Professional learning is a key driver for improving use of evidence-based practices in education. However, participating in high-quality professional learning requires significant investment of time and resources, which can be challenging for under-resourced or minimally staffed educational settings.
A peer mentoring approach to professional learning allows all educators and teachers in an early childhood education and care (ECEC) service to participate in professional learning at a lower cost. This approach involves a small group of staff (peer mentors) attending external professional learning and sharing what they learnt with colleagues. While this approach is used in many workplaces, there is a lack of research demonstrating its effectiveness.
To address this gap, the Australian Education Research Organisation (AERO), in partnership with the Australian Literacy and Numeracy Foundation (ALNF), investigated the feasibility and impact of a peer mentoring approach to professional learning compared to one where all or most teachers and educators at a service receive professional learning (direct participation approach). In our study of 37 preschool educators, teachers and educational leaders at 10 ECEC services, participants received professional learning on evidence-based language and literacy practices via either a peer mentoring approach or a direct participation approach. We then examined the:
- impact of these approaches on educator and teacher knowledge and use of evidence-based practices
- impact of these approaches on oral language and early literacy outcomes of 153 preschool children at these services
- enablers of and barriers to sharing skills and knowledge learnt through peer mentoring.
This report outlines the findings of our study.
Keywords: professional development, teacher development, educator development