Bringing Distance Education home through Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR)

1. Bringing Distance Education home through Participatory Action Learning and Action Research (PALAR) MarindaNeethling

2. INTRODUCTION This presentation outlines an intended inquiry on how a participatory, action learning approach in ODL can be used with teachers in the Foundation Phase to assist them to make their classroom practice more inclusive.

3. Background • New Education policies and curricula focus more on the role of the teacher. • They became more central in the successful implementation of a non-racial democratic culture of human rights and social justice.

4. The challenge for the teacher: • Buy-inand implement inclusive education; • Teachers uncertain & lack confidence regarding changing the curriculum; learning material and how to give individual learning support; and • As a result, many teachers ignore the "problem"

5. Because…….. • Teachers experience a gap between the knowledge acquired through training on inclusive education, and their ability to implement this knowledge in the classroom. gap

6. How to bridge this gap • More in-depth training and • Expanding specialised knowledge skills and dispositions as well as application skills.

7. Northern Cape Dep of Education Decided to invest in a programme that will equip the Foundation Phase teachers with the necessary skills to implement inclusive education successfully.

8. NCDoE approached the NWU to become involved in the development and training of 50 teachers ACE in the Foundation Phase.

9. I became involved I am a lecturer at the UODL in a Learner Support: Marking assignments & examining papers…… Conclusion = Problem • Teachers are struggling to close the gap between what they learn in the course, and the actual approach and practice of inclusive education in the classroom. • I NEED improve my study material.

10. In order to narrow this gap (Purpose) need to understand the world and environment in which the teachers live and function on a daily basis. Teachers take ownership of & be involved in the development of the support programme by incorporating their experiences and insight; Teachers provide practical insight = (perhaps) theory and practice can marry.

11. The outcome can be • We all need to critical examine our own current practices; • The findings, can lead to implement alternativemethods in teaching and learning; • Which lead to transformative learning; • Resulting in a well-developed and relevant learning support training programme (not only ACE student, but all students enrolled in the learner support programme).

12. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY • Design:PALAR. • Paradigm: Epistemological embedded in – critical, transformativeparadigm. • Method: is qualitative approach with cycles of enquiry following a PALAR design.

13. PALAR is: • Action Learning - when learning happens from and through action or a concrete experience, or by taking action as a result of the learning. • Action Research is a cyclical iterative process of action and reflection on and in action. • Both AL and AR include active learning, searching, problem solving and systematic enquiry. • The P in PALAR indicate the working together of people on an issue and learning from one another’s experience.

14. Phase 1: 50 FP teachers Gathered base line data. Qualitative semi-structured questionnaires. Questions: • Understanding the concept of inclusive education?and • Deal with divers learning needs in the classroom? Answers: • “call a meeting with the parents” • “inform a specialist” • “give them extra work” (but did not elaborate on it). • Majority indicated: divide the class in groups and “ask other learners in the group to help the learner who struggles”.

15. Conformation: SA & international • shown that teachers have negative and distant attitudes towards inclusive education • Teachers do not feel confident about changing the curriculum, learning material, managing behavioural problems, uncertainabout how to give individual learning support. • feel incompetent and lack confidence in their ability to implement inclusive education • As a result, many teachers tend to overlook learners with special needs. • It is imperative that a solution is found and implemented that will bridge this gap.

16. Action learning set From the 50 teachers select 8 teachers form an action learning group. Purpose = collaborationexchanged ideas between myself & teachers to improve my study material and their teaching and learning. Marquardt (1999)

17. Bob Dick’s (2012) relationship building technique. Winding rope • Each turn represents an experience / an impact on their teaching life. • We discussed it in the group build a relationship with each other in the action learning set.

18. Before & After: winding rope Merriam and Caffarella’s (1999) theory about change that served as a guideline: cognitivist, behaviourist, humanist, social learning & constructivist.

19. Cognitivist: Teachers and I form a diverse set, we have a common problem within a specific context that trigger the initial process of learning. Our learning happens when we become aware of different inputs from our environment, and we start to make sense of it and re-organise our experiences into a learning experience. When the teachers in the action learning set started to speak about their experience and frustration in the inclusive classroom they were amazed about themselves that they revealed the information that they did. They came to the conclusion that “although we are teaching at the same school for between 7-13 years we never really knew each other”. and “I thought you were coping.....it always looked like that”. Huberman(1993) refer to this as creating a common language withcolleagues.

20. Behaviourist: When we change our behaviour, we start to learn. Learning is also determined by the context in which we learn, and repetition and re-enforcement of learning behaviours will support us in the learning process. The teachers did not realise they have similar frustrations and that they can share it with someone “I did not speak about my frustrations because I though the staff will think I cannot manage my teaching and or classroom”. One teacher indicated the“I am a teacher; I am supposed to regulate my own behaviour”.

21. Humanist: • During the learning process, we become aware of our own values and develop self-awareness which helped us to reflect on our teaching individually and which directed our own learning. • I realized through my observation how important an emotional engagement is for the teachers. • This includes an affective or psychological engagement. • We need a sense of belonging with people at school with whom we are involved. • Having a sense of belonging refers to feeling “accepted, included, respected, and valued” .

22. Humanist: • This again developed a sense of identification and connectedness with the school. One of the teachers indicated that “I will walk in town with my school track suit”. If the teacher feels that she belongs to a school “community” she will make an “effort and persevere in her circumstances”. This type of school climate would provide more opportunities for teachers to feel successful and competent. This is an important finding because it underlines the importance of a healthy school.

23. Social Learning: • The teachers started to become involved with each other and felt like they can make a contribution towards one another in the classroom “We have to encourage dialogue.... we must stop being lone rangers in our classrooms”. • As we progressed they started to become involved and understood my frustrations regarding study material. • They realized how important their inputs are in my part of the learning and the capacity they can add. “This is an opportunity to make a difference in student - teachers lives”.

24. Constructivist: The knowledge we create is context bound and actions taken from real-life problems of the teachers. A constructivist approach to teaching and learning can support the development of lifelong learning, flexibility, creativity, higher-order thinking skills and collaboration. One aspect that stood out in the data was that the teachers need emotional and development support. One teacher indicated that “I must understand my own feelings to understand my colleagues’ feelings and support her emotionally”.

25. Conclusion This underlines the fact that problem solving in a constructivist approach, is at the heart of learning, thinking, and development . This underlines the fact that learning is an active process within a person based on what activities the person is engages in. Constructing knowledge cannot be done in isolation. People need to work together to build on ideas from one another. Through PALAR I can bringing Distance Education home.

26. Conclusion This underlines the fact that learning is an active process within a person based on what activities the person is engages in. Constructing knowledge cannot be done in isolation. People need to work together to build on ideas from one another. Through PALAR I can bringing Distance Education home meaning developing teachers and myself professionally.