CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS OF THE STUDY

The Teacher Consultant's role

In the Grand Erie District School Board, the job of the teacher consultant offers great freedom to define the parameters of the role. Each consultant works with the board's areas of emphasis but has the latitude to select and promote specific projects that speak to his or her values as educators. Each consultant completes a goal package to identify short- and long-term plans, and this goal package forms the basis of the consultant's work for the school year. One goal is required of each consultant: to support teachers in classrooms with the larger aim of improving student learning.

Because the consultant's work is with classroom teachers, developing good professional relationships is of utmost importance in practice. Teachers' past experience with me as a colleague didn't really give a frame of reference to help them relate to me in this role, and a considerable amount of time was spent building relationships and developing professional trust with all the teachers in my schools. The same was true of the Agribusiness teachers--both had known me as a science teacher, but neither had worked with me in a larger, more holistic capacity.

To build these relationships, I had to learn about myself. Through the process of journaling, I discovered the difference between myself as a teacher and as a consultant. My educative values were the same, but my circle of influence was broader, and growing. This transition is very important to the role of consultant; if one cannot view the bigger picture of teacher practice, student learning, and influence, there is no growth within the position, and even the most competent teachers cannot extend their expertise to others. This is why action research is an important tool for the teacher consultant. It offers a formalized way to relate board emphases, goal plan, professional values, circle of influence, and student learning in a cycle of reflection and improvement.

Project Management: A New Consultant's Perspective

In my new role as teacher consultant, I discovered that a considerable avalanche of information crossed my desk each week. In most cases, the senders of the information expect the consultants to share their materials openly and diligently with all teaching staff. This is an impossibility. Not all material matches the 's mandates; some of it is not aligned with Ministry policy; other material is either shoddily researched or poorly presented. To a large extent, one of the consultant's jobs is to sift through the information that arrives and disseminate it as appropriate when appropriate. In light of the amount and frequency of new information in Ontario's newly implemented curriculum, I felt compelled to keep Doug and Rob up to date on the new guidelines for secondary curriculum and assessment. Additionally, I was helping them to learn about interdisciplinary studies, mainly through materials I shared with them. While I believed it was important to share articles and documents, I found it challenging to find balance in sharing information with the teachers: Too much information would be overwhelming, while too little would oversimplify the complex nature of IDS learning. Engaged in their day-to-day job of teaching and assessing, teachers have neither the time nor inclination to read copious pages of educational theory; today, I provide teachers with summaries and encourage them to ask for the full versions as interested. A consultant is a generalist in terms of information: required to know and share something about everything. The best information sharing is in the form of ready-to-use practical activities to use in real classes. I have learned that teachers want practical information that can be used directly with the classes they teach; they have difficulty moving from the close-up of their class needs to the bigger pictures presented in educational theory.

I discovered that meeting the teachers with literature and information related to interdisciplinary studies without practical usable examples which related directly to their situation did little if anything to move the teachers towards greater integration. This observation, although late in the case of the implementation of this program, is a revelation to teacher consultants. While many teacher consultants are advocates for educational theory and research into student learning through personal inquiry, this is not so for many of our colleagues in the field. Possibly our more global perspective and experience which immerse us in educational pedagogy daily is what makes it difficult for us to connect with teachers.

The teachers in the project sought practical examples of theory in action. I wanted to help the teachers make philosophical connections between the mandated curriculum and good teaching practice. I knew that there were assessment issues for them to explore and that both of them, rather traditional in their practice, would need to make a leap of faith or experience a paradigm shift in order to work fluently in the IDS pilot. This leap came more easily than I anticipated. When I introduced some ideas regarding assessment for the course, both Doug and Rob agreed with my ideas, as Doug's interview indicates: "I think your ideas are good for the marking. I like the way the work is assessed outside the usual categories of labs, tests, and so on. It makes sense for a more innovative course and allows for bigger thinking in projects" (transcribed interview notes, October 21, 1999) It was good to see that they trusted my judgment here: They designed a standards- based course of study (see Appendix C); they both attempted to use new assessment strategies; they remained committed to integration and authentic learning experiences for the students. While Rob and Doug followed my instructions about assessment practice and demonstrated surface interest in integration, it was my responsibility to teach them about these things. Here, I learned that teacher consultants live in the abstract but that they must work to make the abstract concrete for the teachers they serve.

