Digital revolution or digital divide: will rural teachers get a piece of the professional development pie?
Broadley, Tania
INTRODUCTION
Considerable change is occurring in secondary school classrooms in
Australia, as the integration of technology aims for transformation to a
'digital school'. The notion of an 'education
revolution' inundated the Australian media in 2007. An ALP
discussion paper in January 2007 revealed Australia's national
investment in education had fallen behind a number of our OECD
counterparts (ALP, 2007). With the election of a new government in
December 2007, the promise of an educational revolution aiming to invest
in human capital through the education of the Australian people was
presented. One initiative within the 'education revolution'
was the National Secondary School Computer Fund, a promise to turn
'every secondary school in Australia into a digital school within
four years' (ALP, 2007). As part of the 'education
revolution' in a digital school a laptop would be provided for
every child, along with the networking infrastructure to connect with
the 'information superhighway' and online teaching materials
relevant to the curriculum within each state. Since this initiative,
Round 1 and Round 2 has occurred. In 2008, 896 schools received 116,820
computers improving the computer to student ration from 1:8 or worse to
a target ratio of 1:2. In 2009, 1394 schools received 141,319 computers
allowing those in the second round to also move to a ratio of 1:2.
Successful implementation of ICT and pedagogical change brings
forth implications such as professional development (PD) for teachers,
which must be considered. In McWilliam's (2002) view, the construct
of professional development stems from three significant realms--health
and safety, leadership and management, and information technology. These
realms of professional development are recognised as a necessary process
within the teaching profession, yet bring to the fore the question of
implementation and sustainability, particularly in the context of rural
and remote education. An extensive amount of literature suggests links
between professional development and impact on pedagogy are not
significant (Gore & Ladwig, 2006; Henderson, 2007; Landvog, 2005;
McWilliam, 2002). Due to teacher time and access to resources,
professional development is often presented within single or short
sequence offerings, providing inspiration yet failing the challenge of
implementation and sustained practice. McWilliam (2002) and more
recently, Parr (2004) pose the argument against a bureaucratic approach
to professional development where policy makers convey single-solutions
to skill development. The approach from these top-down implementations
included PD content closely aligned with student learning outcomes; a
focus on practical skills for teachers and meeting the requirements of
registration institutions (Parr, 2004). These approaches are often not
truly reflective of the needs of teachers at the coalface and research
shows that on return to the classroom have not informed teaching
practice or improved student learning (Anderson & Henderson, 2004;
Trinidad, 2004). Moving toward a model of professional learning that
sustains pedagogical development will involve more than skills-based
one-off ICT professional development.
The 2007 discussion paper suggested professional development would
be addressed by working with state governments and universities to
ensure teachers have 'access to training that will allow them to
use the technology'. This is now evident in the Digital Strategy
for Teachers and School Leaders whereby "through this strategy, the
Australia Government will commit $40 million over the next two years for
the professional development (PD) of teachers and school leaders in the
use of ICT" (Department of Education, Employment and Workplace
Relations, 2010a). Professional development is split between two phases
including the ICT Proficiency Project and the ICT Innovation Fund. A
limited amount of information is provided with regard to the ICT
Proficiency Project, however a consultant will be employed to provide a
'scoping study' of self assessment and best practice to
determine the steps toward ICT proficiency on a national level. The ICT
Innovation Fund applications recently closed on 21st June. This will
provide organisations with funding to undertake activities which
"improve the capabilities of pre-service, enhance capacity of
in-service teachers or drive innovation through leadership" (DEEWR,
2010b).
The literature on the DEEWR website does not offer any information
about the logistics of delivering PD to the diverse geographical
locations of schools and teachers in Australia. This is of great concern
to those teaching professionals in rural and remote areas. It is
imperative that teachers in these areas are considered within this
initiative and funding is awarded on an equitable basis between
metropolitan and regional based projects.
