REDESIGNING THE FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSROOM
The Role of Facilitator Training and the Development of Process Competence1
Howard Thomas and Tony Wright
Teachers play a central role in innovations in classroom practice, and any efforts to
redesign the way foreign language classrooms operate has implications for the training
of all concerned in the innovation process. In this paper we shall focus on the training
of teacher trainers, the hugely influential group of professionals who create and frame
the training experience for teachers. The paper will examine the nature of their
training so that they in turn can enable teachers - both at ITT and during INSET - to
face the challenges of change in classroom life.
First we shall briefly outline the arguments for redesigning the language classroom,
and look at the consequences of these arguments for the training of teachers and
teacher trainers/facilitators. We shall then present two case studies in facilitator
training - the first from a postgraduate programme for teacher trainers at a British
College of Higher Education and the second from an INSET project for secondary
school teachers in Austria. We shall complete the paper with a discussion of the
principles which we believe should underpin facilitator training under the heading of
‘process competence’.
1. The Challenge of Change
1.1 Postmodernity and its Consequences
Post modern Europe is changing rapidly. The pace of change is accelerating. When
Toffler (1973) published Future Shock many of his critics were extremely sceptical
about his predictions for the late 20th century, and yet we live in a world remarkably
like the one Toffler foretold. Hargreaves (1994) has summarised the features of the
new age as follows:
1. The industrial age has been replaced by the information age. Gone are the days of
guaranteed regular employment either on production lines or in the management of
production lines. More and more people work from home, or are in various types of
part-time work, not always well paid. The certainty of work in the industrial age has
also disappeared. The nature of work itself is rapidly changing - people continually
need to be able to develop new skills in order to keep pace with the changes.
2. In the cause of market expansion and cheaper modes of production organisations
are becoming both more globalised, (multi-national companies span continents
without regard for national boundaries), and at the same time more dispersed in terms
of local decision-making powers. Simultaneously the forces of centralisation and
control challenge the new information-led trends towards diversity. In cost conscious
1
Thomas, H. and T. Wright (1999) ‘The role of facilitator training and the development of process
competence’ In R. Budd (ed) Redesigning the Language Classroom Triangle XV, Paris: The
British Council.
environments more is expected of people in terms of decision-making at all levels.
The essence of this trend is the pressure to make choices from an apparently
inexhaustible range of possibilities.
3. The nature of knowledge itself is changing, Again, there is apparently no certainty the only certainty is that there is uncertainty. The science of Chaos Theory (Gleick
1988) is attempting to examine the nature of uncertainty, to establish ‘laws’ of
uncertainty and flux. Kuhn (1962) alerted us to the notion of ‘paradigm shift’ in
scientific thought. It would appear that we are living through just such a period in our
history, as the old mechanical world view is challenged by the notion of systems
theory (Capra 1982) and the ‘new physics’ inspired by Einstein. Capra notes that
several quite fundamental beliefs are being questioned:
the belief in the scientific method as the only valid approach to knowledge; the
view of the universe as a system composed of elementary material building
blocks; the view of life in society as a competitive struggle for existence; and
the belief in unlimited material progress to be achieved through economic and
technological growth. During the past decades all these ideas and values have
been found severely limited and in need of radical revision.
(Capra 1982:12)
4. The other certainty that has been shaken in the West is the certainty of belief and
ideology. This may be a reflection of the paradigm shift, but that does not make it any
the less difficult to make sense of the world. This has led to social and personal
uncertainty, and often a sense of alienation and disenchantment. Choice is often
overchoice.
1.2 The Response of Educational Institutions and Systems
Space does not permit a full rehearsal of the discussion of how education has
responded to the challenges of postmodernity. We shall focus on what seem to us to
be the central issues in redesigning the language classroom. Schön (1983), discussing
the response of professionals to the challenges of the changing world, puts it in terms
of a crisis of confidence, of a failure of professionals worldwide to deal with crises (he
cites the Vietnam War - from the perspective of the American military establishment
of a classic example of this failure. We would add countless others from the European
context - Chernobyl, acid rain, collapsing fish stocks, the ‘Sea Empress’ oil spill in
South Wales of 1996). He writes:
When leading professionals write or speak about their own crisis of
confidence, they tend to focus on the mismatch of traditional patterns of practice
and knowledge to features of the practice situation complexity, uncertainty,
instability, uniqueness and value conflict - of whose importance they are
increasingly aware.
(Schön 1983:18)
In a later work, Schön (1987) elaborates on his theme by describing the everyday
world of uncertainty as a swamp - the world in which the professional has to practice 2
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
and goes on to cite the existence of a small area of harder ground where ‘problems are
amenable to research-based theory’ (1987:1). For all of us in the real world of
classroom education, we live in the swampy lowlands. Educational research has failed
to enlighten us on the day-to-day realities of classroom life. Jackson in Bennett and
MacNamara (1979) notes that educational research has focused on trying to define
‘good teaching’, while ignoring classroom realities.
In addition to the apparent crisis among education professionals is also the twin
paradox of the unchanging school and the conservative classroom. Schön (1971) has
already described the dynamic conservatism of organisations, and the tendency of
organisations to resist change unless they were unable to. And yet schools and
teachers are supposed to be in the business of change. Fullan (1993) refers to
educationalists as ‘change agents’. Indeed, if we believe that all learning is a form of
change, then all teachers are in the change business. In the swamp of reality, however,
teachers struggle to cope with a variety of problems and educational practices do not
change very rapidly. Perhaps it is unreasonable to expect teachers to change, and yet
such is the weight of the crisis that faces postmodern society that change is not only
necessary, but it is also vital.
Fullan puts it thus:
The new problem of change (...) is what it would take to make the educational
system a learning organisation - expert at dealing with change as a normal part
of its work, not just in relation to the latest policy, but as a way of life
(Fullan 1993:4)
This is not to say that change never occurs in schools. One might cite post-Plowden
Primary Schools in Britain (a generation of change since the 1960s) or the work of
curriculum reformers influenced by Stenhouse (1975) and Jerome Bruner’s (1966)
ideas on learning and instruction as instances of successful and far-reaching change.
Language classrooms, particularly those in which English is taught as a foreign
language are continually offered alternatives in methodology - these are not always
taken up, but they are there nonetheless available to practitioners.
