Implications for ISTE practice

Learning is both an individual and a social process. Educators learn by interacting about problems of practice, and this requires relationships characterised by supportive collegial interaction. The term "interactive professionalism" (Fullan and Hargreaves, 1996) is a useful way of describing the ideas and principles that support such relationships. If professional development experiences are to support professional learning, they must model these principles, supporting all participants to construct knowledge collaboratively as they conduct joint inquiry at the boundaries between different communities of practice.

While “interactive professionalism” implies partnerships in which the knowledge and skills of all are shared and valued, it does not imply that everybody is the same. The participants in these new collaborative relationships are interdependent; each person brings their own contribution to the common endeavour. ISTEs bring a specific knowledge base from their own community of practice about the processes that support ongoing professional learning for educators. This “provider pedagogical content knowledge” includes the ability to make decisions about the ways that they need to communicate and relate to people as the ongoing process of learning and change unfolds.

Whether or not they have a formal position of authority, ISTEs are educational leaders who help to create a culture of inquiry that will sustain continuing improvement. They aim to develop habits of learning that are embedded in day-to-day practice (Fullan, 2007). One way of conceptualising ISTEs is as critical friends (or “friendly critics”) who help educators “build a greater capacity for self-evaluation as well as open-mindedness to the constructive thinking of others” (Costa and Kallick, 1993, page 51). Some are “external agents” or “visiting leaders” who offer expert support from outside. Stein and Coburn (2005) use the term “brokers” to describe people who facilitate connections and reciprocal learning at the boundaries of two or more communities of practice.

Whatever term is used to describe the ISTE role, the concept of “interactive professionalism” reminds each ISTE of the importance of treating their partners with respect, of valuing the knowledge that they bring, and of treating their own knowledge and theories as tentative. ISTEs must help make the knowledge and theories of all participants in professional learning explicit, treating them as a resource that has the potential to increase the collective capacity to learn, change, and improve. The ways in which ISTEs communicate must support this process, building purposeful relationships focused on shared goals for teacher learning and desired student outcomes. One way of achieving this is to use the ladder of inference.

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