BACKGROUND
A plethora of literature identifies the challenges faced by
teachers in rural, remote and regional areas of Australia. In 2006, the
National Centre of Science, ICT and Mathematics Education for Rural and
Regional Australia (SiMERR) conducted a large national survey in order
to understand the issues related to rural education. This survey
interviewed 2940 teachers of whom 1576 were primary and 1364 were
secondary science, mathematics and ICT teachers (Lyons, Cooksey,
Panizzon, Parnell & Pegg, 2006). The teachers were from a wide range
of geographical contexts within Australia ranging from metropolitan to
regional, remote and very remote. Under the theme of professional
connectedness and isolation, the findings revealed that primary school
teachers reported a higher need for developing their ICT skills compared
to those teaching in the secondary context. Further, those primary
teachers who were more geographically isolated faced greater challenges
finding relief from face-to-face teaching to access professional
development and reported greater challenges with regard to financial
support. This research generated a report to the Department of
Education, Science and Training (DEST) from which the recommendation
"that education authorities, in partnership with schools and school
communities, universities and professional organizations meet the
continuing needs of teachers in rural and regional areas through a range
of strategies that ensure equitable access to ongoing quality
professional learning" (Lyons, Cooksey, Panizzon, Parnell &
Pegg, 2006, p.xiii).
A number of states within Australia are committed to the delivery
of quality public education and have engaged in significant individual
and collaborative initiatives. The teacher shortage facing Western
Australian schools in 2007, was the impetus for the Education Workforce
Initiatives Report (2008). This report, more frequently known as the
Twomey Report, stated the challenges of finding relief teachers for
rural and remote locations and recommended a review of the flying squad
be undertaken to cover replacements of less than four weeks in these
locations. The respondents to this study largely agreed that regional
schools were unique and required a different model; one submission
stated: "It is inconceivable that in this day and age the
participation and achievement rates for students in rural and remote
Western Australia do not match that of their metropolitan counterparts.
It is also inconceivable that a public strategy does not exist ... to
address rural, regional and remote issues" (Education Workforce
Initiatives Taskforce, 2008, p. 121). In 2010, the Department of
Education and Training launched the Remote Teaching Service (RTS)
Support Team. The aim of this team is to "re-invigorate" the
status of the RTS, focus on sustainability through staffing
interventions and support schools and staff through developing
professional capacity and mentoring teacher programs. There is no direct
evidence to indicate that the Twomey Report was the catalyst for this
initiative, however it cannot be ruled out.
Much has been written about the use of technology to bridge the gap
for regional and remote teachers (Boyd, Broadley & Terry, 2008;
Broadley & Trinidad, 2009; Steketee & McNaught, 2007; Trinidad,
2007; Trinidad & Broadley, 2008). The notion of using technology to
deliver professional development that is aimed to enhance the ICT
capacity of in-service teachers has not been researched in depth and
would need to be considered very seriously in the current context of a
'digital education revolution'.
RESEARCH CONTEXT
This study interviewed principals and surveyed teachers in regional
and remote areas of Western Australia who were employed with the
Department of Education and Training in 2009. The teachers were working
in schools classified as part of the Country Teaching Program (CTP) and
the Remote Teaching Service (RTS). Schools classified in the CTP must be
located more than 35km outside the Perth metropolitan area, however many
are in small, isolated and challenging communities. There are 118
schools within the CTP which employ 2491 teachers including
administrators. The Remote Teaching Service (RTS) schools are some of
the most isolated schools in the world. Some may be in small towns where
as others are in community settings with predominantly Aboriginal
populations. Most schools cater for pre-school children through to Year
10 (4-15 years of age), and some offer programs to Year 12. These
schools often deliver a range of subjects through Schools of the Air and
Schools of Isolated and Distance Education (SIDE). The RTS encompasses
43 schools in very remote locations and employs 341 teachers including
administrators.
Both of these teaching programs offer teachers more rapid pathways
to permanent employment and higher financial incentives. These programs
are also marketed on their "opportunities for additional
professional development".
Due to the large expanse of the state, the Department of Education
and Training has divided its schools into districts. Out of the fourteen
education districts, there are seven districts employing teachers in the
CTP and the RTS. Figure 1 indicates the district boundaries within the
map of the state.