Among the many recent innovations in practice, many inspired by Breen and Candlin
(1980), who drew extensively from the British curriculum and methodological
practices referred to above, we would cite those which coalesce around the notion of
the student-centred language classroom. Its features have been described by among
others Legutke and Thomas (1991) in their analysis of classroom scenarios in
Germany, the USA and the UK. They point out that teachers and learners adopt a
variety of different roles in the pursuit of language learning within a task-based
environment. The tasks themselves represent a continuum from small scale units
lasting for a part or all of a lesson, such as tackling a language (eg. grammar or
vocabulary) or text problem, to large scale units lasting for a series of lessons. These
larger task units, sometimes referred to as projects, are often complex task sequences
in which learners have to perform a variety of language learning or practice tasks,
group organisational, management and collective decision-making tasks, data
collection and presentation tasks using multi-media. Teachers share the responsibility
for the organisation of such learning sequences with the learners and many tasks are
completed independently of the teacher with learners working in groups or pairs.
3
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
Teacher interventions to ensure the quality of language learning are initiated by both
teachers and learners alike (Legutke and Thomas 1991 ibid:167-201).
The roles that learners adopt in such classrooms are correspondingly wide ranging.
They act variously as language learners, team workers, media users, text producers,
managers, peer teachers, and reviewers. Likewise the traditional teacher role expands
accordingly. Applying Wright's analysis (1987) to their data, Legutke and Thomas
(1991 ibid) describe the teacher as follows:
manager and organiser
- identifies possible themes, topics and
project ideas
- builds on learners' ideas
- develops a positive learning climate
- chooses appropriate tasks
- conducts feedback
- conducts negotiations with learners
instructor
- provides language input
- teaches learner autonomy
- gives formal and informal assessment
- provides technical and media guidance
investigator/researcher
- shares ideas and exchange experiences
with other teachers
- conducts peer observation
- functions as part of a team to
experiment with new ideas
- collaborates in team teaching
Figure 1: Roles of the teacher in the redesigned language classroom (Legutke and
Thomas 1991)
Central to an understanding of the student-centred classroom is the way in which it
supports the acquisition of social skills. Such skills are rooted not just in a growing
self-awareness and understanding but also in an emerging appreciation of how a
student can interact with and contribute successfully to a group. The student-centred
view recognises that classrooms are made up of individuals who in turn create a
variety of different groupings for the purposes of learning. It also underlines the
contention that the education of learners as individuals and as group members goes
hand in hand with the teaching of content. This ability to interact with the group and
the content material in a conscious and positive way has been called "process
competence" by Legutke and Thomas (1991). Drawing on Ruth Cohn's concept of
TCI (Theme-Centred Interaction) they have summarised it in Figure on page 5.
This type of classroom and its implicit culture has emerged almost as as a 'redesign' to
enable its members to tackle the problems of the postmodern world, to deal with
multiple sources of information, to think creatively, to solve problems, and to work
collaboratively. This arrangement or something like it might be one which can
support educationalists who seek to redirect teaching in an age of uncertainty. Claxton
(1996), for example, talks of developing a learning culture in learners to acquire a
4
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
wide range of strategies and in particular to develop coping skills when learning itself
is problematic and difficult. Kohonen (1989) complements this essentially
intrapersonal emphasis by advocating interpersonal skills as a major focus for
education in the new millenium. For such a classroom to succeed, it requires a new
type of language teacher, not a linguist or a technician, but a facilitator. And
facilitators are rarely ‘born’, apart from the maverick few. Teacher training, itself an
enterprise in crisis, has to help to train teachers who can take on the challenge of the
student-centred classroom and learning for life. As Hargreaves (1994) has put it:
The teacher is the ultimate key to educational change and school improvement.
(Hargreaves 1994:ix)
learning to use the L2
*colTectIy
appropriately
*slrategically
learning to deal with texts
*interpretatively
*productively
learning to interact with the
L2 culture
T
\
learning to cooperate
learning to deal with group dynarnics
learning to respond
learning to be
*responsible
*aware
learning to take risks
learning to learn
learning to manage learning
learning to teach
Figure.2 The role of the process dimension in language learning.
Currently, however, teacher training is all too often locked in a competency-based
mode, with a focus on basic skills and knowledge of value to a world that has already
5
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
been by-passed by change. A response to this is to redirect our attention to those who
train teachers and to train them in turn to deliver a form of educational experience for
teachers in both pre-service and in-service which is not just concerned with
knowledge and skills but develops an experiential approach to learning. Such an
educational experience would prioritise the nature of learning. It would view teaching
as a means of developing learning strategies as highly as delivering formal knowledge
and skills training. The urgency to rethink the training experience of teachers at both
ITT and INSET so that learners can bridge the gap between classroom and a world of
increasing uncertainty is illustrated by recent research on the development of teacher
thinking (Day et al 1993 and Brown and McInytre 1993) . Such work suggests that
teachers learn their most enduring models of teaching from the practices they
themselves experience as learners. If this is the case, and it seems to be a compelling
one, we must jump levels to the trainer training level in order to influence classroom
practices, as illustrated in figure 3 below:
TRAINER TRAINING
TEACHER TRAINING
CLASSROOM LEARNING
Figure 3: Levels in the educational process
The logic of this way of looking at the training process is that teachers must
experience in training the world of the classroom they are meant to create in their own
daily work. This also applies at the next level wherein trainers need to experience in
their training the sort of facilitative methods that they need, in order to transform their
own training practices.
