A Case Study of Aid-Supported Professional Learning Communities for Science Teachers in Ghana = 원조 기반 과학교사 전문적 학습공동체: 가나의 사례 연구

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) have increasingly gained global attention as a means to improve teachers’ classroom practice and promote sustained professional growth. Despite its emphasis on PLCs, most empirical research has been conducted in resource-rich countries. Comparatively little research has been conducted how such collaborative learning arrangements are operated and induce changes among participating teachers in international development cooperation settings. In these contexts, there are various factors influencing collaborative teachers learning, such as power asymmetries between donor and recipient countries, limited opportunities for in-service trainings, and chronic shortage of teaching and learning materials (TLMs). Teacher Learning Circles (TLCs), explored in this case study, represent an aid-supported form of collaborative teacher learning to promote professional growth under such conditions.
This research investigates inter-school science TLCs implemented in Ghana through a Korean international development cooperation project, therefore adopting a qualitative single-case study design. Data were collected from multiple sources, including focus group interviews (FGIs), teachers’ survey responses, recordings of TLC sessions, and official project documents. The study is guided by two research questions: (1) how donor-designed TLCs were implemented and adapted in practice through meaning-making and negotiation processes of local actors, and (2) how participation in TLCs influenced changes among participating science teachers.
The findings show that implementation TLCs varied across sites. While some TLCs adhered closely to the donor-provided guidelines with no adaptation, others modified the donor-introduced TLC models to better align with local contexts. Closer examination of these locally-driven adaptations revealed its underlying rationales were driven by two distinct rationales. Performance-oriented adaptation prioritized immediate and visible changes in classroom practice to comply with the project expectations, such as reducing science class sizes during TLC Class Presentations. This resulted in the appearance of effective implementation of science TLC activities, yet deviated the teaching and learning environment from teachers’ everyday classroom realities. In contrast, transformation-oriented adaptations illuminated local implementing actors’ efforts, like teachers and School Improvement Support Officers (SISOs), to make TLC activities more feasible and pedagogically relevant to their working conditions and more practical. This study also highlights the dual role of School Improvement Support Officers (SISOs): they primarily acted as gatekeepers by restricting participation in TLC to beneficiary teachers, yet occasionally functioned as boundary spanners by selectively broadening access to TLC activities beyond project-set beneficiaries. These findings illustrate that TLC implementation was shaped not only by donor-designed structures but also by how local actors negotiated boundaries and engaged in meaning-making processes via bounded agency.
With regard to teacher learning, the analysis indicates that the teachers’ most salient learning from TLC participation was related to the effective use of TLMs. Through iterative cycles of science class presentations, peer observations and discussions, teachers developed practical competence and confidence in effectively using TLMs that they had previously found difficult to employ in their instruction. The mechanisms of TLC activities contributed to shifts from abstract, teacher-centered science instruction toward more hands-on and student-engaging teaching. These findings suggest the mere provision of TLMs was insufficient to bring instructional change. In this case, it was evident that TLCs functioned as learning spaces for teachers collectively appropriated TLMs in teaching and a norm-setting mechanism for the development of shared norms for good science teaching with TLMs. This normative process strengthened teachers’ confidence, professional identity, sense of belonging and psychological support.
Furthermore, the TLCs also served as safe collegial spaces that reduced teachers’ isolation and fostered mutual support. Teachers consistently reported strengthened feelings of belonging and emotional security as they participate in TLC activities, which allowed them to share their challenges with peers. External recognition from colleagues, students and parents, which often labelled them as “KOICA teachers” or perceived as more competent science teachers, reinforced their motivation for professional development through TLC participation and sustained newly adopted practices in sciences teaching.
By exploring the implementation and adaptation of the aid-supported TLC model and changes among teachers through their participation in TLCs, along with donor-recipient dynamics, this research contributes to both science teacher professional development and international development cooperation. The findings highlight the importance of local agency and ownership for donor-designed professional learning community initiatives, particularity in distinguishing locally driven adaptations into performance-oriented and transformation-orientated. The former prioritizes visible compliance to the project protocols, while the latter focuses on pedagogical relevance. Also, this research demonstrates the limits of provision of TLMs alone, showing that material inputs without sustained opportunities for collaborative teacher learning are unlikely to induce meaningful instructional change in classrooms. More broadly, the findings reposition beneficiary teachers of the development project not as passive aid recipients of aid, but as active agents who exercise their agency by negotiating, reinterpreting, and reshaping donor-designed interventions under the structural conditions of donor-recipient asymmetry.

