Driving educational change at school federation level: A case study of team-based learning

Thesis

This case study is the response to an institutional need. It explores the suitability of promoting a university teaching method called Team-Based Learning as the key driver for educational change in the sixth-form of a Spanish school federation seeking to move towards active learning. Yet, the transformation of classroom teaching practices has been widely ignored by the field of educational change or, at best, considered to be the result, rather than the driver, of a dramatic shift in pedagogic culture. One that has proven elusive in large-scale, and mostly unsuccessful public policies of school reform, which underestimate the capacity of local settings to initiate and deliver change. This study reverses this top-down strategy, aligning with, and complementing, recent bottom-up approaches which, while devising conceptual frameworks to promote small-scale initiatives for educational change, fail to provide educators with operational teaching methods; it contends that Team-Based Learning might be one of them.

Drawing on the field of educational change, the Team-Based Learning framework, and organisational development theory, the study involves 18 teachers of 9 subjects, from 12 state-sponsored schools under the umbrella of the federation, in a one-year inter-school intervention that impacts on more than 500 sixth formers across Spain. The empirical research, focused on the sixth-form teachers’ perspective, develops a triangulation method to analyse data gathered from a mixed-method approach that encompasses a bespoke questionnaire, an online forum, 6 interviews, and collaborative visual charts. The research argues that promoting Team-Based Learning across the federation is a suitable, worthwhile strategy to drive educational change. In highlighting the centrality of teachers’ attitudes towards innovative pedagogies and the crucial role played by the 16% of staff members proactive about change, it focuses on exploring the extent to which sixth-form innovators’ stance on TBL is favourable. The findings are encouraging: those expected to lead the change find TBL dramatically transformative, would like to adopt it, and are willing to collaborate in its dissemination, considering it to be feasible with the appropriate institutional support.

The study further develops the Team-Based Learning framework by addressing several gaps in research and might be helpful for other multi-site institutions seeking educational change. It has enhanced the organisational development of the school federation by encouraging the adoption of autonomous, research-based policies and has greatly reinforced my leadership role by creating a thriving, transformative community of practice.

Authors: Urmeneta, O

• DOI: 10.5287/ora-8n4exzem9
• Type of award: MSc taught course
• Level of award: Masters
• Awarding institution: University of Oxford
• Language: English
• Keywords: MLT 2018; MLT
• Subjects: Education