1.3. Models of Teaching
Before examining the types of training that might be required for teachers to cope with
and work successfully in the ‘new’ classrooms of the present and future, let us briefly
analyse the types of teaching model open to teachers, and which they may have
experienced while they themselves were students. Teaching itself is seen here as a
form of ‘intervention’ to assist students in learning more quickly or efficiently, or
what may not be available for learning in the normal everyday world. Classrooms and
schools exist to enable this learning, and teachers and teaching are an essential part of
this world of learning. Teachers and learners bring with them to classroom activity
strong conceptions of what language learning and teaching are. So by influencing
teachers' views of learning as a part of their training would seem to us to provide the
foundation for a redesign of the language classroom. (See figure 4 below)
LANGUAGE
LEARNING
TEACHING
6
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
Figure 4: Relationships between language teaching and learning (after Wright 1990)
The basic model of teaching - it may even be a universal model - is the ‘didactic’
model or transmission model (Barnes 1969). The transmission model has dominated
educational practice for many centuries, and it may be significant that educational
reforms at classroom level (e.g. Plowden) have consistently aimed to make teaching
less didactic. A polar alternative to the didactic model could be called the
‘exploratory’ model (Rowland 1993), in which the teacher encourages students to
explore knowledge on their own and to find responses to their own problems with
minimal interference from the teacher. Opponents of ‘discovery learning’, as this
learning model has been called, argue that the worst excesses of this apparent loss of
responsibility on the teacher’s part are due to the students being ‘cast off’ on their
own, without structure or guidance. As with any extreme, there are dangers. Just as the
didactic model can result in spoon-feeding and over-dependence, so the exploratory
model can be aimless and even senseless.
The redesigned language classroom is not didactic. Neither is it exploratory. It is
‘interpretive’ (Rowland 1993) in the sense that the teacher is able to fulfil a number of
different roles which entail talking to students, explaining, for example, and also
allowing, when appropriate, students to explore for themselves, but never entirely
without some form of guidance. The teacher’s main role is to motivate and facilitate
the educational dialogue, to intervene actively when necessary, to structure learning
experiences, to help shape students’ attempts to communicate. (Fig 5 illustrates the
relationships between the three models of teaching) It is a demanding and wideranging role, for which teachers require a demanding training.
‘I Tell’
(didactic
transmission)
‘You Explore’
(discovery
(exploratory)
‘We Talk’
(authoritative
autonomous)
Figure 5: Models of teaching (after Rowland 1993)
In the light of the previous discussion a crucial question for teacher education
professionals is "What type of teachers are we trying to form in initial training?" But
there is a further issue, namely the extent to which teacher educators are themselves
ready to redesign teacher education in order to help teachers work in the redesigned
classroom. There has to be coherence between the different educational domains
(Figure 3) in terms of both practice and ideology. It is to the means of bringing about
this coherence that we now turn.
2. Training Facilitators - Two Case Studies
7
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
2.1 Case Study 1 - Training Trainers at Masters Level
In this section we report on the evolving work of Tony Wright and his colleagues,
most notably Rod Bolitho, at the International Education Centre, College of St Mark
and St John, Plymouth in running a programme for ELT teacher trainers at MEd level.
Rather than review the programme in its entirety, we shall focus on a key component
within the programme, Methodology and Materials in Teacher Training. We shall
outline the main stages of the programme and in particular note the outcomes at
different stages in the process, with particular reference to the experience of the
1995/96 cohort. (Further issues raised by running this programme are covered in
Wright and Bolitho 2006 forthcoming)
2.1.1 Context
The participants on this programme are a multinational group, often being sponsored
by Aid-donating agencies and attached to ELT or training projects in their country of
origin, the aim of which is to bring about renewal in the educational systems of their
respective countries. Participants are either teacher trainers or prospective teacher
trainers.
The main aims of the programme are as follows:
- to facilitate the acquisition of training skills (in-service and pre-service)
- to enable the development of attitudes and awareness towards the profession and
personally
- to make available knowledge about training, learning and the processes involved
All these aims are, as far as possible, contextualised in participants’ training realities,
and participants are always encouraged to relate any new ideas to their home contexts.
Those participants who take the programme at distance, rather than part-time in
Britain, are naturally closer to their contexts and the programme is modified
accordingly.
2.1.2. Outline of Programme
The main elements of the Masters programme are as follows:
CORE STUDIES - an introduction to new ways of looking at language education,
learning and change, together with research skills; understanding personal histories
PROFESSIONAL STUDIES - a focus on specific skills in teacher education (e.g.
working in classrooms with teachers, running training sessions, designing training
programmes, managing processes of education)
OPTIONS - further subject or professional studies with specialist focus (e.g. running
resource centres, writing learning materials)
‘DISSERTATION’ - an extended study of an aspect of participants’ professional work
linking theory and practice and with a focus on practical action, in home contexts
often as part of a project.
2.1.3. Methodology and Materials in Teacher Training
The programme under scrutiny is a major part of the Professional Studies component
of the course. It aims to focus on the skills and processes of training with groups. It
also involves an intensive examination of the personal and professional skills and
qualities required to be a trainer. A key feature is the nature of the course process itself
which involves participants taking part in training activities led by and organised by
8
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
the participants working in teams of usually two members. The programme follows a
number of stages over its 10-week life:
Stage 1: RAISING ISSUES AND AGENDAS (2 weeks)
Focus on participants previous experience and knowledge of what it means to be a
teacher educator and the role of the teacher educator in the training process. (see
Questions)
Identifying areas of potential growth in training capacity by participants.
Stage 2: PEER TRAINING 1 (2/3 weeks)
All participants, in teams of 2/3 run training sessions for colleagues. Each team works
with support teams who lead discussion and feedback. Full documentation prepared.
Diary writing.
Stage 3: REVIEW and PROSPECTIVE (2 weeks)
Agenda-setting from first round of peer training. Investigation of training processes.
Reading and conceptualising on theory and practice. Discussion of training models.
Review and discussion of personal and interpersonal aspects of training.
Identification of ‘growth areas’ for round 2 of peer training.
Stage 4: PEER TRAINING 2 (2/3 weeks)
Stage 5: REVIEW and PROSPECTIVE (1/2 weeks)
As above, but with link to Course Design, teacher development and in-service
education.
The programme centres around two rounds of peer training, which are known as
‘micro-training’ (Stages 2 and 4). Stage 2 follows a period of intensive reading and
discussion of training issues, based on questions such as:
 How do people learn to teach? What is ‘different’ about training?
 In what ways can training materials contribute to the process of learning to teach?
 How can we relate theory and practice in training sessions?
