School-University Partnership for Peer Communities of Learners (SUP4PCL) Case Study: Helwan University Martin Luther University The Evolution of Peer Communities of Learners (PCLs) at Helwan University and Its Impact on the Transformation Of Professional Learning Practice
Authors Ahmed Ismail Heggi Magda Mostafa Elsayed, Mohamed Abdel Salam Ghonem Lubna Mahmoud Shehab, Hanan Kamal Morsy
With contributions from Martin Linder
Edited by the peer review committee: The American University in Cairo & The University of Leicester The Project Number: 573660-EPP-1-2016-EG-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP The Project Title: School-University Partnership for Peer Communities of Learners (SUP4PCL)
The Project Website: SUP4PCL.aucegypt.edu
Disclaimer
This work has originated through the School-University Partnership for Peer Communities of Learners (SUP4PCL) Project that was initiated by the Middle East Institute for Higher Education (MEIHE) at the American University in Cairo in partnership with Ain Shams, Alexandria, Helwan, Leicester, Limerick, Martin Luther and Northampton universities. The project is an Erasmus + initiative funded and supported by the European Commission. This and any communication or publication related to the action, made by the beneficiaries jointly or individually in any form and using any means, shall indicate that it reflects only the author’s view and that the Agency and the Commission are not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. Table of Contents List of Figures 6 List of Tables 7 List of Appendices 8 List of Acronyms 9 Preface 11 Introduction 12 Context 13 Points of Strength 13 The Vision 13 The Mission 13 Academic Study Programs 13 Organizational Structure 14 Community Outreach and Partnership 14 Leadership Styles 14 Points of Weakness 14 Methodology 17 Research Questions 17 Qualitative Research 17 Case study research 17 Data Collection 17 Focus group discussion 17 Observation 19 Semi-structured interviews 19 Data Analysis 19 Toulman's argumentation approach 19 Content analysis 19 Description of Data Analysis 19 Ethical Approval 20 Conceptual Framework 22 Core Activities 22 Theoretical Background: Eight Core Principles 23
4 Based on teachers’ needs and interests 23 Views learning as a social process 24 Inclusion of collaborative opportunities 24 Is ongoing and sustained 26 Treats teachers as active learners 27 Enhances teachers’ pedagogical skills and content knowledge 28 Facilitated with care 29 Focuses on improving learning outcomes for students 30 Findings 33 Commentary and Analysis 39 Challenges 40 Conclusion 42 References 43 Appendices 45
5 List of Figures
Figure 1. The organizational structure of the Faculty of Education 15 Figure 2. Timeline of data analysis 20 Figure 3. The university website 26 Figure 4. Newspapers disseminating the SUP4PCL project 27 Figure 5. Implications 31
6 List of Tables
Table 1. Research methods instruments 18
7 List of Appendices
Annex (1): Focus group discussions 45
Annex (2): Observation sheet 50
Annex (3): Interview schedule 53
Annex (4): A designed questionnaire for school needs 54
Annex (5): HU PCL meeting 60
Annex (6): Links of WebQuests for STEAM, citizenship, Erasmus+ projects and research 68 proposal writing to exchange the experiences among teachers and school mentors
Annex (7): HU/MLU memorandum of understanding 69
8 List of Acronyms Partners Acronyms
AUC American University in Cairo
ANSU Ain Shams University
HU Helwan University
ULEIC University of Leicester
UON University of Northampton
UL University of Limerick
MLU Martin-Luther University
Other acronyms and abbreviations School University Partnership for Peer Communities of Learners SUP4PCL (Title of this ERASMUS+ Project)
Education Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency EACEA (European Commission)
MEIHE Middle East Institute for Higher Education
FOE Faculties of Education
MOE Ministry of Education
MOHE Ministry of Higher Education
9 MOU Memorandum of Understanding
QA Quality Assurance
PCL Peer Communities of Learners
PD Professional Development
PLC Peer Learning Communities
STEAM Science, Technology, Art, Engineering and Mathematics
ICT Information, Communication & Technology
10 Preface The partnership is the result of an Erasmus+ project that was awarded to the Middle East Institute for Higher Education at the Graduate School of Education in the American University in Cairo entitled School-University Partnership for Peer Communities of Learners (SUP4PCL) in November 2016. The partnership was created within a context where Egypt has shown a keen need for reform at the school and university levels and where Faculties of Education have acquired the reputation of operating in an ivory tower divorced from the practical field of school improvement. A continued debate has called for the abolition of faculties and schools of education at the undergraduate level and the relegation of their work to the graduate level; hence, the eternal struggle between sequential and concurrent teacher education programs. The partnership was therefore viewed by Egypt’s Supreme Council of Universities and Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research as a welcome step in the direction of creating cost-effective means of stimulating a reform environment. For several decades, the international reform community has recognized the importance of school-university partnerships and the creation of Professional Development Schools (PDS) in offering an effective method of creating collaboration, continuous professional development, research, and pedagogical innovation. The proponents of this approach have claimed that it can simultaneously reform school practices and teacher education programs. It is the intention of the SUP4PCL consortium in Egypt to introduce such an approach with the support and creation of Peer Communities of learners (PCLs) at the university, school, and cross-cultural levels. Due to some bureaucratic delays, it is only in late February of 2017 that the partnership was enacted with the first Kick-off meeting of the project. During this initial first phase, partnership teams were being constructed within the eight institutions of the consortium; Ain Shams University ANSU, Helwan University HU, Alexandria University AU (from Egypt), University of Limerick UL, (from Ireland) Martin Luther University (from Germany), University of Northampton UON, University of Leicester ULEIC (from UK), and the American University in Cairo AUC, coordinating the consortium from Egypt. Moreover, the various institutions with very diverse cultural and political backgrounds were beginning to know each other. The early stages of consolidating this layer of the partnership were animated with meetings and much mobility to learn about each other in live natural environments. During this preparatory preliminary phase, another layer was added to the partnership namely that between Egyptian Faculties of Education and Professional Development Schools (PDSs). The first step in that direction was a signed Memorandum of Understanding MOU between the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Ministry of Education and Technical Education. Under this protocol, three faculties were to partner with a total of 15 public governmental schools at a ratio of 5 to each faculty later to expand to a total of 45 schools at a ratio of 15 schools per faculty. The MOU was followed by signed letters of agreement with the Ministry of Education local directorates. After some months, more closeness was established between the partners through exchange visits, activities, communication and meetings in the summer of 2018. Halfway through the project, another dimension to the partnership was added, namely a twinning process was introduced with the following arrangement: AUC twinning with ULEIC for quality assurance and monitoring purposes, AU with UON twining for capacity development and the write up of case studies, similarly for the same purposes HU twinned with MLU and ANSU with UL. Finally, in 2019 yet another dimension was added to the partnership with the clustering of PDSs thus allowing for these to expand to 45 with a ratio of 15 per each Faculty of Education (FOE). The various case studies of this project will cover all the layers and dimensions of the enhanced and expanding partnership. All the participants in the expanding partnership/consortium reached consensus on a research framework with set questions shaping the work of each of the case studies. Together, the various case studies constitute a level of triangulation that supports and assures the integrity of interpretation, especially that the collection of data was done at different points in time by different research teams in similar settings. The total data generated from this project has the potential of being utilized for grounded theory and to further refine concepts and comparative approaches to school-university partnerships, and Peer Communities of Learners PCL.
Malak Zaalouk
11 Introduction community. It consisted of 23 members, ranging from 25 years to 75-year-old, who were interviewed. The idea of peer communities of learners (PCLs) was Subsequently, a coordinator for each school team was developed as a result of the tendency for forming selected, in which the relationships among the members networks and clusters by connecting learning was taken into account. The Helwan management team communities across various educational institutions. encouraged each team to select their colleagues based Although borders existed between those communities on set criteria. The criteria for selection were set by to maintain each community’s ownership of the the management team based on goals and objectives, available learning opportunities, ideas and experiences as follows: could be exchanged (Amy, 2009). The concept of the professional learning communities was influenced - Diversity: Both genders are represented equally with 13 by Wenger’s theory of communities of practice, who females and 10 males. They represent different departments, including comparative education and educational elaborated that the professional learning communities administration, curricula and teaching methods, educational are formed by people who engage closely and interact psychology, educational technology, and kindergarten. more regularly in the process of collective learning Therefore, the PCL culture is spread among these different through a shared vision (as cited in Lee, Hong, Tay, departments. Also, the university staff is represented as & Lee, 2014). In other words, professional learning follows: six professors, among them the current dean and communities include devoted learning groups, who three former deans, two assistant professors, 11 lecturers, share together what they know to improve education three teaching assistants (demonstrator and two assistant services (Dufour, 2004; Hilliard, 2012). They further lecturers), and one administrative staff. They represent participate in an ongoing process of conducting about 10% of faculty of education at Helwan University. research to solve problems (Hilliard, 2012). - Transparency and equity: The management team Influenced by Wenger’s theory, colleges and universities announced the project’s team selection process in all developed a variety of learning community models departments, then interviews were conducted to select (Brownell & Swaner, 2009) with the aim of reforming the suitable members to join the PCL. and transforming post-secondary institutions (Otto, - Reliability: Most PCL members are reliable, Evins, Boyer-Pennington, & Brinthaupt, 2015). In so responsible and ready to perform their tasks honestly. doing, they consider the needs, goals, and resources of these institutions (Brownell & Swaner, 2009). These - Collaboration: Most of them are convinced by the communities are based on the development of a common teamwork concept. They share ideas and experiences vision with the aim of collaborating towards improved through different channels of communication. means of meeting the students’ needs (Dufour, 2004). - Creativity: The team initiates new innovative ideas. The most common model is staff development to improve university instructional programs and practices. In this - Competence: They are qualified to perform their model, the PCLs share learning and act as communities of roles and responsibility efficiently. continuous critical inquiry for continuous improvement (Hilliard, 2012). Consequently, they utilize approaches - Commitment: They are totally committed, punctual that can optimize learning opportunities for both the and used to representing the faculty of education in students and the faculty. They enact different strategies, different events. such as shared lesson study or they integrate different In this case study, the researchers described the disciplines, such as using the STEM approach (Lee. et implementation of PCLs (or PLCs as they are used al., 2015). interchangeably) at the Faculty of Education, Helwan University. They discussed their impact on staff growth, Description of PCL Members mentorship, and the used strategies for bridging the gap between theory and practice. The current project, School and University Partnership for Peer Communities of Learners (SUP4PCL), helped in the formation of a special professional learning
12 Context have international experiences and are in partnerships with different countries in the educational area, and Helwan University (HU) was established in 1975 also, some of them are experts in managing national over 350 acres of land. It is the youngest of 3 major and international projects. governmental public universities in Cairo, the Capital of Egypt. It is located about 25 km south to the capital FoE has prominent relationships with its strategic of Cairo in the heart of the industrial district of Helwan, stakeholders as the Ministry of Education, Professional which includes the largest civil and military-industrial Academy of Teachers (PAT) and schools. Those relations centers in the country. This has put a greater responsibility have been deepened through the effective practicum on HU to become an active national player in promoting office in FOE, the EU funded projects in collaboration entrepreneurial education, bridging the gap between with schools, and the professional development activities academia and industry, preparing graduates to meet the in collaboration with MOE and PAT which help in the needs of the market place, and to have an active role in capacity building of human resources. partnership with the strategic stakeholders. The Vision HU consists of 23 different faculties, which are distributed HU-FoE is an academic educational institution that over several locations in the governorates of Cairo and Giza. enhances educational knowledge and its applications Although HU is the most recent of 3 major governmental for community service. Therefore, the FoE develops universities in Cairo, it encompasses some of the oldest education at different levels, pre-university, and higher and most unique faculties in Egypt and the Middle East, education to achieve sustainable and comprehensive in which one of them is the faculty of education that was social human development for the Egyptian society established according to the agreement of the Supreme and the Arab and international world. Council of Universities in 1981, and the ministerial decree No.927 in 1982. The actual start was in 1983 with the The Mission following departments: Arabic language and Islamic HU’s FoE mission includes the following: studies (basic education), English language and Social Studies (basic education), Sciences and Mathematics - Planning for the development of education on (basic education), Kindergarten, Libraries, Architecture different levels according to the society’s needs. Industries, and Ornamental Industries. - Designing the programs to form the educational The Faculty of Education moved in 1987/1988 from the leaders who will contribute to developing premises of the Faculty of Art Education to the Faculty education and society. of Commerce in Zamalek. Eventually, it was moved to the main campus of Helwan University in Ain-Helwan in - Enhancing the teaching profession and opening 1996. Unfortunately, the location of the main campus is in doors for continuous professional development. a remote area, which increases the difficulty of the PCL Academic Study Programs meetings, training sessions, and workshops in cooperation with the different educational administrations. FoE includes different academic programs as follows: Undergraduate programs for: Points of Strength 1- Secondary and preparatory teacher preparation The Faculty of Education (FoE) has been an effective partner in different EU projects. For example, the 2- Basic education teacher preparation in the Capacity Development of Faculties of Education following disciplines (Arabic language, English (CDFE) – an international approach to teacher language, Social Studies, Mathematics, and education (TEMPUS Project, 2012-2015), and another Sciences). example, the School and University Partnership for Peer Communities of learners project (SUP4PCL 3- Special education program in English and Project, 2016 - 2020). Consequently, the FoE has a Arabic language. great number of qualified faculty staff members that
13 4- Kindergarten teacher preparation. - To discuss the different problems, projects, and activities to enhance success and solve any 5- Educational technology specialist and teacher problems. preparation. - To convey the suggested recommendations to the 6- Industrial and technical secondary teacher university top management. preparation Community Outreach and Partnership The Postgraduate programs include a general diploma, professional diploma, special diploma, MA and Ph.D. Helwan University believes in its sustainable social The general diploma in education aims at preparing responsibility, for not only the university’s community non-educational alumni to be able to teach in the pre- but also for the society at large. Based on the great university education, whereas the professional diploma emphasis of Helwan university’s cultural, intellectual aims at preparing the educational alumni in one of and technological identity, its commitment towards the different disciplines at the postgraduate level to community service and environmental development enhance their professional performance. increases on almost a daily basis.
