Abstract:
Action learning is traditionally related to teacher professional learning.
This article examines the broader relationship between action learning
and school improvement. It derives from an evaluation of the Australian
Government Quality Teaching Program (AGQTP) coordinated by the
New South Wales Department of Education and Training, and conducted
by a collaborative research team from the University of Technology,
Sydney, and the University of Wollongong. The program involved 82
NSW government schools that successfully tendered for grants to implement
school-based and school-driven action learning projects within the
NSW model of pedagogy.Results are reported within a framework developed
by Stoll, MacBeath and Mortimore (2001) that outlined ten imperatives
for school improvement. The ease with which the findings 'fit' the
imperatives in the framework suggests that 'improving' schools are
characterised by an ethos that is conducive to the operation of action
learning, and that action learning flourishes when school improvement
is the agenda.
