By LeeAnne Lavender, PeerSphere Storyteller
Ed Greene, the executive director of EARCOS (East Asia Regional Council of Schools) is excited about partnering with PeerSphere for the upcoming academic year. He sees peer learning as a quintessential strategy for professional development and is thrilled that EARCOS will support the development of five PeerSphere peer learning communities (PLCs)for 2024/25.
“The strength of peer learning is in connections,” says Ed. “When people have the same challenges and interests, and they’re able to meet in a small group setting, the ways they can think and work together are truly powerful. It’s about the conversations, the wisdom, the sharing, and the solutions. It’s how we learn together.”
Ed knows some schools do a good job of organizing on-site PLCs for teachers, but agrees with PeerSphere’s Michael Iannini that there’s something even more powerful in connecting with educators in similar roles outside a school community. “When this happens, people aren’t as constrained by systems and specific ways of thinking; more can happen,” says Ed.
During COVID-19, EARCOS partnered with the Truman Group to offer online communities for school leaders to ideate, strategize, and process challenges and solutions. This was successful and highlighted, for Ed, the power of peer learning and its role in ongoing professional development for EARCOS educators.
“We’re looking for more ways to pull educators together in smaller groups,” the EARCOS Direcdtor said. “Institutes, mentoring and coaching, small cohorts… these can be such dynamic and purposeful ways to learn and grow.”
When Ed was the head of school for 16 years at a leading school in Europe, he implemented peer learning structures for his staff. This led to changing the teacher evaluation system to revolve around small groups of 3-4 teachers engaged in observing each other’s classes and exploring meaningful co-learning strategies. Based on the Japanese model called ‘Lesson Study’ this led to a deep shift for the school’s culture of teaching and learning–and leadership. “I realized that if we could structure our professional culture on the same things we wanted teachers to do in their classrooms, it would be a rich experience,” reflects Ed.
PeerSphere co-founders Michael Iannini and Ewen Bailey are looking forward to partnering with EARCOS educators next school year. As PeerSphere grows its number of PLCs and the reach of its impact on educators seeking professional development, both Michael and Ewen see partnerships like this one with EARCOS as essential.
“The foundation of peer learning is collaboration, openness and sharing,” says Michael. “And this means that partnering with excellent organizations and associations like EARCOS is a natural fit. I’m also really looking forward to seeing how PeerSphere can help EARCOS weave a tighter fabric of community across the wide region EARCOS covers.”
Ewen agrees and adds that he had multiple generative conversations with EARCOS educators at the Teachers’ Conference in Bangkok in March. “So many teachers stopped by the booth to talk with me and ask questions; as awareness of our PeerSphere PLCs grows, you can see people’s interest growing and new connections evolving,” says Ewen.
If you teach in an EARCOS member school, you can learn more about this partnership by visiting this web page: https://www.peer-sphere.com/communities/earcos-middle-leaders-communities/.
Peer learning should be included in every educators’ professional development plan!
