rituals, roles and relationships. From this, it can be determined how routines, rules and rituals support the teacher learners who portray roles and build relationships. This frame encompasses the institution within its own complex social network allowing for a multilayered picture of teacher learners as they build, maintain and regulate their own professional knowledge and skills