Click, Link, Shift: a sense-making model of teacher transformation in international professional development programme

Abstract

International professional development (IPD) programme is recognised as a catalyst for transformative learning, yet the micro-processes through which educators’ beliefs and practices change remain underexplored. This qualitative case study addresses the gap by integrating transformative learning theory with a sense-making lens to examine the experiences of a group of Taiwanese educators on a study tour of Australian schools implementing the New Pedagogies for Deep Learning (NPDL) framework. The study analyses how the Taiwanese educators reinterpreted and adapted Australian NPDL practices, which were themselves a localisation of a global framework, to fit their own high-stakes educational context. Drawing on interviews, observations, and reflective documents, findings show that the NPDL framework acted as a crucial boundary object, providing a shared language that enabled this process of recontextualization. From this analysis, we propose the ‘Click-Link-Shift’ (CLS) model: a processual framework that conceptualises transformation as a ‘Click’ of cognitive dissonance, a collaborative ‘Link’ phase of social sense-making, and a ‘Shift’ towards enacted pedagogical change. This model offers a new analytical tool for understanding professional learning and provides practical insights for designing IPD programmes that foster deep, sustainable transformation.