From Expectation to Profession： Teachers’ Competency—based Leadership in Constructivist Teaching

张小红

Build upon constructivist belief， constructivist teaching is viewed as a search for meaning， not the right answer， through interactions with peers， and a constructivist teacher then， is expected to shift from a one-way， simplistic knowledge-transmitting teaching format to a multi-layered， learner-centered and facilitating pattern. In other words， teaching of this type requires teachers competency to master all aspects of a situation in which learners construct their experiences in different ways.

1. Constructivist Pedagogic Model

Although many constructivist researchers have interpreted their varied and subject-specific views on constructivist teaching strategies and methods， the most common pedagogic practice is Engagement—Exploration—Explanation—Elaboration—Evaluation Model， namely Five Es Model. Built on Piagetian cognitive theory， this model highlights the sequential phases as well as the tangible and pragmatic implementation of constructivist teaching theories.

Engagement， the starting phase of the model， is designed to boost a learners attention， imagination and motivation in the introduction of a new topic. The teacher introduces a new topic and shows the learners the process needed to carry out the new topic related task that is often connected to prior knowledge. With the deepening of students understanding and motivation over time， when the students feel puzzled and highly challenged in inquiring and learning， the engagement will ebb to facilitate next phase—exploration.

Exploration works as the key role by allowing learners to develop their thinking and meaning-making via two important approaches：coaching and reflection. The students will be coached to analyze their performance and provide feedback on their findings， cognitively or experientially， independently or collaboratively. As an effective way of learning， reflection considerably promotes learners meta-cognition， such as the way they solve the problems， the methods they adopt， and the effectiveness of their work， and makes the students ready to express themselves completely and clearly.

Explanation gives learners the opportunity to articulate their ideas， thoughts and findings， which are closely linked to the prior engagement and exploration activities. To enable them to express their deepened and sharpened understanding， multi-leveled tasks should be designed from a simple casual talk to the presentation in a formal setting， or even to an open public debate.endprint

Elaboration is another key phase in constructivist teaching and learning， for it offers learners the opportunity to extend their findings to other specific contexts. The essential element in this phase is to supply learners with choices and options. Rather than the teacher-designed assignments and tasks， students are motivated to offer more projects to further their thinking by themselves. This will not only facilitate their learning， but also bring more new learning.

Evaluation， the final phase， refers to the formal assessment of students learning and understanding. The activity can be accomplished by the teacher， the student， classmate（s）， or any audience in the way of questioning， arguing， comparing or commenting. And the criterion of this assessment phase is to see whether the learner has attained the abilities to make the transition from knowing to understanding， such as contextualizing the knowledge， explaining in ones own words， generalizing into a broader context， justifying by offering evidence.

As a progressive teaching approach with high achievement gains and teaching effectiveness， a number of teachers prefer this instructional strategy， but the question is where to begin. Consequently， how to be a constructivist teacher with competent classroom leadership is the question waiting to be disclosed.

2. Teachers Competency-based Leadership

According to Daniel Goleman， emotional intelligence， which refers to the ability to regulate ourselves and relationships effectively， is composed of four essential capabilities：self-awareness， self-management， social awareness， and social skill. Each capability， in turn， is made up of particular set of competencies. He also points out that the competencies demonstrating emotional intelligence are the ‘sine qua non of any leadership， and the original competencies are drive to achieve， flexibility， initiative， self-control， self-confidence， empathy， collaboration， vision， responsibility， expertise， communication and conscientiousness.

As far as constructivist teaching is concerned， the competencies of four， namely vision， flexibility， motivation and empathy are at heart of effective pedagogic practice， just as they are central to the learning process， teaching profession， and are therefore important to any category of leadership.

3. Teachers Competency-based Leadership in Constructivist Teaching

As Muijs claims， to be a constructivist teacher， a number of general factors have to be taken into account for the teaching effectiveness， and accordingly， the role of a teacher in constructivist classroom， should be an researcher， a question asker， a coach， a professional team player， a presenter， an environment organizer， a facilitator， and an operator. In other words， teaching of this type requires teachers competencies to master all aspects of a situation in which learners construct their experiences in different ways. In constructivist teaching， teachers leadership over the class and students should be built on a range of emotional intelligence competencies， four of which are of considerable importance and core value：vision， flexibility， motivation and empathy.endprint

3.1 Vision in Constructivist Teaching

As the leader in the classroom， teachers who are skilled at this creative and action-oriented capability are able to get students excited about their learning while inviting others to help crystallize that excitement. “What do I want to create？” is the common presentation of vision. Being constructivists， teachers vision is to strike the delicate balance between teaching for fact and skill acquisition and teaching for independent and expert thinking. The moment students sense that the vision is credible and compelling enough， they will be actively engaged in the following prescribed teaching steps.