When I became a teacher consultant, one of the most enjoyable things was having the time and opportunity to read and discuss information about educational topics. At any given meeting, many different perspectives are aired, most often by other consultants who have experience, interest, and expertise connected to the topics at hand. Open discussion with colleagues is a natural part of any consultants' meeting, and through this discussion, I developed my own knowledge about curriculum and assessment. Classroom teachers do not have this opportunity. They are in a position of accepting or rejecting information as it is handed to them. I have come to value the process of creating and sharing knowledge even more than the product which, in this case, is the project itself. It would have been beneficial for Doug, Rob, and me to have more time for collegial dialogue about interdisciplinary studies. While I could hear the enthusiasm in their individual voices, they virtually never had the chance to really talk about the potential or actuality for this course because they met as they could: between classes in the hallway, at lunch, during other meetings. I know that my own growth as a consultant is informed by the conversations I have with my colleagues, and this is what I hoped would happen with Doug and Rob. I have come to value the process, sloppy and difficult as it is, as the greatest forum for learning, for creating and sharing knowledge.

Maneuvering Partners in the "Dance of Change"

In his book , The Dance of Change: the Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations (1999), Peter Senge discusses the challenges of sustaining momentum in learning organizations. Using a graphic organizer, he identifies challenges for effecting profound change: redesigning and rethinking, initiating, and sustaining. Senge values challenges as motivators for people to make deep, sustained change: "Challenges are opportunities to improve -- by exercising our attention, understanding, and ultimate creativity. This is not dissimilar to the Chinese notion of crisis: two symbols meaning ‘danger' and ‘opportunity'" (p. 29). As a teacher consultant, my job has been to lead my dance partners through challenges to effect change. In terms of this project, I have worked to connect theory to practice for myself and the two teachers. I have also worked to develop credibility as a secondary consultant. I have come to a form relational knowing (Gallego et al., 2001, p. 240) regarding my role: I know about curriculum and instruction, I know about myself and others, and I know about critical action.

It is virtually impossible to understand all of the interconnected organizational structures in the world of education. Every stratum of school organization is encompassed by another which serves the same purpose in a larger way. This onion-like nature of educational organization is necessary in a time when "accountability" is such a watchword. At every level, checks and balances ensure that taxpayers' money is not frivolously spent and that the service providers provide quality service. At each level, someone understands clearly the processes and procedures of its organization; however, there is not much understanding among the levels. In moving from the classroom to consultancy, I was finally able to see the workings of the structures that had been so confounding in the early stages of this project. As a consultant, I now try to help teachers understand some of the complexities of our organizational structures. I think it is important for them to see why promised funding doesn't materialize when they expect it. I recognize the frustrations teachers feel navigating through the layers of our organizational structure and believe that my understanding can help them feel validated.

As a classroom teacher, I was completely unaware of the levels of vetting required for any project. As a teacher consultant, I have come to understand that most projects begin with a stated end date and vetting dates set in reverse chronological order to the present. Timelines are always short, even when a project seems to have a long finish line, because each stage of approval requires editing, revision, and conversation. In my project, I often felt that it was very difficult to move from theory into practice. At almost every organizational level, I met with acceptance in theory or words that was slow to materialize into tangible support in practice. I know that moving a project from theory into practice takes determination and commitment from all partners. I have learned that helping teachers understand that the connections between what is agreed in theory and what materializes in practice do not come naturally.

The teachers are in the classrooms every day. Principals, consultants, coordinators, superintendents, and education officers are not. Teachers drive any curriculum, so it makes sense that educational change happens in their hands. As the head of science, I was prepared to drive the IDS course in agribusiness to successful implementation at my school. In the once-removed role of consultant, I could offer driving instructions at best. For a project to come to true implementation and success, there must be a level of ownership deeper than the consultant. When all organizational players are on the same field, ownership becomes shared, with each level understanding and meeting its commitment to the project. In this project, I brought the IDS course in agribusiness to Rob and Doug, who were prepared to run with it. I recognize now that they were implementing my project, doing me a favour. I have learned that the success of a project comes in shared ownership, with all partners understanding and valuing the essence of the work.

As a new teacher consultant, I believed that sharing resources, ideas, and opinions with the teachers in this project would lead them to change their practice and become more holistic, integrated teachers. In fact, my ideas were not precisely what the teachers needed to change. I recognize upon reflection that I gave them too much information and was not a very effective filter when the teachers had neither the time nor inclination to read every piece of information I shared about agriculture, business, or integration.