The special diploma in education aims at qualifying the The Faculty of Education is opened to all the university alumni in one of the educational disciplines to be able units and administrations in order to achieve the to submit the MA proposal. Finally, the doctorate of university and faculty strategic goals. Most student philosophy in education aims at qualifying educational teachers participate in projects and university activities, specialists in one of the educational areas at the also, the faculty staff from faculties of sciences, academic departments in order to prepare the doctorate commerce, arts, laws and applied arts participate in dissertation (Faculty of Education bylaw, 2019, p. 4-9). teaching for different sections. In addition to this, there is cooperation with the civil society in Helwan Organizational Structure to achieve social development in the Cairo governorate (Helwan University, 2018, p. 2-4). The FoE includes the faculty council, the dean, vice deans, heads of academic departments, the general Leadership Styles manager and the different units and administrations. The dean is responsible for managing the work according to The leadership in HU-FOE supports the school- legal relations that organize and determine the different university partnerships through its support to the responsibilities, roles, communication channels and the faculty participation in different EU projects. The flow of information, as shown in figure 1. management team of the project opens the doors to discuss any problems or complains, and to receive any The selection and employment patterns are managed effective ideas and suggestions for future projects that according to the Egyptian universities organizing law might help in achieving the institution`s objectives. Due and the civil employees’ law. The faculty dean is the to the work overload, time constraints and managerial head of the monthly faculty council meetings with the burdens, they might not have the time for all faculty attendance of the vice deans, academic department heads, staff to communicate or discuss the faculty problems. five of the most distinguished and expert professors, representatives of the assistant professors and lecturers, Points of Weakness and the director of the quality assurance unit. The purposes - The leadership style is not totally democratic in of those meetings are the following: decision making. Recommendations are made from the different departments to the faculty council and - To set the general policy of the faculty and its the different committees ; however, the final decision requirements. is made by the faculty dean. - To make decisions regarding the faculty staff, students, post-graduate studies and environment development and community services affairs.
14
Figure 1. The organizational structure of the Faculty of Education
15 - The dean has an advisory team; the former deans - The Faculty of Education suffers from the culture and the former experts in educational areas and of keeping equipment in the custody of individuals, administrative procedures in order to make the who are at risk because of being highly accountable. suitable decisions. However, it is not obligatory to This prevents most community members from take the advice from the advisory team because it benefitting from some labs, ICT facilities, and depends on the dean`s philosophy and character. other resources due to the fear of the responsibility by the one designated as custodian. That member - The hierarchy is a feature in HU and it affects also risks being charged an amount of his salary the relation between senior professors and junior should there be any damages in the center or lab. staff in most departments. This is a reflection of the Due to that culture, the FoE could not deliver the centralized system of administration and decision project equipment to the schools due to the conflict making according to the previous organizational in procedures among the two ministries, Ministry structure. Junior staff may express their opinions of Education for schools and Ministry of Higher and points of views, but the final decision is usually Education which is responsible for Faculties of based on the experienced professors. Education. The differences in bylaws and financial procedures hinder the possibility and flexibility of - The FoE at HU includes different administrations the equipment transfer. that aim at achieving the tasks that facilitate the work under the supervision of the general - Although HU has previous efforts and partnerships manager, who communicates with the dean and with MOE and PAT through the EU projects and the vice deans in order to achieve the necessary tasks. practicum office, the bureaucracy and routine hinder However, all procedures should follow a long some of the CPD activities due to the paperwork cycle of bureaucratic procedures for finalizing the requirements and security procedures for organizing documents. The institution usually provides the teachers’ workshops and the continuous need for administrative staff with the necessary training security clearance for each time that the teacher programs and professional development activities desires to attend any event at the university, so there to enhance their competencies, especially in the is usually a loss of time and effort. use of ICT and soft skills.
16 Methodology appropriate method for the inquiry. Rigor, validity, and reliability should be established to have high-quality This section includes the research quetions, approach, case-studies. To satisfy this, data should be drawn from methods of data collection, analysis, findings, and future multiple lines of evidence to establish triangulation challenges: (Yin, 2002).
Research Questions Data Collection This study answers the following research questions: Data were collected using various methods, namely focus group discussions, interviews, and observations. This 1. How has the project partnership supported the process of using multiple methods helps in obtaining a evolution of PCLs among peer learners at the more complete picture of what is being studied and to university level? cross-check information to ensure the validity of data, which is known as triangulation (See Annex 1). 2. How has the PCL impacted on the transformation of professional learning practice at the university Focus group discussion level? The focus group is a valuable structured group interview 3. What are some of the tensions between beliefs/ method that includes several participants and is moderated values and practice? by a facilitator. The purpose of using this method is to use participants’ interactions to understand the underlying Qualitative Research opinions, attitudes, and reasons for their behavior. The Qualitative research is exploratory and tries to explain interaction between the participants can contribute to the ‘how’ and ‘why’ a particular social phenomenon understanding of a certain topic (Kaber, 2016). operates in a particular context (Polkinghorne, 2005). The discussion was carried out in a relaxed atmosphere, The hybrid inductive-deductive approach is widely allowing participants to talk without hesitation. The used in qualitative research. It is a form of social action focus group discussions were conducted in light of that concentrates on interpreting the social realities of the ERASMUS+ SUP4PCL project as a part of the individuals and making sense of their experiences. It conducted case study by the University of Helwan and is used when the researcher intends to examine the Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. meanings and insight of some people in a specific situation. It uses a wide range of data collection The table below summarizes the various tools employed methods, including interviews, observations, open- in data collection with a description of the sample, the ended questionnaires, and document analysis. date, and the investigated key points. It is worth noting that all the shared faculty, were involved in the teacher Case study research preparation courses, in spite of being psychologists, A case study is a research methodology that has language specialists, IT educators, and pedagogists. commonly been used in social sciences and is The focus group discussions were conducted on the 3rd particularly valuable in the field of education. It is and 4th of December 2018. They lasted each for 40-50 an empirical inquiry that intensively investigates minutes and were conducted by the same facilitator. a phenomenon or people by examining the lived The discussions were recorded on an iPhone and were, experiences within the real-life context (Mohajan, later, transcribed and tabled by one researcher, while 2018). In other words, it addresses the ‘how’ and ‘why’ another researcher reviewed the discussed deviant questions concerning the phenomenon of interest (Yin, results. 2002). It has the potential to develop new hypotheses and is also very instrumental in explaining casual complexity in a given situation (Mohajan, 2018).
According to Yin (2014), a case study should be considered carefully by researchers, at first, if it is the
17 Table 1 Research methods instruments Number of Tool Category Date Time Key points Participants
Interview Policymakers 8 3/12/2018 40-50 minutes Q1- Main factors for success
Q2- Main hinders of success
Q3- What about the support of the gov- ernment?
Focus group 1 Faculty staff 7 4/12/2018 40-50 minutes Q1- In what PCL are the interviewed staff members?
Focus group 2 Faculty staff 5 4/12/2018 40-50 minutes Q2- How is Mentor- ship organized?
Focus group 3 Faculty staff 5 4/12/2018 40-50 minutes Q3- How is the gap between theory and practice bridged? Focus group 4 Faculty staff 7 4/12/2018 40-50 minutes
The questions were taken from A framework presented by AUC during an international management meeting session. It was discussed and finalized by the whole SUP4PCL team in August 2018. These questions were:
- In what PCL are the interviewed staff members?
- How is Mentorship organized?
- How is the gap between theory and practice bridged?
18 Observation Data Analysis The researchers received training workshops on how Toulmin’s argumentation approach to use participatory observation, which they used for The case study used the Toulmin argumentation this case study. This type of observation enabled the approach for data analysis, in which the steps are as researchers to observe people in their environment. It follows. provided rich descriptive information on the behaviors and experiences of people in a particular context. - To find the right categories for the core principles The results were generated according to the Toulmin of the formation of peer communities of learners model, which is a way of doing a very detailed (PCLs) (that would be introduced under the analysis. It allows breaking the argument into claim, coming title, The Conceptual Framework). reasons, and evidence and evaluating the effectiveness - To take these textual units and try to interpret of each. Therefore, it was an effective way of getting the different argumentation in detail. to the “how and why” levels of the arguments (Nesbitt, 2012). - To make the individual argumentation visible.
Those observations included not only the FoE staff but - To determine which thesis consists of the also the school teachers, principals and representatives argumentation. from the educational administrations. The researchers used an observation sheet (See Annex 2) that was - To detect if there are any logical connections developed by FoE experts. The management team also between the words. observed the development of PCLs among university The Toulmin model was used, through the analysis of staff during the monthly meetings. the output of the focus groups and interviews (data), Semi-structured interviews to assert certain claims (core features sub-categories, coding) and finally to provide backing for these claims. In-depth, semi-structured interviews are commonly Hence, the aim at that stage was to see whether any used in qualitative research. This method typically interesting patterns could be identified. consists of discussions between the interviewer and the participants, guided by a predetermined set of open- Content analysis ended questions. The researchers interviewed the PCL Content analysis is a thorough examination of contents, team (See Annex 3) to explore their views on their which helps in identifying patterns, themes, or biases participation in the PCL and received their feedback (Leedy & Ormrod, 2001). In so doing, the researchers on the use of reflective journals. The researchers count the occurrences of words, phrases, or themes, which tape-recorded the interviews, which facilitated their is qualified as conventional content analysis. They further transcriptions. analyzed images from documents, monthly reports, In-depth, semi-structured interviews are commonly reflections, reflective journals, Edmodo groups, and social used in qualitative research and are the most frequent media. To evaluate the data generated, the researchers qualitative data source in health services research. examined written, verbal, and visual communication This method typically consists of a dialogue between messages (Mohajan, 2018). researcher and participant, guided by a flexible Description of Data Analysis interview protocol and supplemented by follow-up questions, probes, and comments. The method allows The transcription was made by individuals who do not the researcher to collect open-ended data, to explore know the speakers; all names were anonymized and the participant thoughts, feelings and beliefs about a answers were interpreted along with the methodology particular topic and to delve deeply into personal and of content analyses (Mayring, 2014). Thus, they were sometimes sensitive issues. interpreted in two steps:
19 1. A short summary was formulated out of the original faculty staff argument into quotations that target sentences: This step was done through analyzing subcategories in each core feature. The analysis the transcripts and highlighting the most important identified the argument’s claim, reasons, and pieces and related quotations to the core features of the of evidence, and evaluated the effectiveness of each effective PCL that will be mentioned in the conceptual developed practice in HU as a result of the evolution framework. After this, certain quotations were selected of PCLs. and coded according to the features of PCL. These two steps were done independently by two 2. An interpretation or a comment was formulated: The researchers. Differences in the interpretation were interpretation included linking the selected quotations discussed and final interpretations were formulated. to the core features and the best practices at Helwan The timeline of the data analysis is explained in figure university. Also, it was based on the Toulmin model 2 below. through a detailed analysis, in which we break the
Figure 2. Timeline of data analysis
Ethical Approval members preferred to join the policymaker meetings, Ethical approval was sought and granted from the whereas the school teams preferred to be interviewed PCL members (faculty staff at HU) through certain with their school team. Their desires were met with procedures: great respect from the researchers, even when some faculty staff apologized and chose not to participate - The selection of participants was based on due to their lecturing commitments. their desire to be involved in the focus groups and interviews, hence, it was voluntary. MLU - Consent was sought from each participant in the and HU researchers agreed on a certain date that focus group discussions prior to conducting them could be suitable for the faculty staff, then the HU and MLU’s researchers took their permission team announced the schedule of the focus group before recording. discussions and interviews. Each PCL member - The only person with access to the interview chose the most convenient session to fit their own recording was the person who conducted the desire and free time. Professors and faculty councils’ interview. This person took the responsibility of
20 transcribing it. Then the transcript was distributed - Members of the project management team were among the participants in the case study workshop not in attendance during the focus groups and led by the interviewer from MLU for checking. interviews to ensure the participants were free to express their views. - The transcript was anonymously shared with only one member from the HU for data analysis as - No names were mentioned in the transcripts nor a member of the research team. during the data analysis.