These questions in part derive from earlier work on the course in Core Studies during
which participants present new ideas on ELT practice to participants and first become
aware of the issues involved in helping others to understand new teaching procedures
or ideas. They also derive from the trainers’ agenda, and are subject to modification by
participants as the course progresses. New questions are added to the list as these
preparatory sessions open up the questions of what trainers contribute to training
sessions, what participants bring to training sessions, and how the goals of training
sessions can be formulated. (For a full account of the ‘history’ of a particular group’s
experience on this component see Bolitho and Wright (2006 forthcoming))
Experience on this programme has shown that it is in Stage 3 that participants make
many meaningful insights about training following the experience of participating in
9
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
training sessions either as trainers or as 'trainees'. The list which follows was derived
from the 1995/96 cohort’s experience, and represents the group's agenda for learning
and follow-up after the first round of peer training.




















giving effective feedback
self awareness
awareness of body language
awareness of confidence and its source
trainer talk - when?what?how?
how to incorporate participants' contributions
assertiveness
pacing of sessions
working on one's own development
working effectively with others
conflict resolution in training
planing sessions
selecting materials
matching content to needs of participants
developing one's knowledge base - of subject and training
summarising skills
how to improvise successfully
relationships between theory and practice
linking parts of sessions
adult learning principles
This list was developed from the following process:
1. Participants each relate to a partner a key incident from the first round of peer
training either from a participant or a trainer perspective. The incident is given a title
and these are shared among the group.
2. The story titles are then explored by the group in order top identify key training
themes for further discussion and learning. They are refined until they make
‘conceptual sense’ to the group - that is, they refer to categories and questions
developed in Stage 1 or that have resulted from participants’ reading and discussion
up to this stage.
3. An agenda for further exploration is created for approximately two weeks’ study
prior to Stage 4.
The items in the diagram all refer to aspects of trainer (or facilitator) competence, the
skills which are required if a trainer is to operate in ‘interpretive mode’, a mode,
which as we have seen in Section 1.4 is central to the notion of the redesigned
classroom, the classroom that enables students to learn in different modes, as outlined
in Section 1.2. What is particularly significant is that the participants have identified
these areas themselves from their own experience of training. We identify such areas
as ‘awareness of self, others, body language and change’ as fundamental to a view of
teacher education which prepares teachers for work in the redesigned language
classroom with its emphasis on the interpersonal, the individual and the diverse nature
10
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
of learning processes. These personal attributes are complementary to such elements
as ‘trainer talk’ (when should/do trainers talk to trainees in training sessions? about
what? why? a trainer cannot, in a redesigned training setting, spend countless hours
simply lecturing participants) or ‘participants’ contributions’ (how to incorporate
participants’ contributions into the sessions as part of input to the learning of others?
(See Bolitho and Wright 1997 for a fuller discussion), such elements being essential to
the ways in which trainers can structure their sessions, and allow for maximum
contributions from the participants themselves. This is an expanded conception of
trainer as facilitator which we take up in subsequent sections.
We shall discuss in more depth below (see section 3) a specification of ‘process
competences’ which we believe trainers need access to in order to facilitate training
which prepares teachers for ‘redesigned’ language classrooms. Let us now turn to an
in-service programme for teachers which illustrates other aspects of what we are
calling ‘process competence’ for trainers.
2. 2 Case Study 2 - Training Trainers in an INSET Context
In this section we give an account of an INSET training experience provided by
Howard Thomas and Rex Barrand under the auspices of the British Council and
insightful support of its ELO, Nick Butler, in which a group of secondary school
teachers in Austria were trained as facilitators whose role it was to initiate and manage
an on-going training project. The first training programme took place in Vienna in
1991 and has been repeated in Lower Austria and Styria in subsequent years. The
facilitators work with teachers in the work place and as a consequence the project is
known as the Schools-Based Project (SBP). It is currently active in over 60 schools in
the three regions reaching a population of English teachers of over 700. The account
below will describe its origins and the content of the training experience before
drawing some interim conclusions.
2.2.1 The Context and the Project's Origins
The Austrian SBP is fundamentally a narrative about change, an attempt to change
teacher behaviour and attitudes. At its core is the acquisition of knowledge, skills and
awarenesses which, although now the subject of attention within the teacher education
debate ( Claxton and John 1996), do not constitute, as we have implied, the central
experience of most teachers’ education. The genesis of the project lay, however, not
only in the desire on the part of the Vienna Schoolboard to experiment with a different
model of INSET training but also to utilise the opportunity to solve difficulties which
had emerged with the recent introduction of a revised curriculum. These difficulties
could be summarised as the pressures on teachers in adjusting to a change in
classroom priorities, materials and testing procedures. It was felt that while guidance
could always be provided from the available support structures by means of clearer
official guidelines, INSET events, visiting experts, or the British Council etc., the
most powerful pool of experience and knowledge resided with teachers themselves.
Provided their collective potential could be unlocked, they were better placed than
anyone else to tackle their own problems.
11
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
While natural human resistance to change and varying levels of commitment among
teachers were obstacles to be overcome, the major obstacle identified by the
consultants was the “isolationist culture” prevalent in the High School staff rooms. By
this is meant that subject departmental structures do not exist so that there are no
regular forums for professional discussion. Teaching timetables are not synchronised
around a uniform school day so that teachers are not present in school for the same
hours each day. Further, while cooperation is not ruled out, a culture of collective
professional behaviour based on shared goals, exploiting banks of mutually developed
resources, using the talents of the group of teachers in a concerted manner is not the
norm. The most important consequences are not only that direct communication
between teachers tends to be haphazard and professional discussion fragmentary, but,
as the consultants observed on the ground, that the habit of communication among
members of the same subject faculty was often underdeveloped.
The negative consequences of such poor professional communication quickly become
apparent within the context of INSET. The prevailing model, intended as vehicle for
innovation, functions in the following way. Teachers volunteer or are nominated by
schools to attend one week seminars at a residential training centre on a topic of
current interest to the profession. Courses are typically offered for up to 30
participants from different schools. There is an expectation that the participants share
their experiences with their colleagues on their return to schools, thereby acting as
“multipliers”. However, this is loosely monitored and there is no binding
commitment on teachers to assimilate or experiment with the content of the course.
Further, the course topics are normally contained within single events, rarely
supported, followed up or evaluated with regard to implementation in the classroom.
