Recently, teacher learning communities are attracting attention as a way to develop teacher expertise. Teacher learning community means ‘a group of teachers who cooperate and reflectively practice to explore educational activities and problems with ...
Recently, teacher learning communities are attracting attention as a way to develop teacher expertise. Teacher learning community means ‘a group of teachers who cooperate and reflectively practice to explore educational activities and problems with the common value and vision of promoting students’ learning’. Many domestic and overseas previous studies have demonstrated that teacher learning communities contribute to enhancing both teachers’ expertise and students’ learning activities. In Korea, the operation of teacher learning communities has become significantly common due to the policies led by the Office of Education. Many domestic researchers argue that the voluntary nature of members is essential in the operation of teacher learning communities. However, some scholars insist that teachers’ voluntary participation in teacher learning community activities is not necessarily a prerequisite. Therefore, considering that the operation of teacher learning communities has become prevalent due to the enforcement of compulsory policies in Korea, it is necessary to understand the significance of voluntary participation of members in the teacher learning community activities.
Unlike other subjects, social studies education is characterized by its nature, goals, and content being inherently controversial, sensitive to social changes and needs and being integrated with content with various academic backgrounds. Therefore, social studies teachers should incorporate constantly changing social phenomena in their classes based on a clear understanding of the nature and goals of social studies subjects, and a higher level of teaching expertise is required to acquire content knowledge and teaching-learning methods in other major areas of social studies subjects. However, it is not easy to meet several social studies teachers who have the same subject or major in secondary schools where the teaching and learning system is operated by each subject. Therefore, it can be expected that teacher learning community activities, in which social studies teachers cooperate and explore educational activities and problems with the common interest in social studies classes, will have a positive effect on enhancing teaching expertise of social studies teachers.
Therefore, in the present study established the research hypothesis as follows, assuming that social studies-related teacher learning community is activated and that the spontaneity of social studies teachers will have a significant effect on social studies teaching expertise.
<Hypothesis 1> The higher the level of activation of teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of social studies teachers’s teaching expertise is.
Sub-hypothesis 1-1: The higher the level of activation of teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of social studies teachers’ basic knowledge and ability is.
Sub-hypothesis 1-2: The higher the level of activation of teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of social studies teachers’ ability to plan classes is.
Sub-hypothesis 1-3: The higher the level of activation of teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of social studies teachers’ ability to implement classes is.
Sub-hypothesis 1-4: The higher the level of activation of teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of social studies teachers’ efforts to improve their expertise is.
<Hypothesis 2> The higher the level of social studies teachers’ voluntary participation in teacher learning communities is, the higher their teaching expertise is.
Sub-hypothesis 2-1: The higher the level of social studies teachers’ voluntary participation in teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of their basic knowledge and ability is.
Sub-hypothesis 2-2: The higher the level of social studies teachers’ voluntary participation in teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of their ability to plan classes is.
Sub-hypothesis 2-3: The higher the level of social studies teachers’ voluntary participation in teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of their ability to implement classes is.
Sub-hypothesis 2-4: The higher the level of social studies teachers’ voluntary participation in teacher learning communities is, the higher the level of their efforts to enhance expertise is.
In order to verify the above hypotheses, a survey was conducted on 230 middle and high school social studies teachers participating in teacher learning communities and working in schools located in Seoul and Gyeonggi. Teachers who participated in the survey of this study were selected through convenience sampling, and the responses by a total of 227 teachers were used in the statistical analysis, excluding 3 participants who responded improperly.
As a result of multiple regression analysis of this study, <Hypothesis 1>, ‘The higher the level of activation of teacher learning communities is, the higher social studies teachers’s teaching expertise is’ was adopted at the p < 0.001 level. But <Hypothesis 2>, ‘The higher the level of social studies teachers’ voluntary participation in teacher learning communities is, the higher their teaching expertise is’ was not adopted. As a result of re-verifying statistically significant sub-hypothesis 1 of Hypothesis 1, sub-hypotheses 1-1, 1-2, 1-3, and 1-4 were all adopted at the p<0.001 level.
Based on the analysis results of this study, the following conclusions were drawn.
Firstly, the effects of the level of activation of teacher learning communities to which middle and high school social studies teachers belong on their social studies teaching expertise were statistically significant. In addition, as a result of verifying the effects of the level of activation of teacher learning communities on social studies teachers’ teaching expertise, the explanatory power of the ability to implement classes was the highest and the explanatory power of the ability to plan classes was the lowest. Therefore, Korea’s policies should lead teacher learning communities to improve its participants’ ability to understand the entire class, from preparation to implementation, reflection, and evaluation. In particular, in order to operate social studies-related teacher learning communities effectively, social studies teachers should not only plan and implement classes based on the goal of cultivating citizenship but also prepare various programs to reflect on and improve classes in light of the goal.
Secondly, although this study found that the effects of members’ voluntary participation on the improvement of their social studies teaching expertise were insignificant, it should not be judged that members’ spontaneity is not important in teacher learning communities. Policy executors need to correctly understand Korea’s unique teacher learning communities, which have both spontaneity and coercion. In order to lead teachers to participate in teacher learning communities, it is necessary to rely less on external motives such as mandatory completion of training or credit recognition. It is necessary to seek practical ways to encourage teachers to voluntarily participate in teacher learning communities through internal motivation.
Thirdly, today, due to the policies of the Office of Education, the operation of teacher learning communities is considerably prevalent in schools. A teacher learning community originally aims to enhance teaching expertise with emphasis on student learning and teacher cooperation. Accordingly, the Office of Education also presents the main goal of policies on teacher learning communities as ‘change in schools through class improvement’. However, in reality, various goals such as basic education, reading education, and character education are also included. This is because teacher learning communities, which have recently been a growing trend, are regarded as a ‘cure-all’ to solve all kinds of educational problems. If educational policies using teacher learning communities are excessively implemented, there may be a problem that teachers, the actual operators of the teacher learning community, will be exhausted. Therefore, it is necessary to help teacher learning communities be operated based on their original goal by allowing teachers who participate in teacher learning communities to set their own goals and directions.