21 The Conceptual Framework Second: Descriptive study of the new programs and practices that were developed throughout the FoE In the last couple of decades, the term “learning departments: communities” has been used widely when describing various opportunities for collective learning. However, it - Needs assessment was misinterpreted by many universities as they thought - The university response to the school needs participating in discussions generally meant establishing PCLs. On the contrary, PCLs should be purposeful - Submission of Erasmus projects KA2 organically produced to meet the requirements of each - Material Development: PCL templates institutional culture. Thus, no two PCLs are identical. - Visibility of the Project on the HU website Mezirow (2000) studied the theory for adults and found one missed dimension that has not been discussed - Participation of policymakers in PCLs before, that of the transformative learning. His theory - Development of post and undergraduate courses added this missed dimension and caused the evolution of PCL. In essence, Mezirow offered one of the most - Research proposal writing WebQuest sophisticated conceptualizations of reflection. He Third: New policies that were adopted by the FoE explained that learning could happen when learners administration, leaders and top management: reflect on existing knowledge and a significant change could occur when the learner’s knowledge is - Bottom-up decision making. completely changed, resulting in an entirely different - Regular monthly meetings perspective. He further emphasized that knowledge could be improved from interactions or social learning - Develop MoU for sustainable twinning opportunities. Consequently, people could question - Design a lab supported by EU equipment their assumptions and undergo a reflecting process that could lead to a possible change. In light of that, - The integration of PCL meetings and transformative learning happens when people examine activities in the annual plan of the training unit and revisit their expectations and act based on a Fourth: The engagement of undergraduate and changed point of view (Cranton, 2006). In this spirit, postgraduate students in the PCLs. when teachers reflect on their interactions, professional development opportunities may potentially inspire new - Develop peer mentorship among practicum and thoughtful discussions. students
Core Activities - Exchange mobility opportunities among researchers HU and MLU developed a framework for classifying the activities that they were involved in for the evolution and - Engagement of undergraduate students in the development of PCLs among the university community. fourth and third years. The framework is based on the following strategies: - Developing Ph.D. proposals. First: The new teaching styles that were developed by Fifth: Human relationships on different levels. the faculty staff: - Organize successful collaborative workshops - Use of social media and virtual technology - Development of shared values - Integration of citizenship, STEAM and - Adoption of shared values. sustainable development in school subjects - No seniority and hierarchy between PCL - Multidisciplinary teaching approach members.
- Student based teaching - Appreciation and recognition of others
22 Theoretical Background: Core Principles the university level, the monthly meetings for HU PCL An effective PCL is based on different core principles depended on the faculty staff’s needs and interests. that characterize the good practices in certain They brainstormed the topics and agenda of the communities more than others. The main principles meetings and modified the agenda according to the PCL of the effective PCL include having collaborative member’s needs. They further exchanged knowledge, opportunities, dealing with learning as a social activity research and experiences according to the importance and also the participation of certain PCL should of the topics and themes. The seminars in the academic encourage the development and enhancement of the departments are based on the researchers’ needs, learner’s pedagogical skills and content knowledge. readiness to develop a proposal and their available time The PCLs should satisfy the learners’ interests in to register for the MA or Ph.D. order to fulfill their expectations. In addition to this, Bottom-Up decision making the learning community members support facilitating The decision making has evolved from depending learning with care through treating learners as active on a top-down strategy only to depend on both top- members in an ongoing and sustainable process in order down and bottom-up strategies. The FoE team was to enhance the student’s outcomes. Accordingly, the interested in collecting data that made them understand case study will discuss the strategies in the framework the school culture, at the beginning of the project. in light of the eight core principles of effective PCL Moreover, teachers were actively involved in decisions (Patton, Parker & Tannehill, 2015) as follows. about what they would learn, how they would learn Based on teachers’ needs and interests and how they would use what they learn. Decisions are made through discussions that are made during the Due to decades of school reform accumulated experience, monthly meetings, also, different opinions /conflicts a great many schools worldwide implemented PCLs as are resolved after discussing them with the manager of a successful means to meet student and teacher needs the project during the monthly meeting. The reflections effectively. that were done between the HU team during the study The effective PCL should fulfill the teachers’ needs and visits and the development of an improvement plan demands, so the collaboration and partnership between helped in the maturity of PCL for the project. the FoE and PDSs are based on the partner’s needs, the Hence, no individual decisions are made as the PCL real context of the schools and the teachers` areas of members have to agree on the final decision through strength. monthly meetings, emails, and WhatsApp group. If Teachers’ professional development is important when it there are different opinions, they resort to voting. takes the form of a real opportunity for growth and not as For example, the monthly meeting was scheduled additional in-service training. PCLs offer teachers much according to the most appropriate time for all team needed professional development as they enhance the members. The management team is responsible for establishment of profound and sustainable professional resolving any conflicts smoothly. For example, with relationships with the purpose of meeting the needs of regard to the disputes in school teams, the management the students. Consequently, institutions promote PCLs, team would interfere and help without having the team they are the driving forces behind considerable long-term members feel that there were any complaints from any reform (East, 2015). of the colleagues.
The main practices of the HU/PDSs partnership The university response to the schools’ needs included the following: HU organized public workshops, in cooperation with the Alumni Unit, to disseminate the culture of PCLs. Needs assessment In addition, workshops about the use of ICT using Through applying questionnaires to build the school’s the Edmodo application were organized to support profiles and assess needs, the training competencies, the teachers when dealing with large numbers of IT infrastructure and teacher’s expectations regarding students in their classrooms (HU Alumni Unit, 2018). the school/ university partnership were understood. At The school teachers also expressed their need to get
23 the accreditation certificate for their school; hence, community (https://helwanpcl.blogspot.com/) helped in the project’s team exchanged their experiences with disseminating the PCL activities, whereas the WebQuests quality assurance through workshops at HU and were designed for deepening the three concepts and invited the school teachers and those responsible for evaluating the teacher’s perceptions. quality assurance and training units to participate in the NAQAEE accreditation visit in HU (See Edmodo Regular monthly meetings Webpage). The follow up of learning and development, the PCLs were supported by regular meetings, which helped in Views learning as a social process exchanging different experiences and in selecting the Vygotsky (1962) explained that people learn through best practices and experiences that suit the Egyptian interactions and communication; therefore, the environment context. Teachers were attracted to the experiences that influences the learning process. In light of that, teachers helped in solving school problems. can create learning opportunities through discussions Inclusion of collaborative opportunities and collaboration to encourage interactions. He further clarified that learning always occurs in a social context. Collaboration is the method of actively working Consequently, instructional strategies should promote together to strengthen cooperation between individuals collaborative work for conducting research, sharing and groups (Bailey, 2010). Collaboration is essential for results, performing, or planning a project. This, in turn, establishing desired outcomes and setting benchmarks would develop a collaborative community of learners for student progress. In light of that, educators (PCL (Linda, 2013). members) collaborated and worked together to achieve common goals. However, building this kind of learning The project had an impact on the transformation of the community was not easy because many teachers socio-cultural context through the integration of three were used to working in isolation, which made them main areas in school subjects. That transformation reluctant to share their challenges and receive feedback could be clarified as follows: from others (LaRena Heath, 2017). To overcome this issue, joint effort between the faculties of education and Integration of citizenship, STEAM and teachers was required to create a productive working sustainable development in school subjects environment for both the teachers and students at The three areas respond to different societal issues and schools. East (2015) explained that successful schools needs. First of all, the concept of citizenship empowered should embrace teams and encourage relationships as the teachers, students, parents…. etc. to adapt to the an essential tool for changing the school culture to one social context by following its rules and to collaborate that celebrates collaboration instead of isolation and to achieve their duties and deal with diversity. Second, competition. the STEAM approach encouraged the teachers to work, interact and cooperate in designing the activities. The following Testimony, from one of the PCL Finally, the students work, in collaboration with members at university levels, could clarify the collegial their teachers, in recycling activities for sustainable cooperation: development of the environment. Therefore, they felt the importance of learning as a social process (School At the University level, in an HR course for faculty Reports, 2018). of engineering, staff members started to use a new teaching approach and also peer teaching style. For Use of social media& virtual technology example, two members of the project have shared a At the university, social media was used to disseminate course using interactive methods and gamification the PCL activities and to exchange learning experiences. (they learned about it at PCL meetings) to improve For example, WhatsApp groups, Facebook and Edmodo, engineering students’ engagement, especially in as means of communication, helped in exchanging humanities’ courses. At the end of the course, the experiences and allowed the teachers to upload their staff members analyze students’ evaluation sheets, activities, videos, photos and to share their feedback and about 98% were satisfied and happy with the with the university staff. In addition, the blog for the HU course teaching style, they said that it made the
24 course easy and smooth, and they will remember was an exchange of EU and Egyptian experiences in a the information as they were not listeners but they needs assessment. This was done through a workshop practiced. delivered by Limerick, Leicester, Martin Luther and Northampton universities on the 5th and 6th of April, HU has different practices that clarified that core 2017 for the university mentors on how to assess the principle as the following: institution’s needs in order to develop PCLs. Then, there was another workshop for the school mentors on Develop peer mentorship among practicum the 3rd and 4th of December, 2018 at HU. The workshops students aimed at training the Egyptian mentors on how to select One way to promote collaboration within PCLs was and design the tools for assessing the school needs as a th by providing opportunities for student teachers to base for developing or initiating a PCL. On 26-27 of observe each other’s classrooms and teach lessons February 2018, representatives from the EU universities led a training workshop for the university and school together. Student Teachers learned how to share their mentors on material development and how to develop understandings and instructional approaches with one resources for exchanging ideas and experiences among another and support the learning of all members of the PCL members. On the 22nd of March, 2018, FoE at community. Each week, they would meet together to HU organized a workshop for school mentors on reflect on how specific teaching practices are impacting the accreditation and quality assurance culture, that the students’ learning outcomes. Accordingly, they supported the partnership between the schools and HU began to plan together, exchange the teaching during the National Authority for Quality Assurance materials and cooperate in one lesson. One of the most and Accreditation for Education (NAQAAE) external prominent reflections on the development of PCL was reviewers’ visit to assess FoE performance. The while meeting the practicum students in the case study collaboration extended towards the cluster schools rd visit by MLU on the 4th of December, 2018, which was through a training workshop on the 3 of October, 2018, on the culture of PCL and how to develop mentioned by a student-teacher. “Our weekly meeting clustering and networks among schools to support helped in solving the problem of the absence of the their activities. Finally, MLU organized a workshop university mentor or supervisor, I became a mentor for entitled Interpretation for writing case studies” on the my colleagues today, then the next week my colleague 12th of June, 2019 to support the case studies writing will be my mentor” (Interview with practicum students, and data analysis. A number of collaborative meetings 2018). That is peer mentorship. and workshops on the same topics were also organized by AUC. Exchange mobility opportunities among researchers The development of PCL between Egyptian partners The development of PCL between HU and MLU was occurred through sharing the presentations, photos, deepened through the engagement of postgraduate and printed materials between ANSU, AU, and HU researchers in mobility opportunities. Firstly, a Ph.D. during the sixth local management meeting. The PDSs’ researcher from HU visited MLU for one week to members had an open invitation to join HU meetings study the teacher education system in Germany from a and EU workshops which helped in building trust comparative perspective. Secondly, MA researcher from between the university and community. One of the MLU visited HU through the EU case study workshop teachers who attended the HU workshop on 22/3/2018 in which he exchanged his theory for argumentation about the culture of quality assurance and accreditation analysis, also he exchanged his experience in STEM expressed that “ for the first time, after about 30 years, education with HU researchers in STEM. Thirdly, another it is my first time to join the university again through Ph.D. researcher from HU was awarded an opportunity the project”, he wished also to meet one of the former for data collection and study in Germany for 3 months deans who is already a member in HU PCL and taught (See Annex 7). him 30 years, ago.
Organize successful collaborative workshops Designing tools and reviewing them by experts gave The development of PCLs between the HU team, an opportunity for staff and experts to exchange EU partners and the school community was enriched experience and to practice the value of respecting through the successful EU workshops, in which there others.
25 Is ongoing and sustained Development of shared values The mechanism through which the Helwan PCL planned, Each PCL developed its vision, mission and shared checked, and acted to achieve the desired results was values for the sustainability of the PCL. Each school of continuous learning. It was a cyclical process and the main five schools has its own PCL shared values, provided PCLs with a systemic way to monitor students’ also the university faculty staff agreed on certain progress. Hord and Sommers (2008) defined continuous shared values and the participants in the PCL are doing learning as the concept of expanding knowledge to gain their best to spread this culture among their colleagues new skills and expertise while sustaining those through (Community member questionnaire [PME4], 2018). the PCLs as they create an environment of professional The integration of the PCL meetings and discourse and reflections (East, 2015). activities in the annual plan of the training unit Moreover, understanding the social background and This idea helped the HU team to institutionalize their culture of a community reflected caring, which was activities in collaboration with the training units in the essential for building continuity among the fragmented PDSs. Also, the idea of documenting the PCL activities social lives of many students. Studies indicated that on the school level helped in their professional learning a caring community functions to promote and value (West Cairo Administration, Training Unit Plan, 2018). interpersonal relationships between school administrators, Material development teachers, students, and parents. It, additionally, provides HU developed templates for the documentation of the students with a sense of continuity through a commitment PCL activities to sustain the documentation of PCL to interpersonal relationships that focus on students’ needs activities and development. This included activity (Eaker-Rich, Van Galen, & D. Van Galen, 1996). design templates, meetings documentation, training HU adopted a number of strategies and procedures to materials, PowerPoint presentations, Edmodo library, enhance the sustainability of PCLs as follows. online materials as the WebQuest and text-based virtual tour. All the previous templates and materials will be Develop MoU for sustainable twinning used continuously to sustain the development of PCLs. HU and MLU developed a memorandum of understating to guarantee the sustainability of cooperation and Visibility of the project on the HU website twining activities by both parties in research, academic HU’s team announced all activities or achievements of the mobility, international projects, conferences, training project and PCL activities on the university website http:// activities, and study programs. Both parties began www.helwan.edu.eg/English/.http://197.45.213.185/ to activate the MoU through the mobility of 2 Ph.D. helwan-n-s/?page_id=316 researchers (Helwan University & MoU, 2018).
Submission of Erasmus projects KA2 HU managed to develop projects through the cooperation between the PCL and MLU in writing three proposals for Erasmus, which opens the door for the ongoing and sustained partnership with the project’s consortium in the future (Helwan University & Erasmus Mandates, 2019).
