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Foreword
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4 John Furlong
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31 In the last few years, we have learned a great deal about what strategies best
4 support effective professional learning for teachers. This is because govern-
5 ments in a number of countries, including Australia, the USA and the UK,
6 have commissioned systematic reviews of research that has evaluated different
7 approaches to in-service education for the teaching profession. The consistent
8 findings of these reviews show that, if they are to be effective, programmes
9 first need be sustained; one-off seminars and workshops can be useful to give
20111 an initial impetus to the introduction of new ideas, but they can only begin
1 to transform practice if they are designed as part of a sustained programme
2 of support and challenge as the teachers seek to implement those ideas.
3 Professional development programmes also need to be collaborative. The
4 evidence is quite clear that new understandings are only likely to become
5 embedded in school practice if teachers work together in teams. This means
6 more than passing on ideas from attendance at a briefing or workshop. As
7 well as discussion, it involves such activities as shared planning and resource
8 design, peer observation and analysis.
9 While we may know what an effective professional development pro-
Copyright © 2009. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

30111 gramme looks like, we also know that the reality is often very different.
1 A recent ‘state of the nation’ survey by McCormick et al. (forthcoming) of
2 teachers’ experiences of professional development programmes in England
3 demonstrated, yet again, that most of the programmes offered to teachers
4 in that country remain ‘top-down’, short-term events; they are nearly always
5 disconnected from teachers’ own school contexts, and most offer no oppor-
6 tunities for collaboration. As a result, it is not surprising that the study
7 found that the majority of teachers do not rate their professional development
8 experiences particularly highly. There is little evidence here that what
9 governments now know is actually being put into practice.
40111 It is for this reason that I particularly welcome this book on action learning.
1 Action learning is based on the idea that a key strategy in supporting
2 professional learning must be to engage groups of professionals themselves
3 in their own work-based learning. It involves creating a learning environment
44111 where small groups of professionals can come together to seek answers to

Aubusson, P., Ewing, R., Hoban, G., & Hoban, G. F. (2009). Action learning in schools : Reframing teachers' professional learning
and development. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' targe
Created from hanuvn on 2020-08-25 21:08:24.
 x Foreword

1111 questions that are relevant to them and their needs. As the authors say,
2 action learning provides a means to create new possibilities for change, using
3 the resources of the people who know best – the teachers in the schools. It
4 recognises the capacities of teachers with expertise and knowledge of their
5 particular school contexts, which must be understood if innovation is to
6 succeed.
7 Action learning of course is not a new idea. As this book documents, it
8 has a long history stretching back to the 1940s, initially in business settings.
9 And its use is not confined to schools; as a strategy to support professional
1011 learning, it has been used successfully in a wide range of different contexts
1 – industry, the health service, even among a group of foremen in the Williams
2 Grand Prix racing team. But, as an approach, it has not yet become embedded
31 in mainstream schooling; that is why this book is needed. What the authors
4 provide for the first time is a clear rationale for using action learning in
5 schools, as well as practical advice on how it can be introduced effectively
6 to support whole-school learning.
7 In our rapidly changing society, innovation, development and reform are
8 part of everyday life – in schools as elsewhere. That means that everyone
9 involved in schools has to engage in continuous professional learning; it is
20111 what ‘being professional’ must now mean. However, many efforts for educa-
1 tional reform are short lived precisely because they are not accompanied by
2 processes and conditions to support teacher learning. As the authors of this
3 book argue so convincingly, if developed effectively, action learning provides
4 the learning processes and conditions to underpin the longevity of professional
5 learning reform and increase the possibilities for change, thereby enhancing
6 the quality of learning our schools can offer to children.
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Copyright © 2009. Taylor & Francis Group. All rights reserved.

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Aubusson, P., Ewing, R., Hoban, G., & Hoban, G. F. (2009). Action learning in schools : Reframing teachers' professional learning
and development. ProQuest Ebook Central <a onclick=window.open('http://ebookcentral.proquest.com','_blank') href='http://ebookcentral.proquest.com' targe
Created from hanuvn on 2020-08-25 21:08:24.