Dialogic professional learning for Israeli teachers: A narrative inquiry

Situated in a period of educational standardisation, this critical, reflexive practitioner inquiry investigates ten Israeli primary school teachers’ experiences and understandings of their learning. My own learning as teacher educator is also explored. Using narrative inquiry methods and Bakhtin’s conception of dialogism, I present narrative based accounts of the teachers’ experiences of learning in and around a shared professional learning program. Over seven years, that program positioned professional writing as central in the teachers’ learning. The study conceptualises teacher learning as a complex, dialogic experience, often undertaken within structured programs, but which invariably extends into other dimensions of teachers’ professional and personal lives.