When I provided templates for curriculum writing or models of lesson plans that demonstrated a high level of integration, the teachers were able to use them effectively and make connections to their work from that point forward. Thus, I believe that the teachers would have benefited from seeing a model of integrated teaching in their classrooms. My colleagues who are elementary consultants often model lessons for the teachers with whom they work, and I see great value in this practice. In this particular instance, it would have established a common level of understanding and provided a talking point for teachers to begin exploring integration in their classes. In fact, I feel that in future secondary curriculum projects, consultants and teachers should actively use modelled lessons to build initial capacity for understanding. Once models have been provided, the consultant is in a position to offer support and guide the project from the side, finally leaving the project entirely and allowing the teachers to function independently.

Another concern for the secondary consultant is the need to be a specialist and a generalist at the same time. Secondary teachers value their subject disciplines and expect their consultants to do the same. At the same time, the teachers also want the consultant to be well versed in the more generalist aspects of education: curriculum design, assessment practice, and teaching strategies. As a new consultant, I was apprehensive about my teachers finding out that I didn't know everything about everything. I learned that I had to admit to the teachers that I did not have all the answers, but I also learned to find out where to get the answers quickly. The new consultant is in his own dance of change, too. Becoming a consultant means shifting perspective from the small picture of one's own classes to the big picture of one's whole system. When the dance floor gets bigger, the dancers have to find out how to adjust their movements, and this was a real challenge for this consultant, who was the first dancer in the conga line of a new curriculum project.

The Secondary Consultant as an Educational Leader

In any curriculum project, it is important to maintain excellent communication with all partners. In my case, I committed to meet with the IDS teachers once every 2 weeks. In the life of a consultant, this kind of commitment is difficult to make and meet. With many and varied projects, committee responsibilities, and individual teachers' needs all part of the job description, time becomes a prized commodity, and it is sometimes difficult to make time for all aspects of a given project. This was definitely the case in the IDS Action Research project.

The teachers felt the constraints of time as much as I did. They found it difficult to meet at school to discuss the course and its progress since their timetables did not offer common preparation time. While I did arrange some opportunities for class release time for the teachers, this occurred only during the writing phase, again, a financial consideration. My meetings with them took place during lunch or preparation time and usually meant that we were meeting in pairs rather than all three together. In spite of this, it was obvious that these teachers respected each other and understood essentially the other side of the course. Still, it was more difficult for me to have a sense of wholeness regarding my facilitation of the course.

In this project, timing of teaching assignments had an impact on communication and collaboration between Rob and Doug. In order to facilitate team teaching or doubling up periods on a given day, Rob taught the agriculture section in period one and had a preparation period in period two. Conversely, Doug taught science in period two and had a preparation period in period one. At first, this seemed to be a very logical way to organize the teachers' assignments, allowing maximum flexibility for field trips, double lessons, and other teaching strategies connected to interdisciplinary studies. In retrospect, it would have been much better to schedule the teachers' preparation time in common, particularly for the first run of this course, That would have allowed the teachers much-needed common time to discuss not only the integration aspects of the course, but also teaching strategies, short- and long-range planning, and assessment.

Time seems to have been the most significant barrier to strong mentorship in this case. While using alternative modes of communication including e-mail, dialogue journals, and voice mail is not as time intensive as in-person interaction, they serve different purposes than face-to-face meetings and may not offer a full mentorship experience. With more time open for communication, these teachers would have had more access to my support as well as the internal support they could have given each other. I have learned how to provide time to teachers working on curriculum projects. Each curriculum project is connected to a budget that allows release time for teachers, and by using the budget liberally to this end, teachers are able to schedule time for planning, discussion, and reflection. It is important to actually schedule meeting dates and times early in a project's life so that inviolate opportunity exists for the process of change rather than for simply producing materials. I recognize this precious commodity as absolutely necessary when leading teachers in professional development because ,without it, their time is already spoken for. Supervision duties, meetings, coaching, marking, and classroom teaching are the true day-to-day activities in a teacher's life, and these leave little extra time for professional reading or dialogue. While Rob acknowledges that after-school time could have been spent on this project, during the course of the semester neither teacher seemed willing or able to work on the IDS course after school: "While timetabling and time constraints and pressures were indeed a factor in the paucity of meetings between the two teachers, as you have been quite kind in noting, I personally accept my failing with respect to the fact we should have met at some mutually convenient time after school" (e-mail, January 9, 2003). In spite of 's statement of culpability, I feel that building in more release time for the teachers would not only allow them uninterrupted opportunity for growth and dialogue, but it would be seen as a gesture of good faith, supporting their efforts to try something new by giving them a break from trying to do everything at once. It seems likely that interest generated during release time conferences would increase momentum for the whole project outside of class time. In the end, a few hours release time would actually produce much greater commitment to the project after the end of the school day.

