Developing technology together, together: a whole-school metacognitive approach to ICT teacher professional development

Professional development of teachers in information and communication technology (ICT) continues to be an urgent educational imperative. While many teachers are integrating ICT (with varying degrees of confidence and creativity), a significant number still remain hesitant, reluctant and daunted by the rapid rate of technological change. Far from being a simple process, ICT professional development necessitates not only personal and professional changes for individuals, but changes in school culture including institutional attitude and support for professional learning, reflection and professional discussion, readiness to embrace change, collegiality, trust and encouragement to take risks. Grounded in research about what influences teachers’ adoption and integration of ICT, this paper describes a three-year action research initiative that led to the development of a whole-school metacognitive approach to ICT teacher professional development known as Technology Together. The paper will describe the approach and findings from the research, indicating that the metacognitive approach can be successfully implemented within a whole-school environment. Data suggests that the process can have a positive impact on the culture of the school and that the outcomes were most significant at schools who implemented the process most consistently with the foundations of the metacognitive approach.