Future Demands on Teacher Competencies

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FUTURE DEMANDS ON TEACHER COMPETENCIES

IN FINLAND

Anneli Eteläpelto

Recent discussion on teacher competencies has emphasized the challenges arising from the growing demands of an information and learning society. Future teachers will be required new kinds of skills and new qualifications as a result of rapid economic and social changes, innovations in information and communication technology, and an increased need for intercultural communication.

Nevertheless, the changed views of teachers’ roles and expertise do not derive purely from changes in society at large: they are also linked to novel conceptions of what learning and expertise actually consist of. Instrumental in this is the socio-constructive conception of learning, which has challenged traditional conceptions of learning and the role of the teacher. The social theory of learning assumes that learning should be understood not merely as an acquisition of knowledge and skills, but rather as a process of constructing identities through participation in practical communities. Such a view envisages the teacher’ s role as evolving in new directions, increasingly towards being a kind of constructor of scaffolding, the scaffolding itself being formed through collaborative and project-based learning processes.

The social theory of learning has also suggested that professional knowledge exists in the discursive, interactive practices of working life. Professional expertise, for its part, is seen as developing through the construction of innovations in these practices. This means that in order to advance teachers’ competencies in the learning society, novel methods of knowledge production and mediation are going to be needed.

From the perspective of the professionalization of teachers’ work, the main issue to be addressed is the nature of the teacher’ s professional knowledge and how it is transformed and transferred. We should therefore seek to identify the general trends in the emergence of different kinds of knowledge in a learning society, and the implications for teachers’ professional knowledge and competencies.

From an information society to a learning society

It has been suggested that society is undergoing a transformation as important as the industrial revolution that began more than two centuries ago (OECD, 2000). In this transformation, knowledge has become the core element in the emerging mode of production, and the learning of individuals and organizations the most important process within society. This also implies that in terms of global economic competition, knowledge and learning will become the most critical factors for our society in the future.

As opposed to hierarchical structures or linear relations, the learning society can be characterized by networked structures and relations. In learning societies, knowledge production will no longer be monopolized by universities or academics. Instead, diverse sites of knowledge production, including schooling institutions, the workplace itself, companies, as well as virtual environments and unofficial discourse forums will exist for knowledge production. As a consequence of networked structures and diverse sites of knowledge production, collaboration and sharing professional expertise will assume more importance as compared to the expertise represented by isolated individuals.

In sum, the learning society can be characterized as follows:

* Learning is the central process.

* Networked structures replace hierarchical relations.

* There are diverse sites of knowledge production.

* Continuous learning is the main challenge for individuals and organizations.

* Collaboration and the sharing of professional knowledge become of critical importance.

In learning societies, the role of the educational system is crucial. This means that education systems are under constant pressure to improve their performance in dealing with knowledge and learning. Thus, educational systems and schooling institutions must adapt to changes in a society which has rising expectations for education. The schools will increasingly face competition from other knowledge sources, including the media and entertainment, and a multiplicity of enterprises which define themselves as knowledge producers and mediators.

Overall, schools - and teachers as well - face huge challenges in dealing with knowledge and learning. If educators do not define a new role for themselves in building a knowledge-based society, they risk being marginalized by that society. Questions are bound to be asked as to what functions schools and teachers can legitimately fulfil in the learning society - functions that would not be better fulfilled by other actors or institutions.

Another challenge for schooling institutions comes from the need both for high performance and for the capacity to adapt to meet the challenges that will continue to arise. Given such a definition of their new mission, the school system will have to improve its performance on an on-going basis (OECD, 2000). This means that schools must become learning organizations which are able to face the challenge of continuous learning. If we understand schooling organizations as learning organizations which produce knowledge and innovations, this also lays down the starting point for developing teachers’ professional competencies in the future.

The changing nature of professional knowledge

If we wish to promote the professionalization of teachers’ work, we should be able to define and conceptualize the core of a teacher’ s professional knowledge base. The conceptualization and legitimization of teachers’ professional knowledge means understanding teaching as a profession that requires advanced education and special training; it also connects the teacher’ s professional knowledge to a scientific knowledge base (Hargreaves, 1996, 1999). This is important for any teacher education that is to meet the growing demands of professional learning and competencies.

From the very beginning of western civilization, attempts have been made to categorize the general nature of knowledge. Aristotle’ s taxonomy includes the distinction between ’epistheme’ (universal and theoretical knowledge), ’techne’, (instrumental, context specific and practical knowledge), and ’phronesis’, (knowledge that is normative, experience-based, practical wisdom). If a teacher’s professional knowledge is defined in terms of this categorization, we can conclude that teachers need all these types of knowledge. However, up to the present time, the third kind of knowledge, i.e. normative and experience-based practical wisdom, has been the most undervalued and the least understood category, at least among educational researchers.

