Transferring Professional Learning to Schools in a Caribbean Setting: Context and Culture Matter

There is little if any research internationally, regionally, or locally on the factors that facilitate or inhibit the educator in transitioning from an untrained, experienced practitioner to a trained practitioner, particularly concerning the sustainability of their practice. This book fills that gap as it explores school contexts and cultures that educators encounter post-teacher professional preparation and provides an understanding of how to engineer an enabling environment for sustainable practice. The effectiveness of teacher professional preparation programmes cannot be assessed in isolation from the education culture and context to which teachers return.

Transferring Professional Learning addresses the factors that facilitate and inhibit participants from sustainably implementing what they have learnt on a professional preparation programme. The series of cases presented in the book connect readers with real-life stories of individuals whose experiences provide opportunities for reflection on their own practice and pathways for growth individually and collectively. A unique feature of the book is the discussion sections at the end of each chapter, which, in essence, allow the reader to personalize and contextualize the knowledge gained in each chapter, thereby providing a richer and deeper hermeneutic experience. Thus, the structure of the book invokes meta-cognition. The book draws attention to the critical role of context and culture in sustaining the practices to which participants were introduced on the programme, but even more so, it forces an interrogation of educators’ identities and personal philosophies. Through meaningful narratives, it gives voice to the experiences of graduates working in various school environments and cultural settings.

Freddy James is a senior lecturer in educational leadership at the School of Education and deputy dean of Graduate Studies and Research at the Faculty of Humanities and Education, UWI, St Augustine. Her research interests include leadership, inclusion and professional learning.

Susan Herbert is a senior lecturer in Science Education at the School of Education, UWI, St Augustine. She taught secondary-level chemistry students for fifteen years. Her research interests include science education, teacher education and programme education.

Jennifer Yamin-Ali is a retired senior lecturer and past director at the School of Education, UWI, St Augustine. Her main areas of focus had been foreign language teacher education, programme development and teacher educator experiences. She has published two books on education and many peer-reviewed articles.