Design a lab supported by EU equipment Figure 3. The university website The project supported FoE at HU with equipment that helped in developing a lab for multi-purposes, such Also, the media publicity helped in the visibility of the as hosting the PCLs meetings, workshops, training activities outside HU through the different newspapers, sessions, ICT practices and a hub for the school- such as El-Watan, El-Bawaba, and El-Ahram newspa- university partnership for developing PCLs even after pers. the end of the project. It will also be used to increase the clustering of schools and networking between PCLs.
26 already members of the school and university PCLs, who attended most of the meetings and workshops and practiced reflections.
They also helped and facilitated the process of generating rules or decisions to empower and enrich PCL activities in different committees at the university level. Such as giving PCL members less workload, having special seminars about PCL in each department. In addition, they gave presentations in some meetings.
Treats teachers as active learners It is essential to have teachers who can assimilate academic knowledge and incorporate knowledge derived from experiential and practical experiences in the classroom. When empowering these teachers, students’ outcomes can be positively influenced. For example, teachers from top-performing countries in PISA and TIMSS tend to have more opportunities to learn pedagogical content and general pedagogy.
Learning can occur when teachers with varied experiences, work together within communities of learners that are organized around a common goal and accelerate learning new knowledge and skills (Barber & Mourshed, 2007). In light of that, not only can communities of learning promote their learning but they also can develop their interpersonal relationships and form an identity. Moreover, these communities gave the teachers the opportunity to voice their opinions and reflect on their status within the organizational structures of schools. Consequently, the roles of teachers can be transformed. They can mediate between the societal expectations of school results and the children’s own demand for learning; as a substitute, for just acting as a receiver of educational policies and depositor of knowledge. This could be clarified through the following practices:
Active participation of teachers in university workshops Teachers were eager to attend the university PCL meeting, seminars and workshops. This was manifested Figure 4. Newspapers disseminating the SUP4PCL project through their active participation in the EU workshops, Participation of policymakers in PCLs designing presentations and activities to integrate the The participation of educational administration three concepts in school subjects. They attended also representatives in PCL meetings helped in supporting scientific seminars as researchers and participated in an the teachers in schools, allowing time for them to learn international seminar organized by MLU and the target together, and institutionalizing the PCL activities. The group included faculties within the HU community, representatives from the educational administrations are HU faculty staff, researchers, school teachers and
27 principals, educational administrative leaders and Multidisciplinary teaching approach strategic stakeholders. The school teachers were active Teachers began to collaborate in lesson planning and the in discussions during the university seminars and also teaching process through the development of collaborative the international seminar by MLU. This was clear strategies based on the STEAM approach, so teaching from their comments and recommendations regarding became multidisciplinary. That is clarified through the deepening the school/ university partnership, which cooperation between academic staff from the engineering enriched the discussions. Also, two Ph.D. researchers discipline, educational technology and informatics developed research proposals about PCLs through to deliver a course in the faculty of engineering for their participation in seminars. undergraduate students. Therefore, there would be an integration between Technology, Engineering and Arts. Enhances teachers’ pedagogical skills and Also, at the university level, faculty staff from different content knowledge disciplines began to cooperate in teaching. For example, Teachers should display expert characteristics, including in a school administration course, the lecturer collaborates extensive knowledge of pedagogical content, better with the practicum mentors and lecturers of “ ICT” to problem-solving strategies and decision-making, better decrease the gap between the theoretical content of “ catering for diverse learners and respecting them, and E- Management” and the real practices in schools. greater sensitivity to the context and culture. In light of that the teaching profession has been conceptualized as At the postgraduate level, the student teachers in the a clinical practice profession when compared with other STEAM diploma cooperated together in a new teaching professions, such as the medical one. approach through cooperative lesson planning based on the integration of Science, Technology, Engineering, Moreover, teachers’ expert characteristics form a Arts, Math and Medicine. They designed a lesson plan cyclic process. For example, teachers who should on the activity template designed by HU’s team and make a better decision, are influenced by many factors, their target in the future is to have group teaching. such as students’ culture, diversity, or academic level, the nature of the instructional task, the classroom, and At the University level, faculty members started to use the school environment. In order for teachers to make new teaching approaches and peer teaching. For example, informed pedagogical decisions, they should be able in the faculty of engineering, members of the project to analyze and evaluate classroom instructions while have conducted courses by using interactive methods and taking into consideration students’ prior knowledge, gamification to improve student engagement, especially ability levels, motivational factors, lesson objectives, in Human Rights courses that they find difficult to study. curriculum goals. They further should be able to Student-based teaching connect this information to their knowledge to People create their own knowledge upon the foundation of plan effectively their future actions. Thus, effective prior knowledge and experiences, which is the principle pedagogical decisions depend on the quality of the of constructivist theory. This theory is divided into three teacher’s pedagogical knowledge. broad categories. First, cognitive constructivism based PCLs are knowledge-building cycles. Teachers review on the work of Jean Piaget, who emphasized that people what they have learned, evaluate the impact of strategies learn when they assimilate new information to existing they have implemented, and determine what new learning knowledge and make modifications to accommodate is necessary to promote student outcomes. These practices that information. Second, social constructivism based are tied to the overarching PCL goal (Guerriero, 2012). on the work of Lev Vygotsky, who clarified that Hence, the teachers’ involvement in learning communities knowledge develops from individuals’ interactions help them to develop their pedagogical skills and to with their culture and community or society. Finally, master the pedagogical content. The following practices radical constructivism based on the work of Ernst von clarified that core principle: Glasersfeld, who assured that learning is constructed and not perceived. Accordingly, it can be said that the “top-down” and “bottom-up” approaches are a form of constructivist thinking. In light of that, teachers should
28 understand that learners must learn how to construct Also, the FoE at HU developed a committee of internal their knowledge and be responsible for their learning reviewers for the teachers’ researches to publish them outcomes (Suhendi & Purwarno, 2018). in the HU journal of educational studies.
Hence, the university faculty staff adopted new teaching Facilitated with care styles based on the students’ needs and interests through Mentors have special training in group dynamics, the use of ICT as the virtual classroom (Edmodo) for conflict resolution, strategic planning and team monitoring and evaluating the student’s performance. building. A mentor can determine the group’s needs Also, the development of curricula, according to the and help each group to establish a set of ground rules school practices, was based on designing interactive and learning objectives. Moreover, the mentor can help activities through the templates designed by HU’s the group evaluate the learning outcomes (Brown & team. Most of the PCL members depended on active Denise, 2018). learning and learning for fun, which led to the students` attractiveness to the school even in summer. Also, the Effective teachers should be able to develop an ethic of students teachers used to arrange school field studies, care in teaching. They should care for themselves, their the next lecture is expected to focus on sharing students, the content, and other members of the school knowledge and school experiences to decrease the gap community. Urie Bronfenbrenner suggested that caring between the theory and practice. occurs in emotional relationships and to be endured as individuals need continuing emotional involvement (as Development of post and undergraduate courses cited in Pinar, 2004). For example, when teachers care HU’s faculty developed teaching courses, on the about students and arrange the educational environment postgraduate level, to discuss the idea of PCL and deepen to engage them, they respond enthusiastically and are its principles and practices with Ph.D. students. In addition willing to face challenges. to developing two Ph.D. proposals about professional learning communities, the project disseminated the The role of care in school culture and PCL culture among various academic departments. For community example, two PCLs members shared a course by using Caring extols civic and moral virtues and promotes interactive methods and gamification, which improved values of democracy. Therefore, when teachers are engineering students’ engagement, especially in the respected and cared for, they can construct a healthy humanities. classroom environment that supports students and appreciates values, which can, in turn, impact the The development of content knowledge is one of the whole society (Johnson & Thomas, 2009). Several main outcomes for exchange visits to EU countries. researchers investigated the role of care in enhancing One lecturer in the PCL team developed the activities of school culture and developing a sense of community. undergraduate courses such as Curriculum Development They concluded that caring is the key strategy whether (third year), and Practicum (Fourth year) to be based on explicitly exercised in the school culture or implicitly group work and collegial cooperation among student assumed from decisions and interactions (Dempsey teachers in small PCLs. & Noblit, 1996; Mercado, 1993). Eaker-Rich and Research proposal writing WebQuest Van Galen (1996) suggested that to practice effective HU’s team developed a WebQuest platform to encourage caring, teachers must shift from the concept of “caring teachers to write research proposals in order to participate about” to a practice of “caring for,’ which could be in the scientific seminars and to submit research papers achieved through dialogue. for the conferences. Moreover, the PCL meetings in Walker (1989) also examined the role of interpersonal schools included sessions on how to develop research relationships in creating a caring educational community. ideas, adopt a suitable methodology, set goals and She explained that teachers should give a direct attention objectives, select tools and conduct data analysis. The to students to meet their psychological, sociological, and project’s coordinator at AUC encouraged the teachers academic needs (Walker, 1989). This caring educational to develop their research skills by incentivizing them to community could be developed when parents, students, participate in the international conference in March 2020.
29 and staff are held responsible for providing support For me, my professor usually delegates his authority and respecting decisions. Thus, caring is crucial for the to me to deal even with old professors. I was afraid success of students. However, when teachers’ care is at first, but I was surprised that the professors embedded within a community of care, teachers could themselves asked me about their tasks, and I was have a greater impact on the academic success and well- surprised how, as a lecturer, I could distribute the being of students. roles and tasks among professors. They taught me a valuable and great lesson about how the professor The best practices that represent the seventh should be. That was clarified through their great core principles commitment to achieve all tasks, their respect to my Adoption of shared values opinions and the delegation of authority. Each PCL adopted shared values to guide the activities of PCLs, such as criticizing the idea instead Appreciation and recognition of others of the person, tolerance, and equity. This helped in The support of the management team towards PCL facilitating learning with caring of diversity among development is based on “being hard to others will not benefit, but being understanding and considerate members and encouraging the development of social is better”, so they cared about the appraisal of good relationships inside and outside the institutions. They practices, encouragement of modest achievements, began to celebrate happy occasions together, to care and recognition of all efforts even if they had negative about social events and to solve their personal or results. For example, the faculty mentors used to present life problems together. For example, one of the PCL their achievements and report about their progress in developing school PCLs, the management team used meetings among the HU team was dedicated to the to support them through appraising their performance celebration of the professorship and promotion of one and providing them with feedback on how to transform of the PCL members. Also, they all were gathered the negative results into positive achievements instead together to support and give consolation to one of the of criticizing them. PCL members due to a sad event in his family. Focuses on improving learning outcomes for No seniority and hierarchy between PCL students members The PCL model helped teachers to improve their teaching They are all learners, there is the equity between competencies, which positively impacted students’ professors and researchers. Even the teachers themselves outcomes. Therefore, effective PCL could be assessed when they attended the workshops were not able to by students’ learning and achievement. In light of that, distinguish between teachers, researchers, lecturers, teachers should ask, “what is going on for our students,” professors or even policymakers, they were all learners before initiating a new PCL. This is because PCLs should sitting together to learn and exchange knowledge. focus on improving students learning by listing the desired outcomes, developing the teaching strategies. They further For the first time, I sit with my professors, talking should develop assessment tools that can effectively evaluate together like friends, exchange experiences students’ outcomes (LaRena Heath, 2017). together. In my faculty, I used to benefit from their The critical issue is that little attention has been given experiences, but now they empowered me through to study the impact of teacher knowledge on student their modesty and respect for my modest and little learning. Moreover, the existing studies have focused experience. I hope to sustain our PCL meetings as on examining the impact of pedagogical content it helps in developing the human relationships and knowledge or content knowledge (Baumert et al., crossing borders among all faculty staff members, 2010; Hill & Ball, 2005; Voss & Baumert, 2011). said one lecturer. However, evidence can be deduced from the following Another quotation that supports the previous idea is implication. said by one of the management team members
Really the culture of PCL is confirmed through the empowerment of our professors to the junior staff.
30 Figure 5. Implications Source: Guerriero, 2012, p.4 Also, there are certain elements that the teachers acquire Second: Form and quality of teacher’s organised through their participation in learning communities and lessons (Giving information – structuring; asking affect the student’s outcomes: questions (soliciting); providing feedback)
First: Quantity and pacing of instruction (Amount • Structuring factor: a) outlining the content learned is related to the opportunity to learn) to be covered and signalling transitions between lesson parts; b) calling attention to main ideas; c) • Achievement is maximised when teachers reviewing main ideas at the end. prioritise academic instruction and allocate available time to curriculum-related activities through the • Summary reviews are important since they PCL meetings. integrate and reinforce the learning of major points.
• Effective teachers organise and manage the Third: Clarity of presentation classroom environment as an efficient learning environment and thereby maximise engagement • Effective teachers communicate clearly and rates. They can exchange their experiences in that directly with their students. area through their monthly or weekly meetings. • Effective teachers ask a lot of questions and • Although there is a great deal of teacher talk attempt to involve students in class discussions. in the classes of effective teachers, most of it is • There should also be a mix of product and academic rather than managerial or procedural. process questions.
• Effective teachers also use seatwork or small group tasks since they provide needed practice and application opportunities.
31 Fourth: Classroom climate is a significant teacher peer activities, group work (workshop), presentation factor. and performance, think pair share, brainstorming and effective discussion. In addition, the use of videos and • teacher-student interaction, reflection session. All the previous strategies and tools • student-student interaction, were developed as a result of their participation in the PCL monthly meetings. The faculty staff exchanged • students’ treatment by the teacher, good practices in their lectures to celebrate their success among their colleagues. They feel proud to • competition between students, transfer the knowledge to the PCL members.
