Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School

by Andy Hargreaves, Michael Fullan

The future of learning depends absolutely on the future of teaching. In this latest and most important collaboration, Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan show how the quality of teaching is captured in a compelling new the professional capital of every teacher working together in every school. Speaking out against policies that result in a teaching force that is inexperienced, inexpensive, and exhausted in short order, these two world authorities―who know teaching and leadership inside out―set out a groundbreaking new agenda to transform the future of teaching and public education. Ideas-driven, evidence-based, and strategically powerful, Professional Capital combats the tired arguments and stereotypes of teachers and teaching and shows us how to change them by demanding more of the teaching profession and more from the systems that support it. This is a book that no one connected with schools can afford to ignore. Book

Genres: Education, Leadership, Nonfiction, Professional Development, Teaching, School

240 pages, Hardcover

First published March 9, 2012

About the author

Andy Hargreaves is Research Professor at Boston College, Visiting Professor at the University of Ottawa, Distinguished Visiting Professor at Hong Kong University, Professor II at the University of Stavanger, and Honorary Professor at Swansea University. He is Past President of the International Congress for School Effectiveness and Improvement, Adviser in Education to the First Minister of Scotland and from 2016-2018 to the Premier of Ontario. Andy is founder of the Atlantic Rim Collaboratory (ARC): a group of 9 nations committed to broadly defined excellence, equity, wellbeing, inclusion, democracy and human rights.
Andy has consulted with the OECD, the World Bank, governments, universities and professional associations worldwide. He has given keynote addresses in 50 countries, 47 US states and all Australian states and Canadian provinces. Andy’s more than 30 books have attracted multiple Outstanding Writing Awards. Andy is ranked in the top 20 scholars with most influence on US education policy debate. In 2015, Boston College gave him its Excellence in Teaching with Technology Award. He holds Honorary Doctorates from the Education University of Hong Kong and the University of Uppsala in Sweden.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was really keen to read this as Fullan and Hargreaves featured prominently in my own Masters work about 'Educational Change'. I was not disappointed. Easy to read and yet still thought provoking in its content. I loved their anecdotes and their collaborative writer's voice is engaging and charismatic. They inspire change and provide a road map for action. What more could you ask?

[Vanessa Mozayani · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for educational leadership, will revisit many chapters over and over again.

[Lluís · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen libro para introducirse en el impacto más allá del aula y seguir profundizando (muy buenas referencias) en lo que los autores denominan profesionalismo colaborativo, un paso más en la colaboración docente. Sin embargo, me falta un poco de profundidad o detalle para poder discutir el alcance de lo que se muestra como éxitos o los factores que influyeron.

[MisterHobgoblin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Professional Capital is a highly readable text that makes the case for schools focusing on creating a dynamic learning culture for their own staff. The central thesis is that successful teachers build professional capital, and this is a function of human capital, social capital and decisional capital. In other words, great teachers have great subject knowledge and pedagogical skills, actively collaborate with colleagues to raise both their own professional practice and practice across the school; and have the autonomy to apply their knowledge and skills in a collaborative environment.

It is a simple and well argued case. There is no point in being a hero teacher – brilliant with his or her own classes – without giving support to colleagues and receiving their support in return. This is because students will be taught by multiple teachers over the course of their school career. Teacher variability is a problem and teachers should be empowered to even up that variability.

Hargreaves and Fullan argue against contrived collegiality – where school management or the education district imposes a model of forced collaboration. The school has to create a learning culture and that will happen slowly. It might be initiated by either the teachers or by the school leadership, but for it to work, both have to be active and willing participants. They argue against a compliance based approach, both to professional learning and to the teaching profession as a whole. Instead, when a school successfully creates a whole-school learning culture the peer pressure will compel weaker teachers to shape up or ship out.

This all sounds sensible, but if the text has a weakness it is in the implementation section. For all the careful argument in the earlier sections, the implementation falls into giving a list of homilies. Be yourself. Be a mindful teacher. Push and pull your peers. Surprise yourself. The reality is that schools exist in a political world that is often driven by an appetite for quick results, a return to basics and ever greater efficiencies. The text might have been stronger if it had contented itself with being a strong counter-argument to be deployed in resisting that business-capital type thinking. Because, the reality is that schools do not have full agency for their destinies and “being yourself” could be professional suicide if applied in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Nevertheless, an excellent and thought provoking read.

