Teachers as Change Agents: A Study of

In-Service Teachers' PracticalKnowledge

Christine Chen
Association for Early Childhood Educators
Independent Researcher-Learning Society, Singapore

This study investigates in-service early childhood teachers' "practical knowledge"

(Elbaz, 1981) in implementing changes in the classroom in the Republic of Singapore. In Singapore, many early childhood classrooms are teacher directed, where learning takes place in
large groups. As part of the in-service teacher education program, a learner-centered
practicum required teachers to visualize how they can include children's choice through designing learning corners and implementing small group learning. This investigation unveils how
teachers used their "practical knowledge" to implement change and documents evidences of
the change after 3 to 5 years of its initial implementation. It also highlights conditions for
change and offers suggestions to policymakers, curriculum designers, and teacher educators
in educating for change.
ABSTRACT:

This study investigates the "practical knowledge" (Elbaz, 1981) of 17 early childhood
teachers in preschool and child care centers. It
was conducted in Singapore, an island republic, which is about the size of Manhattan. In
Singapore, early childhood is not part of compulsory education that starts when the child
turns seven. As a result, preschools and child
care centers are privately or community
funded.
In terms of teacher education, teachers of
to
1st 12th graders receive their teacher education from the National Institute of Education at the Nanyang Technological University. However, for preschool and child care
teachers, there are about 21 training agencies
to choose from, most of which are private
agencies. Since all three universities in Singapore do not have the Bachelor in Early Childhood Education program, teachers attain
their bachelor's degrees with.Australian universities that fly their professors to Singapore.

However, this is a recent phenomenon, because only since 2000 have teachers been required to have a diploma in teaching (an associate degree equivalent). Prior to that time,
preschool and child care teachers were required only to have about 300 hours of inservice teacher education. Today many professionals in the field are pursuing their
bachelor of education degree not as a requiremeni but as part of their personal and professional development.
This study examined teachers in the inservice program for their diploma in teaching.
These individuals had been teaching for a
number of years after completing their 300
hours in teacher education. As a result, they
come into the program with views quite different from that of what they are expected to
learn. Generally, these teachers come from
early childhood settings that are teacher directed with children learning in large groups.
Therefore, getting teachers to include student-

Address correspondence to: Christine Chen, 50 Bayshore Rd., 4108-05 Bayshore Park, Singapore 469977, Republic of Singapore. E-mail: chchl225@gmail.com.

10

Action in Teacher Education Vol. 26, No. 4

Teachers as Change Agents

centered learning requires them to change

their worldview and become change agents.

Teachers as Change Agents

Many researchers have addressed the issue of
teachers as change agents. According,to Hoban
(2002), "change is in essence, learning to do
something differently, involving adjustments to
many elements of classroom practice" (p. 39).
However, educating teachers as change agents
is a challenge. Lane, Lacefield-Parachini, and
Isken (2003) share their concern as they write
about student teachers and novice teachers as
change agents. They believe that finding ways
to educate teachers so that they "see themselves
as capable of generating substantive change has
been difficult" (p. 55).

11

Dewey (1916/1997) addresses this challenge w.ith his view of the self as being dynamic. Teachers, being dynamic, have the capability of acquiring the quality of plasticity.
Plasticity is "the ability to learn from experience; the power to retain from one experience
something which is of avail in coping with the
difficulties of a later situation" (p. 44). He
adds that "interest, concern, mean that self
and world are engaged with each other in a developing situation" (p. 26) and that "personal
attitudes" toward thinking and acting in the
world (Dewey, 1933, pp. 29-34) paint the image of teachers as active agents of change.
Based on Dewey's concept of interest and concern, as well as "plasticity" and "personal attitudes," a learning model (Figure 1) was developed as part of the practicum for the diploma
in teaching.

. Figure 1. The Learning Model: In the Context of the Classroom

12

CHRISTINE CHEN

The Learning Model

In the learning model (Figure 1), the heart of
the experience is the teachers' concern.
Teachers share with their practicum mentors
their concerns, observations, and reflections
of their classroom situation. The teachers,
with their mentors' guidance, design their
practicum that addresses their individual concerns. This collaborative and constructivist
planning model acts as a "powerful emotional
and intellectual process that creates learning
opportunities for teachers and their students"
(Hargreaves, Earl, Moore, & Manning, 2001,
p. 37). Such a learning experience is based on
learner-centered principles (Pierce & Kalkman, 2003) in that it emerges from the
learner's personal concern or interest. The
learner has to take into consideration his or
her professional stage (Gratz & Boulton,
1996; Katz, 1995) as well as the classroom situation, which includes students, the schedule,
the activities, and the materials, as well as the
management, policies, and philosophy that
determine what goes on in the physical space.
In this study, this learning model is used to
uncover the "practical knowledge" of teachers
and the change process so as to inform policymakers, curriculum designers, and teacher educators on educating for change.