• and classroom disorder. Development of Ph.D. proposals
As research showed, the first two elements reflect the As a result of deepening the PCL concept in Ph.D. important strategies that teachers should follow when courses, two researchers managed to develop research assessing their teaching practices. The other elements ideas on professional learning communities. Those explain teachers' attempt to improve communication ideas were developed due to two main factors. First, and create a healthy learning environment (Creemers, the researcher participated in the EU workshop about Kyriakides, & Antoniou, 2012). needs assessment on 3/12/2017. Second, the faculty, who participated in the project, from different depart- The previous points were observed through the faculty ments helped in the dissemination of the PCL culture staff presentations during EU workshops at HU, also their among the MA and Ph.D. researchers. practices were developed in their lectures through the use of cooperative learning strategies among student teachers. Improvement in student performance The PCL members developed their communication skills The implications of the work done in PCLs was as the encouragement to express and present themselves, reflected in how an MA student at the Educational the focus on the main points instead of talking about Technology Department developed his learning by scattered ideas and English language skills. This was lecturing on graphic designs on U tube channel (See observed during our monthly meetings, lectures, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOI-uLvomIc&li departmental seminars and monthly councils. st=UUg1cIdwjILVAfixfSAHykKQ&index=14).
Examples from HU Practices Development in student teachers’ competencies Engagement of undergraduate students Through their skills in designing interactive activities As mentioned earlier, the HR course has been taught to during practicum, and the use of ICT. This could be the faculty of engineering students in an interactive way. traced through the Edmodo page which includes the The instructors used several methods such as role-play, student teachers’ activities during practicum.
32 Findings could be performed only through the lectures inside the university as mentioned earlier in the context section. The focus groups, which consisted of the mentors After becoming a member of HU’s PCL, they began working with the teachers at the schools, reported to adopt new roles. As mentioned by Lola, “they were mostly the same issues. They all mentioned that excited because the team of the faculty came to their the monthly meetings among all participating staff school, which was very far away from the faculty. It is members as important tools for information sharing, not in the same region. So, Helwan –from the south – exchange of experiences and problem-solving. came to the middle” (Focus Group Discussions, 4th of The problems discussed were mostly due to the December 2018). time restrictions of the teachers, as well as the staff members. Some problems occurred when the teachers The participation of the faculty staff was due to a great who were mentored at the schools had to transfer to desire of change and learning from others’ experiences other schools. No issues were reported due to the lack rather than any financial issue that was expressed of financial or ICT support. The findings of the focus through the following quotations: groups were consistent with the observations’ remarks, “But we are all like volunteers. If we were not convinced the interviews and even the content analysis of the to work together, we were not going to work,” said Rita different reports, which included Edmodo feedback, (Focus Group Discussion 2, 4th of December 2018). etc. Again, Rita said, “All of us … It is not the obligation The findings are be discussed in the light of the conceptual to come to the project. It is a volunteer… if you framework and the core features of the effective PCL in want to come it is okay, and if you do not want to order to clarify the transformation that occurred in the come that is okay” (Focus Group Discussions 2, 4th professional practices and the community of learners of December 2018). at HU. In general, the faculty staff are now highly motivated to First: The PCL at HU is Based on Faculty Staff work in partnership with the schools and to cooperate and Teachers’ Needs and Interests with their colleagues to achieve the goals of their PCL, The work in the PCL was based on the needs and that motivation is deepened through the school teachers interests of faculty staff and teachers. These needs themselves, who are eager to work with the PCL team, became evident in the organized visits by the faculty as mentioned by Rita about the teachers in one of the staff to the schools in order to determine what the cluster schools that are under the supervision of one of teachers and schools needed, which was led by a her colleagues: designed questionnaire (See Annex 4). The faculty staff selected the schools themselves, according to the Some professors from another cluster school, but geographical location and their relations to student not the school we went to, are friends with some of teacher’s practicum for some schools. Some faculty my teachers in the first school on Facebook. And staff preferred to deepen the partnership through the they saw the photo on Facebook. They said: Why development of PCLs; hence, they changed the cluster did not they come to us? (Focus Group Discussion schools according to their interests and relationships. 2, 4th of December 2018)
According to the practices at schools, the meetings The teachers were eager to host AUC’s monitoring among the PCL members was based on their needs, visit, in cooperation with the HU management team. whether they need the meeting to focus on adminis- By the end of the visit, the first school disseminated trative issues related to the project or research issues the event on the Facebook page. Although the cluster related to the educational disciplines. This was clear in schools’ team were jealous as they did not get visited, the monthly meetings and reports. the cluster schools considered the visit to be a kind of appreciation for their efforts. Some of the faculty staff at HU had weak relations with the schools and some of them thought that their role
33 Second: Views Learning as a Social Process Lana said, “They try to transport this experience to The use of technology and social media helped in the their colleagues not only in the school but also in other th exchange of activities. Communication, among the schools” (Focus Group Discussions 1, 4 of December team members inside the local PCL, is mostly made by 2018). cell-phones, text messages, WhatsApp or phone calls. Third: Includes Collaborative Opportunities In the case of an “emergency or an urgent situation, we can contact them immediately and seek advice or The first year focused on forming of the PCLs and discuss to figure out solutions.” One group shares their the training of the academic staff. Ten persons from experiences with the group as well as the management Helwan University visited Martin Luther University. team through photos taken at the schools and the Some of the 10 persons and also the others visited meetings with school teachers. the University of Limerick and the University of Leicester before the visit to Halle in November 2017. The use of the Edmodo platform helps to facilitate the Furthermore, the European partners conducted 2 sharing of materials among PCL members through the training workshops with the Egyptian teams in Egypt. uploading of photos, videos and the support of PCL One of the workshops was focused more on subject members using comments and feedback regarding the orientated content, and the other on coaching and activities and learning materials (A report of HU PCL mentoring. meeting, 26/2/2018). HU team also exchanged their experiences during their EU study visits with their The mentorship of the teachers was led by teams of 3-4 colleagues at Helwan and school teachers (A report of academic staff members from different departments. HU PCL meeting, 22nd of November 2017). Each team of 3-4 was responsible for one school in the first year, where they mentored teachers, who mentored The use of technology maximized the impact of learning the teachers at the cluster schools in the second year of as a social process through the use of WebQuests to the project (snowball-principle). The school-teachers disseminate the concepts of STEAM and citizenship. were supported by the academic staff over the two Those WebQuests were easily disseminated through years. Most of the staff members are involved in Facebook pages, websites and WhatsApp groups. teacher preparation courses at the university (A report The mentorship of the PCL at Helwan is mainly done of HU PCL meeting, 17th of September 2018). through the monthly meetings. Moreover, the management team is always open to give individual support. An example Hence, there are different levels of cooperation: of this is the role of colleagues from the Educational - At the international level, EU partners supported Technology department to mentor the PCL members on by mentoring the Egyptian faculty staff and how to use the Edmodo application by organizing training school teachers. Also, through the development of workshops, providing support through different PCL twinning MoU between Helwan and Martin Luther meetings, sending online feedback to solve any problems universities, the exchange, research and mobility and dealing with challenges of using the application. opportunities were deepened. The activation of The relationships between the university staff and the the MoU began with the mobility of two Ph.D. school communities were developed through social researchers for training and data collection in two interactions between PCL members, PDSs and school disciplines, comparative education and educational clusters to exchange the learning experiences. For administration (for one week) and curricula and example, HU PCL members participated in a student teaching methods (for 10 months). fair at one of the cluster schools to provide them with - At the national level, through the cooperation feedback from the educational experts’ perspectives between the three Egyptian universities, Ain and to support the students’ learning. Also, HU team shams, Alexandria and Helwan in exchanging the invited the school mentors to attend a NAQAAE visit experiences of designing templates, developing for quality assurance and accreditation of the Faculty of materials and training the school mentors. Also, Education, that event helped in enriching the teachers’ the exchange of ideas regarding the challenges that experiences regarding the accreditation procedures, each university faced during the local management and the feedback of the focus groups confirms that meetings organized by AUC. relationship as follows:
34 - At the university level, through the dissemination sessions. In addition to this, the memorandum of of the PCL culture among the different faculties and understanding between HU and MLU includes developing project technical support PCL to exchange sustainable opportunities for joint activities, twinning the experiences of project proposal writing, that led programs, international credit mobility for postgraduate to the submission of different Erasmus projects in researchers and joint international meetings and cooperation between HU faculties, (https://sites. conferences to encourage the development of PCLs google.com/view/helwanerasmusprojectsfollowup) (See Annex 7).
- At the department level, through the transfer The human relationships were developed through the of EU experiences in developing PCLs to all sharing of not only professional experiences, but also colleagues in seminars, department councils and the personal challenges and problems to deepen the in cooperation with the alumni unit. relations among PCL members, so they are now like a family not only colleagues. “We also exchange experiences as we are of different ages. We have four deans in our PCL so we have the “So, social relations became much stronger. So, you also exchange of experiences with each other. Also, we share personal experiences. Not only the professional can share these experiences through seminars at our but also personal. We have 2 meetings, perhaps 2 or 3 department,” said Flora (Focus Group Discussions hours,” said Lana (Focus Group Discussions 1, 4th of 1, 4th of December 2018) December 2018).
In addition, having PCL team members from different Also, Donia said, departments at FoE, has maximized the benefit of the collaborative opportunities as being confirmed by Every month we have a meeting and we discuss Lana, one of HU’s PCL: our problems openly. We try to find practical solutions to this problem. When anyone has We are from different departments – mental education, experiences or problems, we discuss that. And we the foundation of education, department of education discuss together how we are going to try to solve and psychology, department of curriculum, educational this problem. (Focus Group Discussions 1, 4th of construction and technology. We can complete each December 2018) other. When we have a problem with technology, we ask the Dr. of Technology. When we have a problem with The monthly meetings are seen as a stabilization factor by everyone. The attendance seems to be very high, measuring something, we ask one from psychology. and the opportunity to communicate is underlined by When we have a problem with the curriculum, we many answers in the interviews. The meetings among ask the one who is a specialist in this field. (Focus the team members are not so strictly organized, and th Group Discussions 1, 4 of December 2018) the communication is mostly made by telephone calls, WhatsApp or mails. Some teams use the appointment Fourth: Is Ongoing and Sustained with the schools to have a reflection on the work. This According to the content analysis of the reports, Web- is due to the lack of time for the teams, tackling their Quests, and MoU, it is evident that the partnership issue could possibly strengthen the work. However, assures the sustainability of the PCLs through sharing all interviewed colleagues reported good or excellent the link of the HU blog which includes all activities collaboration among the team members, which is often labeled as friendship. This very good relation between of FoE learning communities (See https://helwanpcl. them derived from the previous collaboration of some blogspot.com/). Also, the links of WebQuests for of the staff members in a TEMPUS project. STEAM, citizenship, Erasmus projects and research proposal writing to exchange the experiences among teachers and school mentors.
