Exploring who we are in the context of global reforms in education: the Second Level Support Service in conversation

Abstract

How will the Second Level Support Service (SLSS), established to support curriculum reform and the professional development of teachers, sustain its own professional development and identity in a climate of change and uncertainty? How will the SLSS maintain its vision of continuous professional development in the midst of educational reform? This article reports on a research project undertaken jointly by the SLSS and the Department of Education and Professional Studies, University of Limerick, designed to support the professional development of the SLSS, as it addressed, in a reflexive way, the questions posed above. The article outlines: the context, including the public policy context, in which the research was undertaken; the research design which incorporates narrative enquiry and collegial conversation; and some of the main themes which emerge from the three focus groups, whose conversations provided the research data. Chief among these themes is the degree to which the vision and practice of the SLSS supports or challenges the view of teachers and teaching which underlies the reform of education. The article offers some concluding remarks which relate the project to critical theory and organisational development.

Notes

1. There were three focus groups, identified by the letters P, D and T. There were three recorded sessions for each group. Tape 1 refers to the first session; Tape 2 to the second session and Tape 3 to the third session. The numbers indicate at what point during the recording of a session the contribution was made. This is the first of a series of planned articles arising from the project. Most of the quotations in this article come from Group P. This group addressed the question, ‘What is your understanding of “continuous professional development” as a member of the SLSS?’ Future articles will use material from the other groups. In the quotations from the tape recordings, (…) indicates the editing out of a passage from the recording and … indicates a reformulation of an utterance by the speaker.