In discussions concerning the learning society, knowledge has been categorized into four types of knowledge described as 1) ’know-what’, 2) ’know-why’, 3) ’know-how’ , and 4) ’know-who’ (Lundwall & Johnson, 1994; OECD, 2000). These can be further described as follows:

1) ’Know-what’ is close to what is normally called information; it can be broken down into bits and communicated as data. Know-what thus refers to knowledge of facts, for example how many people live in Helsinki, or when the battle of Waterloo took place.

2) ’Know-why’ refers to knowledge about the principles and laws of nature, in the human mind and in society. This kind of knowledge is extremely important, e.g., for technological development in many areas of science, such as the chemical and the electronics industry.

3) ’Know-how’ refers to skills, to the ability to do something; it may be related to the skills of production workers and it plays a key role in all important economic activities. Thus, the businessman judging the market prospects for a new product, or the personnel manager selecting and training staff must use know-how. Know-how is typically a kind of knowledge developed and kept within the borders of an individual firm or a single research team.

As the complexity of such knowledge-bases increases, the co-operation between organizations tends to develop. One of the most important reasons for networking in a learning society is the need for firms to be able to share and combine elements of know-how. Similar networks may be formed between schooling and working life organizations in vocational education and training. That is one reason why the following type of knowledge, i.e. know-who is also becoming increasingly important.

4) ’Know-who’ involves information about who knows what, and who knows what to do. It also involves the social ability to co-operate and communicate with different kinds of people and experts. Social capital consists of a person’s or organization’s connections to other persons or organizations and the norms of reciprocity, mutual obligation and trust between people or groups. This is extremely important in a learning society, since learning presumes interaction in which mutual support and trust are crucial. If these are eroded, little can be learnt and intellectual capital may begin to disappear, as has happened in Russia (Kramer & Tyler, 1996; Woolcock, 1998).

A number of empirical studies which have operationalized and measured social capital in terms of relationships of trust or networking have indicated that high levels of social capital are associated with high levels of performance and successful innovation within organizations (Fountain, 1998). Trust encourages co-operation and this strengthens the social connections involved. Within such relationships, there is likely to be a sharing and exchange of knowledge and ideas, which is necessary for the production of knowledge and for innovations to be introduced (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995; OECD; 2000).

In discussions on the learning society, innovations are considered as key outcomes of knowledge production (OECD, 2000). Where innovations are created interactively, this can also construct competencies among all involved. In terms of developing teachers’ professional competencies, the collaborative construction of innovations in the practical communities where teachers work can be regarded as an essential way of constructing the future competencies of teachers. Such a production of competencies through the construction of collaborative innovations is also in accordance with the current conception of learning and developing professional expertise (Eteläpelto, 2000; Eteläpelto & Light, 1999). According to this view, professional competencies can be seen as shared and networked expertise situated in authentic communities of practice. The environment where professionals work is thus the environment where expertise and competencies emerge. Novel ideas and innovations can be regarded as actual embodiments of professional knowledge. Wenger (1998) used the term ’reification’ to refer to the process through which the experiences and practices of a community are produced and disseminated in a concrete or materialized way, as happens in the case of innovations.

Developing novel practices in authentic environments seems to be a prerequisite for teachers’ professional development (Putnam & Borko, 2000; Rasku-Puttonen, Eteläpelto, Lehtonen, Nummela & Häkkinen, 2000). Developing teachers’ professional competencies thus implies a continuous process which is determined by the interplay between the individual and the organization.

Recent conceptions of learning

In recent international discussion, learning has been understood - in addition to being the acquisition of knowledge and skills - as the participation and construction of identities in practical communities (Sfard, 1998). The socio-cultural perspective on learning, which can be traced to Vygotsky and Bruner, mainly focuses on communities, groups, and interactions. These are analysed in terms of talk, participation, and the subjects’ negotiation of meanings. Individuals are seen as members of systems where shared knowledge construction is taking place. Thus, social practices, and the norms and values of communities are regarded as extremely important.

The main components of the social theory of learning are outlined in Figure 1. In the social theory of learning, Wenger (1998) perceives learning as the process of participation and becoming members in practical communities. Becoming members in the community takes place through the negotiation of new meanings, and it means constructing subjects’ identities. In asking what defines learning as learning, and thus, what makes it different from other kinds of human activities, Wenger suggests that learning - whatever form it takes - can be defined as learning if it changes who we are, by changing our ability to participate, to belong, to negotiate meaning. This definition has the advantage of linking learning to the authentic socio-cultural environment to which the subject belongs. It has the further advantage of not perceiving a learner as a passive product of his or her environment, but rather as an active subject who constructs new realities, including his/her own identity, through the negotiation of new meanings.

