Book Review

Professional Capital Transforming Teaching in Every School
by Andy Hargreaves and Michael Fullan

This was a book that I picked because of the authors.  Micheal Fullan is a sound educationalist who wrote "Putting the faces on the data" (a book that I share strong agreement with).  And Andy Hargreaves is an Englishman, teacher come professor and now lives in Boston in the US. 

This book really is an attempt to write a utopian view point of how education should be in schools.  Fullan and Hargreaves attempt to write the ingredients they believe with revolutionise schooling - they make a compelling argument.

I found that whilst the primary target audience for this book is those in leadership Professional Capital has a great deal in there for all teachers.  I found myself taking notes and quotes from the book and once I'd finished these were over four pages long. 

Here at Waihi College with the appointment of our schools 'Learning Leaders' I found that Professional Capital greatly helped me in developing my own understanding of where management can best help transform the culture. 

One of the best quotes from Hargreaves and Fullan which really sums up the overarching theme of Professional Capital is (emphasis is mine)...

 

"The secret to higher efficacy and to keeping teachers is not just making sure that teacher get individual support, here or there, but that they get to work in well-led, dynamic, strongly supported schools, where there is a belief in student success, a knowledge of how to bring it about, and a willingness and eagerness for everyone on the staff to keep learning and improving - inexperienced and experienced alike.  It is, in other words, the culture of the school that makes the difference.  If you get this right, if you change the teacher by changing the entire school and profession, then no matter what challenges teachers have to face, a big payback will come through just a few years down the line." (Hargreaves and Fullan, 2014, p. 70) 

I would definitely recommend this book to other educators.  It was not a huge read (about 160 pages then referencing).  It was read more as a persuasive and passionate argument than a thesis by academia.  Finally for those that are unsure if they'd be interested in reading this book here is the cliff note video version from the authors themselves. 

This post is in relation to RTC #4. "demonstrate commitment to ongoing professional learning and development of personal professional practice."  And RTC # 8. "demonstrate in practice their knowledge and understanding of how ākonga learn."