Professional Learning in the Context of Bowland Professional Development: Mrs Oublier revisited?

Presented by Dr Steve Watson, University of Cambridge

In this seminar, I will present an in-depth analysis of a single case, one teacher's experience of participation in a reform-oriented professional development programme. As I analysed the observation and interview data, the experience that David Cohen described in his classic paper about Mrs Oublier was strongly resonant. Mrs Oublier, you might recall, talked about how her teaching had been transformed and revolutionised by her PD experience. However, when Cohen observed her teach, he found that her teaching was still principally traditional and teacher-centred, but with some features of reform, for example, students sat in groups rather than rows, but the reform was surface deep. I observed something similar in Imran's PD participation and in the lesson I subsequently visited. I explore this phenomenon and offer a new explanation of why reform is such a challenge for many, if not the majority, of mathematics teachers. My analysis, using social cognitive theory, offers new insights into the professional learning process, yet acknowledges the considerable challenge it is for teachers to introduce student-centred and dialogic practices into their teaching. From this I offer suggestions for the design of professional development.

You might want to glance over Cohen's classic paper before the seminar: Cohen, D. K. (1990). A Revolution in One Classroom: The Case of Mrs. Oublier. Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 12(3), 311–329. doi:10.3102/01623737012003311