Also, the templates that were developed by the HU team will help in the sustainability of PCL meetings to document the different meetings and reflective
35 Fifth: Treats Faculty Staff as Active Learners and STEAM in practicum activities at schools through The workshops conducted by the European partners in “Curricula Planning & Development” courses at the HU and the visits to European partners were mentioned undergraduate level, then they were asked to exchange after a direct request. The content was from individual the experiences of integration in PCL groups inside the partners who described them as helpful and supportive, lecture. especially with reference to some conceptual aspects. The exchange of pedagogical content and theoretical These were also mentioned as a basic aspect of the information, during the PCL meetings and reflective PCL, which was seen as a different element from the sessions, helped in deepening the faculty staff experiences previous TEMPUS project. Helwan university’s team and enhancing their practical skills, especially through the invited the school teachers and representatives from the regular school visits, which decrease the gap between the educational administrations as active learners during theory and practices. The following quotations confirmed the EU workshops. The PCL members are attracted to that transformation: the new content shared by the EU or HU partners, so one of the PCL members said: When we teach our sessions, the students tell us, theoretical knowledge is good, but how can we “When I go to schools, I speak with teachers about implement what we learn in the school. When strategies. They want to listen to something new”, said we get to school, we have a lot of students who Lana (Focus Group Discussions 1, 4th of December 20 can implement it. We should care as well about 18). the difference between the students. One of the Treating the faculty staff and teaching assistants as students might be clever, another is not. We, as active learners also helped in increasing their confidence teachers, should care about that, said Lana. (Focus as clarified in the reflective journal as follows: Group Discussions 1, 4th of December 2018)
I feel confident, secure and supported because the And: PCL has provided a context for us to communicate Moaaz said, I think we find that when we deal and share information and experiences that build with our teacher students – practical things with understanding and insight about barriers to success us at lectures – and then they go to school, they and promising practices. (Reflective Journal, 2nd face struggles with the teachers. They need them of February 2019) to do practice not only theory. So, they fill the gap. Also, through our project, we went to a school. We Sixth: Enhances Faculty Staff/ Teachers’ have the theory and there they have the practice. Pedagogical Skills and Content Knowledge We are excited about their ideas. (Focus Group The engagement in PCLs helped in changing the Discussions 1, 4th of December 2018) teaching styles, developing pedagogical skills and Also, HU’s PCL team acquired the culture of PCL, content knowledge. Through the support of EU training through EU visits and workshops. They began to workshops and materials, as stated below: integrate it into their teaching styles and course “The European mentorship helped the practice in syllabus. our schools. So, we transfer from theory to practice. When we start to read about the PCL communities We know how to practice this in a good way in our and how to do it. That sounded easy, why not? schools,” said Ali (Focus Group Discussions 1, 4th of Because we just have to follow the steps -1, 2, December 2018). 3, 4. But the reality is different because we and The use of interactive learning in lectures through peer the teachers are different. So, working together teaching was a new model adopted by two colleagues in or exchanging experiences is not familiar. It is the educational technology department. Also, another nothing that we do every day at schools. I found faculty staff asked the student teachers to integrate the it very difficult at the beginning, but after that, it three concepts, citizenship, sustainable development, was easier. The gap is narrowing, said Rita. (Focus Group Discussions 2, 4th of December 2018)
36 Seventh: Facilitated with Care Really, I feel as being in my family during my work As mentioned before, all interviewed colleagues reported in the workshops, meetings and PCL activities, I good or excellent collaboration among the team members, feel no difference between me and old professors, which is often labeled as friendship. we are all the same, they respect me like the others, honor me even in front of EU visitors. Also, my All teams reported a caring relationship among the staff communication with the EU visitors helped me to members and friendly and respectful communication. develop my English language and I taught them Hierarchy mattered very little even when a few had also Arabic words. I attended most of the PCL administrative tasks. As the teams were mostly constituted meetings and now I am thinking of continuing my of persons from different departments, the exchange postgraduate studies. of different aspects of interpretation in a situation or in mentoring the teachers is seen as a strength. In one He expressed his success story through the following only case, the team consists of colleagues from the same vignette: department. During the formation of the PCL, one staff My experience in this project as an admin staff was member was replaced by another to facilitate their unique, as I was able to meet and cooperate with communication and teamwork. foreign members of the academic staff. First, my English was refreshed, Second, I practiced my admin Some of them expressed their satisfaction with the work as I used to do with a different perspective and Edmodo platform due to its professional way of finally, I learned a lot about the PCL the thing that providing reflections, feedback, uploading videos encourages me to continue my master’s online and and photos to document their activities. Sometimes, E-PCL. some teachers were not able to deal with such a platform, especially elderly teachers due to their lack In addition to this, the development of PCLs facilitates of technological skills; hence, they expressed their the care about human relationships, especially some preference in using What’s App for communication faculty staff and academic departments were isolated within their PCL rather than Edmodo. The mentors’ from each other. feedback, during the monthly school visits, helped organize training workshops about Edmodo in order As a team, we do not always know each other. to facilitate their use of the technological applications Some of us are too young or too old and we come (FoE PCL Meeting, 26th of February 2018). from different departments. When we see each other every month we just see each other and talk. The faculty staff cared about each other’s social life by Exchange the experiences. We get familiar and solving each other’s problems. This culture of support more relaxed and easier to talk to. Together we and care was transferred to the schools ‘students, who get the experience to talk to strangers, said Rita. considered our PCL as a model for supporting low (Focus Group Discussions 1, 4th of December achieving students in the summer break. This idea is 2018) better expressed through the following quotation: The time spent together made the team collaboration In my department, my colleagues and I, in general, stronger. “Yes, now we are more familiar and discuss a problem and then try to solve it. We comfortable with each other.” The other strong force belong together. If there is a problem, we try to to form a PCL was provided through the work with solve it altogether. They say the students come in the teachers: “They are passionate about the concept summer to help the teachers helping the students and they show their interest in developing PCL at their that didn’t get the achievements…, said Ali. (Focus school. So, I think this is support for me. I do not feel Group Discussions 1, 4th of December 2018) disappointed when I go to visit the schools.” Moreover, That care has an impact even touched upon the admin the experience of another involvement of university staff. The FoE’s PCL team has only one admin, and he students was mentioned to be quite effective and is expressed his feelings of belonging to the PCL’s team seen as a completely new experience. In one case, it through the following quotation: also could be seen that the interest of other teachers
37 led to more attraction and eagerness to participate in Also, the PCL had an impact on the postgraduate the project. Due to regional distribution, there was, students through developing research ideas based on however, a limit to take interested teachers in other PCLs and based on the faculty staff researches in the schools. professional learning communities. Three of the HU faculty staff conducted researches on the PCL cultures, Finally, having shared values supported the care of technological practices and networked learning each other and encouraged more colleagues to join the communities. PCL, as being expressed below: The impact of the PCL was not on the student teachers My opinion is extremely valued by other members only, but it had a long-term impact through the school of the team, as we’ve learned to listen to each other students, who were mentored by the student teachers over the course of time and have discussions over during the practicum. That is clarified through the disputable matters to reach convincing outcomes and following: results. Also supporting arguments with evidence and not just imposing thoughts over others. I feel I train my students to implement concepts of confident, secure and supported because the PCL has sustainability. We make continuing meetings provided a context for us to communicate and share together and discuss new ideas- suggest new ideas information and experiences that build understanding to increase motivation. We want to make sure our and insight about barriers to success and promising impact on the students in the school to know-how is the PCL effect on the school. (Reflective Journal, practices. (Reflective Journal, nd2 of February 2019) 2nd of February 2019) Eighth: Focuses on Improving Learning Outcomes Also, for Students Most of our lectures and courses in the teacher “There was a research student – She made a filter on preparation programs are based on field practices in the stem of a tree, it was a project and she got a prize schools. Hence, one of the most important outcomes is for this,” said Flora (Focus Group Discussions 1, 4th of the expansion of the HU PCL to include representatives December 2018). of the educational administration and Cairo educational And, directorate. As a result, student teachers benefitted from the field experiences in schools to deepen their “We share our objective of the project with my students learning outcomes, the gap between the theory and in practical education, and they apply the activities practice was decreased and they began to document with students in the schools,” said Moaaz (Focus their achievements from the school practices. Group Discussions 1, 4th of December 2018).
38 Commentary and Analysis decisions; however, no one reported any hierarchical issue or dominance of any administrative actions. The data analysis revealed great consistency between Everyone is very positive about the support through the different characteristics of an effective PCL. The the management team and sees it as a very good source practices that evolved due to the development of PCLs for advice, help or decisions in critical situations. It is expressed that the care and interest in facilitating obvious, that the management team consists of strong learning will help in sustaining the social process of personalities, who are without any doubt able to guide learning and exchange of ideas in an environment the whole process in a very good and solid way. full of care about the PCL needs and interests. Also, the availability of collaborative opportunities for The level of insight into the theoretical framework exchanging learning experiences through the study behind the project varies. Some interviewed persons visits, workshops, group meetings and the use of are very much informed and give comments in a technology had a positive impact on the faculty staff very detailed way. Others are not so precise in their pedagogical skills and knowledge content through the comments. This fact could also derive from the development of new teaching styles and deepening methodological situation of a focus group interview: the concepts of global citizenship, STEAM and when some persons already give complete comments, sustainable development, accordingly the student the others are not challenged in the same way to report teachers performance was developed through their their insights. It was, however, a bit astonishing that participation in smaller PCLs and design new activities the team members reported the experience from the about the three concepts. workshops at Helwan, conducted by the European partners, and also the experience from the visits in The focus group discussion with the stakeholders of the Europe only by request. Just two individuals mentioned university was conducted with the dean, vice deans and them spontaneously. This shows that the focus on the three former deans of the faculty. The other members collaboration in the university and the work with the were the leaders of the school teams. The discussion teachers was much more vivid and concrete. clearly showed the strong commitment of all the leading persons in the project. A clear perspective on A quotation of one of the interviewed persons (Maram) the goals, on the strategy to put the project forward, and shows the great commitment of the PCL members to a clear focus on the practicability of different working the work and is given here as a final remark: tools were visible. Being aware of the limitation of the I am really proud to be part of this project because budget and the limitation of the time, the commitment it applies what I believe in. It applies the things was visible and was underlined by many statements. that I have been searching for. So, it is a life- The stakeholders see their function in initiating changing experience for me. It proves that I am development and supporting this in a culture of change, on the right track whenever I want to establish which is part of their professional self-perspective. access or human relations it builds on and respects, This culture will sustain also beyond the lifetime of recognition, being loved and listening to others. the project SUP4PCL. This includes also the search for All these values I have found in this project. the support of the university administration, and also So, I am very thrilled with all the experiences,” through professional links the contact to the university said Maram. (Focus Group Discussions 3, 4th of administration is strong: some of the team hold December 2018) appointments in central institutions of the university, like the international office or the professional development center.
The answers were quite consistent so that the reliability of the answers can be judged to be very high. It is clear that the collaboration of the team is strategically well organized. The management team is making central
39 Challenges training. In cooperation with the University Career Development Center (CDC), they supported the There were some challenges that occurred during the PCL meetings and workshops, but sometimes the development of PCLs since the early beginning, some CDC rooms were occupied during their training challenges have been overcome, while others still hinder programs. the development of PCLs all over the HU community. It could be divided into two sections: Second: Team Challenges Forming a balanced and harmonious team was a great First: Administrative Challenges challenge, but we were able to have a large team from - Overloaded teaching and admin, the PCL’s staff different departments, ages, degrees, and experiences. and faculty have the same duties as others. Hence, Moreover, some challenges appeared such as: their participation in the PCL is an extra workload that requires extra working hours. This is why - The sensitivity of age or gender in some school the PCL’s team faced challenges in scheduling a teams affected the level of cooperation, especially meeting once a month. Unfortunately, they could with two former deans and elderly professors. The not commit to each monthly meeting due to the current PCL team could overcome this challenge examinations and lectures at the end of each through the development and depth of the PCL’s semester. culture, but still, there is cultural resistance from other groups in the HU community. Hence, there - According to the teachers’ schedule and is still a need for awareness sessions to sustain preferences, the faculty staff would visit the the dissemination of PCL culture with the success schools on their days off. stories from the project’s case studies.
- Security permission to visit schools consumed - The absence of some members because of travel lots of procedures and time; hence, HU faculty on missions, affected the workload of others in the staff used the Cairo directorate protocol to same team, especially when they had to develop facilitate the visits procedures. cooperative plans such as STEAM activities, or when that member plays an important role in - Though the use of ICT is not a challenge at HU, facilitating the interaction among PCL members. the team was ready to work as volunteers without any monetary incentives to disseminate the PCL - Having only one administrator for all culture among the new faculty staff, who are going administrative work, workshops, training, and to be employed after the end of the project. HU meetings preparation cause delays. might face the challenge of the custody of the project’s equipment such as laptops, projectors, - The use of volunteering students to help cameras…. etc., where staff members take the (photographing, attendance, break…..). responsibility of paying Helwan University the - In the examination period, the team members cost in the case of loss or damage from their own had to stop meetings for a time because of their salaries. examination work duties. Another aspect, which is - The lack of resources (money, furniture, etc.) to obvious and of course completely in line with any prepare a suitable room for the lab. The approvals other report on PCLs, is the time it takes to form a require a lot of procedures for the university to functioning PCL. Most of the interviewed persons provide the lab with the necessary resources and reported, that they were either aware of the concept facilities. Even the human resources (admin staff) from previous collaborations or needed some time who will ve responsible for managing the lab’s to get into the PCL. This was easy because of the activities. openness of the teams and the willingness of the others to include them in the PCL. - There was no fixed room for the PCL that could be available when needed for meetings or
40 - Team empowerment: One of the most important a lot of responsibilities to act on behalf of him in challenges is the delegation from the senior to the so many events, meetings, even in the international junior staff, that was a remarkable achievement as management meetings. So, I can consider this as expressed by one of the management team as the a distinguished and special PCL. That way of follows: empowering the junior staff, we began to treat our young colleagues and teaching assistants in the Our professor supports our participation in decision same way. making, respects our points of view and delegates
41 Conclusion The case study results showed that among the main driving factors in developing the PCLs, three dimensions are crucial aspects that will ease the process of developing PCLs, energy, collaboration and transparency.
The main force of PCL development is the stakeholders’ energy, but also that of other staff members. They force themselves to bring the best efforts: “I think the energy of people is very important to work. And according to what I aim to obtain it, if I am involved in it, I would work more and more.”
Collaboration is vivid in many relationships. The team itself has a long and strong tradition in collaboration, e.g. from the previous Tempus project. But also, the collaboration with the schools is seen as a driving factor when they made relations with them and treated them as comrades. Another fruitful collaboration was made with students. The input of young people is a source of new ideas. They like to work, to dream and think. Also, the age of the team members is an important aspect as we have a team of youth and elders.
The main obstacles are seen in the bureaucracy and in the lack of financial support for the participating schools. Additionally, some persons were resistant to change.
Obviously, the group of stakeholders has an extremely important role in the project. The group fosters all activities and is open to development. Hierarchy is evident; however, this hierarchy does not function as a chain of top- down orders, but as a support chain. The influence, the respect, and the valued experience of the stakeholders is embedded in the program and fosters everything in a way which could be a model for other institutions.
42 References Ankrah, S., & Omar, A. T. (2015). Universities–industry collaboration: A systematic review. Scandinavian Journal of Management, 31(3), 387-408. Bailey, K. (2010). 6 essential characteristics of a PLC. Learning by Doing. Retrieved from https://wvde.state. wv.us/ctn/Workshop%20Materials/CTN%20October%20Conference/October%20Day1%20Handouts. pdf Brown, D. (2018). Difference between facilitators & teachers. Retrieved from https://work.chron.com/ difference-between-facilitators-teachers-11510.html Creemers, B., Kyriakides, L., & Antoniou, P. (2012). Teacher professional development for improving the quality of teaching. New York, NY: Springer Science & Business Media. Eaker-Rich, D., Van Galen, J., & Van Galen, J. A. (Eds.). (1996). Caring in an unjust world: Negotiating borders and barriers in schools. Albany, NY: New York Press. Guerriero, S. (2012). Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and the teaching profession. OECD. Heath, L.R. (2017). Four ways to build effective PLCs. Retrieved from https://www.activelylearn.com/post/ build-effective-plcs Helwan University. (2018). HU catalogue. Retrieved from http://197.45.213.185/helwan-n-s/wp-content/ uploads/2018/10/HELWAN-UNIVERSITY-MINI-CATALOGUE-LQ.pdf Hilliard, A. T. (2012). Practices and value of a professional learning community in higher education. Contemporary Issues in Education Research (CIER), 5(2), 71-74. Johnson, C. S., & Thomas, A. T. (2009). Caring as classroom practice. Social Studies and the Young Learner, 22(1), 8-11. Kaber, S. M. (2016). Basic guidelines for research: An introductory approach for all disciplines. Bangladesh: Book Zone Publication. Kristy, A. E. (2015). A Study of professional learning communities: Characteristics of implementation and perceived effectiveness in improvement schools in West Virginia. A dissertation submitted to The Graduate College, Marshall University, U.S.A. Retrieved from http://mds.marshall.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=1942&context=etd Lee, D. H. L., Hong, H., Tay, W. Y., & Lee, W. O. (2014). Professional learning communities in Singapore schools. Journal of Co-operative Studies: Transformative Power of Co-operation in Education, 46(2), 53-56. Linda, S. N. (2013). Lev Vygotsky and social learning theories. Learning Theories Website. Retrieved from https://jan.ucc.nau.edu/lsn/educator/edtech/learningtheorieswebsite/vygotsky.htm Mayring, P. (2014). Qualitative content analysis: Theoretical foundation, basic procedures and software solution. Retrieved from https://www.psychopen.eu/fileadmin/user_upload/books/mayring/ssoar-2014- mayring-Qualitative_content_analysis_theoretical_foundation.pdf Mohajan, H. K. (2018). Qualitative research methodology in social sciences and related subjects. Journal of Economic Development, Environment and People, 7(1), 23-48.