[FIGURE 1 OMITTED]
RESEARCH QUESTION
The study aimed to develop a framework to support professional
development through the application of synchronous and asynchronous
technologies. The research undertaken in Phase One investigated the
current practices for teachers to access professional learning in
regional and remote areas of Western Australia, the efficiencies of this
approach including teacher perceptions and possible opportunities for
improvement through the application of technologies.
It was anticipated that using technology could provide an
environment that addresses many of the concerns identified by the
literature review. As such, one of the research questions guiding the
project was: "In what ways might technology be used to support
professional learning for regional and remote teachers in Western
Australia?"
In order to address this question the researcher explored the
following research objectives by:
1) Examining the existing strategies in place to provide
professional learning to regional and remote areas of Western Australia;
and
2) Assessing regional and remote teachers' perceptions of
their access to professional learning in Western Australia.
The preliminary theoretical framework underpinning this question
was community of practice theory. By applying Henderson's (2006)
Model of Community Cohesion to the blended environment of asynchronous
and synchronous technologies there may be a way to gain better depth
into the understanding of how teacher's professional learning is
delivered and sustained using these strategies.
METHODOLOGY
This paper reports on the data collected using a mixed method
research approach. The quantitative data reported in this paper has been
analysed using SPSS. The responses for each item were described by
reporting counts and percentages, and means and standard deviations
where appropriate (Ho, 2007). Qualitative data collected through
transcripts from interviews, observations and email contact were coded
for emerging concepts and content analysed according to the structure
designed in the interview guide.
Data were collected between November 2008 and December 2009 through
interviews, surveys, site visits and ongoing email contact.
Surveys (n=720) were mailed out to 50 schools in Western Australia.
These schools included 37 within the Country Teaching Program (CTP) and
13 from the Remote Teaching Service (RTS). A stratified sample of these
schools was selected to gain a balanced proportion of each teaching
program. The survey was designed using a five point Likert scale,
ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Of the 720 surveys distributed to the schools, almost 15% (n=106)
of teachers responded to the survey. Two of these respondents did not
complete the survey, which meant 104 valid responses were received.
The respondents to the survey correlated with familiar statistics
regarding gender divide in the teaching profession. The Western
Australia College of Teachers (WACOT) is the registering board for all
teachers in the state of Western Australia. WACOT figures showed that in
2009, 26% of its 45,000 members were male and 74 % female. The
respondents from the survey in this study similarly reported 23 % male
and 77% female. This exemplifies that the findings of this study were
evenly reported with regard to population proportion.
In relation to rural and remote school participation, the rural
respondents were employed with the CTP and the remote respondents were
employed with the RTS. The data showed 67 % identified as being part of
the CTP, 21 % were from the RTS and 12 % of respondents chose
"Other". The choice of "Other" was of interest to
the researcher, as all schools selected to be surveyed were chosen from
within the two categories. Further investigation revealed that some
teachers may not have been aware their employment was categorized into a
program or some teachers may have been temporarily placed in the school
at the time of the survey.
The respondents were employed within schools that ranged from a
staff of two qualified teachers to sixty five qualified teachers,
showing a large variance in staff numbers which could possibly impact on
the responses of collegiality.
A large percentage of the teachers (44%) identified as being within
their first five years of teaching. This data indicates that less
experienced teachers working in rural and remote areas see value in
professional development and are willing to provide input to the
discussion in order to improve access.
Table 1 displays the participants' demographic information
featuring gender, years of teaching experience and current teaching
region. As can be seen from the table, all teaching regions were
represented, with the largest percent (23%) being from the Pilbara
district. This district is a considerable distance (1300-1900 kms from
the metropolitan area) and the responses will be highly valuable to the
data set.
Access to Professional Development (PD)
The respondents were asked a series of questions relating to their
perceptions of accessing PD from their current teaching region. These
questions included themes relating to the awareness of PD available to
them, impact of travelling to PD over large distances, relief teacher
availability and access to funding.