Although there is no formal evaluation of this model of INSET as an instrument of
change or innovation, the informal reports of many local trainers describe it
unequivocally as weak and ineffective.
The counter model of INSET which SBP proposes focuses on uncovering the
everyday needs of teachers through a task-oriented process of exploration, goal
setting, reflection, and adaptation. Any ensuing decisions which might be taken by
teachers taken regarding, for example, the trialling of materials, procedures or
techniques benefit from, in Karl Weick’s (1976) terms, the “tight coupling” between
decision and action. SBP would involve a crucial role expansion for teachers (de
Caluwe 1988) in that they would become decision makers, self-trainers, and
experimenters. Edge (1994) describes such action as “empowerment” in that teachers
take on the responsibility for change in their own professional lives unprompted by
stimulus from external professional and academic hierarchies. Change and innovation
becomes an ongoing process of action and review infused by commitment.
Such an ambitious in-school INSET endeavour presupposes a climate of direct and
clear communication together with an acceptance and awareness of team roles and
team behaviour. The successful formation of groups capable of such communication
comprising individuals unused to such behaviour requires helpers. These helpers
were called “facilitators”, who could provide guidance and act as role models. The
core strategy of SBP was therefore to train such a group of “facilitator” trainers from
12
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
an existing pool of local ITT and INSET trainers and to guide them through the first
phase of their facilitation work in the schools selected for the pilot project. This work
comprised six 4 hour afternoon workshops held at regular intervals during the school
year from September to May.
2.2.2. The Facilitator Training Programme
The facilitator training programme took place over three days and covered the
following areas:
1. KNOWLEDGE OF CHANGE
change as a process
diverse learning styles and modes
local solutions
involvement of those directly affected
diversity of meaning and understanding of change
notion of ownership
role of change agent
professional/bureaucratic cultures
issues of conflict management
timetables of implementation
role of and effect on institutions
2. FACILITATION AND GROUP MANAGEMENT SKILLS
work place training
open communication
listening and contributing
open agendas
collective goal setting
non blame culture
group tolerance
3. TEAM SKILLS/GROUP ROLES
teams and team work
understanding team and group roles
forming groups and achieving successful outcomes
individual preferred roles
role flexiblity
strengths and allowable weaknesses in roles
complementarity of roles
computer role analysis of facilitators
counselling and application
practice and experimentation
The procedural style of the training programme was based on an E(Experience),
R(Reflection) and A(Application) model. The content was mediated through a series
of tasks, activities and inputs, followed by feedback and analysis, leading to the
trialling of plans, action points and desired outcomes eg prototype sessions with
13
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
teachers in situ, publicity materials for the project, evaluation criteria for process
monitoring.
The content of the programme was derived from the burgeoning canon of expertise in
the fields of educational change and organisational development and was mediated
through the experience of the project consultants. It owed a great deal to the work of
researchers and thinkers such as Fullan (1992), Weick (1976), de Caluwe et al (1988),
Schön (1987), Argyris (1991), Oswald (1990), Cohn (1975) and Belbin (1981). A
central methodological tool in the training process was the group role analysis
provided by Meredith Belbin’s work into management teams. The analysis was
expedited through computer software, the immediacy of which underpinned the
efficacy of the training programme through the insightful feedback to the participants
on their preferred group behaviour. In Cohn’s TCI model (see above), it provided both
explanatory comment and advice in the area of “WE”, the interface between
individuals and groups. It also provided a vocabulary and framework through which
participants’ understanding of the key area of group dynamics could be developed.
2.2.3. Project growth and Follow up Training
There have been 11 further visits by the project consultants to all three federal regions
to train new facilitators, monitor performance in the field, and to carry out follow up
training for existing facilitators. The topics for further training were identified by
facilitators from their experiences with teacher groups in school and fell into three
main areas:
further facilitation skills
- “presence”
- body language
- use of media
- how to deal with difficult individuals
- conflict avoidance strategies
organisational development skills
- how to develop networks
- matrix formations
- building one’s own ELT organisation
facilitator team building review session
- confidence /support
What these requests show is that the facilitators are aware that they too are
participating learners in the project. However the nature of their requests also reveal
the extent to which their conventional training as teachers or their experience as
trainers had failed to equip them for the task in hand. The contrast which the
programme's focus on individual's within the learning process, is the contrast between
the diversity of learning styles and group dynamics and what Legutke and Thomas
(1991) call the unidimensionality of learner behaviour in the transmission approach of
14
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
the traditional classroom and training room. (Readers may be interested to compare
the above list of requests with the list produced by the MEd students in 2.1.3.)
These requests also recognise that developing facilitation skills takes time and is
subject to an experiential cycle of practice, trial and error, reflection, coaching,
discussion and reapplication (see Joyce and Showers 1980). In this cycle the training
programme constitutes merely the initial impulse. Only during the ensuing phases do
participants clarify and reaffirm ideas and understandings, and reinforce newly learned
skills.
For many participants, however, the training experience has initiated a more far
reaching form of professional renewal. Continuing to work in teams, they have
collectively identified further areas of training and have drawn on expertise outside
the initial circle of the project to satisfy a need for further “people management and
organisational skills”. They have attended courses and made use of visiting speakers
in pursuance of new learning goals which the project has generated. In other words
they as teachers have become learners again and have created within their group a
‘learning’ organisation (Fullan 1993 ibid). In doing so they have rediscovered the
thread of meaning and motivation which links teachers in the training room with
learners in classrooms.
2.2.5. Interim evaluations and comments
A formal evaluation of the SBP project model in Austrian schools which takes into
account other possible “stakeholders” is still in the process of completion. However an
interim evaluation in the form of comments is both feasible and illuminating.
The project in general
There are now over 700 teachers in the project and over 50 facilitators have been
trained in all three regions. The exact number of teacher participants is difficult to
ascertain because new school groups join and a few ‘drop out’. Of the latter many are
now working independently without a facilitator. It is also common for schools to
combine for some workshop topics. Since 1991/2 the basic concept of six 4 hour
workshops has gained acceptance and as the workshops are now ongoing , the
continuity of focus, review and communication, essential to prospects of change, has
been achieved.