43 Nesbitt, L. (2012). The Toulmin method. Colorado State University. Available at https://writing.colostate.edu/ guides/guide.cfm?guideid=58. Otto, S., Evins, M. A., Boyer-Pennington, M., & Brinthaupt, T. M. (2015). Learning communities in higher education: Best practices. Journal of Student Success and Retention, 2(1), 1-20. Pinar, W.F. (2004). Contemporary curriculum discourses: Twenty years of JCT. New York, NY: Peter Lang Publishing. Polkinghorne, D. E. (2005). Language and meaning: Data collection in qualitative research. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(2), 137. Suhendi, A., & Purwarno. (2018). Constructivist learning theory: The contribution to foreign language learning and teaching. In the 1st Annual International Conference on Language and Literature, KnE Social Sciences & Humanities, 87–95. SUP4PCL. (2018). Project monitoring and evaluation, institutional development planning: Community member questionnaire (PME4). Retrieved from http://sup4pcl.aucegypt.edu/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/PME- 4-IDP-Community-Members-Questionnaire-UL-18-SUP4PCL.docx. Tsui, A. B., Edwards, G., Lopez-Real, F., Kwan, T., Law, D., Stimpson, P., & Wong, A. (2008). Learning in school-university partnership: Sociocultural perspectives. U.K.: Routledge. Walker, M. (1989). Moral understanding: Alternative epistemology for a feminist ethic. Hypatia, 4(2), 57-62. West Cairo Administration. (2018). Training unit plan; Kasr El Dobarah School. Cairo, Egypt: West Cairo Administration. Yin, R. K. (2002). Case study research: Design and methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications. Yin., R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.
44 Appendices
Annex (1): Focus group discussions Focus Group Interview 1
ML: So we start the Focus-Group interview. I will interrupt the record from time to time otherwise the data is too big. The interview is about your experience as a professional community of learners or a peer community of learners. We can discuss this, also. So the first question is: In what PCL’s are you? In which communities are you working? So maybe we can answer one by one. Maybe this is not the only peer community of learners you are in. Maybe you are in more or this is the only one and then later we talk about the experience.
Speaker 1(w): Lana We work in ... PLC, in groups we work more in this project. But in this project we are in groups. Each group is responsible of one school. We visit the school and meet the manager and talk to define the needs of teachers. After that we make a qualitative and quantitive analysis for this data. After that the teachers come here where we were at this time and learn how to … the conceptive system of long live education and citizenship. And the teaching methods and they try to transport this experience to their colleagues not only in the school but also in other schools. In each school we have 2 schools, also. Das ist in Bezug auf Peer-Community Learning aber in Bezug auf the professional community learning as Dozenten as Teachers and Lecturers. We try to transport our experience to our colleagues here in the faculty. I work in this department of educational psychology. I speak with my collegues about my experience here. I try to transport this concept. They ask what are you doing? “Ist das sinnvoll oder nicht? Ich sage ja, wir lernen” a lot of concepts. I try to advertise and publish the culture of PLC. And I try to implement it in my teaching. “Ich versuche immer” to learn my students to help. “Immer sage ich: versuchen Sie die Erfahrungen miteinander zu übersetzen. Nicht nur, ich bin die erste alleine lernen, nein. Was besser ist, dass die Leute die Erfahrungen miteinander übersetzen, transportieren meine ich.” Speaker 2 (w): Oh languages is mixing.
ML: No problem in German. So other expericences of the PCL’s?
Speaker 2 (w): I train my students practical to implement concepts of sustainability. We make continuing meetings together and discuss new ideas- suggest new ideas to increase motivation for teachers. We want to make sure our impact on the students in the school to know how is the PLC effect on the school.
45 Speaker 1 (w): An interesting statement that she makes some experiments with the students: how they can implement make ...(unverständlich)
ML: University or school students?
Focus Group Interview 2
ML: Could you describe the collaboration on PCL? So, the experience of this PCL and other PCLs that you are in? This will be the first 20 minutes that we share. How is it organized, how often do you meet?
Speaker 1: The experience with the PCL in schools or university?
ML: In the beginning you can describe any PCL and then we get more and more focused on this PCL.
Speaker 1: Okay, first of all, we have the PCL at our university. We have the PCL every week because we have a partner seminar in which we discuss what we are going to do, or the subject of one of the student’s research discus- sion. So, it’s our first contact with the PCL here in our faculty. It is very good experience, because we have some schools help research and discuss and to share experiences. We have this experience to project our ideas and our learning of professional experience by the … point and the terminology because we have this equip- ment and we accept the other opinion about what we are doing. At first, this year and the year before we had this experience in schools with our students, because they have practices at schools every week. So, they have a learning PCL- a group of 5/6 students and every time I’ll go to watch and observe them when they are work- ing at schools. We make groups every day before starting before starting the schedule and we discuss what they are going to do. So, everyone has his little task what we are going to discuss in the classroom or explain in the classroom. The other students give their opinion and their comments and we make sure that after that, they are going with the student, who explained in the classroom, and they make notes and comments. After we have finished the day we form the circle another time and we share what they have done and what they have to do next time. This is a very good experience for partners or colleagues in the department and in school with the other students. My student is in his 3rd or 4th year. In the 4th it is very good to do this, because they (the students) are more experi- enced. They talk more freely and I want to say that. It is a very good experience over all.
46 Speaker 2: They get more discipline. They give more from 3rd to 4th year.
Speaker 1: And after three or four visits in the school, the teachers and the principle come and comment on what we are doing. They give me a report about what they have done and if they have made progress. I think that is very useful to me and the students. The third part of this project is that we have made PCLs at school with the different Focus Group 3
ML: Okay, then we start with your experience about PCLs. You are here and you formed one PCL. But you also form PCL with teachers at schools and with your peers here at university. Maybe in faculty meetings or team meetings, seminars… wherever you are together with your peers. So, you have vast experiences on the PCL but I like to focus more on this group. This is a very broad question, but what experiences do you have with PCL and then later we go more and more to the school. 3,4
Speaker 1: Are there specific answers?
ML: No, this can vary. You can discuss with each other or add comments, how you like it. Speaker 2: The experience for me is great. I can benefit from it and learn a lot from my colleagues on a national level and the international level. So, I kind of did a lot and learned a lot. I agreed with my colleagues at the faculty here in Helwan one of us attends the workshop. So, when he comes back he shall explain us what he did in the workshop to transfer and share the experience among us. (ok) 4, 3
Speaker 3: Well, I’ve always believed that building relations with humans is the core of everything. This is actually the kind of way I am treating my students, colleagues and professors. And when I find a project that corresponds and stimulates pretty much what I believe in, I become more enthusiastic and positive about the kind of things I’m dealing with. I’m really proud to be part of this project because it makes what I believe in. It makes the things that I’ve been searching for. So, it’s a life changing experience for me. It proves that I’m on the right track whenever I want to establish of access or human relations it builds on and respect, recognition, being loved and listen to others… all these values I have found in this project. So, I’m very thrilled with all the experiences. 2,1, 3
47 Speaker 4 (m): Me too. It’s a very good experience to learn from my colleagues and professors about that project and the 3 concepts: Censorship and STEM and STEM development and transfer the knowledge to the teachers from school and working with them. They are very excited about learning more about the new concepts and share this knowledge with their students and apply some activities. It is a very good experience. 5 8 6
Speaker 1: And being involved with the students is a very new idea for us. Here in university the
Focus Group 4
M. Lindner: Hello, everyone. Thank you for taking your time. You know -for me- this is very important to have a talk with you and we should talk quite freely about just a few points. Because the idea is the case study of our research - I mean the research part of our project is a case study about the university and for me there are only very few questions which I opened with, which we did not discuss. One question is: what are the main factors for success of a project like this and what are the main hindering factors. And I think we should just mention them and then discuss them. So is it okay for you in English or shall you translate? So for you as policy makers - because you are policy makers at the university at this faculty- for you let’s just make a collection. What are the main -
Speaker 1:w He’s a policy maker (laughing) … It’s full of deans in this room.
M. Lindner: Yes, it’s full of deans. Yeah, but I think also from your perspective …
Speaker 2:m I named this the policy cycle in the book of mine about school and university administration. I named it the policy cycle... Or the policy taking or making. Because we have to evaluate the implementation of the policy. And we will discover the mistakes and you’ll begin making a new policy. (ok) It’s a cycle.
48 Speaker 1: Look at that, have you seen that. M. Lindner: Yes, I will take a photo of it later, ok? Yeah, the cycle. I will also introduce a cycle in my presentation in the afternoon. But what are the main factors for success. If you introduce a program like this, what do you think? What are the most successful parts?
Speaker 2: The sustainability, I think. It is a very important indicator for success. You are talking about the factors.
M. Lindner: The factors that make it successful. Speaker 2: De facto the university support is one important and the faculty support also. Because it is a university project so university is very important in supporting us and the involving of students into the project - Especially post graduate students in it.
Speaker 3(w) I think the energy of people, it is very important to work. And what I aim for to obtain it, if I am involved in it, I would work more and more. And it is a policy of the director and persons who take the task of decision making, I think is the energy of the
49 Annex (2): Observation sheet
مجتمعات التعلم قائمة مالحظة أداء المعلم
أسم المدرسة : المرحلة :
بيانات المعلم
األسم :
التخصص :
المادة التي يقوم بتدريسها :
عدد الورش التدريبية :
سنوات الخبرة :
سنة فاكثر خمس سنوات فأكثر أكثر من عشر سنوات 15 س ن ة ف أ ك ث ر
نوعية المؤهل :
مؤهل تربوي مؤهل غير تربوي
وصف المؤهل التربوي :
دبلوم معلمين بكالوريوس ليسانس تربوي ماجستير تربوي
50 م المحور األول : مدى التكرار مجتمعات التعلم داخل المدرسة األداء كثيرا قليال نادرا 1 يهتم بالعمل وسط فريق من زمالئه . 2 يحرص على مناقشة الزمالء في موضوعات التدريس . 3 لديه رغبة كبيرة في التعرف من زمالئه على ما هو جديد 4 يبادر بعرض أفكار جديدة لحل المشكالت التعليمية لمدرسته . 5 يشارك زمالئة في تصميم وسائل تعليمية جديدة . 6 يحرص على مشاركة المجموعات االجتماعية ) واتس , فيس..( المرتبطة بتخصصه . 7 يعقد لقاءات مع الزمالء لتحضير الدروس بطريقة مشتركة 8 لديه درجة كبيرة من ثقافة التعلم التعاوني والتشاركي . 9 يشارك في الفصول التعليمية االفتراضية . 10 يتعاون مع المسؤلين في ) الموجه / مدير المدرسة ( لمحاولة تطوير محتويات المنهج . 11 ينظم فصول التعلم االفتراضيه للمشاركة التعليمية مع طالبه 12 يسعى إلى اإلفادة واالستفادة من خالل مشاركاته مع زمالءه 13 منفتح بشكل دائم مع الزمالء بالمدرسة من جميع التخصصات والمواد الدراسية .
المحور الثاني : مدى مشاركة المعلم مع الزمالء بالمدارس المجاورة م األداء كثيرا قليال نادرا 1 ينوع في زيارة المدارس المجاورة . 2 ينظم أوقاته لتتاح له فرصة اللقاءات التشاركية . 3 لديه عالقات جيدة بزمالئة من المدارس األخرى . 4 يشارك بصورة منتظمة ضمن اللقاءات لتبادل الخبرات . 5 يسهم في تنمية فرق التعلم بين مدرستنا والمدارس المجاورة . 6 يهتم بتصميم أدوات تعليمية جديدة لعرضها على الزمالء بالمدرسة والمدارس األخرى . 7 يبادر بتصمم أنشطة تعليمية باالشتراك مع المدارس األخرى . 8 يهتم بزيارة المدارس المجاورة لنقل خبراته الجديدة . 9 يخطط دائما لعرض موضوعات جديدة على الزمالء 10 يهتم بتوثيق اللقاءات مع الزمالء بالمدارس األخرى . 11 يهتــم بنقــل المفاهيــم الحديثــة التــي اكتســبها عبــر ورش العمــل والــدورات للزمــالء بالمــدارس األخرى . 12 يتفاعل مع زمالءة من المدارس األخري عبر المنصات التعليمية مثل Edmodo , وغيرها . 13 يحث زمالئه من المدارس األخرى على المشاركة في الفصول التعليمية االفتراضية . 14 يدعو زمالئة من المدارس المجاورة لنقل ما هو جديد بمدرستة لهم
51 المحور الثالث : التنمية الذاتية المهنية 1 يطلــع علــى المســتحدثات العلميــة فــي مجــال الطــرق واألســاليب الجديــدة فــي تدريــس مــادة التخصــص . 2 يعمل دائما لتنمية مهاراته على الحاسب األلي ومستحدثاته 3 يهتم بتطوير ذاته وأفكارة وما يرتبط بتخصصة . 4 يسعى لمعرفة ماهو جديد في العلم والمعرفة . 5 يشارك في الندوات والمحاضرات وورش العمل من أجل تنمية معارفة وقدراته . 6 يستفيد من مهاراته في التعلم الذاتي لتنمية مهاراته ومعارفه . 7 لديه مستوى عالي من الطموح العلمي والمهني . 8 ال يخجــل مــن الســؤال عــن أي معلومــة علميــة ال يعلمهــا فــي تخصصــة أو فــي غيــر التخصــص بمكــن أن تفيــده .
