Intergenerational Learning among Teachers

Petr NovotnýKarla Brücknerová

Qualitative analysis

Questions

• How can intergenerational learning situation be identified?

• Is it possible to find an order in the complexity of intergenerational learning in teaching staff teams?

Methodology• qualitative survey

– Czech primary and secondary schools– several theoretical underpinnings

• a basis for:– description of learning situations– typology of situations of intergenerational learning

Generations in Czech school

• Empirical data allow us to define groups – generations – which perceive themselves as distinct.– (importance of duration and nature of teaching experience)

• The youngest generation (students of teaching, beginner, those, who do not have the full-fledged status of a teacher, „young teachers“)

• The middle generation (experienced teachers)• Older generation (teachers and management mention

their age spontaneously)

Theoretical underpinnings• comprehensive theory of learning by Knut Illeris

(2007, 2010)

• Learning processes described using three main dimensions – content – incentive– interaction

Forms of interaction We have applyed the following categories proposed by Illeris to describe intergenerational learning among teaching staff:

•Perception •Transmission•Experience•Imitation •Participation

Perception

• “Each teacher is watching the other one, very attentively. Those specific situations. There are one million and one hundred fifty of them in school every morning. Some are pretending they look after themselves but it’s not true.”

• The first form of interaction is relatively inconspicuous and, moreover, sometimes only one of the learning participants knows of it.

Transmission

“Once a colleague approached me with the question what methodology she should use to teach kids dividing two-digit numbers, so I told her what I do […] and she said it helped her a lot.”Irena

Transmission: there is at least one active participant who has decided to pass something on to the other.

Experience

Observation:During the teaching staff meeting teachers revisited the breakdown of a pupil during an event involving the whole school. They summarized and reviewed the steps taken to deal with the situation (who and when was calling an ambulance, who, when and how contacted the parents, how the pupils watching the breakdown were approached etc.) and agreed on specific measures to apply to prevent similar situations in the future.

Experience: those situations which include experience (action) in which at least one of the participants is actively involved, followed by its interpretation, analysis or another form of looking back directed at the learner.

Imitation“The teacher … started using centres of activities with the kids. So I basically tested it out this year based on what she told me about it […] I always took a peek during the intermission.”Eliška

With imitation the content of the change is apparent to the learner during the action as such, is being shaped intentionally imitating a specific model.

Participation“And then the teacher, for instance the form teacher, chooses another teacher, even from among the young ones, to be the deputy form teacher. And he or she guides him or her, so that the young teacher learns to communicate with the kids more, like during the adaptation course […].”

Adam, the headmaster

Significantly influenced by the learning participant, and in some instances of participation it may be even difficult to distinguish which of the participants provides the impetus for learning and which is the learning one.

Conclusions

Describing forms of interaction in intergenerational learning among teachers (and the two remaining dimensions of the process of learning – incentive and content) can be used to:

•description of the situations of IGL among teachers,•creating typology of IGL among teachers,•explanation of relations among the individual kinds or forms of contents, incentive, and interactions.

Quantitative analysis

The questionnaire

The questionnaire has been developed based on previous research.

The questionnaire consisted of – general part, the same for all three environments under study (communities, workplace, schools)-specific part addressing specificities of the individual environments.

Closed and open questions, sets of statements

The questionnaire survey including a pilot study was conducted in March – June 2015

Analysed with IBM SPSS Statistics 22 software

Research questions

1. What is the frequencyfrequency of processes of intergenerational learning in the schools under observation?

2. What is the intensityintensity of processes of intergenerational learning in the organizations under observation?

3. What conditionsconditions for intergenerational learning have been set up and how do they hinder or support learning

processes in the organizations under observation?

Research sample

Representation of generations in organization

Frequency PercentAll generations represented equally 142 52,6Majority of younger generation 24 8,9Majority of middle generation 82 30,4Majority of elder generation 22 8,1Total 270

Research sample

Considering herself/himself a member of

Frequency Percent

Younger generation

60 22,1

Middle generation

152 55,9

Elder generation

60 22,1

Total 272

Frequency of learning situations

Between individuals In groups In the organization

Commonly 79,3 63,0 58,4

Exceptionally 19,3 34,1 36,5

Never 1,5 2,9 5,1

N (100 %) 276 273 276

How often do you yourself get involved in knowledge and skill sharing between different generations? (in %)

Frequency of learning situations

Between individuals In groups In the organization

Commonly 74,8 65,4 62,3

Exceptionally 23,7 33,1 34,8

Never 1,5 1,5 2,9

N (100 %) 276 276 276

Assess how often you can see members of different generations in your organization sharing knowledge and skills. (in %)

Some results 1

The quality of relations among employees depends on the generational structure of the workplace.

The quality of relations among staff, in its turn, influences the nature and frequency of forms of intergenerational learning interactions.

Some results 2

The age structure of the team of staff influences the quality of intergenerational relations.

The assessment of relations among teachers belonging to various generations was the most negative in schools where the senior generation prevails.

The presence of various generations in a single staff office is the best environment for intergenerational learning.

Some results 3

Among the important results of the research is uncovering the relationship between the position of a teacher in the generational structure of the staff and his/her involvement in various forms of intergenerational learning interactions.

Frequency of participation by generation

How often do you yourself get involved in knowledge and skill sharing between different generations? (between individuals)

1 = Commonly2 = Exceptionally3= Never

Frequency of participation by generation

How often do you yourself get involved in knowledge and skill sharing between different generations? (in groups)

1 = Commonly2 = Exceptionally3= Never

Frequency of participation by generation

How often do you yourself get involved in knowledge and skill sharing between different generations? (in the whole school)

1 = Commonly2 = Exceptionally3= Never

Frequency of type of interaction by generation

How often do you yourself get involved in knowledge and skill sharing between different generations? (in the whole school)

1 = Commonly2 = Exceptionally3= Never

Perception

Scale:1 = during each encounter2 = now and then3 = hardly any time4 = never

Frequency of type of interaction by generation

Frequency of type of interaction by generation

Transmition

Frequency of type of interaction by generation

Experience

Frequency of type of interaction by generation

Imitation

Frequency of type of interaction by generation

Participation

Conclusions 1

The results of analysis we obtained certainly cannot be regarded as an empirical confirmation of the concept proposed by Illeris.

The research tool used by us has been a product of a strongly reductionist operationalization, with each form of interaction being represented by two statements only.

Despite this fact, the results at least show that the concept of forms of interaction is worth continuing working with.

Conclusions 2

Different forms of interaction may be of varying significance in various stages of professional career. The frequency of occurrence of some forms of interaction tends to decrease during one’s life while the frequency of others may increase.

Last but not least, we believe that this stage of analysis of results of the questionnaire survey suggests what potential certain recommendations concerning the generational structure of the staff and intergenerational learning may have.

References

Bergman, M. M. (2008). Advances in mixed methods research. London: SAGE. Creswell, J. V., & Clark, V. P. (2007). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. London: SAGE. Illeris, K. (2007). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond. New York: Routledge. Novotný, P. (2009). Učení pro pracoviště. Prostor pro uplatnění konceptu workplace learning v českém prostředí. [Learning for workplace: Scope for the applying the concept of workplace learning in Czech context.] Brno: Masaryk University. Patterson, C. (2007). The impact of generational diversity in the workplace. The Diversity Factor, 15(3), 17–22. Tempest, S. (2003). Intergenerational learning: A reciprocal knowledge development process that challenges the language of learning. Management Learning, 34(2), 181–200. Verbiest, E. (2011). Developing professional learning communities. Paper presented at the AERA conference, New Orleans, USA.