국문 초록 (Abstract)

교사의 전문적 학습공동체(Professional Learning Communities, PLCs)는 교사의 실천과 지속적인 전문성 성장을 촉진하는 협력적 학습 공간으로 주목받고 있다. 그러나 기존 PLCs와 관련된 연구의 대다수는 자원이 풍부한 국가의 맥락에 집중되어져 왔으며, 개발협력의 맥락에서 PLCs가 어떠한 조건과 제약속에서 운영되고 PLCs참여를 교사에게 어떠한 변화로 이어지는지는 충분히 밝혀지지 않았다. 특히, 국제개발협력 맥락에서 공여국-수원국 간 권력 비대칭성, 수여국의 현직교사 연수 기회 부족 및 교수·학습 자료(Teaching and Learning Materials, TLMs)의 결핍은 PLC운영과 참여하는 교사들의 변화에 영향을 미칠 수 있기 때문에 실증적 연구가 필요하다.
본 연구에서는 PLC의 하위 유형이자 한국국제협력단(KOICA)의 교육 사업에서 사용하는 조작적 개념인 교사 학습써클(Teacher Learning Circles, TLCs)을 사례로 살펴보고자 한다. TLCs는 학교 간 협력을 기반으로 과학교사들이 정기적으로 모여 수업을 공유하고 관찰하며 피드백을 주고받는 형태의 학습공동체이다. 본 연구에서는 (연구질문 1) 원조 기반으로 형성된 TLCs가 수여국에서 어떻게 운영되는지, (연구질문 2) TLC 참여가 어떻게 교사의 변화로 이어지는지 살펴보고자 하였다. 연구자는 포커스 그룹 인터뷰(FGI), 교사 설문조사, TLC 활동 녹음 자료, 사업 문서 등 다양한 질적 자료를 수집하였다.
연구 결과, 일부 TLCs는 공여국이 제시한 지침을 그대로 따르는 스크립트화 된(Scripted TLCs) 운영을 보였으나, 다른 TLCs는 지역적 맥락을 반영한 변화를 도입하는 구조화된 형태로 (Structured TLCs) 운영되었다. 이러한 변화는 곧 지역적 적응(adaptation)으로 이해할 수 있는데, 첫째는 개발협력 사업의 목적을 수행하기 위한 ‘성과 지향적 적응(adaptation to perform)’으로 TLCs 활동을 위해 학급 규모를 축소하여 실제 교육과 괴리된 방식으로 보여주기식 성과를 강화하였다. 둘째, ‘변혁 지향적 적응(adaptation to transform)’은 교사들이 현실적 제약을 넘어 동교교사와 협력하여 실질적인 수업개선을 추구하였다. 또한, 사업활동을 모니터링하는 장학사(School Improvement Support Officer, SISOs)들은 대부분 공여국이 제공한 프로토콜을 따르며 수혜학교 소속의 과학교사만 참여시키는 게이트키퍼(gatekeeper) 역할을 하면서도, 필요 시 비수혜교사까지 참여 기회를 확장하는 경계연결자(boundary spanner)로 기능하였다. 이러한 이중적 역할은 원조를 통해 제공된 TLC의 구조가 일방적으로 운영 방식을 규정하는 것이 아니라, 수여국의 현장의 주체들이 어떻게 경계를 관리하고 협상하는지에 따라 운영과 교사들의 학습 및 실천 변화가 달라질 수 있음을 보여준다.
교사 변화 측면에서, 과학교사들은 TLC의 활동을 통해 동료교사 수업 시연을 관찰하고 함께 실험하며 토론하는 과정을 통해 효과적인 교수·학습 자료(TLMs) 활용법을 동료로부터 학습하였다. 특히 가나 과학교사들은 그동안 TLMs을 활용한 교수 경험이 부족했기 때문에, 이러한 활동은 단순 기술 습득을 넘어 실제 수업 실천으로 이어졌다. 나아가 TLC는 단순 학습 공간을 넘어 과학 수업시간에 TLMs 최대한 활용해야 한다는 규범적 기대를 만들어 내는 규범 설정 메커니즘(norm-setting mechanism)으로 작동했다. 또한 이러한 과정은 교사들의 자신감, 전문적 정체성, 소속감, 심리적 안전감이 강화되었으며 과학교사들에게 TLC는 서로 도움을 주고받을 수 있는 안전한 네트워크가 되었다. TLCs 참여는 학생, 동료 교사, 학부모가 그들을 더 능숙한 교사로 바라보며, 이러한 외부의 인정 속에서 자신의 전문적 정체성 재구성에 영향을 미쳤다.