Practical Knowledge
Elbaz (1981) conceived of the concept of
"practical knowledge" through a case study regarding a teacher who taught English literature and writing. Elbaz believes that the
teacher plays a role in "the implementation of
new curricula, adapting and changing the materials which come his or her way" (p. 43).
However, as Lortie (1969) points out, teachers
are not often viewed as possessing expertise in
experiential knowledge, and therefore their
role tends to be underrated from the perspective of the layman. The conception of teachers' "practical knowledge" emphasizes the
processes by which knowledge is being, acquired and put into practice, and is defined as

the "practically-oriented set of understandings

which they use to shape and direct the work of
teaching" (Elbaz, 1983, p. 5).
Practical knowledge is categorized under
four categories: the content, orientations,
structure, and cognitive style (Elbaz, 1981).
The content of practical knowledge refers to
the things that teachers know, such as child
development and how children learn, and
things that they know how to do, such as relating to children. However, the content of
knowledge is acquired and reenacted through
various orientations and structure.
There are five orientations of "practical
knowledge": the situational, theoretical, personal, social, and experiential. It is the interaction of these five orientations that provides
the context for learning and directs the work
of teaching. The orientations attend to the
complexity and variety of the teacher's knowledge, while the structure introduces the order
and structure in "practical knowledg6."
The structure of "practical knowledge" includes "the rule of practice," "practical principle," and "image." Elbaz (1981) elaborates that
"the rule of practice may be followed methodically, while the principle is used reflectively,
and the image guides action in an intuitive
way" (pp. 49-50).
The last category of practical knowledge is
cognitive style, which is developed as the
teacher enacts the various images of self as a
teacher. This notion of enacting teacher images prompted Clandinin (1985) to coin the
term personalpracticalknowledge. According to
Clandinin, "personal'practical knowledge is
not of knowledge which is just content nor
knowledge which is just structure" (p. 362).
Rather, it is knowledge which is "a contextually relative exercise of capacities for imaginatively ordering our experience" (Johnston,
1990, p. 467).
The above paragraphs outline the concept
of practical knowledge that acts as the conceptual framework of this study. It investigates the
process of teachers using their practical knowledge to make changes in their classrooms. This
process was initiated through the practicum
project of the in-service diploma in teaching.

Teachers as Change Agents

Methodology of the Study

As discussed, the conceptual framework of this
investigation is practical knowledge (Elbaz,
1981, 1983), which assumes a dialectic relationship between theory and practice. Teachers give shape to their knowledge in relation
to their situations and purposes, and as such, a
dynamic process develops. In order to study
this dynamic process of,leaming and change, a
qualitative approach was undertaken.
Seventeen teachers were involved in this
study. They were interviewed, their interviews
transcribed, and the observations and field
notes documented. Facts and information
from the different methods of data collection
were triangulated to seek convergence and the
data were analyzed through the lens of Elbaz's
(1983) four categories of practical knowledge.
Finally, the report of the findings was mailed
to the participants for member verification.

Profile of Participants
and Data Collection
Seventeen participants in this study were selected based on their practicum project. The
teachers who opted to make changes in the
physical design of their classroom were selected, as the changes are observable over time
and independent of settings as compared to
those who opted to work with children or staff
relations. These students were contacted and
multiple interviews took place.
The 17 participants were, graduates
(1996-1998) of the in-service diploma program in teaching. Out of the 17, 13 of them
were teachers and 4 were leaders of their early
childhood setting. They embarked on their
practicum to change the physical arrangement
of their classroom to include learning corners
and small group activities. They decided on
the change as a result of their concern over
their classroom situation. The participants described their classroom situations as being
chaotic with frequent occurrences of children
running around "doing nothing" or "doing
things to get attention."

13

I remember the moment, I gained this

knowledge in the course, I found it very
useful and I had-this motivation to want
to right away rearrange the setting.
This supports Earl and Lee's (1998) finding
that the change process typically is prompted
by the sense of urgency to make changes in the
way things are being done.
During the 2001-2002 period of investigation, observation and field notes were taken to
document evidences of learning comers and
small group activities. Participants also took
part in personal interviews, which lasted for
about an hour.