The role of teacher consultant is one that comes without the weight of power but with the obligation of influence. Unlike supervisory officers and principals, consultants are nobody's boss. Teacher consultants foster attitudes but cannot require them, and in this context I found some difficulty in bringing this project to meet what I defined as its potential. In the initial stages, I clearly owned this project and was prepared to do anything necessary to make the IDS course in agribusiness work for students in my department at my school. When I left the classroom to become a consultant, I was still committed to the project, but my role shifted from a very hands-on implementation to a step-away facilitation. I learned I had to relinquish some parts of my original vision for the course so that Rob and Doug could define and mete out their vision. I have discovered a similar dilemma in many other projects: The consultant must have a clear grasp of the overall concepts of a project, but cannot hold it so tightly that others cannot add their distinct touch.

Secondary teachers in our board have very little past experience with consultants; in most secondary schools, the department heads have been responsible for curriculum leadership and as a result, few secondary teachers have held board-level curriculum support positions. I had both the luxury and curse of defining a new role and subsequently making my role clear to the teachers I would work with. Many of the teachers in my schools did not understand my position, thinking I had left our federation or believing that I was simply fulfilling an ambitious need to climb within the organization. Even the teachers in this project, both of whom had worked with me on in-school initiatives, were somewhat suspicious of my motivation in the IDS agribusiness project. I had to build a new relationship with Doug and Rob, helping them to see that I was their advocate and not an agent of the board sent to enforce or monitor specific behaviours. I chose to build my credibility with them by reacting quickly to requests for resources or assistance. I further gained their confidence by not pushing too hard for them to embrace greater integration, allowing them to find their pace of moving forward in their philosophy and practice.

I worked to help Rob and Doug see me as a consultant rather than a science teacher or supervisor. I don't think I mastered this during the course of the project, but I learned a lot about building relationships and have incorporated my learning into virtually every project in my portfolio since that time. I know that when I meet teachers, I have to do what I can to set their minds at ease, and much of this comes from listening and hearing rather than speaking and telling. As a stated or perceived expert in curriculum areas, listening instead of talking may not come naturally to the teacher consultant, but it is a skill that can bring large dividends: Stronger relationships are forged when each participant's voice is valued.

Implications for Practice

It is important to note that in this board the support staff are called teacher consultants. This highlights the fact that the consulting staff is not in a power position over the classroom teachers and has no role in assessing or mandating performance. We are teachers first and foremost; we come from classrooms, and our work is with and for teachers. It is important to clarify this point early in the role. In this context, any project undertaken by a teacher consultant needs the support of classroom colleagues who will be on the front lines delivering the program to the students. When teachers do not share the same level of ownership, or view the consultant with skepticism, the success of a project initiated by the consultant may be in jeopardy. The consultant can only support and guide, and it is the practitioners who choose to accept, refuse, or ignore this guidance. Consultants have the opportunity to read, hear, and discuss the educational theories that move systems. They offer teachers the bridge between theory and practice, and these bridges must be built on mutual respect and trust. This takes time and funding. These issues should be determined at the outset. One way to do this is to be very clear about the objectives of the project and the expectations of all partners. This would include overtly stated outcomes, timelines, schedules, funding, and specific requirements for each participant at the outset of the project.

In my practice, I have come to examine the bridges I offer teachers. In the early days of the IDS agribusiness project and, indeed, my role as a teacher consultant, I often saw the bridges as documents or materials that would be shared or created to support student learning. The IDS agribusiness project brought to light the importance of process over product. I recognize now that I learned the most about the IDS project through informal but guided conversations with Rob and Doug about the project. I realize that more of this kind of meeting would have offered them an opportunity to air their concerns, ask questions, and share their triumphs. Today, I understand the power of professional conversation and build discussion time into my projects. If I were undertaking a similar project today, I would also assist teachers to find common preparation periods, I would offer release time for the development and reflective work in the project, and I would encourage teachers to find off-site locations to meet in order to curb in-school interruptions. It is difficult to do this, given the pressure to produce, but it is invaluable and, I believe, the best way for me to work within organizational structures, create and share knowledge, and build capacity for educational leadership.

It is important that consultants find a collaborative network among their support staff colleagues. It is a good idea to work on early projects in partnership with experienced consultants who already know about managing the organization, providing support, and accomplishing goals. However, because there are few of these positions, only a handful of others know the breadth and depth of the work. New consultants find themselves doubting their worth, their work, their positions; they must find a way to be comfortable and accountable in the support role, and this often happens through relationships with other consultants.

