Action learning for school improvement

L Brady
P Aubusson
Stephen Dinham, ACER

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) co-ordinated 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 that outlined 10 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.