RDC In-service learning and development of practice
Introduction
The RDC was established as far back as the seventies of the last millennium, but it is still very much alive. It is a group of professional in-service educators and researchers who through their membership and active participation in the ATEE have built up an enormous portfolio of research activities and publications as a result of many collectively executed EU funded research projects. The group has a relative stable composition, but it sees it as vital to continuously attract and welcome new RDC members from all over Europe.
N.B. Those who would like to be members of our group are kindly invited to our meetings during the annual ATEE conference, or they may contact our RDC Chairs Mrs. Brigita Žarkovič. (brigita.zarkovic@zrss.si) and David McMurtry (d.c.mcmurtry@abdn.ac.uk).
Mission statement
Rapid societal changes, shifting positions of nations and continents in international competition, demographic changes, technological changes are just a few of the developments that led the European Commission and other policy making bodies to emphasise the necessity of life long learning of professionals in a wide variety of fields of work. Teachers always had learning as their core business; however, they focused predominantly on the learning processes of their pupils, or students. The awareness of the necessity of their own learning only came later. In our RDC the focus is on these learning processes of teachers. Over the last decades we continuously follow and describe trends in the ways these learning processes have been conceptualised and are currently perceived. The consecutive projects of this RDC show how differently similar challenges were perceived and approached in different periods of time. So we are studying the developments in in-service education and in- service learning, in which we ourselves are at the same time actively involved.
The groups as a network of professionals in our field of work, tries to study and change the field at the same time. We intend to be involved in both scientific studies together and in the application and dissemination of the research results in our professional field of work at home or abroad.
In brief we may summarise our aims as follows:
• We promote professional learning among teachers for the benefit of these very teachers and their students;
• We study the processes of in service learning of teachers and all the conditions that may facilitate these processes;
• We rather work with teachers than for teachers, we choose an empowering approach rather than a patronizing one;
• Our actions and projects are also aiming at raising our own level of professional performance as in-service learning facilitators;
• We see it as our mission to focus our activities not only at teachers, but also at schools, school managers, school leaders, educational policies and policy makers, and our peer (in-service) learning facilitators.
RDC organization RDC membership and roles Members of our RDC have to be members of the ATEE. Those who attend the ATEE conference twice and express an interest in RDC13 are seen as members of this permanent group and are entitled to join our interim meetings as well. The group is a quite informal group of professional peers and friends. Still we need some structure and for that purpose we appoint a chair person who is also the one representing the group in ATEE matters. This role of the chair is a rotating role. Every three years we have a chair and a vice chair, and after the three year period, the vice becomes the chair and we elect and new vice chair. This way we keep the group alert and committed. Once it will be your turn so it is better to know what is going on.
RDC meetings
The RDC meets during ATEE conferences and once a year also in our interim meeting, which usually takes place upon invitation of one of our member organizations or other hosts. In return for these invitations we offer our host a service, such as a seminar, a conference, or advice in matters concerning in service education and learning. In doing so we have been serving large audiences of professional (in service educators) in various countries (Portugal, Catalonia, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden, Estonia, Germany, and most recently Serbia).
RDC services
As RDC we offer services to our hosts or other “clients” . We have been active and are active as a group of consultants, trainers or lecturers on the themes we share from our former projects, or that we derive form our work in our home institutions. Among these services we may highlight the following:
We give lectures of themes like:
• Trends in in service learning and education
• Induction of newly qualified teachers
• Teachers’ professional needs throughout their career stages
• Mentoring in (in service) teacher education
• Needs assessment and articulation of professional needs of teachers
• How to turn a school environment into a learning environment for teachers
• Comparative system information in in service education in Europe
• Evaluation approaches, models and instruments in inservice learning
We also provide training days, or work shops on the issues mentioned.
RDC services sometimes are provided by the group as a whole, during our interim meetings, but also sometimes by some members of the group who choose to works as consultant, trainer or lecturer for those who contract them for such a purpose.
