The Future of Education

This study examines the behavior of teachers when they direct themselves toward nurturing their pupils and when they themselves behave as students. The objective of the study is to understand what these teachers undergo in order to develop appropriate ways to work with teachers on processes of change. The need for this research arose in view of the gap that emerged between teachers' declarations of their desires to instill their pupils with the skills to be independent learners and the level of their own willingness to experience and adopt similar processes when they themselves are in the role of learners.

The experimental participants included 25 teachers enrolled in a master's degree program in teaching science and mathematics. At the end of the program, each participant submitted a portfolio. The portfolio contained the products resulting from corresponding with the instructor, rewriting and improving, as well as personal documentation and reflection during the course of the work.

The participants' personal documentation and reflections underwent categorical analysis. To extend the findings, we interviewed five participants using semi-structured interviews.

Analysis of all the teachers' statements (from the interviews and the written responses) referred to their conceptual perception of "self-direction" and in this context to their experience as teachers of pupils and as students. The findings indicate that as learners, many of the participants reported having difficulty planning the stages of their own learning. They did not manage to meet the assignments they set for themselves and were dependent upon the lecturer in planning their work and assessing its results.

As teachers, they were asked to plan a process according to which their pupils would develop the skills of an independent learner. For most of the teachers, this was a technical implementation of what was taught in the course. Note also that the teachers included components in this process that they themselves had difficulty implementing in their own learning processes.

Analysis of the participants' statements also points to a discrepancy between the teachers' knowledge of the importance of self-direction in learning and the way they express this knowledge as learners and teachers. The participants chose to take this course and at the outset expressed their desire to help their pupils develop self-direction and self-efficacy. Yet the analysis indicates that most of the participants did not perceive that nurturing self-direction in their pupils was part of their job. During the course, when they became aware of the role of the teacher in these nurturing processes it became apparent that their perception of their job as high school science and math teachers did not include working on learning skills. The course directed them toward a different type of encounter with their pupils, during which they identified difficulties in their own self-direction in learning.