PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Phan Quỳnh Như Ph.D

Critical friendship Group

1. Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nhật
2. Trần Thị Vũ Thiện
3. Nguyễn Thị Minh Hằng
4. Hà Thị Quỳnh Trang
Critical friendships
 Table of contents
01 02
Introduction Background

03 04 05
The process Discussion Conclusion + Application
 01
INTRODUCTION
Presenter : Nguyễn Thị Thanh Nhật
Critical friendships: colleagues helping each
other develop
Thomas Farrell
Critical friendship is ‘to engage with
another person in a way which
encourages talking with, questioning, and
even confronting, the trusted other, in
order to examine planning for teaching,
implementation, and its evaluation’.
Hatton and Smith (1995: 41)
 Article 1 Article 2
Reflection through critical
Critical friendships:
friendship: Promoting growth of
Title colleagues helping each
teachers
other develop

Michaelann Kelley, Gayle A. Curtis,

Thomas Farrell
Author Cheryl J. Craig, Donna Reid, and
Annette Easley.
 Article 1 Article 2

Department of Art & Design at Mount

St. Joseph University in Cincinnati,
OH, the Asian American Studies Center
between two colleagues
Place carry at the University of Houston in
(an EAP teacher and the
out Houston, TX, and the Department of
author) in Singapore.
Teaching, Learning and Culture at
Texas A&M University in College
Station, TX.
 Article 1
explores critical friendships in
professional development,
focusing on their nature, impact
on growth, and characteristics.
It explores feedback and
Aim
support roles, and the potential
benefits for personal and
professional development
within educational or
professional settings.
Article 2
emphasize the importance of
friendships in teaching, suggesting
that these connections can enhance
educators' growth, effectiveness, and
well-being, and offer
recommendations for fostering
supportive relationships.
 Article 1 Article 2

The text emphasizes the significance of holds significant importance within

professional development through the field of education and teacher
supportive relationships, offering development.
Significance
practical insights for educators,
professionals, and organizations to foster
growth and learning environments.

To assess credibility, relevance, and to explore and highlight the role of

potential impact on professional friendships in the professional
Purpose development and education. development and growth of
for review teachers..
 Article 1 Article 2

Observation - Narrative inquiry research method

- A storied method
Methods

To assess credibility, relevance, and to explore and highlight the role of

potential impact on professional friendships in the professional
Purpose development and education. development and growth of
for review teachers..
 Assumptions framework in the article 1
The Need for The introduction suggests that English teachers can
Collaboration improve their self-reflection by working with a "critical
friend" to address inconsistencies and engage in
collaborative reflection.
Collaborative Reflection The text suggests that collaborative learning through
Process critical friendships is beneficial for professional
development and reflective practice, with the teacher
deciding on preferred methods.
The Impact of Critical The article suggests that the collaboration between an
Friendship EAP teacher and a researcher in Singapore led to
positive outcomes, as detailed in their critical
friendship dyad.
 Assumptions framework in the article 2
Collaborative Reflection The text suggests that collaborative reflection through
the Portfolio Group is beneficial for individual
professional growth and encourages interaction with
other reflective practitioners.
Benefit of Collaboration The authors suggest that continuous collaboration,
requiring mindfulness, presence, and vulnerability in
sharing experiences, is crucial for professional growth.
Ever-Shifting Truth The introduction asserts that truth is subjective and
evolves with knowledge and experience, highlighting
the importance of critical friendship in fostering group
reflection and individual growth.
 02
PROCEDURE
Presenter : Trần Thị Vũ Thiện
Critical friendships: colleagues helping each other develop
Thomas Farrell (2005)
 Research objectives

This paper reports on one such critical friendship dyad

between two colleagues (an EAP teacher and this researcher)
in Singapore.

Research questions
There were no research questions in Farrell’s study.
 The process

 The teacher initiated the collaboration

 Chose her preferred methods of reflection (observation

of practice and journal writing)

 Selected the lessons to be observed

 Decided on the classes she wanted observed.

 Participants

 The author (Farrell) plays as a role of an observer (teacher-

initiated reflection)
 An experienced female teacher (named Poh) of English for
Academic Purposes (EAP).

=> Both teach in the same institution, the National Institute of

Education (NIE), Singapore.
 The teacher (Poh) teaches academic writing in an Intensive
English Program for scholars from The People’s Republic of
China (PRC).