Findings
The findings reflect a change in the profile of
the participants. The 17 participants' characteristics changed from 13 teachers and 4 leaders to 5 teachers and 12 leaders. It appeared
that most of the participants made changes in
their job scope. Also, 8 of them made changes
in their job settings. For those who moved into
leadership positions, they were in the process
of helping their teachers change.
During the visits to the participants' early
childhood settings, evidences of learning corners and small group activities were observed.
Some participants were still developing their
learning comers, while others had learning
comers inside or outside the classrooms. There
was also evidence of small group learning at
different tables, and children were learning on
the floor while others worked at the tables.
It was clear that all 17 participants were
able to sustain the change in one form or other
and that these teachers acted as change
agents. Therefore, a closer look at their "practical knowledge" can uncover the conditions
that promote change. Their practical knowledge is presented in four categories: content,
orientations, structure, and cognitive style.

The Content of Practical Knowledge

In terms of content, the participants appear to
have a good grounding in child development.

14

CHRISTINE CHEN

"You really need to know how children develop before you can plan a curriculum for
them." This knowledge in child development
seemed to guide them in planning and managing the early childhood curriculum.
Besides child development, participants
also had a good understanding of early childhood curriculum. According to the participants, the curriculum is a "framework" that
"guides children through the different development" stages, and it is not "fixed" as "it
should basically be based on ability and also
the kind of children that we have at the particular year." Therefore, with knowledge in
child development and early childhood curriculum, the participants felt empowered to
make necessary changes.
Orientations of Practical Knowledge

very active, it is kind of boring to always

sit in front of the white board.... I have
learnt that there are a lot of advantages
learning through play. I believe that children know what they want to learn....
Even though the curriculum is set, I don't
really follow it.
Third, the optimism of the participants
further promoted change:
I think they will change.... You see right
now, I have about 50% of staff doing the
small group learning .... They are trying
their best actually and I can see that. So
I'm afraid I need some time, and if this
50% of them are doing it then the other
50% will be influenced sooner or later...
based on trial and error.. . try to use different ways to teach them [children] and

then you notice that this is the best way.

Orientations of "practical knowledge" included five subcategories: situational, social,

personal, theoretical, and experiential orientation. First, the participants in this study
worked in social environments in which autonomy is encouraged. One of the leader participants described the autonomy she accorded
to her teachers:

It appears that both the optimistic disposition and the willingness to learn new ways
have resulted in the implementation of

Basically, they have a free hand. I just give

them the guideline of what the kids need
to know and they will plan according to
what they feel the kids can learn from
their planning... because in the diploma
course, I understand that the teacher is
the one who knows what is best for their
children.

same wavelength, thinking [along] the

same wavelength, so it makes things easier.

Second, these teachers had personal orientations in the form of beliefs and preferences that determine how they taught children.
I believe that children at this very young
age, they actually learn through lots of
hands-on, lots of interacting with their
environment, their peers .... I prefer to
learn things through activities and
through experiences rather than through
theories all the time. So, I would understand children, being children, are usually

change. But credit is also given to support rendered by the participants' network of professional colleagues.
One of my teachers, she did the same
diploma with me. So I have people on the

It is important to have a supportive network of teachers (Fullan & Hargreaves, 1996;

Hargreaves, 1994; McLaughlin & Talbert,
1993; Nias, Southworth, & Yeomans, 1989)
who have the same knowledge and under-

standing of early childhood curriculum to implement the necessary changes (Newmann &
Wehlage, 1995; Rosenholtz, 1989) in early
childhood classrooms.
Finally, in terms of the theoretical orientation, it was found that theory, to most participants, is not concrete. Many had difficulties in
defining theory: "I am not very sure how to put
it into words." Few participants were able to
identify Piaget's and Erikson's theories as being
useful. Most participants were skeptical about
the usefulness of theories. One participant remarked, "Theories are dead. Practice is alive."

Teachers as Change Agents

Thus, it revealed that the participants believed that they relied very little on their "theoretical" orientation while implementing
changes.
Structure of Practical Knowledge
The third category of "practical knowledge" is
structure. The structure of practical knowledge refers to the principles and rules of practice held by teachers:
The first guiding principle is responsibility. A person has to be responsible for
everything we do. So this is very important and I stress it to the teachers.
Respect, in tenris of basic manners. I
want them to show respect to their parents ... like greeting, saying thank you,
please. I think these are basic manners
they should have.
Children are very unique, very individual-so we the teachers are supposed
to guide them through and help them in
the different development.
They have to keep their toys after
playing and they have to share.
Thus, it appears that responsibility and respect are the main principles: respecting the
child's uniqueness and the responsibility for
the child's holistic development. These principles set the tone for classroom management.
The children were expected to respect others
by not screaming but speaking one at a time
and being responsible for sharing and cleaning
up after themselves. These principles and rules
guide teacher behavior and a teacher image is
formed. Consequently, teachers enact the images they have of themselves and. develop
their cognitive style.
Cognitive Style of
Practical Knowledge
The fourth category of practical knowledge is
cognitive style. Cognitive style is expressed in
terms of teacher images (Clandinin, 1985;
Johnston, 1990) of themselves as teachers and
as leaders in their early childhood settings.
Participants described themselves as "creators