In Vienna those of the 50 trained facililators who are 'active' are paid for their work
and the group now has a Project Coordinator who receives a time allowance and office
support at the ViennaTeacher Training Institute. The Vienna facilitators have also
formed a strategy group which has spawned working parties, run mentor schemes,
publishes a newsletter, and maintains close links with TEA, the national ELT teachers
organisation.
Schools and schoolboards
There is no quantitative data available yet and, the anecdotally reported support from
many head teachers notwithstanding, no conclusions can be drawn. However, as van
Lier (1988) points out, rich anecdotal evidence is both very revealing, and essential to
15
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
a working understanding of an educational culture. An interesting reaction has been
reported informally however in many schools where other subject groups of equally
isolationist character have lobbied the school board for a similar project. School
boards themselves have been in the main enthusiastic in their support. However, no
authority has undertaken a proper evaluation either independently or through the
project participants to review the results, despite advice to do so. There is a danger
that any initiative can fragment without the interest, however distant, from the
authorising body.
Teacher education and INSET
The project has drawn attention to the paradigm shift in general learning (see below)
and placed process skills on the teacher training agenda. It has also refocussed
attention on INSET as a medium for change and has made a strong argument that
INSET initiatives need to be process driven and not event driven ie they need an
adequate time span with scope for allow for adoption, implementation, and ownership
if successful change is to take place.
With an understanding of change processes facilitators have realised that they need to
tolerate failure and that not every group or individual can be encouraged into active
professional renewal. However, the initial indications from the project suggest that
change can take place when people and their needs are addressed and valued.
A process-agenda often requires skills which are not available in general education or
ELT. The role of Rex Barrand, a psychologist and management consultant, in the
development of SBP cannot be understated. It is a fundamental conclusion of the
project consultants that ELT or general pedagogy cannot at present address the needs
of teachers without the eclectic support of other disciplines and non academic
activities. This is a viewpoint already articulated within the profession through voices
such as Holzmann (1994) who attributes the need for teacher development to draw on
sources outside the traditionally academic to "a wish in the profession to rewrite our
job-profiles (de-emphasise the academic aspect), a wish to open ourselves to more
training in social and self competence".
Learners
Impact on learners is the yardstick of any change project within INSET and the lack of
data here points to a possible failure to envision the project as a change project. In
other words the tight coupling between INSET and classroom change did not occur.
The omission to build this element into the project plan is more to do we think with
the preoccupying size of INSET challenges, the lack of experience in evaluating
INSET through classroom outcomes, and the timescales involved than an
underestimation of its importance. It can also be argued, however, that data has not yet
come available. Nevertheless, facilitators report informally that many teachers are
experimenting with a variety of classroom practices and new materials.
Teachers
The informal data on teachers and their reactions, derived from the oral reports of
facilitators, is more detailed and can be itemised as follows:
16
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
Quantitative achievements of SBP
Range of activities undertaken in school groups
- presentations of teaching techniques
- videotaping of a lesson
- peer teaching activities
- creation of resource centres/materials banks at schools
- evaluation and exchange of teaching materials
- peer observation
Qualitative achievements of SBP
Range of important but difficult to measure improvements
- the increased level of teamwork, support, participation and
involvement among teacher groups
- the apparent breakdown of “professional” reserve and
cynicism among many teachers involved
- a greater feeling of motivation to attempt new teaching
techniques
- more conversation about professional matters among
teacher groups
- a greater sharing of problems and a higher level of problem
solving within teacher groups
- more conscious and active support for less experienced
colleagues
Ascertaining teachers' general feelings to the project (over and above what can be
deduced from their active and willing participation) has been carried out from time to
time in the Vienna SBP by the project coordinator. (It is important to note that at the
beginning of the project schools were only allowed to participate if all the English
teaching staff were in favour of joining the scheme.) In the most recent questionnaire,
out of a returner rate of 40%, 88% of the sample thought the project worthwhile,
personally valuable, and professionally very helpful in dealing with the new
curriculum.
Karl-Heinz Ribisch, the Vienna coordinator, comments (personal communication):
“The questionnaires show that SBP is seen by the participants as something positive.
It seems there is a need, consciously or subconsciously, among teachers for a high
level of professional cooperation and teamwork. It has gone beyond mere teacher
training in the sense that it does just not focus on content and teaching techniques; it
brings the teachers closer together and raises their level of self confidence.”
2.2.6. Concluding Remarks
In a world of diminishing financial resources with the resulting pressures on people
and systems it is no surprise that there are many rough edges to the Austrian SBP
project narrative. The project has grown in many directions at once and any evaluation
has much to encompass at the moment. Nevertheless we can say that, as a form of
17
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
non-hierarchical, direct action for change, it offers a great deal for teachers and
authorities alike. For the former it grants the space and freedom to focus on what they
think, feel and do, and for the latter it offers the security that teachers’ needs can be
identified and acted upon in an efficient way. For both, the school-based focus of
direct action might mean fewer obstacles in creating more positve outcomes for
learners. But above all, for INSET professionals, it offers the potential to experiment
with ways in which paradigm forming changes can be introduced into the profession.
3. Towards An Understanding of Process Competence for Trainers
In the previous section, we have outlined, with reference to two case studies of trainer
training programmes, what we believe to be the means for helping participants to
develop ‘process competence’ for preparing teachers for the challenges of the
redesigned language classroom. The purpose of this section is to present a more
specific picture of process competence based on our experience on trainer training
programmes. What we present here is by its very nature interim. Both of the case
study programmes reviewed in Section 2 are constantly developing and changing.
Indeed it is the challenge of change which we find most compelling about this work.
As our constructs of what it is that enables a trainer to engage in ‘active’ preparation
of teachers take shape and form, so they are open to exploration by our colleagues and
participants. What we present here marks a particular stage of development. We
welcome debate and discussion of any of the ideas presented here both as a means of
extending our own knowledge and also to help us examine our own thinking
processes.
Figure 6 presents an overview of process competence.