As shown in Table 2, when asked if teachers believed they were
provided with sufficient funding to access PD, 52.9% of respondents
strongly agreed and agreed that their school provided sufficient
funding. However if more funding were available, 62.5% of respondents
would access more PD. The data revealed a comparative response in
relation to teacher satisfaction of the amount of PD they could access,
with 41.4 % responding they were satisfied and just over half of the
respondents (51.6 %) that were not satisfied.
Qualitative data collected from interviews with principals
supported the respondents that were not satisfied with the amount of PD
they could access:
"Professional learning opportunities are very few and far
between" (Principal U).
"Professional learning outside the metropolitan area is
largely non-existent (Principal L).
From the responses to this theme, it would appear that although
teachers believe sufficient funding is available for PD, they would be
prepared to access more PD if further funding was available.
The findings indicate that a large percentage (71.1%) of
respondents were satisfied with their school's process of notifying
what PD was available, however the challenge of finding relief teachers
within their regional locations impacted on their access to attend with
67.3 % indicating this. This is confirmed by the qualitative data from
principal interviews:
"We have to be selective as the cost is often huge from our
budget, also we don't have any teacher relief which has its own
ramifications" (Principal U).
Travel time to access face to face PD impacts significantly on the
personal time of the teachers, as indicated by 93.3% of respondents.
Further Principal U confirmed:
"Staff will often attend professional learning during holidays
if possible. I try not to encourage this too much as catching up with
friends and family during breaks is essential to well being".
(Principal U)
When asked about incentive based PD, almost half of the respondents
(47.6%) agreed that they would access more PD if an incentive based
system was involved. As Phase Two of this study is underway and results
cannot yet be reported here, the researcher believes this could have
been interpreted as financial benefit, however this is yet to be
confirmed.
The value of PD being presented within their teaching regions was
significant with 85.5% of respondents placing a very high or high value
on this approach. This correlates with the plethora of literature
reporting that every school has its own unique context, and that context
needs to be considered carefully in professional development
opportunities (Auh & Pegg, 2009). However, the challenge of
providing PD within rural and remote locations can be the availability
of quality presenters willing to travel significant distances.
Interviews held with principals have highlighted the challenge of
attracting quality presenters to these areas:
"The choice of Presenter A was because I previously had some
knowledge of him and he was available and willing to come outside the
metropolitan area which is often a significant issue as well"
(Principal E).
This was reinforced by other principals who discussed the
implications of fellow staff members and themselves providing the PD:
"I find as principal I have provided much of the professional
learning myself in my first few years here but my expertise isn't
always enough" (Principal U).
"In the present context, PD is quite restricted and is
incumbent upon the school to PD and up skill its staff. In my context
with a K-12 capacity this is a very broad ask, while I have support
staff working with staff, they too need exposure and development to
improve the overall school performance" (Principal L).
Professional Learning Communities and Sharing Practice
Collegiality and sharing of practice is highly regarded by many
within the teaching profession. Often teachers rely on professional
development opportunities to network and create a culture of continuous
professional learning. The survey data confirms this with 72.9% of
respondents reporting they were part of the professional learning
community within their school, 84.3 % valued PD that provided
opportunities for them to share their own teaching practice with other
teachers and 100% of teachers find it valuable to learn what other
teachers are doing in their classroom. This data is depicted in the
following table.
The importance of attending PD with teachers from other schools was
significant, with 100% of respondents selecting agree or strongly agree.
86.3% of teachers strongly agreed or agreed that attending PD outside of
their school allowed them to engage in a more positive professional
development experience. This challenges the literature that states
professional development held within a school, based on issues to be
solved within that school appear to be most beneficial (Auh & Pegg,
2009).
The qualitative data indicated that there was a concerted effort by
some schools in the same town or in nearby towns to collaborate on many
levels, including but not limited to professional development.
"Obviously due to isolation it's really important that as
a principal I make sure we try and link as much as we can with the
surrounding schools to look at what are the things that they are doing
and how we might work together." (Principal E2)
If we hadn't had the commitment from the other two
non-government schools then we wouldn't have gone ahead with it. It
would have been too big a risk. (Principal E)
"The three principals, we meet once a term and increasingly
we're trying to collaborate. For example the "unnamed"
primary school and us have collaborated to have the training for
mandatory reporting. So rather than have separate training sessions the
two staff groups will come together for that training next month."
