Responding to obstacles to educational change: Can online professional learning communities of educators help alleviate inertia?

Abstract

The complexity and uncertainty that our societies face today invites us to rethink our notions of learning, schooling, and the broader question of the purpose of education. This paper discusses Jónasson’s (2016) article “Educational change, inertia and potential futures: Why is it difficult to change the content of education?”, in which he argues that these disruptions demand changes in education, namely in its aims, and in its content. Thus, today we may need ‘new knowledge’ that perhaps resides outside of the usual disciplines. Changes will need to involve teachers as ‘the professionals that operate the System’ (2016, p. 1). The aim of this paper is to provide a discussion around two of the nine categories of inertia that are seen to stifle change, and that Jónasson highlights in his article, teacher education (TE) and lack of space and motivation for initiative. It argues that specific conditions of TE may open up venues to address these constraints and support change and challenge current teacher education approaches that reflect these inertial constraints. The paper focuses on an online professional learning community (OPLC) gathering teachers from 50 European countries on an online platform developed under the umbrella of the Council of Europe’s Pestalozzi Programme for teacher development. The data was analysed through an ensemble of tools considered well fitted to find patterns in a conversation formed by teacher-dialogues, first by observing and counting, then by qualitative inquiry (thematic analysis). The results show how the OPLC, by opening a space for educators to critically reflect on their practice with peers and facilitators, presents a model that may start addressing the two selected inertial constraints cited by Jónasson.