Ann Nielsen | Arizona State University (original) (raw)

Papers by Ann Nielsen

Comparative Education Review, Aug 1, 2023

As newcomers to schools in the last thirty years, second career teachers, were studied to better ... more As newcomers to schools in the last thirty years, second career teachers, were studied to better understand this group of teachers within schools. Second career teachers bring professional knowledge that did not originate in the field of teaching to their teaching career such as relationship building and collaboration. The professional perspectives of second career teachers were assessed and analyzed in relation with current professional expectations in schools utilizing an analytical framework built from Pierre Bourdieu's reflexive sociology.

Education Review

As the global environmental crisis escalates so does the publication of books about life in the A... more As the global environmental crisis escalates so does the publication of books about life in the Anthropocene. Gaining attention of readers across disciplines and genres, these books examine the origins, impacts, and implications of living in a geological age in which the activity of some humans has permanently altered the climate and the environment of the planet. But what does the age of the Anthropocene hold for education? This urgent question is the focus of the recently published book Teaching in the Anthropocene: Education in the Face of the Environmental Crisis, edited by Alysha J. Farrell, Candy Skyhar, and Michelle Lam. It is one of the few books to date that offers practical and theoretical insights for teachers and teacher educators facing the urgent challenges of the Anthropocene in their classrooms, schools, and communities, with particular relevance for (settler) 1 colonial contexts. 1 Settler colonialism is a form of colonization whereby outsiders claim a land as their new home, displacing Indigenous peoples and establishing settler superiority through

