Exploring how a digitally skilled teacher’s self-understanding influences his professional learning strategies. A research cooperation between a teacher and a researcher

ABSTRACT

The call for digitalisation in compulsory and upper secondary schools implies the need for teachers to pursue professional development. Here, teachers’ self-understanding may influence how they use, relate to and learn about digital technologies. The purpose of this article is to explore how a teacher’s self-understanding influences his professional development activities and, in turn, is influenced by his learning. The case study focuses on one upper secondary school teacher’s endeavour to enact digital technologies and find suitable strategies for professional learning. This teacher and a researcher formed a reflective research partnership to explore how, and whether, the teacher’s self-understanding and professional learning strategies influenced each other. The findings show how his task perception changed over time from an emphasis on teaching to a greater emphasis on improvement, supporting colleagues in their learning and contributing to the professionalisation of the teaching community. This influenced his adoption of a self-directed learning strategy.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital technologies
• professional development
• informal learning
• self-understanding
• teacher

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Swedish Research Council [grant no. 721-2014-1762].

Notes on contributors

Göran Fransson

Göran Fransson is a Professor in Curriculum Studies and an Associate Professor of Education at the Faculty of Education and Business Studies, University of Gävle, Sweden. His research centres on digital technologies in educational contexts, teacher commitment, teachers’ professional development, and induction and mentoring in different professions, with a primary focus on teachers. He has published in different journals, books and anthologies.

Fredrik Norman

Fredrik Norman is a teacher at an upper secondary school and has a Master’s degree in Education and the Psychology of Religion. In 2016 he was promoted to a lead teacher position due to his merits in enacting digital technologies. Since 2019 he is also part of the school management team being responsible for quality control and school development.