Teacher Change and the Intermediate Numeracy Project: A Narrative Analysis

Abstract

This thesis focuses on the process of change. In particular, how schools and the individual teachers who make them up experience and manage the change process brought about by their involvement in professional development programmes. The context for this study was the Intermediate Numeracy Project (INP); a project initiated by the Ministry of Education that was designed to enhance the teaching of numeracy and improve student achievement in mathematics in New Zealand schools. The results reported in this thesis focused on the teachers’ stories of their experiences of implementing the INP as documented over a three-year period. The teachers’ changing confidences and the multiple and diverse realities that existed within the school over time were reported on. Ongoing data from a core group of eight classroom teachers and the principal provided a longitudinal perspective to both the individual and whole school narratives. The participants in this investigation shared their beliefs, teaching practices and personal journeys, refining, revisiting and reframing their stories during a cycle of four interviews over a three-year period. This longitudinal data was used to address the following research questions: • What was the process of change for this school over the three year period? • What was the process of change for individual teachers over the three year period? • What were the catalysts and barriers to the change process and how were these managed by the teachers and the school?

Models of change for a whole school and individual teachers are outlined and critiqued in the literature review. Following this, key catalysts and barriers to the change process were identified. Qualitative methods of inquiry, including interviews, narrative, change journey graphs and a written survey were used to collect the data. I constructed narratives based on the data; firstly, a whole school story and secondly, five individual teacher narratives. These narratives were subsequently mapped against the change models in the discussions that follow both the school and the individual stories. Barbara Rogoff’s (1995) method of three plane analysis relating to processes at the personal, interpersonal and community level was used to explore knowledge that was created through participation in the school setting. The final implications of this research for the management of change were presented within the framework of Rogoff’s three planes. Evidence from the interviews, narratives and the journey graphs, drawn by the teachers to show their perception of the changes in their ability to implement the project in their classrooms over the three years, showed a diversity of individual responses to change and idiosyncratic coping strategies. The roller coaster ride involved and the need to be cognisant of the role of emotions during a period of change emerged strongly from the data. The catalyst and barriers to change that either inhibited or enabled actions are explored and integrated into the discussions of the change paths for both the whole school and specific individuals. The ability to take ownership of the initiative through collegial, school-wide strategies and the motivation to persevere that developed out of student successes were critical to changing teacher practice. The important role of the principal and lead teachers in providing opportunity for, open discussion of progress and collaborative problem solving emerged as crucial to the change process. Although this study focuses on the teachers in one school, the findings should provide useful insights for schools, teachers, school leaders, professional development facilitators and pre-service educators who grapple with reforms in teaching and learning and curriculum change, not only within numeracy and mathematics but within the broader school curriculum.