The Education Commission, May 1, 2020

This paper was commissioned by the Education Workforce Initiative (EWI), as part of the Education... more This paper was commissioned by the Education Workforce Initiative (EWI), as part of the Education Commission's response to the learning crisis. It recognizes that teacher quality is the most important determinant of learning outcomes at school level, but teachers cannot work alone. Teachers need leadership and support to be effective and to help learners with the greatest needs. The design of the education workforce must evolve to keep pace with the rapidly changing world and embrace the new opportunities these changes bring. This paper aims to catalyze new thinking on education workforce reform by drawing on existing evidence and promising examples from education and other sectors and using this to develop a vision for the education workforce needed in the future. This vision for the future is one in which learners experience a wide range of interactions with different workforce members and with technology to support their individual learning needs. Instead of the school day being dominated by lessons in classes of 30-50 taught by a single teacher, learning experiences might include: • Various sized classes for different lessons delivered by on-site and off-site specialist teachers; • peer learning, group problem solving and creative team tasks; • technology based content sources and interactive learning applications, and • one-to-one mentoring sessions. This vision involves a diverse workforce: teaching, learning, student welfare and inclusion professionals, with different skill sets and experience levels, working together in teams to provide differentiated teaching and welfare support tailored to students' individual needs. New workforce roles, drawing from other sectors and the community, would provide learners with a greater connection to the world outside to ensure that there is alignment between the skills that students are learning and their relevance in the real world. The pathway towards realising this vision will vary greatly by contexts. Some systems need to move from "crisis" to "stable", and immediate workforce reforms need to revolve around finding cost effective solutions to ensuring that all children receive effective instruction for foundational learning. The paper envisages incremental "Next" steps towards this vision and to address immediate challenges. For many systems, this would require a degree of diversification of their workforces to increase instructional time and leverage teacher expertise. For these diversified roles to work effectively together at all levels of the system, the paper envisages a workforce that is operating as "learning teams": Learning teams Groups of role-holders would work closely together to maximise learning and inclusion of all students in their schools and to learn professionally from each other to become more effective at supporting students and better able to adapt to change. The paper recommends key shifts in workforce design needed to achieve the learning team vision. At school level the focus would be on skill optimisation through task shifting and differentiation across roles. There would be a small number of new roles-such as learning assistants and community education workers-to deliver tasks that do not require a qualified teacher, to increase instructional time and leverage teacher expertise. Specialist teacher roles may be required to improve subject specific content and pedagogy, support inclusion and enable teachers to use new learning configurations. 4 At school principal level, the focus is on instructional leadership, including supporting high impact approaches such as teacher collaborative learning. Shifts away from administrative tasks could be supported by technology and, where possible, support staff. School principals support a concept of professionalism where the collective capacity of a group of people is leveraged as opposed to focusing on developing the skills of individuals to do their work better. 1 By working collaboratively in learning teams, school professionals would be encouraged to provide more effective teaching through better targeting of specialist expertise, on the job learning and support, more instructional time, improved workforce motivation and better support for inclusion. At district level, the focus is on strengthening existing functions to lead cycles of data-driven school performance improvement. Instead of corrective feedback or compliance monitoring, roles such as supervisors and pedagogical coaches would be defined as leaders of change and improvement. They would work directly with schools to raise professional expectations, lead data-driven performance management and provide developmental feedback. They would focus on building school capacity and empowering schools in line with evidence on effective supervision. At state level, the focus is on evidence-based policymaking. There would be a system-wide focus on strengthening professional capacity for learning and the use of evidence, moving towards a system where teams of education professionals at all levels of the system lead cycles of data-driven improvement. This paper also sets out a "Future" vision for the education workforce in which learners experience a wide range of interactions with different workforce members and with technology to support their individual learning needs. The paper envisages a future education workforce which is radically re-configured to support this vision, by being transformed into a learning system: A learning system In the learning system , a diversified workforce-including networks of schools, education professionals and cross-sectoral partnerships-would be directly involved in innovating and applying evidence of what works; and the resulting knowledge, data and evidence is shared to create a system that cultivates student learning, is able to learn itself and is better adapt to change. Key shifts in workforce design will be needed to build on the learning team foundations and more radically reconfigure the workforce system into a learning system. At school level, new roles would provide learners with a greater connection to the external world outside school, including work and the community, drawing support from increasingly professionalized specialists and vibrant school networks to improve teaching and learning. School professionals would work together in a wider variety of team-based configurations to provide greater opportunities for differentiated teaching around student individual needs. Learning from the health sector, the teacher trainee role would become a critical part of the education workforce. School principals shift to become more externally facing as teacher capacity grows to lead peer professional development. They increasingly look outward to draw in resources and expertise for students from wider sectors and networks, including businesses, charities and the community. The best school principals act as system leaders, providing peer school evaluation, acting as a critical friend and coaching peers in their school improvement journey. They may have a formal leadership role as a school network manager helping to extend their leadership influence to benefit more students. Looking across schools, school networks become the engine of professional development and innovation. New workforce roles would be created, with the best subject and pedagogical specialists becoming system leaders playing a role to develop the practice of other professionals and to share their expertise. They may also play a more transformative role as innovation leaders, by fostering a learning climate where school networks become the site of disciplined practitioner research, with the best innovations taken to scale. The district shifts to a strategic role, offering overall locality leadership to align network resources behind common challenges, and to advocate for disadvantaged students. Districts increasingly collaborate with other organizations and intermediaries which can help improve inclusive teaching and learning for students in the locality and could become an important part of the local school system. At state level, officials would encourage an R&D culture, promoting policies which encourage schools as sites for experimentation and testing to continuously improve teaching and learning, Next-Creating learning teams This section outlines a proposed workforce design for the Next phase of reform at school, district and state level, based on the current challenges presented, and evidence on promising practice discussed in the previous section and Annex 1. Education systems may already feature many of the roles and functions described: this 'Next' stage is presented as an incremental step which focuses on strengthening existing resources and harnessing their potential and expertise to scale what we know already works to improve access, learning, equity and inclusion.

Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, t... more Building on the scientific evidence and keeping in focus policy promises made over the decades, this report mobilizes the power of socially engaged art to bring together visions and voices of youth from across the globe in a collective effort to address the root causes of the climate crisis. It starts with the premise that education is directly implicated in the climate crisis and our failure to imagine alternatives. But it can also be the catalyst for radical change. Aiming to shift and shuffle the dominant knowledge systems and categories with the cards from the Turn It Around! deck, this report urges you to turn toward the reality of the climate crisis by capturing its devastating impacts from youth perspective in a way statistical data might not. It challenges existing education policies, practices, and patterns as no longer possible, tolerable, or even thinkable. With the powerful imagination and creativity of youth, the report activates a series of turning points — intergenera...

