A case study exploration of Albanian Primary School teacher experience when visited by Spanish Primary School teachers

Abstract

The Komisioni Kombëtar i Edukimit Katolik Shqiptar (KKEKSH) aims to reform education in Albania. In 2022 it established a relationship with Stella Maris College (SMC) in Madrid, Spain. As part of this relationship, a teacher exchange program was established between the SMC and the KKEKSH. This exchange aims to share good practices in the field of using active methodologies in the classroom and explore the impact of such an exchange program on the professional identity of Albanian primary teachers. In the first week of June 2023, a group of three SMR teachers visited three Albanian Catholic schools for a week. Based on this experience, three theoretical constructs are analysed to explore the experience of the Albanian teacher: transformative learning, agency, and hybridization. A mixed methodology was used, based on a case study of the experience of Albanian teachers during the visit of the Spanish teachers. Two questionnaires were designed and shared online with the Albanian teachers who participated in the experience to collect information about, 1) a qualitative pre-visit questionnaire sought to explore the views of initial teacher identity and agency, 2) a mixed qualitative with Likert style quantitative post-visit questionnaire sought to explore changes in teacher identify and agency as result of the Spanish teacher visit. A constant comparative analysis, a percentage frequency of mentions and a basic SPSS analysis of the data were performed. The results show that by providing teachers with a space for reflection in their daily practice, the way they conceptualize their pedagogical knowledge changes. Communication between Spanish and Albanian teachers created a space for the hybrid identity of the participants to be scrutinized and evaluated. The participants in this study, after having been exposed to different points of view and practices in education, begun to take steps to incorporate active methodologies, alternative assessment approaches in their educational practice and adaptation of the curriculum to make it more accessible to their students, so that students become the "focus" and "priority" of what they do. It is concluded that it is necessary to work in local dialogue, firstly within the school and through the creation of local communities, in both cases to allow different knowledge and experiences to promote the creation of collaborative pedagogical knowledge. We demonstrate that the tension that arises in the hybrid identities of the participants strengthens their individual agency within the neoliberal micromanaged education system the participants find themselves in.