한편, 본 연구는 TLC 운영 방식, 교사 학습과 변화를 살펴봄으로써 개발협력 교육연구에 다음과 같은 시사점을 제공한다. 첫째, 개발협력 맥락에서 TLC는 공여국 모델의 단순 모방하기 보다는 수원국 현장의 주체들의 주인의식과 자발성을 촉진하는 방식으로 설계 및 지원되어야 한다. 둘째, 지역적 적응을 막연히 긍정적으로 평가하기 보다는 그것이 성과 지향적 타협인지 변혁 지향적 개선인지 구분하고 그 이유를 면밀히 살펴보아야 한다. 셋째, TLMs을 활용하는 교수경험이 부족한 과학교사들의 수업 실천 변화는 TLMs 제공만으로는 부족하며 반드시 TLCs와 같은 지속적 학습공동체가 병행되어야 한다. 이때 비로서 TLCs는 단순한 역량 개발의 장(場)을 넘어 교사들이 ‘좋은 수업’을 정의하고 공유하는 규범 설정 메커니즘으로 기능한다. 이러한 분석결과는 국제개발협력 교육사업에서 공여국-수여국 간의 권력 비대칭을 전제로 하면서도, 수여국 현장에서 어떻게 적응·협상하고 주체적으로 변화를 이끌어내는지를 이해하는 것이 중요함을 강조한다.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION 1
• 1.1. Study Background 1
• 1.2. Purpose and Research Questions 3
• 1.3. Conceptual Orientation 4
• 1.4. Significant of the Study 5
• 1.5. Definitions of Key Concepts 5
• CHAPTER 2. LITERATURE REVIEW 9
• 2.1. Science Education and Teacher Education in Ghana 9
• 2.1.1. The Education System in Ghana 9
• 2.1.2. Science Education: Curriculum and Policy Orientation 10
• 2.1.3. Persistent Challenges in Science Teaching and Learning 12
• 2.1.4. Policy Reforms and STEM Initiatives 15
• 2.1.5. Teacher Education in Ghana 18
• 2.2. Adapting Professional Learning Communities: Teachers’ Learning Circuit 23
• 2.2.1. Conceptual Foundation of the PLC Model 23
• 2.2.2. PLCs in Developing and Donor-Supported Context 27
• 2.2.3. PLCs in Science Education: Benefits, Challenges, and Differential Influences 34
• 2.3. Communities of Practice (CoPs) 42
• 2.3.1. Participation, Learning and Identity Formation 43
• 2.3.2. Boundaries and Boundary-Spanning in CoPs 45
• 2.4. Policy Borrowing and Local Adaptation in Aid-Supported Education 49
• 2.4.1. Drivers of Policy Borrowing in Education 50
• 2.4.2. Donor Agendas and Normative Transfer 51
• 2.4.3. Local Enactment and Teacher Adaptation 52
• 2.5. Identified Gap and Rationale 54
• CHAPTER 3. METHODOLOGY 57
• 3.1. Research Design 57
• 3.2. Case Descriptions: Science TLCs in the KOICA-Supported Project 62
• 3.2.1. Overview of the Case 62
• 3.2.2. Operation and Structure of Inter-School Science TLCs 63
• 3.2.3. Project-Provided Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) 64
• 3.2.4. Participant Schools and Teachers 65
• 3.2.5. Rationale for Case Selection 65
• 3.3. Data Collection 68
• 3.3.1. Research Participants 68
• 3.3.2. Data Sources and Methods 70
• 3.4. Data Analysis 72
• 3.5. Researcher Positionality 75
• 3.6. Ethical Considerations 77
• CHAPTER 4. OPERATION AND ADAPTATION OF SCIENCE TLCS 79
• 4.1. Translating the TLC Blueprint into Local Practice 79
• 4.1.1. The intended TLC Model and Its Local Introduction 79
• 4.1.2. Early Implementation: Compliance and Confusion 82
• 4.1.3. Making It Work: Practical Adjustment and Sense-making 86
• 4.2. Inside the TLC Cycle: Performing and Reflecting on Science Teaching 89
• 4.2.1. Flexibility in Class Presentation Topic Selection 89
• 4.2.2. Class Presentation: TLC Science Class vs Everyday Classroom 90
• 4.2.3. Post-Presentation Discussions: Between Structure and Reflection 92
• 4.3 Teacher-Led Adaptations: Negotiating Realities and Creating New Practices 104
• 4.3.1. Challenges in TLC Operation 104
• 4.3.2 Emergence of Pre-presentation Sessions 107
• 4.4. Boundary Dynamics and Role of SISOs 113
• 4.4.1. SISOs as Boundary Actors between Schools 113