15
1

of opportunities," models, and good classroom

managers. The other images are presented in
the following statements:
"*A nurturer with love and care for children: "love and care for the childrenthat is my commitment to teaching."
"*A fun-loVing teacher: "As a teacher, I
think I should be fun loving because I
like to do fun things with,the children."
""An "octopus": "At the moment, I am a
bit-rather like an octopus actually,
like trying to do everything at one time,
and I have to change everything, because now 1 am having this new learning."
"*A facilitator: "I was a facilitator, rather
than a teacher. I mean in the local context, we always see ourselves,, as a
teacher, you must always teach, teach.
But at that time, I -was really facilitating, because the children were really
learning on their own."
The findings as presented have unveiled
the practical knowledge of the 17 participants
who acted as change agents. It is evident that
their practical knowledge consists of a solid
foundation in child development with a good
understanding of the early childhood curriculum. They work in an autonomous social environment with optimistic dispositions and personal beliefs that promote change. Their
principles and rules revolve around respect
and responsibility and their cognitive style reflects their commitment to teaching in terms
of being a model, creator of opportunities,
good classroom manager, nurturer, fun-loving
teacher, octopus, and facilitator.

How Teachers
Implemented the Change
The participants approached change in different ways. One participant reported that she
started by observing results. According to Fullan (1991), teachers need to be able to see
how change benefits their students.

16

CHRISTINE CHEN

I think what I did was, before I changed, I

made observations, and I recorded, like
the number of conflicts in certain places.
After I did the changes, I did the same
recording, and I can quantify the benefitseven the improvement. So I learnt that I
can really see the difference.
Another participant reported that she
started the change when she became the principal of the preschool.
Since I took over as principal, I have been
encouraging the teachers to conduct small
group activities. Like during staff meetings, I would encourage, I would first
praise the teachers for consistently doing
small group activities. From the encouragement, hopefully others would catch
on. It is not easy I would say to have small
group activities. They need a lot of
praises, a lot of encouragement. I think
encouragement for the teachers is very
important.
Another way of approaching change was
through approaching the principal and then
working with the teachers.
I spoke to the principal and then I started
it in my classroom first. And then slowly
try to influence my neighbor, which I took
quite a long time to convince her. And after convincing her, I approached the
Kindergarten 1 teacher next to me. Then
the Nursery teachers thought that it was
going on very well, so they approached me
and then we discussed and shared with
them my experience. The following year,
when I was in Kindergarten 2, I managed
to try to influence the Kindergarten 2
teacher who is more senior than me. Yes it
is quite difficult to influence those more
senior, but finally she got the picture and
the whole school got going.
Yet another approach was working with
the parents and having the parents convince
the management:
I called the parents in. I had a meeting
with the parents. I went to research into
the good things about learning corners. I

showed the parents the learning corners.

And I showed them how these learning
comers will enhance the children's development. The listening comer will enhance their oratory and their speech. I informed them that they would not be at
the comers every day. They would be at
the comers only after they have finished
their core subject. If they finish fast, then
only do they go into the learning comers.
It was difficult. It took me at least three
months to convince the parents that
learning comers are good. When we did a
project on learning comers I roped them
in. Then they realized these learning corners do benefit the children. Whenever I
wanted to make a new corner, I ask them,
"What do you think the children can
learn best at this art and craft comer?
What materials should they put in?...
And even for the maths comer, I ask some
of the parents to bring in materials. I invited them in to observe at the comer. I
invited a few of them per day to show
them how I teach and how the comers are
being used by the children. When the
children got to Kindergarten 2, 1 continued with dte learning comers again and
only then did the parents see the difference in the children. So all in all it took
them two years to see results.
When the children left the center, the
teacher requested the parents to write to the
management about the learning center concept. "Eighteen of them, all gave very positive
feedback, and that was 100% of the parents!"
This participant implemented change by using
her knowledge on learning comers to educate
her students and involved the parents in the
change process. Others used their skills in observation or worked with teachers and principals to implement changes.