Since the end of the IDS agribusiness project, I have been involved in both informal and formal mentorship programs for new teacher consultants. The formal induction program provides the nuts and bolts of the job to new consultants, but it is in the informal mentoring that I have made a difference to my colleagues. Helping new consultants prepare for the elation of success and the despair of failure is an important implication for my practice. Because I know how it felt to be a new consultant facilitating a project that was filled with potential and fraught with challenges, I can offer new consultants support as they prepare and participate in projects. I believe it is important to help new consultants find ways to prioritize and organize the information overload that faces them every day in this role. I believe it is important to help new consultants find ways to establish their credibility as support staff members. I would like to help new consultants find ways to motivate teachers to acquire new knowledge and apply it to their practice.

I am now a support staff veteran. I have developed strategies in my areas of concern, and I believe that by collaborating with new consultants, I can ease their way and at the same time enrich my practice as a supportive colleague. That said, I must remember that my consultant colleagues are teachers whose voices need to be heard above the drone of my experience.

Recommendations for Further Research

Across Ontario, the roles of curriculum support staff vary greatly; even within our board, this is true. Because of the diverse nature of our jobs, teacher consultants' involvement in reflective action research of our practice not only develops our self-efficacy but also expands to provide insight into the way boards can employ consultants to help develop teachers' capacity to improve student learning. Generalized studies of the nature of consultancy do not speak to the true complexity of the role and the relationships that are integral to the effectiveness of program support. Future studies of program support need to focus more on establishing the relationships and how they are fostered in different contexts.

Recent movements in Ontario towards greater accountability in all areas of education have created demands on boards and schools to set targets for improvement. Teachers and administrators are required to actively engage in school-based goal setting and improvement planning. With their curriculum expertise combined with a rich environment for informal development, teacher consultants can be key in accountability processes. In our board, there is great potential for practitioner research to explore how to support administrators and teachers through the system level as they work toward the goals at the school level.

The complex nature of school-driven, data-based decision making with overt goals to improve student learning requires collaboration, team-building, and support from all the partners in education. It is here that the greatest potential for future research lives. Research examining process rather than product may be able to move schools away from the realm of templates and quick fixes into true reform and improvement. More specifically, consultants could research their roles in such processes, seeking to explore mentorship programs for the consultant cohort, grass-roots change movements, and the concept of ownership in curriculum projects.

Final Thoughts

As a student in both high school and university, I played varsity football. As a secondary school teacher, I coached high school football teams. I believe team sports have an important role in our lives. They teach motivation, collaboration, and perseverance. Today, I remain an avid football fan; my continued love of this game is due in no small part to the fact that football is a game of relationships.

The coach knows the game inside out. He knows the plays. He also knows the players. The coach knows how his players will react facing the other team's players with consideration for the stadium, the fans, the time of day the game is played. He shares the knowledge he has with his team, which is no small feat. With a whole season to play, the coach must decide which knowledge to share in which order and with which members of his organization.

But no coach comes to the bench for his first game knowing everything. For me, the best learning about creating and sharing knowledge comes from others--my peers and mentors. I had played football for most of my life; it seemed natural that when I became a secondary school teacher, I would begin coaching the football team. After becoming a head coach, I suffered through six losing seasons, watching my team being hammered by opponent after opponent. In the seventh year, a seasoned coach joined our team; he showed me why our talent had been going unrewarded, where I could maximize our players' potential. The seventh season, we brought home the county championship, thanks to his mentorship. Likewise, novice consultants should seek advice and not be reluctant to address their uncertainty.

I came to my job as a teacher consultant much like I came to my coaching position. I had been a successful teacher for 11 years and knew I had much to share. Still, playing is not coaching, and teaching is not consulting. As a consultant, I could not afford the luxury of six losing seasons, so I learned to rely on my colleagues for guidance and support. Because the consultant functions largely on his own in our board, there was no formalized time for this kind or sharing; there was also very little formal literature about how to be a good consultant. More of both need to be put into place. The learning for me was a parallel experience: My participation in projects taught me about how to be effectively involved in projects; my interaction with teachers taught me how to interact with teachers. I wanted to examine the leadership role of the teacher consultant in designing, developing, and implementing an interdisciplinary course. This project allowed me an opportunity to develop my own knowledge about my practice as I moved from neophyte to expert in my role. In my football life, sharing the knowledge is what transformed me from a player to a coach; similarly, in my professional life, it transformed me from a teacher to a teacher consultant.

I now have greater confidence in my ability to make sense of the volumes of information, to help teachers connect theory to practice, and to establish trust and credibility with project partners. I hope this study heightens awareness about grass-roots leadership that I found to be lacking in the current literature.