(Principal E2)
From the data it was evident that collaborative learning and a
community of learners was highly valued by principals, as a result of
this the notion of an online "community of practice" was
discussed:
"I think there would be potential particularly for schools
like ours that are small rural/remote schools." (Principal E)
"I think that's certainly something that I want to try
and encourage through this program. Again the research says that's
how we are able to sustain good teaching and learning in our schools,
through these communities of professional practice. I know that
cathednet [an online discussion forum] has been a wonderful thing for
people to tap into, you see many a time questions go up and then all
these answers come through. it just brings everything close."
(Principal E2)
Technology to Access Professional Development
Although many schools in the 21st century report a vision of
embracing ICT into their teaching and learning practices, it is evident
that many systems and sectors do not use ICT to access professional
development at this time.
As depicted in Table 4, the data revealed that 70.8% of respondents
reported confidence in using technology and believed they were capable
of accessing online PD if required, however 73.7% also agreed that a
blend of face to face and online PD is more effective than in isolation.
This would indicate that the preference of most respondents was not to
engage in online PD alone. As 75.8% of respondents reported they were
uncertain of the effectiveness of web conferencing software such as
Elluminate, Wimba, Webex or Centra7, the researcher interprets the
responses to the online PD could be based on asynchronous course
management systems (such as Blackboard, Moodle or Webct) or
videoconferencing solutions.
The qualitative data further implicated the ever-controversial
bandwidth topic within rural and remote locations. This was a limitation
to be considered as explained by Principal E:
"Technology provides you the opportunity of doing that. If you
were using technology it would want to be video conferencing at this
point in time. I don't think the online deliveries--you mentioned
Elluminate before--and there's a range of them -1 don't think
that we in Australia have the bandwidth capacity to make them as good as
they could be. They are used more in places like Canada that have the
bandwidth a squillion times the bandwidth that we have and therefore
they don't have the issues" (Principal E).
While Principal E2 discussed the challenge of implementing PD
through a technological medium to staff who were from different
generations:
"I would say that if I had a staff of 'y genners'
only, I would be happier to look at it being done via technology. The
fact of the matter is that I don't and I've got to try and get
the x-ers and the boomers on board using this ICT." (Principal E2).
The importance of networking between teachers at professional
development was highly regarded by Principal E and he was wary about how
technology would replicate this:
"I would always put a caveat on the technological delivery,
about losing the human interaction, so even when technology gets better
and better, I don't think it should replace the human PD contact in
all cases."
CONCLUSION
The digital revolution is underway in schools around Australia.
This paper outlines the challenges faced by teachers in regional areas
with regard to accessing professional learning opportunities. It reports
the findings of a study into teachers' experiences of accessing PD,
their value of learning communities and how technology might be utilised
to bridge the tyranny of distance faced by many professionals living and
working in rural and remote areas.
Teachers from the study believed sufficient funding is available
for PD, however the challenges of accessing that PD with relation to
travel and relief teachers is insurmountable. Majority of participants
believed there was value in attending PD in their own region, however
attending PD outside of their school allowed them to engage in a more
positive professional development experience.
Many teachers indicated they were part of the professional learning
community within their school, they valued PD that provided
opportunities for them to share their own teaching practice with other
teachers and found it valuable to share their practice between
colleagues.
Although confidence in using technology to access PD was relatively
high, it was evident that a blend of face to face and online PD was
perceived to be more effective than using ICT in isolation.
As the federal government moves to provide $40 million to ICT
related professional development of teachers and leaders in the next two
years, this study has highlighted the implications for those
professionals working in rural and remote areas of Western Australia. It
is time to ask the burning question of how the digital education
revolution funding will enhance the ICT capacity of teachers outside of
the metropolitan area.
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Tania Broadley
Curtin University
Table 1. Demographic information detailing respondent numbers by
gender, years of teaching and current teaching region.
