Changing Roles and Identities in a Teacher Driven Professional Development Community

TL;DR

This study explores how a teacher-driven professional development program fosters changes in teacher roles and identities, empowering teachers amidst a challenging educational climate through community engagement and classroom research.

Contribution

It introduces the Streamline to Mastery program as a model for teacher-led professional growth emphasizing role and identity transformation.

Findings

Teachers develop new roles within a community of practice.

Participation in classroom research enhances teacher empowerment.

The program influences teachers' professional identities and practices.

Abstract

In a climate where teachers feel deprofessionalized at the hands of regulations, testing, and politics, it is vital that teachers become empowered both in their own teaching and as agents of change. This physics education research study investigates the Streamline to Mastery professional development program, in which the teachers design professional development opportunities for themselves and for fellow teachers. The research reported here describes the process of teacher professional growth through changes in roles and identities. Videos, emails, and interviews were analyzed to glean insight into practice and participation shifts as these physical science teachers formed a community and engaged in their own classroom research. Implications for the role of PER in teacher professional development and teacher preparation will be discussed.