PROCESS COMPETENCE
training as facilitation
facilitation as:
1. Process Management
- intra and interpersonal skills
- procedural style: ‘conversation’ vs didactics
- leadership/participation
2. Group Creation and Organisation
- group/team building
- role knowledge
- person management
3. Implementation of Change
- practical and theoretical knowledge about change processes
- awareness: human reactions
Figure 6: Process Competence - Core Elements
18
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
Process competence is the capacity to manage the educational process for trainers. For
us it comprises a) process management - the management of actual training events;
b) the capacity to create and organise groups and c) the knowledge and skills to
manage the implementation of change. These three core capacities relate to the three
key aspects of trainer training in the following way:
 the actual training process itself, as it unfolds in training sessions
 the ways in which a training group works together as a group
 and finally the central element of change and the management of change
We have grouped under each core capacity aspects of knowledge, skills and
awarenesses which, taken together (the Appendix contains detailed descriptions of
each element), comprise a model of process competence consistent with our
experience. We see these aspects as providing the core of training for teacher trainers
if they are to respond to the challenge of the redesigned language classroom.
3.2 Training Processes
We have remarked in Section 2 that the type of training we have used with
participants on facilitators’ development programmes has tended to work from
participants’ experience as either training participants as both trainers and participants
(the trainer training MEd experience) or in the field as school-based facilitators (the
Austrian SPB experience). We would like here to briefly summarise the main stages
and processes involved in these programmes. The full experience is summarised in
Figure 6 below.
In essence, we advocate training that builds upon participants’ previous or currently
shared experience in the training room or in service. By reflecting on this experience
in different ways, participants can be encouraged to explore their own thinking about
the processes involved in facilitation, and to understand the rationale behind their
training. We refer to this as ‘creating meaning’ (after Bolitho and Wright 1997). When
participants have refined their thinking about an issue, they are then ready to prepare
for the next phase of their training or work. The overall process appears to us as very
versatile, and can be adapted for use with a wide range of trainer participants in a
variety of contexts.
The experiential cycle enables facilitators of training for trainers to actively engage the
participants in a consideration of the rationale for training and can assist in developing
a knowledge of facilitation that connects thought and action, enabling participants to
explore their own theories of action (Argyris and Schon 1974) as facilitators.
19
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
New experience
EXPERIENCE
(past or present
individual or shared)
PLANNING
for Action
REFLECTION
‘CREATING
MEANING’
Figure 7 An experiential learning cycle for training (based on Bolitho and Wright
1996 after Kolb 1984)
We have remarked that process competence is about managing training. We recognise
that, by moving beyond the concerns of pedagogy and methodology, by rejecting the
extremes of didacticism and untramelled exploration and by valuing the need for
facilitators to be masters of new areas of knowledge, skills and awareness, trainer
training should build on existing skills and work from participants’ agendas (see
Bolitho and Wright 1995, 1997 and Wright and Bolitho 2006 forthcoming).
At this stage we should remind readers that change at classroom level is not simply
about acquiring a new set of teaching techniques. Any new ways of teaching have
implications for classroom life. Working in a learner-centred classroom, for example,
entails an experiential outlook. This means a concern on the part of the teacher for
both the process and product dimensions of learning which unfolds within the social
reality of the classroom. It is not enough simply to be interested in "recipe book
approaches" to classroom learning which may superficially appear to be processoriented. In other words it is crucially important that we approach classroom change
holistically, for the target is life-long learning. Experiential learning is a constant
process of evolution, development, and refinement.
3.3 Managing Change
We would like to close with a brief description of how organisations are changing,
from the perspective of management style. In the spirit of the paradigm shift referred
to in Section 1, we see this development also as indicative of behaviour within future
educational organisations whether they be formal institutions or loose groupings of
colleagues who combine for purposes of professional enrichment.
20
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
LEADERSHIP SUMMARY
FROM
TO
STRONG LEADERS
AT THE TOP
STRONG LEADERS
EVERYWHERE
TELLING
LISTENING
PASSIVE RECEIVERS
INDIVIDUAL’S ACTIONS
LINKED TO
ORGANISATION'S GOALS
"HEROICS"
INTERDEPENDENT
RELATIONSHIPS
SLOW
IMPLEMENTATION
FAST
IMPLEMENTATION
Figure 8 The paradigm shift in leadership (after Whitaker 1993)
What we have described in this paper has, we believe, profound implications for
training agendas in language education. Further, we are aware that its consequences do
not suggest easy acceptance by other more politically populist stakeholders in the
educational debate. The change agenda is therefore all the more challenging in its
scope. However, we believe with Edge (1994 ibid) that educational institutions must
actively embrace change and change processes or run the risk of having unwanted,
retrogressive changes thrust upon them. We hope that the debate which might be
stimulated by our remarks on process competence might take us towards Fullan’s
1993 ideal:
We don’t have a learning profession. Teachers and teacher educators do not
know enough about subject matter, they don’t know enough about how to teach,
and they don’t know enough about how to understand and influence the
conditions around them. Above all, teacher education is not geared towards
continuous learning. Making explicit and strengthening moral purpose and
change agentry and their connection is the key to altering the profession.
(Fullan 1993:108)
Howard Thomas/Tony Wright
Bath and Plymouth
January-October 1996
(Revised August 2006)
21
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
[Note to readers: While this paper is an accurate account of the presentation we gave
at the Triangle Colloquium at the British Council in Paris in February 1996, it is also
the outcome of a dialogue and collaboration that began before and has continued
long after the Colloquium itself. Our decision to publish our work under joint
authorship reflects not only our joint presentation at the Colloquium. but also our
continued collaboration. We hope this contributes towards others’ attempts to build
effective professional relationships.]
* This article originally appeared in Triangle 15: Redesigning the Language
Classroom. Paris: ENS Editions. (1999)
22
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
Bibliography
Argyris, C. 1991. Overcoming Organisational Defenses. Needham Heights: Mass.
Allyn and Bacon.
Argyris, C. and D. Schön. 1974. Theory in Practice. San Francisco, CA., Jossey Bass.
Barnes, D. 1969. From Communication to Curriculum.Harmondsworth: Penguin.
Belbin, R.M. 1981. Management Teams:Why They Succeed or Fail Oxford:
Heinemann.
Bolitho, R. and T. Wright. 1995. Starting from where they’re at: towards an
appropriate methodology for training. TESOL France Journal 2/1.
