On the problem of teacher “resistance” to uptake of effective practices…
I bet there’s no problem that absorbs and frustrates special education researchers more. After all, researchers are in the business of discovering, clarifying, and recommending uptake of new, empirically validated knowledge.
What would, say, engineers do if they painstakingly built a better car and no one would buy it?
The problem of teacher “resistance” is a bit of a red herring. Teachers may be “professionals,” but they are far from autonomous in their decision-making or utilization of new knowledge. They live in tightly and hierarchically structured organizations — schools — that constrain their ability to act as “professionals”
Moreover, these institutional constraints suggest other “laws of motion” besides teaching-learning knowledge that dictate the behavior of school organizations. If teachers appear to resist, it’s because educational systems themselves resist. Even the teacher with crossed arms refusing is a manifestation of a reinforcement system that selected and shaped and continues to reinforce her apparent obstinacy for 30 years.
Researchers, too, are refusing, refusing to admit that for a century, they’ve been looking in the wrong place.
Mike, thanks for adding very important shading on the matter of "resistance." Your observation—if I have it right—that teachers operate in an environment where multiple contingencies affect their behavior is damned important to remember. So, of course, it someone (researchers!) shows up with a beautiful silver platter and says, "Behold: Slide bread!" we shouldn't expect immediate adoption.
I'm especially intrigued by your final comment about researchers (I know, I know...you and I are them) "looking in the wrong place." I don't think you mean that research about effective practices is the wrong place? I'm guessing that you're suggesting we should be studying the schooling environment if we want to engender change?
How does your vision align with and differ from the work of folks who have examined "implementation science?'
Oh...and did you notice all the typos in the e-mail version on my post? I gotta go correct them for posterity...sigh. Talk about weak implementation...my English teachers would be aghast.
On the problem of teacher “resistance” to uptake of effective practices…
I bet there’s no problem that absorbs and frustrates special education researchers more. After all, researchers are in the business of discovering, clarifying, and recommending uptake of new, empirically validated knowledge.
What would, say, engineers do if they painstakingly built a better car and no one would buy it?
The problem of teacher “resistance” is a bit of a red herring. Teachers may be “professionals,” but they are far from autonomous in their decision-making or utilization of new knowledge. They live in tightly and hierarchically structured organizations — schools — that constrain their ability to act as “professionals”
Moreover, these institutional constraints suggest other “laws of motion” besides teaching-learning knowledge that dictate the behavior of school organizations. If teachers appear to resist, it’s because educational systems themselves resist. Even the teacher with crossed arms refusing is a manifestation of a reinforcement system that selected and shaped and continues to reinforce her apparent obstinacy for 30 years.
Researchers, too, are refusing, refusing to admit that for a century, they’ve been looking in the wrong place.
Mike, thanks for adding very important shading on the matter of "resistance." Your observation—if I have it right—that teachers operate in an environment where multiple contingencies affect their behavior is damned important to remember. So, of course, it someone (researchers!) shows up with a beautiful silver platter and says, "Behold: Slide bread!" we shouldn't expect immediate adoption.
I'm especially intrigued by your final comment about researchers (I know, I know...you and I are them) "looking in the wrong place." I don't think you mean that research about effective practices is the wrong place? I'm guessing that you're suggesting we should be studying the schooling environment if we want to engender change?
How does your vision align with and differ from the work of folks who have examined "implementation science?'
Oh...and did you notice all the typos in the e-mail version on my post? I gotta go correct them for posterity...sigh. Talk about weak implementation...my English teachers would be aghast.