52 Annex (3): Interview schedule
Tool Category Number of Date Time Key points Participants Interview Policy makers 5 24/12/2018 30 minutes Q1- Main factors for success
Q2- Main hinders of success
Q3- What about the support from the government?
Interview Faculty staff 4 26/12/2018 30 minutes Q1- In what PCL are the inter- viewed staff members?
Q2- How is Mentorship orga- Interview Faculty staff 3 26/12/2018 30 minutes nized?
Q3- How is the gap between Interview Faculty staff 3 26/12/2018 30 minutes theory and practice bridged?
53 Annex (4): A designed questionnaire for school needs استبيان تقرير االحتياجات التدريبية للمعلمين من وجهة نظرهم بيانات أولية اسم المدرسة : المؤهالت الدراسية : التخصص : تاريخ العمل بالتدريس :
المادة التي تقوم بتدريسها : يرجى اإلجابة عن األسئلة اآلتية:
1- هل حضرت دورات تدريبية أثناء عملك بالتدريس؟ ) ( نعم ) ( ال
2- في حالة اإلجابة بنعم ، يرجى وضع عالمة )√( على نوع الدورات التي حضرتها: ) ( مجال تخصصك األكاديمي ) ( طرق التدريس ) ( المناهج الجديدة ) ( تكنولوجيا التعليم ) ( مجاالت أخرى )يرجى ذكرها(: ......
3- هل سافرت إلى الخارج لحضور برامج تدريبية؟ ) ( نعم ) ( ال
4- هل يتوافر بالمدرسة معمل أو أكثر للحواسب اآللية؟ ) ( نعم ) ( ال
5- اذا كانت اإلجابة نعم، هل تستخدم المعمل فى أثناء تدريسك للطالب؟ ) ( نعم ) ( ال
54 6- هل تستخدم وسائل تعليمية أخرى في تدريسك؟ ) ( نعم ) ( ال 7- اذا كانت اإلجابة نعم، ما هي هذه الوسائل؟ ......
8- هل تؤمن بأن التدريب يساعدك على تحسين أدائك وزيادة فهم الطالب وايجابيتهم نحو التعلم؟ ) ( نعم ) ( ال
9- أي من المجاالت اآلتية ترى أنك تحتاج إلى حضور دورات تدريبية فيها؟ ) يمكنك اختيار أكثر من مجال(؟ ) ( المادة التي تقوم بتدريسها. ) ( طرق التدريس. ) ( نظريات التعلم الحديثة ) ( إدارة الفصل ) ( تقويم الطالب ) ( اإلرشاد والتوجيه التربوي ) ( تكنولوجيا التعليم. ) ( بناء االختبارات ) ( التعامل مع المجتمع المحلي ) ( ضمان الجودة ) ( التخطيط االستراتيجي ) ( كيفية التعامل مع الطالب
10- في أي من األماكن تفضل عقد الدورات التدريبية؟ ) ( داخل المدرسة ) ( خارج المدرسة
11- ما المدة التي تراها مناسبة للدورة التدريبية؟ ) ( أسبوع ) ( ثالثة أيام ) ( يوم واحد
12- هل تعتقد أنك يمكن ان تستفيد من قيام المعلمين بتدريب بعضهم البعض بعد إعدادهم ليكونوا مدربين محترفين؟ ) ( نعم ) ( ال
55 13- ما األسلوب التدريبي الذي تراه مفيدا لتدريبك؟ ) ( المحاضرة ) ( الرحالت والزيارات ) ( ورش العمل ) ( المؤتمرات العلمية ) ( حلقات المناقشة
14- أي من التوقيتات التالية يناسبك لحضور الدورة التدريبية؟ ) ( أثناء اليوم الدراسي ) ( أجازة نصف العام ) ( األجازة الصيفية
15- هل يؤخذ رأيك فى االعتبار فيما يخص األنشطة التدريبية؟ نعم ) ( ال) (
16- إلى أى مدى تشعر بالرضا عن أسلوب إدارة الصراعات والمشكالت بين المعلمين ؟ ......
17- إلى أى مدى يتم الرجوع إليك عند اتخاذ القرارات فى المدرسة؟ ......
18- هل تشعر بالرضا عن أسلوب اتخاذ القرارات المهنية بالمدرسة؟ نعم) ( ال) ( إذا كانت اإلجابة )ال( فما هى مقترحاتك لتحسين أسلوب اتخاذ القرارات المهنية؟ ......
56 19- هل تتم مراعاة الفروق الفردية بينك وبين أقرانك؟ نعم) ( ال) ( إذا كانت اإلجابة ) نعم( ما هى األساليب المتبعة لمراعاة الفروق الفردية بين المعلمين ؟ ......
20- هل تتم مراعاة االهتمامات المشتركة بين المعلمين عند إشراكهم فى أنشطة تدريبية؟ نعم) ( ال) (
21- إلى أى مدى تحرص على تعزيز الثقة المتبادلة بينك وبين أقرانك من المعلمين، وكيف؟ ......
22- هل ترتكز األنشطة التدريبية على تعزيز األهداف المشتركة داخل المجتمع المدرسى؟ نعم ) ( ال) (
23- أى من العناصر التالية تؤثر على التعاون الفعال بين المعلمين ؟ - قيود الزمان. - قيود المكان. - التواصل اإللكترونى. - أخرى)تذكر( ......
57 25- ما هو تقييمك لرغبة واستعداد أقرانك للتعاون والتشارك فى الخبرات المهنية؟ ......
26- هل توفر المدرسة الدعم المهنى الالزم للمعلمين؟ نعم ) ( ال ) ( إذا كانت اإلجابة) نعم( وضح أشكال الدعم المهنى......
27- هل تسهم فى دعم األنشطة المهنية التى تقدمها المدرسة للمعلمين؟ نعم ) ( ال ) ( إذا كانت اإلجابة) نعم( وضح طبيعة إسهاماتك......
28- أى مما يلى تتشارك فيه مع أقرانك من المعلمين: - الخبرات التدريسية ) ( - الخرائط المفاهيمية ) ( - المواد التعليمية ) ( - منتجات التالميذ) عروض/ مجالت/ لوحات....( ) ( - مصادر المعلومات) مجالت/ كتب/ بحوث تربوية....( ) ( أخرى) تذكر( ......
58 29- إلى أى مدى يتوفر لديك الوقت الالزم لعقد اجتماعات وجلسات نقاشية مع أقرانك......
30- هل توفر لك المدرسة الموارد والتسهيالت التكنولوجية الالزمة لتبادل الخبرات مع أقرانك؟ نعم ) ( ال ) (
31- هل تشعر باالنتماء إلى مجموعة معينة من أقرانك داخل المدرسة؟ نعم ) ( ال ) (
32- إلى أى مدى يفيد تفاعلك وتبادل الخبرات مع أقرانك فى تحسين مستوى تعلم التالميذ......
15- ما المقترحات التي يمكن أن تقدمها لتحسين الدورات التدريبية؟
......
59 Annex (5): HU PCL meeting
School and University Partnership for Peer Communities of learners (SUP4PCL) Project number: 573660-EPP-1-2016-1-EG-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP (2016-2516/001-001) (2) 22 Nov. 2017
N MAIN Items CONTENT
1. Title/ Subject Developing the PCL in FoE at HU.
2. Date 22 Nov. 2017
3. Objective of the • To exchange the foreign experience in Leicester, Northampton, Session Limerick and MLU. • To discuss the framework of the school's case studies. • To set the guidelines for EU workshop at HU(Dec) • To agree on FOE PCL meetings. 4. Participants 15 participants
5. Duration 2 hours (10 - 12:00 pm)
6. Frequency Second Meeting
7. Topics • Reporting of the foreign experience in Leicester, Northampton, Limerick and MLU. • The schools case studies. • EU workshop at HU(Dec) • FOE PCL meetings.
60 8. Reflections First Topic: (evidence and tools) The project team reflected on the PCLs experience in EU countries and shed the light on the most applicable and best practices they faced during their trips. Prof. Heggi presented the German experience in MLU and appraised the teacher education system, the practicum system, and the state exam. Also, Prof. Magda presented her experience in modifying her doctorate course to include syllabus about PCLs, also one of her PHD students developed a proposal about PCLs in schools. the team had the following recommendations: - Encourage the school teachers to research on PCLs in super- vision by HU staff. - Lead seminars on the foreign experience of PCL in the proj- ect team`s departments. Second Topic: - Organizing regular visits and interviews with the quality as- surance unit in schools to develop the relationship with HU. Third Topic: - Inviting the school principal, the head of QAU and the heads of the educational directorates to attend the EU visit. - Setting the program of the EU visit to HU in December. - Dr. Khaled suggested new theme (PCL Management) to be included in the program of the workshop. - Prof. Magda suggested (Coaching and Mentoring, its evalua- tion and application). - Dr. Lamia and Mr. Mohamed Adel suggested (Stem material and its application.
Fourth Topic: The project PCL agreed to have a monthly meeting to reflect on their practices during the whole project. The date is at the final week of each month( Monday 10:00 am) 9. Outcomes • Rules and guidelines for developing PCLs. • Final program for the EU visit in Dec. • Exchange of ideas and foreign experiences.
61 10. Documentary Photos:
62 School and University Partnership for Peer Communities of learners (SUP4PCL)
Project number: 573660-EPP-1-2016-1-EG-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP (2016-2516/001-001)
25 Dec. 2017
N MAIN Items CONTENT
1. Title/ Subject Foreign experiences in developing PCLs. 2. Date 25 Dec. 2017 3. Objective of the • Dissemination of the EU experience at the Curricula& Teaching Session Methods seminar.
4. Participants 15 participants
5. Duration 2 hours (10 - 12:00 pm)
6. Frequency Third Meeting
7. Topics Presentation of the EU experience at the Curricula& Teaching Methods seminar.
8. Reflections The presentation helped in EU knowledge transfer among faculty staff at Curricula& Teaching Methods department which enriched their experiences (evidence and and most junior faculty staff and researchers seemed to be interested in tools) developing research ideas about PCLs and disseminating the culture of peer learning. 9. Outcomes They agreed on the following decisions:
63 10. Documentary Photos:
64 School and University Partnership for Peer Communities of learners (SUP4PCL) Project number: 573660-EPP-1-2016-1-EG-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP (2016-2516/001-001)
25 Dec. 2017
Time Topics 12:00- 2:00 Presentation of the EU experience at the Educational Technology seminar. Reflections: Most faculty staff at educational technology department were highly motivated to use tech- nology to enhance the development of PCLs. The transfer of EU experiences helped them to discuss new platforms as Edmodo, WebQuests…. etc. to disseminate the PCL culture and to support the communications among peer communities of learners. Documentary Photos:
65 School and University Partnership for Peer Communities of learners (SUP4PCL)
Project number: 573660-EPP-1-2016-1-EG-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP (2016-2516/001-001) 26 Feb., 2018 Time Topics 11:00- 1:30 The use of technology application (Edmodo) on developing the school PCL. Reflections The project team discussed the teachers` responses and response to the use of Edmodo application in developing their PCLs. The FoE mentors clarified that the teacher’s opinions varied within the same school, some of them expressed their satisfaction with the Edmodo due to its being a professional way of providing reflections, feedback, uploading videos and photos to document their activities. Otherwise, some teachers were not able to deal with such application, especially old teachers due to their old fashion and the lack of skills to use technology, so they expressed their preference to use what’s app for communication in their PCL rather than Edmodo. So, the project team recommended to organize different workshops for school teachers to qualify them with technology skills. The team suggested also to organize reciprocal visits among schools to transfer the knowledge and exchange the experiences among school and FoE mentors.
66 Documentary Photos:
67 Annex (6):links of WebQuests for STEAM, citizenship, Erasmus projects and research proposal writing to exchange the experiences among teachers and school mentors
(See: http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=393105,
https://sites.google.com/site/pclhelwan/, https://sites.google.com/view/helwaneras- musprojectsfollowup, https://sites.google.com/site/helwanplcs/)
68 Annex (7): HU/MLU memorandum of understanding
69 70
Project number: 573660-EPP-1-2016-EG-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP Project title: School-University Partnership for Peer Communities of Learners
(SUP4PCL)
Project website: SUP4PCL.aucegypt.edu
The SUP4PCL Partnership: Foundational Principles The Partnership is about Change and Transformation The Partnership is a Collaborative and Collegial One The Partnership Constitutes a Community of Learners The Partnership is a First Step in Long Lasting Relationships and Friendships The Partnership Respects Diversity, Multiculturalism and Internationalism