• 4.4.2. Institutionalization through District-Level Initiatives 115
• 4.4.3. Recognition and Expansion of TLC Model 117
• CHAPTER 5. TEACHERS’ LEARNING, PRACTICE AND IDENTITY CHANGE THROUGH SCIENCE TLCS 119
• 5.1. The Shift in Teaching Practice 119
• 5.1.1. Teaching Science in Scarcity: Limited Access to TLMs before TLCs 119
• 5.1.2. Provision with Transformation: TLMs as a Necessary but Insufficient Step 121
• 5.1.3. Collaborative Learning with TLMs: Observation, Experimentation and Alternative TLMs 123
• 5.1.4. Deepening Practices: Strengthening Content and Pedagogical Knowledge through Peer Exchange 130
• 5.2. Evolving Science Teacher Identity: Confidence, Recognition, and Community 142
• 5.2.1. From Confidence to Recognition: Shifting Self-perception and Social Validation 142
• 5.2.2. Evolving Philosophy and Reflective Agency in Teaching Practice 146
• 5.2.3. Belonging and Emotional Security within Professional Communities 150
• CHAPTER 6. DISCUSSIONS 153
• 6.1. Translating a Donor-Designed Reform: From Structured to Scripted 154
• 6.1.1. Structural Misinterpretation: The “Hosting School” Paradox 154
• 6.1.2. The Unexercised Autonomy in Professional Dialogue 158
• 6.1.3. The Procedural Leadership and Ritualized Participation 160
• 6.2. Local Adaptations: Performative and Transformative Responses 163
• 6.2.1. Adaptation to Perform: Responding to Donor Gaze 164
• 6.2.2. Adaptation to Transform: Teacher-led Negotiability in Practice 165
• 6.2.3. Boundary Expansion and Resource Sharing 168
• 6.2.4. Boundary Work and SISOs as Mid-Level Brokers 169
• 6.2.5. Legitimate Bounded Participation in Aid-Supported TLCs 172
• 6.3. Recognition, Ownership and Professional Norms 175
• 6.3.1. Recognition through Participation: Becoming a “KOICA Teachers” 176
• 6.3.2. Emerging Pedagogical Ownership and Professional Confidence 177
• 6.3.3. Shared Professional Norms and Belonging 179
• 6.3.4. From Collegial Belonging to Reflective Ownership in Teaching Practice 180
• 6.4. The TLC as a mechanism of Teacher Learning: Beyond Resource Provision 182
• 6.4.1. From Provision to Activation: Why TLMs Alone was Insufficient 183
• 6.4.2. Learning through Observation, Presentation, and Peer-reviews 184
• 6.5. Uneven Development of PCK: Practice-Oriented Professional Growth and Pedagogical Depth 186
• 6.6. Reflexivity and Knowledge Production in Aid-Supported Research 189
• CHAPTER 7. CONCLUSION 191
• 7.1. Overview 191
• 7.2. Key Findings 192
• 7.3. Theoretical Implications 195
• 7.3.1. Reinterpreting Communities of Practice in Aid-Supported Contexts 196
• 7.3.2. From Adaption to Ownership 197
• 7.3.3. Reassessing Flexibility and Design Bias 198
• 7.4. Practical Implications 199
• 7.4.1. Implications for Donor Agencies 199
• 7.4.2. Implications for Policy and Local Implementation 201
• 7.4.3. Implications for Teacher Professional Development Research 202
• 7.5. Limitations and Future Research 203
• BIBLIOGRAPHY 207
• APPENDICES 218
• Appendix 1. KOICA-Provided Junior High School Science Teaching and Learning Materials (TLMs) 218
• Appendix 2. Description of the ‘Ghana Girls’ STEM by KOICA’ Project 221
• Appendix 3. Focus Group Interview (FGI) Participant Profiles Science Teachers 224
• Appendix 4. Consent Form 226
• Appendix 5. An Example of Transcription 227
• 국문초록 235