3.2 Flexibility in Constructivist Teaching

Teaching based on Constructivism calls for a constructivist teacher with the competency of flexibility. First， constructivist approach features itself with highly adaptable and altered teaching style， for the teachers put great premium on students reaction， response and feedback， which means， lesson can steer into a different direction from the original ones. Second， the differences or the gaps in the aspect of both academic abilities and learning methods between individual learners should be taken into full consideration， hence， the teaching needs to be flexible and varying to adjust to learners different way of learning. Third， because constructivist teaching focuses on big ideas that are accomplished in depth instead of a breadth of topics treated superficially， raw data， primary sources， along with hand-on， interactive and real-life materials are encouraged to construct their direct knowledge， which definitely leads to varied and unfixed learning experiences. Fourth， in the step of assessment， constructivists advocate formative， not terminative， evaluation via a wide variety of measurements， such as paper， presentation， test， experiment， survey， and group work， so the flexible adoption of unfixed and differentiated assessment for different students in different periods sets up the requirement for the constructivist teachers.

3.3 Motivation in Constructivist Teaching

Traditionally， there are two kinds of motivation in education：adherents to the “power of the stick” and “followers of the carrot”. The former means that real motivation comes from avoidance behavior， whist the latter claims motivation comes through rewards. Obviously， for every student， the carrot is more preferable to the stick， because the carrot—the outward recognition of success：smiles， merits and certificated can more attractively and pleasantly motivate us to achieve than the punishment and fear. However， these extrinsic motivations are by no means the real incentives to constructivists， who believe that the most powerful motivating forces come from the inside of learners. An effective leader in the constructivist classroom enables the learners to gain pleasure from knowing they have achieved and grown.endprint

3.4 Empathy in Constructivist Teaching

In the constructivist classroom， inter-personal communication is highly emphasized， and teachers realize how important it is to guide students to interact with their peers， for most active and effective learning only happens in the positive climate with those around them， and in turn， after a deeper understanding and a better enjoyment of communication， students capacity to build authentic empathy can be cultivated and boosted.

Conclusion

Beliefs are the bedrock and cornerstone at the heart of our actions. Beliefs of a teacher are fundamental and instrumental in deciding teaching approaches， information related to the teaching tasks. To build effective leadership in a constructivist classroom requires expertise， effort， commitment and most importantly， emotional intelligence competencies. The four competencies—vision， flexibility， motivation and empathy—are not separate but co-related with each other. Each plays its role in the different phases of teaching， and combination of the four makes the intelligent requirement for a constructivist teacher. To be a constructivist teacher， its expected of him or her to have effective leadership to implement this teaching approach， and as a return， once a constructivist teacher has a good command of effective leadership in a constructivist classroom， he or she becomes the leader of profession. Accidentally and inevitably， competencies demonstrating emotional intelligence come to the fore to bridge the span.

References：

[1]Boddy，N.，Watson，K.，and Aubusson，P.（2003）‘A Trial of the Five Es：A Referent Model for Constructivist Teaching and Learning.Research in Science Education 33：27–42.

[2]Cey，T.（2001）Moving Towards Constructivist Classrooms.Saskatoon：University of Saskatchewan.

[3]Cheng，Y.C.（2014）‘Teacher Leadership Style：A Classroom-level Study，Journal of Educational Administration，32（3）：54-71.

[4]Earley，P.and Weinding，D.（2004）Understanding School Leadership.London：SAGE Publication Company.

[5]Goleman，D.（2000）“Leadership That Gets Results”.Harvard Business Review，March-April 2000.

[6]Hook，P.and Vass，A.（2000）Confident Classroom Leadership.London：David Fultion Publishers.

[7]Muijs，D.& Reynolds，D.（2005）Effective Teaching：Evidence and Practice（2nd Edition）.London：SAGE Publications.endprint