A SHORT OVERVIEW OF THE RDC CHAIRS
Newcomers to our RDC very often listen to the stories of our former chairs or witness the elections of a new chair. Yet we have never kept the record of our common past or documented interesting stories, events, and photos. It is time to turn the page and start a new tradition together with the shift in the name of our RDC from training to learning. Let us learn something about our chairs that in their own ways contributed to our today’s image and reputation.
Kingsley Evans A.C. – 1998
Kingsley is a legend, whose stories are still alive and shared among those who knew him and those who have heard about his reign for the first time. Kingsley was the king in times when working group took part in TV interviews, fabulous receptions, visited wealthy people’s private residences, exotic places and political arenas. He was a gentleman of the old school and nobody dared questioning his decisions. All the minutes and notes were still handwritten by him personally and WG sessions were very long. Singing of Old MacDonald was a regular social activity during festive dinners and interim meeting receptions. Why has it got lost?
Peter Nentwig 1999 – 2001
Peter Nentwig took over from legendary Kingsley Evans who was known for his lifelong presidency that ended with his retirement. Peter’s task was difficult but he introduced his own leadership style of a more or less laissez faire approach. The group functioned well and produced several excellent projects, like Induction. Peter pops up every now and then and makes us think why time has less impact upon some people than the others.
Jaap van Lakerveld 2002 – 2004
Jaap has been a chair and vice chair for years, see the picture. He is our RDC poet, newsletter editor, expert in learning, project manager, director of Plato, member and initiator of several projects within RDC and last but not least, sport enthusiast who cannot pass any water without getting wet.
During his mandate, he tried to make members of RDC actively involved above the level of social activities and bring in the expertise, which should become the trademark of our RDC.
Nadine Engels
2004 – 2006
Nadine’s attitude was friendly and very supportive, her leadership professional and her standards very high. In her mandate, there were several projects running and she tried to extend the working group and bring in the new expertise. She introduced a new form of newsletter and set certain improvements in RDC paper presentations. Her word was respected in ATEE circles and we could always rely she would find the right solution for every problem, no matter how difficult it seemed. In Piran we said goodbye to her as a chair with small token of gratitude and a poem written by Jaap.
Asa Morberg
Chair 2007 - 2009
Asa took over the chair at the ATEE conference in Slovenia. From Nadine she received the bell that traditionally passes from one chair to another every three years and was first introduced by Peter Nentwig. As a token of friendship, Nadine also gave her a Guardian angel to protect Asa on a demanding journey of a chairmanship. In the opening speech, Asa proudly announced that she is probably the first chair who can milk a cow and make cheese. The proof of her farming orientation is a pendant in a shape of a flying cow that can be very often seen hanging around her neck. We can also add that Asa is very capable in fund raising, tutoring doctoral students (so far, we have met Goran and Ingemar), publishing books and organising surprise interim meetings.
Brigita Žarkovič Adlešič Chair 2010 -1012
Brigita took over her chairmanship in Palma de Mallorca ATEE conference. This was a period when two projects just stopped and some members withdrew due to retirement or reasons of private nature. A new project called Sextant was launched by David McMurtry and many new countries showed interest to become part of the common enterprise. An interim meeting was organised in Serbia, Niš, hosted by Regional Centre for Professional Development. The RDC provided a two days conference for the host.
RDC publications
Posted on: 25 August 2011 by:
Evans, Kingsley. School based in-service education: case studies and guidelines for implementation. A European Commission funded project.
Van Lakerveld, Jaap (ed). Training the trainer for schoolbased in-service education. A European Commission funded project.
Fischer, Dietlich; van Lakerveld, Jaap; Nentwig, Peter (eds). Paths to Success: career analysis as a basis for selection, training and career planning of future in-service educators. A European Commission funded project.
Baldassare,Vito Antonio; Engels, Nadine; Koopman, Koos; White, Graham; Oelegaard, Ingrid (eds). Induction of Newly Qualified Teachers. ATEE.
Fischer, Dietlich; van Andel, Lydia; Cain, Tim; Žarkovič Adlešič, Brigita;
van Lakerveld, Jaap (eds). Improving schoolbased mentoring. A handbook for mentor trainers. Waxmann.
Van Lakerveld, Jaap; Engels, Nadine (eds). CLIMATE: Contextual Learning in Management and Teaching.