Bolitho, R. and T. Wright. 1997.Working with participants’ ideas and constructs in
trainer training. In I. McGrath (ed) Learning to Train: Perspectives on the
Development of Language Teacher Trainers Hemel Hempstead: Prentice-Hal
Breen, M.P. and C.N. Candlin. 1980. The essentials of a communicative curriculum in
language teaching. Applied Linguistics.1/2
Brown, S. and D. McIntyre. 1993. Making Sense of Teaching. Milton Keynes: Open
University Press.
Bruner, J.S. 1966. Towards A Theory of Instruction. Cambridge: Mass.: Harvard
University Press
Capra, F. 1982. The Turning Point.London: Fontana
Claxton, G. 1996. Implicit theories of learning. In Claxton, G, T.Atkinson, M. Osborn
and M. Wallace (eds) 1996.Liberating the Learner: Lessons for Professional
Development in Education London: Routledge.
Cohn, R. 1975. Von der Psychoanalyse zur Themenzentrierten Interaktion. Von der
Behandlung einzelner zu einer Pädagogik für alle. Stuttgart: Klett-Cotta.
Day, C., J. Calderhead and P. Denicolo (eds) 1993. Research on Teacher Thinking.
London:Falmer Press
de Caluwé, L., E.C.H. Marx, M.W. Petri. 1988. School Development: Models and
Change. Leuven: ACCO.
Edge, J.1994. Empowerment: Principles and Procedures in Teacher Training. In
Triangle 12 ‘The European Dimension in Pre-and In-service Teacher
Development:New Directions. Goethe Institut/The British Council/ENS-Credif.
Fullan, M. 1982. The Meaning of Educational Change. London: Cassell.
Fullan, M. 1991. The New Meaning of Educational Change.London: Cassell.
Fullan, M. 1993. Change Forces. London: Falmer Press
Gleick, J. 1988. Chaos London: Heinemann
Hargreaves, A. 1994. Changing Teachers, Changing Times. London: Cassell
Holzmann, C. 1994. “The Return of the Non-native”. The Fourth International
NELLE Conference in Innsbruck Sept 1994. ELT News No.24. Vienna: The
British Council.
Jackson, P. 1979.The way teaching is. in N. Bennett and D. McNamara (eds) Focus on
Teaching. London: Longman
John, P. 1996. Understanding the apprenticeship of observation in initial teacher
education: exploring student teachers’ implicit theories of teaching and learning. In
Claxton, G, T.Atkinson, M. Osborn and M. Wallace (eds) 1996.Liberating the
Learner: Lessons for Professional Development in Education London: Routledge.
Joyce B, and B. Showers. 1980. Improving in-service training: The messages from
research. Educational Leadership. 37
23
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
Kohonen, V. 1989. Experiential Language Learning - towards second language
learning as learner education. Bilingual Research Group Working Papers. Santa
Cruz: CA.:University of California
Kolb, D.A. 1984.Experiential Learning. Englewood Cliffs,NJ: Prentice-Hall
Kuhn, T.H. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: Chicago
University Press.
Legutke, M and H. Thomas. 1991. Process and Experience in the Language
Classroom. Harlow: Longman.
Oswald, E. 1990. Gemeinsam statt Einsam: Arbeitsplatzbezogene
Lehrer/innenfortbildung. Verlag Brunner AG. Kriens.
Ribisch, K-H. 1992. New Dimensions for Teacher Training in Vienna AHS: The
Pilot Project 1991-92: SCHOOL-BASED TEACHER DEVELOPMENT. ELT
News No.16, Vienna: The British Council
Ribisch, K-H et al. 1993. SBP, The Vienna Schools-Based INSET Project on its Way
into Year Three14. ELT News No.21, Vienna: The British Council.
Rowland, S. 1993. The Enquiring Tutor. London: Falmer Press.
Schon, D.A. 1983. The Reflective Practitioner. London: Temple-Smith
Schon, D.A. 1987. Educating the Reflective Practitioner. San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass.
Stenhouse, L. 1975. Curriculum Development and Research. London: Heinemann.
Toffler, A. 1973. Future Shock.London:Fontana.
van Lier, L. 1988. The Classroom and the Language Learner. Harlow: Longman.
Weick, K. 1976. Educational organisations as loosely coupled systems. Administrative
Science Quarterly, 21.
Whitaker, P. 1993. Managing Change in Schools. Buckingham: Open University
Press
Wright, T.1987. Roles of Teachers and Learners. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Wright, T. 1990. Understanding classroom role relationships. In J.C. Richards and D.
Nunan (eds) Second Language Teacher Education.Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Wright, T and R. Bolitho. 2006 (forthcoming). Trainer Development.
24
© Thomas and Wright (1999)
APPENDIX - ELEMENTS of PROCESS COMPETENCE
PROCESS MANAGEMENT
facilitators need a wide range of
interpersonal skills
PROCESS MANAGEMENT
facilitators need a wide range of
interpersonal skills
KNOWLEDGE of
 a range of influencing and intervention
strategies
 a range of conflict management strategies
KNOWLEDGE of
 a range of influencing and intervention
strategies
 a range of conflict management strategies
SKILLS to
 be good listeners
 respond flexibly and show tolerance
towards diversity
 provide space in training for reflection and
subsequent learning opportunities
 focus on participants’ goals
 set tasks and encourage achievement of
goals
 demonstrate and personify techniques for
personal and group growth
SKILLS to
 be good listeners
 respond flexibly and show tolerance
towards diversity
 provide space in training for reflection and
subsequent learning opportunities
 focus on participants’ goals
 set tasks and encourage achievement of
goals
 demonstrate and personify techniques for
personal and group growth
AWARENESS of
 own facilitator style - its strengths and
weaknesses
AWARENESS of
 own facilitator style - its strengths and
weaknesses
IMPLEMENTATION of CHANGE
facilitators need
KNOWLEDGE to
 understand general change theory and
processes
 understand change theory and practice in
professional contexts
 understand how people react to change
SKILLS to
 be able to explain the content of changes
clearly
 help groups and individuals develop
strategies for managing change
 plan, monitor and evaluate change
 gather data from professional contexts and
analyse/interpret it
 facilitate training groups
AWARENESS of
 one’s own personal responses to change
 others’ responses to change (signs of
change in individuals)
 one’s own limitations as a change agent
 one’s own capacity for development