Taylor, Kathryn; (2025) Developing an ecological analytical framework for the exploration of teachers' lived experiences of professional development and professional learning in five UK secondary schools. Doctoral thesis (Ed.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This thesis reports on my exploration of teachers’ experiences of Professional Development (PD) and Professional Learning (PL) in five secondary schools across England and Scotland. I apply an ecological lens, drawing on Priestley et al.’s (2015) view that teachers’ perceptions of their experiences cannot be understood in isolation because they are nested within micro- (personal life-experiences) meso- (organisational/interpersonal) and macro- (socio-political) contexts. PD is understood as activities, events and interventions, and PL refers to changes in professional attitudes, knowledge, and practices (McChesney and Aldridge, 2019b). Although much described, problematised, and theorised (e.g., Clarke and Hollingsworth, 2002; Kennedy, 2005; 2014; McCormick, 2010; Sims et al., 2021) the unrealised potential of PD to sustainably transform teachers’ attitudes, knowledge and practices (constituting PL) persists. Strong teacher perceptions of eight environmental dimensions are associated with enhanced and sustained PL: agency (e.g., Eteläpelto et al., 2013), efficacy (e.g., Gray and Summers, 2015), logistics (e.g., Wolthuis et al., 2020), collegiality (e.g., Hargreaves and O’Connor, 2018), trust (e.g., Day et. al, 2011), resilience (e.g., Gu, 2014), reflection and reflexivity (e.g., Orland-Barak, 2006) and professional autonomy (e.g., Wilkins, 2011). My phenomenographic analysis (Marton, 1986) exposes equivocal language use around these dimensions. The resultant analytical framework 4 contributes depth and nuance to theorisation of these concepts. From this, I have developed a survey instrument which 156 teachers have engaged with. Response data were considered indicative proxies for teachers’ openness to PD, and, by extension, their capacity for PL. I considered the inference from this framework to teacher PL a reasonable proxy because of the association in the literature of these cultural dimensions with pockets of sustained practitioner research activities and associated development of practice (e.g., Gray and Summers, 2015). Survey data was synthesised and reported to school leaders and then discussed in semi-structured interviews. Qualitative data analysis suggests PD can be distinguished between training and information sharing activities (PD1), and opportunities for collegial sense-making, contextualization, and co-creation (PD2). Increased teacher PL capacities were inferred from data in schools where PD1 and PD2 were strategically and operationally supported. I suggest that this indicates a relationship between the presence of structured PD2 opportunities and high individual and collective teacher perceptions of PL supportive dimensions.

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