Leading Professional Learning 1

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2015:

During the pre-teaching period students are required to complete readings that will be provided via LMS.

170 hours

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry.

The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability

Contemporary organizations such as schools, to be effective, require the ability to adapt and transform their professional practice to respond to changing circumstances. An aspect of this transformation is the professional learning capacity of the organization and the leadership necessary to build and direct this.

This subject builds on a number of concepts; professional knowledge and learning at the individual practitioner level and intellectual, cultural and social capital at the organisational and systemic levels. It develops a model of professional learning that involves five elements: (1) a shared commitment to the goals and outcomes of the learning activity, that is, a professional learning community; (2) role differentiation in terms of professional learning and distributed leadership of learning to achieve this; (3) an explicit model of how to learn professionally that is referenced on contemporary theories of knowledge enhancement and embedded in professional practice; (4) issues associated with contextualising the learning in particular school cultures, that is, the climate for professional learning; and (5) the extent to which autonomous, self-managed and directed learning is possible in the professional community.

The model will be applied to a range of issues confronting contemporary schools and educational provision. Approaches to distributed leadership, including middle leadership of professional learning, will be evaluated.

On completion of this subject students should be able to:

• critically analyse contemporary theories of professional learning in terms of current theories of learning and their relevance to understanding pedagogic improvement and school transformation,
• critically evaluate the model of professional learning in terms of these contemporary theories and identify its implications for pedagogic improvement and school transformation.

• Essay – provide a rationale for the critical examination task (1000 words). Due mid-semester, 20%
• A critical examination (4000 words) of one or more aspects of the model of professional learning developed in lectures and its implications for leading change in schools. Due end of semester, 80%

Attendance at all classes (tutorial/seminars/practical classes/lectures/labs/online classes) is obligatory. Failure to attend 80% of classes will normally result in failure in the subject.

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject students should have:

• Critically analyse approaches to pedagogic improvement and school transformation in terms of contemporary theories of professional learning capacity.
• Develop a problem solving approach to fostering professional learning in a range of contexts.
• Display positive attitudes to the use of professional learning to enhance educational and pedagogic provision.