-Insert Figure 1 about here -

Figure 1. Main components of a social theory of learning (Wenger, 1998)

As a consequence of such a conception of learning, practices which have been typical of vocational and professional learning have received more attention than before. Indeed, the social theory of learning appears to give the promise of offering more or less relevant conceptual tools for understanding on-the-job-training, apprenticeship and learning at work. This is not an accident, since originally, the social theory of learning was developed through analysing learning in authentic social contexts, such as in the workplace. However, so far there have not been many empirical studies in which the social theory of learning has been used in analysing and redefining teachers’ competencies and professional learning. Especially interesting is the question of vocational teachers’ new role, at the crossroads between educational and working life institutions, and what this might imply for the development of their competencies.

Consequences for teachers’ roles and competencies

Based on the analysis above, we may wish to inquire more deeply into how teachers’ new roles and future competencies are related to the conception of the learning society, to the changing nature of professional knowledge and to the social conception of learning. However, rather than trying to give final answers, I would like to raise some matters for discussion, and to bring forward some questions and problems for further research. Above all, I would wish to emphasize that novel solutions are needed to meet the practical challenges of developing teachers’ future competencies.

To meet the challenges of the learning society, an important challenge to be addressed concerns the transformation of schools as networking organizations. Such organizations mainly produce new knowledge through collaborative innovations, and this means that teachers must become more collaborative. At the level of the individual teacher, a psychological transition is needed: this is a transition from working and learning alone and believing that knowledge production is something done by others, to a radically different self-conception which sees the co-production of knowledge with colleagues as an essential part of teachers’ professional work (Clement & Vandenberghe, 2000). At the systems level, different ways of networking, ways that have already been found successful in knowledge-intensive firms, should also be introduced to schooling institutions.

Transforming teachers into networked professionals may prove to be an important means to develop professional knowledge and innovations. At least today, networking has been judged to be under-developed among teachers (OECD, 2000). Most schools perceive themselves as places or institutions rather than as a network-of-interactions. It should be noted that the needs go beyond mere internal networks: extending networking beyond single schools is something that needs active encouragement.

At the present time, we do not have enough understanding of how teachers perceive their new roles in the learning society. We need to know how teachers understand their role as facilitators, community builders and critical agents of change. From the perspective of the social theory of learning (Wenger, 1998), we should seek to understand especially the vocational teacher's professional identity. In Finland, vocational educators and teacher-trainers can have in effect a multiple membership within both working life communities and educational institutions. It is therefore appropriate to inquire into the vocational teacher’s identity as a professional, working on the boundaries of working life and educational institutions.

In discussing the role of brokers who are working at the boundaries of different communities, Wenger (1998) suggests that brokers have the advantage that they can move between different communities, make new connections across the communities, enable coordination, and - if they are good brokers - open up new possibilities for meaning. However, the job of brokering is complex. It involves processes of translation, coordination and alignment between perspectives. It requires enough legitimacy to influence the development of a practice, mobilize attention, and address conflicting interests. It requires ability to link practices by facilitating transactions between them. (Wenger, 1998). An interesting question remains as to how brokers create connections and engage in ’export-import’, and how they can stay at the boundaries of many practices rather than move to the core of any one practice.

Although brokers have a great value for both of the communities they appear to belong to, they may lack the kind of negotiated understanding found at the core of practices, concerning what constitutes competence. This indeed makes it difficult to assess the value of brokers. Nevertheless, brokers do often have a crucial role in producing innovations in organizations. Thus, their role should be recognized.

To sum up, the conclusions for teachers' roles and competencies can be set out as follows:

*Teachers should become aware of their role as community builders.

*Teachers should become promoters of collaborative learning processes.

*Teachers should perceive themselves as team-workers and community builders in relation to

other teachers.

*Teachers are experts in human learning and organizational learning.

*Teachers are the builders of scaffolding from which students' learning and identity is

constructed.

*Vocational teachers should become boundary brokers, acting between working life and

educational institutions.

*Vocational teachers should become facilitators of students' participation within working life

communities.

If teachers are viewed as the constructors of future learning communities and as promoters of knowledge-building communities, important challenges arise for teacher education. Such education should take into account the changing role of teachers and the competencies needed in the future. Teacher education should promote both teachers’ learning and the construction of their identities as community builders and innovators within the learning society. In accordance with this, student teachers must face the challenge of acquiring these new competencies that will be needed in the future (Eteläpelto, Tynjälä & Järvelä, 2000).

For the sake of teachers' continuous professional learning, it is necessary for individual teachers to have a reflective awareness of their own learning and competencies. Clement & Vandenberghe (2000) emphasize that it is especially important that teachers should become highly aware of their learning processes right from the stage of their basic education. This also includes the responsibility to become aware of one’s own capacities, and the need to show a genuine commitment to developing these capacities within the context of one’s own career.