56.3.1 Impact of Collaboration for Developing SAILS TEPs
All of the SAILS project team implemented STAGE 2 TEPs with teachers across
the twelve European countries and adapted the SAILS TEP framework to suit their
own professional development programmes as appropriate to the backgrounds and
cultural contexts of the participating in-service and pre-service teachers.
All national TEPs consisted of a number of workshops; however, the format of
the workshops varied between countries to suit the needs of the teachers. In most
countries, the workshops were provided as one-day or half-day sessions with some
time in between in order to allow teachers to implement what they had learned in
the workshops within their own teaching and then to share their experience and
challenges. Teachers were encouraged to do some work such as developing their
own inquiry and assessment materials in between or after the workshops and/or to
implement particular aspects of the TEPs within their own classroom practice. In
some countries, the sessions were concentrated in winter or summer schools, in
order to attract teachers from around the country (e.g. Poland, Ireland and Turkey).
No distinguishable differences were evident in the impact that different workshop
formats and timing had on the participating teachers.
As documented in SAILS report (SAILS 2015 ), teachers from across the twelve
European countries with different histories of curriculum, assessment and pedagogy
have successfully adapted their teaching approaches to give students a more active
role in the science classroom. For example, teachers organised experimental work
so that the students posed their own questions, decided on appropriate methods they
would use to collect and analyse the data in their investigations. Teachers also
reported on facilitating their students to work together collaboratively and to use a
variety of modes to communicate their ideas to others. Teachers highlighted the
practices of students engaging with one another to discuss their scientific reasoning
as they carried out their inquiry activities and that for many students, taking on the
responsibility of inquiry increased their engagement in the classroom. SAILS TEPs
supported these teachers in using assessment strategies to make judgments and give
feedback to their students on how to improve their learning.
Evaluation data was collected using pre- and post-questionnaires from 305
participating teachers from across the twelve countries that participated in STAGE
2 TEPs (SAILS 2015 ). Female teachers outnumbered the male teachers in the
overall cohort (29% Male, 71% Female). They ranged in the years of their teaching
experience from less than 5 years’experience (20%), 5–10 years (22%), 11–
20 years (27%) to more than 20 years’experience (29%). Pre-questionnaire data
indicated that the teachers self-rated their prior experience in inquiry as none/hardly
any knowledge about IBSE (29%); some knowledge about IBSE but no practical
experience with IBSE in class (28%); some/limited experience with IBSE in class
(28%) and good knowledge of and regularly use IBSE in class (4%). As evidenced
by the analysis of questionnaires, all participating teachers’ understanding of
inquiry and their confidence with assessing inquiry practices in the classroom
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