 The observer (Farrell) teaches in the English Teacher

Education program.

=> Poh asked Farrell to observe her classes (7classes) in types

of Academic Writing Skills class of mixed-ability grouping
Farrell’s gain: his experience as a researcher promoting reflective
inquiry for the purpose of teacher development.

Data collecting tools

(1) classroom observation notes;
(2) individual meetings;
(3) audio recordings of meetings, and video recordings of classes;
(4) the teacher’s written reactions to her classes (and the process in
general) and e-mail correspondence.
Reflection through critical friendship: Promoting
growth of teachers

Michaelann Kelley, Gayle A. Curtis, Cheryl J. Craig, Donna

Reid and Annette Easley (2022)
 Research aims

This paper aims to improve practices by better understanding the

interplay between reflection and critical friendship in collaborative
groups.
Research questions

(1) What has been the role of critical friendship in our group’s
reflective practice?
(2) And in what ways has reflection influenced/shaped individual
growth as a teacher/teacher educator/researcher?
 Research method

 Narrative inquiry => to exam individual teacher growth through

collaborative group reflection.
 A storied method employed to unpack narratives of experience
 The group responded to inquiry questions via online reflective
writings.
 Form of triangulation: reached out to past Portfolio Group
members from Eagle High School, adding their reflections to data
pool. => individually and collaboratively analyzed reflective
writings.
 Three interpretative devices underpin research method:
(1) broadening,
(2) burrowing,
(3) storying-restorying

 For trustworthiness: purposefully selected exemplars

 Process

Stories of experience

(Revealed various themes running through the group’s

individual reflections)
• Current: Coming together as reflective practitioners

• Current: Group reflection as a change in practice

• Undercurrent: Power of reflection and critical friendship in

bringing about change

• Riptide: The role of collaborative groups in navigating career

challenges

• Riptide: Intersecting experiential stories of institutional

narratives
UNPACKING
 FINDINGS

PRESENTER: NGUYỄN THỊ MINH HẰNG

CRITICAL FRIENDSHIPS:
COLLEAGUES HELPING EACH
OTHER DEVELOP
(Rechard Farrell- 2005)
 Teacher and the catalyst
write journal writing
through each class
Delayed
reflection
Teacher sent the critical
friend an email to say
what she would do in the
next lesson

 delayed reflection gives teacher an opportunity to

make her own improvements to teaching behaviors.
- A critical friend => A catalyst: examine teacher’s
teaching
- Teacher:
+ take responsibility for any teaching changes
+ require some time to process the experiences
of the class actions and emotions
 DELAYED REFLECTION

STRENGTH WEAKNESS
 relieve both 'friends' of the  Exist certain
burden of having to 'come up limitations:equality,
with' an unready explaination ownership and ethics
 the instructor can reflect more  The lack of
relaxedly confrontation => trust
 avoid the confrontation issues

 The two colleagues should be sensitive about the

relationship in a criticial friendship
Some issues of equality, ownership, and
ethnics between two colleagues from the
same instutution -> certain constrains

 Some ground rules

needs to be negotiated
before critical friendship
begins
 The critical friendship means self-disclosure

The reflector needs

Be in a good understand that

personal reflection can
psychological state cause doubt
In critical friendship, the teacher needs to be:
Self-
initiated

Self-
evaluated
Self-
directed
 Teacher got more experiences in her teaching

Critical friendship
contributed to the
mutual development
of two colleagues
the critical friend enhanced further
understanding and insight into the
reflective/collaborative process
REFLECTION THROUGH CRITICAL
FRIENDSHIP: PROMOTING GROWTH
OF TEACHERS
(Kelley, M., Curtis, G. A., Craig, C. J., Reid, D., &
Easley, A. (2022, November)
 • Sharing the triumphs and failures openly with the group
• Combine each of those experiences generated unique
viewpoints provided a more complete picture of their
collective effort to enhance instruction in order to enhance
the learning experiences of students.

 Critical friendship creates a secure platform for real

introspection and professional growth.
• The members in the group may have engaged in reflection in
their own practice, group reflection and discussion of practice
• When working together, they are able to dissect different
learning styles and modalities of their students, like how some
students need time to reflect and others need kinesthetic
activities.