Number of teachers %
Gender:
Male 24 23
Female 80 77
Years of teaching:
0-5 46 44.2
6-10 12 11.5
11-15 14 12.9
16-20 14 12.9
20+ 17 16.3
No response 1
Current teaching region:
Esperance District 3 2.9
Goldfields District 10 9.6
Kimberley District 9 8.7
Midlands District 20 19.2
Midwest District 17 16.3
Narrogin District 21 20.2
Pilbara District 24 23.1
N = 104
Table 2. Descriptive Statistics of Access to PD
Strongly Agree Uncertain
Agree
Item % % %
My school succeeds at 22.1 49.0 5.8
notifying me of
professional development
that is available to me.
There are sufficient ways 6.7 40.4 4.8
that I can access PD from
my regional teaching
location.
Travelling to face-to- 62.5 30.8 1.9
face PD takes a
significant amount of
personal time.
I am provided with 17.3 35.6 13.5
sufficient funding from my
school to access PD.
I am satisfied with the 8.7 32.7 6.7
amount of PD that I can
access.
The travel time to access 5.8 3.9 5.8
PD face-to-face is
insignificant.
There is sufficient access 1.9 20.2 10.6
to relief teachers enable
me to access PD.
If I had more funding I 30.8 31.7 26.9
would access more PD.
An incentive based system 12.6 35.0 24.3
would encourage me to
access more PD.
Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Item % % Mean SD
My school succeeds at 16.3 6.7 2.37 1.191
notifying me of
professional development
that is available to me.
There are sufficient ways 36.5 11.5 3.06 1.229
that I can access PD from
my regional teaching
location.
Travelling to face-to- 4.8 0 1.49 .763
face PD takes a
significant amount of
personal time.
I am provided with 19.2 14.4 2.78 1.336
sufficient funding from my
school to access PD.
I am satisfied with the 40.4 11.5 3.13 1.239
amount of PD that I can
access.
The travel time to access 31.1 53.4 4.22 1.111
PD face-to-face is
insignificant.
There is sufficient access 30.8 36.5 3.80 1.194
to relief teachers enable
me to access PD.
If I had more funding I 7.7 2.9 2.20 1.056
would access more PD.
An incentive based system 20.4 7.8 2.76 1.150
would encourage me to
access more PD.
N = 104
Table 3. Descriptive Statistics of Professional Learning Communities
Strongly Agree Uncertain
Agree
Item % % %
I am part of a 21.4 51.5 8.7
professional learning
community of teachers
within my own school.
The PD I value includes 25.5 58.8 6.9
opportunities for me to
share my practice with
other teachers.
I find it valuable to 60.2 39.8 0
learn what other teachers
are doing in their
classroom.
Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Item % % Mean SD
I am part of a 17.5 1.0 2.25 1.017
professional learning
community of teachers
within my own school.
The PD I value includes 7.8 1.0 2.00 .856
opportunities for me to
share my practice with
other teachers.
I find it valuable to 0 0 1.44 .554
learn what other teachers
are doing in their
classroom.
N = 104
Table 4. Descriptive Statistics of Using Technology for PD
Strongly Agree Uncertain
Agree
Item % % %
I am confident in using 29.1 41.7 10.7
technology and am capable
of accessing online PD if
required.
A blend of face to face PD 18.4 55.3 19.4
and online PD is more
effective than in
isolation.
Web conferencing software 4.0 7.1 75.8
(such as Elluminate,
Wimba, Webex, Centra7, etc)
is an effective way for
teachers to access PD. *
Disagree Strongly
Disagree
Item % % Mean SD
I am confident in using 15.5 2.9 2.21 1.117
technology and am capable
of accessing online PD if
required.
A blend of face to face PD 3.9 2.9 2.17 .879
and online PD is more
effective than in
isolation.
Web conferencing software 7.1 6.1 3.04 .741
(such as Elluminate,
Wimba, Webex, Centra7, etc)
is an effective way for
teachers to access PD. *
N = 103 (* N = 99)
