Designing a group reflective professional development programme for heads of school in the primary sector

Abstract

This research aims to propose a Professional Development (PD) programme intended to enable Heads of School (HoS) in the primary sector in Malta, to develop and refine their reflective practice skills. This was achieved through a collaborative, design-based research methodology which involved the research participants in designing, developing, and evaluating a PD programme focusing on reflective practice. This research was carried out in three phases. The first phase focused on analysing the problem through individual semi-structured interviews with participants. In the second phase, a first draft of the PD programme was developed and shared with the participants for an initial evaluation. The third phase involved participants trialling one session from the designed PD programme and evaluating it through a focus group. Findings indicate that adopting a participant-centred approach which values the expertise of HoS, embeds reflection, and creates collaborative pathways during the design and development of a PD programme, increases trust, engagement, motivation, and ownership of the programme. In terms of the programme’s structure, findings suggest that a) aligning learning activities to HoS’ needs makes it both relevant and meaningful, b) drawing on HoS’ experiences as learning opportunities enables them to link theory with practice, c) creating safe collaborative spaces encourages HoS to network, support and learn from and with others, and d) complementing reflective PD with work on the self, has a positive effect on HoS’ well-being. The study contributes to knowledge through the publication of the PD programme, ‘Reflect – Restore – Recharge’. This PD programme exemplifies how a collaborative design-based research approach can lead to the creation of a practical solution that meets the actual needs of HoS in terms of reflective practice within professional development.