Purpose

This study investigates the reasons teachers seek instructional assistance from their colleagues. By examining both the reasons why teachers seek assistance and considering which reasons for seeking assistance predict shifts in teaching practice, this analysis provides new insights into how schools can leverage teachers' social networks for organizational change.

Design/methodology/approach

Drawing on interview and survey data from a sample of 52 schools across seven districts in the United States, we first qualitatively explore the reasons teachers seek instructional assistance, based on patterns in teachers' self-reported descriptions of their instructional advice-seeking. Then, we apply hierarchical linear models to predict which individual characteristics and organizational features influence the reasons' teachers seek assistance and which reasons for seeking assistance influence their subsequent shifts in teaching practice.

Findings

Teachers' positions in their social networks, their experience levels and their organizational contexts predict the reasons for which they seek instructional assistance. In addition, teachers seeking advice based on perceptions of their peers' experience or resource access predicts positive shifts in teaching practice; however, fewer than half of teachers' instructional-advice seeking ties reported in our sample were motivated by either of these two reasons.

Practical implications

The findings highlight the potential for school leaders and policymakers to improve teaching practice by making educators' experience and resources more accessible within schools and creating structures that enable collaboration.

Originality/value

This paper addresses a gap in social network literature by moving beyond a structuralist analysis of teachers' collegial networks to investigate teachers' motivations for pursuing advice-seeking ties.

中文翻译：

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调查教师社交网络中的教学影响

目的

本研究调查教师寻求同事指导的原因。通过检查教师寻求帮助的原因和考虑寻求帮助的原因预测教学实践的转变，该分析为学校如何利用教师的社交网络进行组织变革提供了新的见解。

设计/方法/方法

利用来自美国七个地区 52 所学校样本的访谈和调查数据，我们首先根据教师自我报告的教学建议描述模式，定性地探讨教师寻求教学帮助的原因。然后，我们应用层次线性模型来预测哪些个体特征和组织特征会影响教师寻求帮助的原因，以及哪些寻求帮助的原因会影响他们随后的教学实践转变。

发现

教师在社交网络中的地位、经验水平和组织环境可以预测他们寻求教学帮助的原因。此外，根据对同伴经验或资源获取的看法寻求建议的教师可以预测教学实践的积极转变；然而，在我们的样本中，只有不到一半的教师寻求教学建议的动机是出于这两个原因中的任何一个。

实际影响

研究结果强调了学校领导者和政策制定者通过让教育者的经验和资源在学校内更容易获得并创建促进协作的结构来改进教学实践的潜力。

原创性/价值

本文超越了对教师大学网络的结构主义分析，以调查教师寻求建议联系的动机，从而解决了社会网络文献中的空白。