Journal of Childhood Studies

This article combines collective biography, diffractive analysis, and speculative fabulation to w... more This article combines collective biography, diffractive analysis, and speculative fabulation to weave together the authors’ childhood memories of “common worlding.” Our collective biography brings into focus how we engaged in common worlding in our childhoods through dreaming, metamorphosis, and play by tactfully moving across different worlds and learning with the human and more-than-human others we encountered. As we foreground childhood memory and its potential to reimagine pasts, presents, and futures, we explore what kind of conditions are necessary to (re)attune ourselves to the multiple worlds around us in order to maintain and nurture children’s—and our own—other-worldly connections.

Handbook of Research on the Global Empowerment of Educators and Student Learning Through Action Research, 2021

This chapter examines how a team of university experts within the field of education adjusted the... more This chapter examines how a team of university experts within the field of education adjusted the focus of a professional development (PD) model to teach action research to 60 international educators. Three key educational elements were used to create the PD model: 1) transformational learning theory, 2) language acquisition and learning methodologies, and 3) a personalized system of instruction (PSI). When the unexpected worldwide pandemic caused a shift to remote learning, the team was tasked with adjusting the original face-to-face model. Evidence from meeting agendas, action plan tracking spreadsheets, and personal communication were analyzed as the program moved to an online learning environment. Based on this data, the team recognized that the theoretical principles and conceptual framework did not change but were refocused and emphasized a more human-centered approach. Future research should explore continued long-term professional development after action research has been i...

Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 2017

Contemporary accountability frameworks position school leaders as being essential to improving sc... more Contemporary accountability frameworks position school leaders as being essential to improving school performance and driving innovation. Simultaneously, new accountability demands have forced the restructuring of school leadership, both in terms of form and function. In this paper, we look at the growing trend of distributed leadership among teachers who are tasked to assume leadership roles while maintaining their (sometimes reduced) teaching responsibilities. In the US, federally backed programs have incentivized schools to bolster teacher leadership opportunities, often predicated on claims of teacher empowerment and leadership democratization. Given the rise in distributed leadership as a prescribed local governance structure, we examined one popular distributed leadership model in the US to better understand how the teacher leaders are experiencing their dual roles and responsibilities. Drawing on focus group interviews with mentor teachers, we found tension between the teache...