[Assel · Rating 5 out of 5]

As long as the title of the book suggests, it is primarily aimed at practitioners (and researchers) in education, particularly, in school education. However, the book goes beyond school premises and stereotyped school issues, let it be a classroom management question or parental involvement. Professional Capital: Transforming Teaching in Every School by two leading international experts in the field interpret a holistic issue of teaching and learning in simple words for the world readership. They project how we can all benefit as Homo sapiens if we invest our available resources into a sustainable education and bridge gaps in ineffective teaching to nurture professionals in our schools. I have received a satisfying pleasure from the book, not to mention an up-to-date reference list to hard facts and undeniably successful and unsuccessful people's stories.

[Helena · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book within the existing framework of the school systems, misters Alan and Michael do push against the edges. I wish they had stepped outside that system as well, but who knows, perhaps they will in the future?

https://helenaroth.com/professional-c...

[Margaret Grabowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved the pushes the authors make to professionalize the teaching profession. I made lots of connections to the gaps I’ve experienced as a teacher and educator. This book strengthened my commitment to build educators (including myself) who have a deep knowledge of pedagogy, have the skills to be responsive to every child’s needs, and participate in communities of educators who grow each other.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another part of the action plan that we need to put into place at NHS. Teachers we need to join together and lead from the side and/or behind to rebuild a professional, innovative staff culture. Much to think about and much inspiration to draw upon.

[Jurgita · Rating 4 out of 5]

Provokuojanti mąstyti apie mokytojo svarbą knyga. Patiko knygos kryptis. Norėjosi daugiau patarimų, KAIP tai, kas taip svarbu, autorių nuomone, reikia padaryti, KOKIŲ veiksmų reikia imtis. Vienas kitas atrastas. Tenka ieškoti daugiau.

[Hanneke Wildschut · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inspirerend boek. Binnenkort te bespreken op school....

[Jeremy Ang · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must read for any educator, from the classroom teacher to national policy makers.

[Matt Diaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been a long article. A lot is very repetitive.

[Fifi · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Collective responsibility consists of the enlargement and deepening of identity beyond oneself.'
#DeZinVanHetBoek #ThePointOfTheBook

[Abigale · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it for class and it gave me the information I needed and I will be quoting it in papers.

[Markel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for educational leaders! Very interesting comparisons with other countries and their educational models.

[Maria De · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed the way I thought about professional development.

[Darian Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

This group of authors seems to continue to recycle their own works with simple nuances in name changes. It is one thing to stand on the balcony and look into the work and an entirely different thing to have done the work any time recently. This edition or re-edit was frustrating in content and discussion in that they gloss over the root issues and the root challenges as if their new nomenclature and focus on same will move the needle around student achievement and fixing our schools. They talk about urban schools as if urban in Alberta Canada and Europe are the same as Chicago or Detroit; socio-economic status as if "race" plays no roll in the impact on schools. Black in Canada is not even Black in Hawaii as we learned the past 8 years, let alone black in the Delta of Mississippi. What is most frustrating for me is that these guys continue to write these books, other ed reformists continue to read these books and then change PD and direction and continue to miss the ball entirely. Yes some of these are fair strategies to find one lever to move achievement just a bit, but none of these nor any of these books I have read address the issues in a real way for all American urban schools to even begin to do this work. I understand they cannot peel the layers back in a real way around culture, race, and class, the history of enslavement, segregation, one-sided integration, jim crow, unequal funding, busing, a lack of black educators, voices, access, exposure, etc. - it is far easier to say, well one thing is let's address "fixing" teachers and even though they try to say this isn't about blaming teachers or educators, the use of these works in the wrong hands - as is often the case - is catastrophic. You know all you need to know about this book from the first chapter and hang on praying it will end soon. We need a new set of researchers with different windows into the work, who have done the work in this century at least, in one of the American urban settings and experienced some success.... otherwise, I want my money back.

[Sean Kottke · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent work on change leadership and the peculiar organizational dynamics of schools, Professional Capital provides a concise critique of contemporary education reform efforts that follow a business model and proposes a three-way lens for understanding what drives excellence in teaching. The combination of human capital, social capital and decisional capital is not simple to nurture, and no single silver bullet will get any school there ... except for one: trust. I've been thinking that the essence of dysfunction in schools boils down to a breakdown of this fundamental value, one that is absolutely necessary in as interpersonally intense as education. There's no single prescription for how to get it back and nurture it, but there are lots of models to ponder here. The message is that there isn't a single, large-scale solution, but rather myriad highly localized solutions that have at their core a genuine foundation of trust that guides their missions. Essential reading for teachers and administrators.