Summary, Implications,
and Recommendations
It is clear that the process of change started
when the participants observed that things
were not happening the way they would like
for their children. The participants in this

Teachers as Change Agents

study are change agents who changed their

own classroom teaching practice, influenced
other teachers to change, and convinced parents and management that change is beneficial for children. They were able to implement
effective change through using their knowledge of child development and the early
childhood curriculum. They also used their
strong personal orientation of being passionate
in their beliefs about how children learn and
were proactive learners who held optimistic
views about learning and change. They were
autonomous. professionals who work in environments that promote autonomy, and, if they
were not in an autonomous environment, they
created one by working with management to
provide the autonomy for themselves and for
their teachers.
Therefore, this study presents the image of
the teacher as an active agent of change. This
image validates Dewey's assertion of teachers
as thinking and acting in the world and Elbaz's
assumption that teachers possess "practical
knowledge" that "shape and directs the work
of teaching" (Elbaz, 1983, p. 5) in terms of
having the "valuable resources which enable
her to take an active role in shaping her environment and determining the style and ends
of her work" (p. 6).
I believe in myself, that I can do lots of
things. Sometimes, it might not be easy,
in the process, because you might not
have the support that you need from people. But ultimately, I think you can do as
much as you can, so then, slowly, they
will be able to see that whatever you did,
it does work, and then, hopefully, they
will follow.
This statement implies that change is brought
about through working with others. As discussed, these teachers worked with other
teachers, principals, management, and parents. Since the change process is about working with adults, it is important that in educating teachers for change, teacher education
programs should include knowledge and skills
that help teachers feel competent in working
with parents, management, and other teach-

17

ers. Perhaps a c6urse in change management

would be useful in facilitating educational
change.
Another area of focus is ensuring that
teachers have the necessary content that supports a strong foundation in child development and early childhood curriculum. However, since reservations have been expressed
on the usefulness of theories, caution isneeded
in delivering theories. Theories should be
taught in context, together with lots of practical applications and examples, to make the
necessary linkage between theory and 'practice. One way of relating theory to practice is
by using videos and demonstration classrooms
with one-way mirrors. A number of participants shared that videos and visits to settings
with learning comers and learning in small
groups helped them to visualize the change.
It was so fantastic, you see kids ... they

are so interested in what they are doing.

They are actually doing unconscious
learning while they are in the corners and
they are independent learners.
It is in visualizing the change that teachers create "a vision of the desired teacher role"
(Bullough, 1992, p. 240). Also, since the
change process was ignited by the learnercentered practicum based on observations, reflections, and contextualization of concerns,
with the guidance of a practicum mentor, such
a learning model can be replicated to promote.
learning and change. Attention can also be
given to helping teachers become aware of
their orientations in "practical knowledge"
and the structure and cognitive styles that
guide their practice.
In addition, teachers have also acknowledged the supportive role of their professional
network in supporting them through change.
As such, it is recommended that teachers be
encouraged to network and form learning
communities. According to P6uravood
(1997), learning communities assist teachers
to change in a complex world, and Hoban
(2002) states, "Teacher networks enable the
participants to negotiateknowledge according
to their unique contexts" (p. 43). Therefore, it

18

CHRISTINE CHEN

is suggested that teacher education classrooms

include learning in small groups to facilitate
the development of learning communities.

Conclusion
It is evident that the teachers in this study
acted as change agents and apparently change
was ignited through reflecting on concerns.
Therefore, it appears that the learning model
(Figure 1) adopted in the practicum was instrumental to the change process. The learning model was effective because it was conceived based on values of concern and a
nurturing mentoring relationship. Hofstede's
(1997) and Chen's (2000) studies have reported that the culture in Singapore is high on
the femininity dimension. Hence, using a
model appropriate to the culture seemed to
have unleashed the dynamism and plasticity
(Dewey, 1916/1997) of the teachers and empowered them to apply their "practical knowledge" (Elbaz, 1981, 1983) and become "creators of opportunities."
As such, the challenge for teacher educators is to understand the culture that our students are coming from and to apply our "practical knowledge" to design and create learning
opportunities. By taking up this challenge, we
become the starting point of the change
process and, like our students, become change
agents ourselves.IM

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19

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4*.

-*e.*

Christine Chen is the founder and president

of the Association for Early Childhood Education in Singapore. Her research interests include teacher development and learning,
mentoring relationships, and leadership.

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TITLE: Teachers as Change Agents: A Study of In-Service

Teachers Practical Knowledge
SOURCE: Action Teach Educ 26 no4 Wint 2005
WN: 0534904813002
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