Education systems face the challenge of attracting and retaining an effective education workforce... more Education systems face the challenge of attracting and retaining an effective education workforce, while meeting the needs of an increasingly diverse student population and keeping up with global trends including rapidly advancing technological innovations. Unfortunately, the design of the education workforce in many countries stems from the industrial age of mass production and has been hard-wired for delivering basic services and infrastructure to promote economic growth. Now systems are charged with delivering quality education which is committed to inclusion and strives for constant improvement. This requires different core capabilities and changes to workforce practices and behaviors. Reimagining the education workforce to meet Sustainable Development Goal 4 requires a clear focus on enabling access, learning, equity, and inclusion. An education workforce for this century will succeed when all children are learning, when teachers and other members of the workforce are respected by society and given the support they need, and when the teaching and learning environment becomes a focus of the community and not the sole responsibility of one teacher serving many students in one classroom. This workforce should be underpinned by core capabilities and strong partnerships driven by the kind of resilient trust that allows people and institutions to share collaborative opportunities as well as take risks that contribute to advancing effective teaching and learning. Achieving this requires a collaborative commitment to developing new habits of mind and dispositions among the education workforce, policymakers, and communities, as well as changes in institutional structures and culture. This paper approaches the redesign of the education workforce by drawing on existing evidence of different roles in the education workforce, a review of effective approaches to teaching and learning, and in-country fieldwork we conducted in Ghana and Vietnam. Based on these findings, design principles were created to inform the process of redesigning the education workforce. These were then applied to create illustrations of NEXT and FUTURE models of the workforce. Of course, each context is different so the models will vary according to each context's specific needs. This paper offers considerations for policymakers and stakeholders that can assist in moving toward a desired education workforce model. While few examples exist of large-scale redesign of the education workforce, some examples of recent innovations and initiatives point to new ways of thinking about the roles in the education workforce. While we acknowledge that more research is needed, existing evidence shows that: ➔ The role of the teacher has shifted allowing for greater student agency and personalized learning. ➔ Utilizing different types of teaching and learning roles at the classroom or school level can support improved learning, most importantly for the most marginalized. ➔ School leaders are most effective when they provide instructional leadership for teachers, create a culture of shared responsibility and professional collaboration among teachers; and understand how the broader community can support learning. ➔ Multidisciplinary teaching and learning teams that include a mix of skills and expertise can allow teams of teachers and other school professionals to be flexible and maximize their efforts in responding to student needs. ➔ Technology can expand learning opportunities and experiences for diverse students, allowing greater differentiation of the teacher role and/or learning environments. ➔ Effective educational systems include a middle tier that provides strategic and instructional leadership for schools, facilitates peer collaboration between schools and teachers; and ensures smart accountability based on data. (See background paper Redesigning the Education Workforce) To further inform our thinking, we also draw on what we know about what works to improve learning. Recent reports, including Transforming the Education Workforce report, The Learning Generation report, and the 2019 World Development Report, identify several effective practices associated with the workforce to increase access and learning outcomes. These include mother tongue/bilingual instruction, better teaching methods, remedial education, providing more teaching time, and providing teachers with more information on student progress. We have oriented the design toward these proven practices where appropriate. What could the FUTURE of the education workforce look like? Building on the existing evidence on workforce design and proven practices to enhance learning, and taking into account the global trends, we recommend a set of design principles that can help guide policymakers who seek to redesign their education workforce. An effective process of redesign will: ➔ Start with the needs of learners to determine the kinds of adult and technological expertise needed to be present, when, and in what ways. ➔ Move from a one-teacher, one-classroom model of education delivery to a team-based and communal responsibility model in which teachers, as the key agents for delivering teaching and learning, are able to focus on the teaching and learning needs of students and are supported by adults both in and outside of the school learning space to provide holistic learning experiences. ➔ Recognize the diversity of both students and the education workforce and ensure that issues of equity and inclusion and contextual and cultural relevance are considered in assembling the team of teaching and learning professionals needed to deliver learning effectively. ➔ Be defined by the capabilities of the team, not just individuals, and consider how those capabilities align with the changing needs of learners and learning environments. ➔ Acknowledge the skills and knowledge that the education workforce already possesses and provide opportunities to cultivate these skills and develop new skills that contribute positively to teaching and learning, and building professionalism. ➔ Cultivate a culture of trust and shared responsibility that allows for creativity and flexibility as well as some autonomy in decision-making across the various tiers of the ecosystem (e.g., classroom, school, middle-tier, and ministerial levels). ensure teachers are supported in delivering education to marginalized populations (e.g., children with disabilities). In the FUTURE, emphasis is on bolder redesign initiatives that aim to propel the education workforce toward a team-based and communal responsibility model of educational delivery, one which centers the learners and their needs as the basis for determining which adults need to be in the room, with which skills, and for what purpose. The future education workforce model proposed requires us to break free from business as usual, including breaking from the traditional understanding of the structure of the current education system. If we are to reimagine and redesign the education workforce, it requires us to acknowledge that the learning spaces themselves would shift, as would the roles required to deliver education in a changing world. This paper suggests that in addition to the design principles, the redesign of the education workforce must pay attention to the following key considerations: ➔ Changes to educational ecosystems need to be attentive to local cultural and contextual needs including those that address inclusion. ➔ Interventions need to be respectful of the maturity of the system. The movement from one revolution to the next may be swift for some education systems and slower paced for others. ➔ It is imperative that strategic thinking and design across education systems is embedded in the redesign of the education workforce. ➔ In thinking about redesigning the education workforce in specific contexts, it is essential that there are systematic dialogues that ensure that the principles and goals of the ecosystem discussed are infused in the functions of the different units as well as the roles and activities of each educator in the ecosystem.

Since the late 1980s there has been an increase of ‘second career teachers’ (SCTs), professionals... more Since the late 1980s there has been an increase of ‘second career teachers’ (SCTs), professionals that switch careers to become teachers. Little is known about SCTs and their sense of professional identity. Building from Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of power and cultural capital, the professional identities of teachers were examined through the following questions: What are the professional identities of SCTs? How can SCTs inform the field of teaching about professional identities? This mixed methods study gathered perspectives on professional identities through an online survey of 236 educators within 1 school district which were analysed and compared to interviews of 16 SCTs and their supervisors from the same district. The study findings invite us to consider alternative definitions of professionalism in teaching, especially for teacher leadership.

School Leadership & Management, 2016

Conference Presentations by Ann Nielsen

Policy Report for COP28, 2023