[Becca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I heard one of the authors, Andy Hargreaves, speak last year, and he was insightful, witty, and fascinating - one of the best speakers I have ever heard on education. His book is similarly satisfying. Having been in the world of education for 8 years years now, and in some of the most dysfunctional school around, I've seen the best of intentions play out in idiotic, destructive, and sad ways. This book takes a refreshing global perspective on education - he's been researching what works in education across the world, for decades. What he proposes is not a magic bullet or one size fits all solution - it's about making education strong by building the professional capital of educators. You can just tell that he gets it - the never ending waves of new programs that are replaced by other new programs, that force schools in constantly new directions, but never gaining ground. Stop the insanity, and instead help schools and teachers build themselves up with real support, commitment, and long lasting direction.

[Joe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book started very slowly but I'm glad I stuck with it. The authors make a convincing argument for investing not just in individual teachers (e.g., the bright kids who go into TFA) but in teaching as a profession. They show how we need to build social networks that will support teachers as they move from executing current best practices to innovating next practices.

As the director of a university writing program, this book reminds me that my job is to help teachers develop their own versions of our first-year writing course, and not simply teach to a standard syllabus.

A question about style: This is a cowritten book. The style of some chapters is much livelier and concrete than others. I wonder if the coauthors were trading chapters?

[Chris Wejr · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an important read for educators looking to create real change that is driven by... educators. Policy makers are showing us over and over again that the business capital model of education reform does not work. Building up professional capital by creating the conditions for educators to grow together is the way to real educational change.

I really enjoyed the concepts, ideas, and strategies discussed in the book. I struggled with some of the examples used by the authors as I have heard from some teachers that worked in the district examples that are referenced and the process was not as smooth or powerful as narrated by the authors.

All in all, a great read and a recommended book study for educators.

[Bea Elwood · Rating 3 out of 5]

I find it hard to review this book because it's hard to pinpoint what was so taxing about it to read. So much in here I totally agree with and when I decided to become a teacher it was in large part because I felt there was a disconnect between what "we" knew and how we were teaching. I loved that they referenced Malcolm Gladwell's 10,000 hours essay (I talk about it all the time too) and I agree with the need to take action now, to stop talking and do. Maybe as a first year teacher I just found it a bit overwhelming, maybe I just need to try to read it again in six years when I start to build my confidence as a teacher and am ready for the next challenge.

[Tara Brabazon · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a solid book about the potential and challenges of teaching. While the word 'capital' is used in a cliched form throughout many discourses and disciplines, there is some currency to 'professional capital.'

Why do teachers succeed? Why do teachers fail? The answers to those questions are not often predictable or clearly revealed in the research literature. But by understanding the motivations and aspirations of teachers, then supportive environments and contexts can be constructed.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most inspiring books I have read about the power of teacher professional development and ground-up teacher movements to impact education in tremendous ways (as opposed to top-down initiatives that disempower teachers). Hargreaves and Fullan do an excellent job of providing international examples and it was a fascinating read. The case study of Ontario is particularly memorable and inspiring. As a teacher leader, this is one of the most important large-scale books I have read.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm kind of torn on whether to give this 3 or 4 stars. It's probably 3.5 in reality. I really wanted to like this book, but it just didn't do too much for me. I think the important pieces could really be communicated in the course of a long article. It felt like a lot of the book was filler just to have enough material to make a book. Also, there were more exclamation points in this book than anything else I've ever read, for reals.

[Spacek Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

The authors present a brief historical perspective on education and professionalism. They lead the reader to the evidence that portrays a strengthening of the profession. At the end of the book they provide action steps. Education reform cannot be sustained by young in experienced teachers. Teachers of all ages must be involved.

[Phoebe · Rating 5 out of 5]

This would be a great book for teachers and school administrators to read within a professional learning community. Very good insights into how we can make our schools all they can be for our children.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This follow up to their earlier book is exactly what we need in education. We need to make the change not those outside of education. With the support, professional development and collaboration time our teachers can be incredible. Now to figure out how to do this together . . .

[Julie Aquilina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read. I highlighted way too much - oops. Human, social, decisional capital equals professional capital: the sweet spot of maximizing learning in our schools (key message of book). Still rolling this around in my brain a lot lately and what it actually looks and feels like in reality.

[Sue · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely the best book about education that I have read in years! This book even changed the direction of my dissertation after I read it. Hargreaves and Fullan recently won the Grawemeyer Award in Education for this book and their research. A must-read for all leaders in education!