 Critical friendship in a group creates a

collaborative space which helps teacher
experience professional growths
• reflection and critical friendship make a better
educator, a more caring collaborator, and a deeper-
thinking researcher.
• Reflectively engaging with critical friends in order to
bring about individual change in practice, school
change, and student success.
 Reflection and critical friendship walk hand-in-
hand, as do reflection, school improvement, and
student success.
 04
CONCLUSION
What GAPs exist in literature?

Presenter : Ha Thi Quynh Trang

Conclusion Critical friendships: colleagues
helping each other develop
Thomas Farrell
The results of the research was summarized below:
1. The Power of Critical Friendships in Teacher Development
2. How Trust is Key to Successful Critical Friendships
3. Self-Reflection: A Necessary Step for Teacher Development
4. Collaborative Learning: The Benefits of Working with Colleagues
5. Encouraging Teacher Development: Reflections from a Critical
Friendship
Conclusion Critical friendships: colleagues
helping each other develop
Thomas Farrell

However, the concept of trustworthy is the space of the research:

Other critical friendships could have a deeper reflective experience if
the teachers involved realize that sufficient trust needs to be established
sufficient trust needs to be established (especially amongst colleagues
from the same institutions)
Conclusion Critical friendships: colleagues
helping each other develop
Thomas Farrell

Also, when there is a certain delay in reflections, the teacher can

reflect in a more relaxed way in order to make sense of his/her
emotional reactions to the class.
 Reflection through critical friendship:
Conclusion Promoting growth of teachers
Michaelann Kelley1, Gayle A. Curtis2,3*,
Cheryl J. Craig3, Donna Reid4 and
Annette Easley5

The idea of a critical friend or critical colleague has been attributed

to Stenhouse (1975) in his writings on action research in
curriculum development where he suggested that engaging one’s
colleague(s) in the process provides different perspectives and
meaningful feedback.
 Reflection through critical friendship:
Conclusion Promoting growth of teachers
Michaelann Kelley1, Gayle A. Curtis2,3*,
Cheryl J. Craig3, Donna Reid4 and
Annette Easley5

Costa (2008) defines a critical friend as “a trusted person who

asks provocative questions, provides data to be examined through
another lens, and offers a critique of a person’s work as a friend”
(p. 124).
Conclusion Critical friendships: colleagues
helping each other develop
Thomas Farrell
What are the gaps in this research?
Here are some research questions that you could consider:
1. What are the benefits of critical friendships in the professional development of
teachers?
2. How can critical friendships be established and maintained in a school setting?
3. What are the challenges that teachers face when engaging in critical friendships?
4. How can critical friendships be used to promote reflective practice among
teachers?
5. What are the factors that contribute to the success of critical friendships in teacher
professional development?
So, these are some gaps that we should notice to conducting future
research.
Conclusion

Both articles highlight the significance of establishing trustworthy

critical friendships in research. However, the second article takes a
deeper dive into the subject by implementing a range of
engagement techniques, such as sharing personal stories of
experience, optimal experience, coming together as a reflective
practitioner, providing constructive feedback, and reflecting as a
group to build trust and foster a collaborative environment. The
second article's approach to developing critical friendships shows
promise in creating more meaningful and productive research
relationships.
Conclusion

What experiences did the teacher gain

after class observation?
Conclusion
This critical friendship contributed to the mutual development of two colleagues .

Providing
feedback

Ultimately
benefit their Support
students
Critical
friendships

Work together
to improve their Encouragement
teaching
practice
Conclusion Disadvantages
Inflexibility:
Curriculum and teacher roles can be inflexible,
which can limit the effectiveness of critical
pedagogy .

Memorization:
Instruction can focus on memorization rather than
higher-level thinking skills, placing students who
struggle with memorization at a disadvantage .

Inability to meet diverse needs:

Systems can be less able to keep up with student needs, and the needs of
students with diverse backgrounds and disabilities are rarely met
Conclusion
Underhill’s (1992: 79)
Ideas of self-direction, within a process of collaboration:
‘For teacher development is no different from personal
development, and as such can only be self-initiated, self-
directed and self-evaluated. No one else can do it for us, though
other people can be indispensable in helping us to do it.’
Conclusion

According to Conle (2001),

“narrative is used both for the gathering and the
representation of data which are usually created
and revised collaboratively between researchers
and their “subjects” (p. 21).