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Despite longstanding calls for social justice-oriented teaching, there remains limited understanding of how to achieve it. This paper reports findings from a research-development project that explored the experiences of UK-based primary science teacher educators participating in a nine-month equity-oriented professional development programme and offers insights for supporting teacher learning for social justice. Analysis of written reflections and open-ended interviews with 15 teacher educators identified three types of reflection that supported justice-oriented practice: personal privilege in relation to race, class, gender and science; the norms and values of educational professional development; and practical implementation of justice-orientated professional development with teachers and schools. We discuss the importance of creating safe and brave spaces for critical reflection for primary science teacher educators and highlight the productive potential of experiences of discomfort that generated humility, empathy and insights that resulted in more equitable practice. The paper underlines the value of supporting educators to embrace discomfort as part of social justice-orientated professional development and calls for a greater valuing of and support for expanded models of professional development that foreground critical reflection and go beyond 'top tips', 'quick fixes', and dominant norms around professional 'politeness'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A significant issue in the teaching, learning and summative assessment of practical science is that the underpinning model of scientific methods is based on a fairly simplistic and linear account that does not represent how scientists actually do practical work. In this paper, we examine how science teachers in England and Wales view scientific methods included in teaching and summative assessment of practical science. Following on a survey of 51 secondary teachers' views, we focus on the outcomes of a professional development programme where science teachers were introduced to a framework called Brandon's Matrix that presents a diversity of scientific methods in the context of Project Calibrate. Through in-depth qualitative analysis, we investigated how three teachers engaged with this framework having taught it to their students. The findings illustrate that teachers conceptualise practical science as a mainly hands-on activity, while they express the need for the inclusion of more minds-on skills in the high-stakes assessment of practical science. In addition, the findings show that teachers are quite receptive to adapting new frameworks, such as Brandon's Matrix, for their teaching. Although the teachers did not see a significant departure of the assessment questions from the regular high-stakes tests taken at age 16, they did recognise that there was a valuable element of thinking skills embedded in them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The link between theory, practice and research in Initial Teacher Education (ITE) has been widely discussed in international literature. However, more needs to be done in regard to the examination of concrete examples to foster research and teaching practice in existing teacher education programmes. This paper focuses on a practicum model in ITE which aims at linking teaching and research, theory and practice. The reflective component of the model is oriented towards student teacher professional development under a democratic view of education. Integrating teaching and research and promoting teaching practice as a space of transformation rather than a process of adaptation or of application of theory may well represent a move towards knowledge mobilisation and research-informed practice. The paper concludes with some lessons learned and possible directions in order to overcome the shortcomings of the model and to enhance its positive and innovative features. Abbreviation ITE: Initial teacher education [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports qualitative findings from a large study on Indonesian teacher education students' career aspirations. The participants were 133 final-year undergraduate students who entered teacher education programmes with no intentions to teach in schools or had intentions to teach only for a short period upon graduation before pursuing another career. Their motivations to choose teacher education programmes are analysed from the perspectives of the social learning theory of career decision making. The most popular reasons were good reputation of the universities, convenient campus location, and comparatively low tuition fees for the programme. Provision of scholarship was also an attraction. Career possibilities outside teaching was another key reason for entering the programme. While a few students perceived teacher education as a stepping stone to pursue another career, some did not have any specific plan but followed their parents' advice and friends' choice of study. Participants' perceptions about teacher education programmes and teaching are discussed along with implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Across the globe, preparing the next generation of teachers is one of the most important tasks for higher education. In this article, we discuss the Teacher Preparation Initiative (TPI), a successful professional development framework designed to support teacher candidates as they enter their classrooms and also the faculty members who are working with them. This paper highlights four key components to this professional development programme: 1) practical, 2) aligned, (3) relationship-centred, and 4) current. The general framework of our partnership will be helpful for institutions whether or not they can be a part of the TPI, but are looking to build similar professional development opportunities for their education faculty members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper draws on the experiences of nine secondary school teachers in Hong Kong who conducted practitioner research (PR) in their Liberal Studies classrooms. The purpose of the study is to 1) investigate the impact and effectiveness of PR as a teacher professional development strategy and 2) identify effective support from the university team addressing the challenges relevant to an Asia-Pacific context. The study employed a qualitative design. Data were drawn from teacher interviews, meetings between the research team and the teachers, school documents and field notes. Findings suggest that while contextual challenges exist, PR is an effective approach for teacher professional development. Teachers perceived the direct impact of PR as observing the improvement of pupil performance and engagement, and a readiness to adopt new teaching strategies. Teachers also reflected on the benefits of professional development as related to the use of evidence to support reflection on pupil learning and teaching, and redefining teachers' roles. The findings provide insight into designing effective support and collaborative strategies for PR. With the support of the findings, a feasible approach to PR as a teacher professional development strategy relevant to an Asia-Pacific context is proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to achieve the standard expected in the classroom, teachers benefit from continuing professional development that enables access to resources with which to inform their practice. Smith and Helfenbein's “Translational Research in Education: Collaboration and Commitment in Urban Contexts.” In The Collaborative Turn: Working Together in Qualitative Research (2009), edited by W. S. Gershon. Rotterdam: Sense, identified that translational research ‘creates a space for collaborative, co-constructed inquiry that values and utilises the expertise of all stakeholders involved’ (page 91). This paper presents an overview and investigation of a founding model, MESH (MappingEducationSpecialist knowHow guides,www.meshguides.org), for translational educational research and knowledge mobilisation in schools and colleges. MESH guides aim to support improved evidence-based and research-informed teaching practice, to in turn improve professional practice for better student attainment. Findings from this qualitative investigation focusing on the use of one MESH guide on the teaching and learning of spelling – in 120 Primary Schools in the South West of England, UK for curriculum development – suggest that teachers value evidence-based resources for curriculum planning and delivery. Furthermore, when resources such as MESH guides are used they do help in planning curricula and lessons and have an impact on both pedagogy, by improving opportunities for learning, and on practice, by reducing planning time. Translational research for knowledge mobilisation in education is shown to give confidence to the teacher through resources that are perceived to be ‘tried and tested’, and can therefore be ‘trusted’ to improve learning. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Access to high-quality evidence has been cited as central to the enhancement of teacher professionalism. This is not a given and teacher access to high-quality evidence requires significant planning and effort. This paper considers the creation of quality-assured reviews to build sustainable quality-assured evidence sources that inform the training and professional development of new and experienced teachers. The case study makes use of the experience and evaluations of portals developed in England as part of the Teacher Training Resource Bank (TTRB). The TTRB was developed by a consortium of universities supported by a software company and funded by a government agency responsible for what it called ‘Teacher Training’. This project began in 2006 and ended in 2010 due to a change of government. The project was then ‘archived’ in a very restrictive manner. The paper explores the lessons learned from the project as a case study. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the significance of live video classroom observations of teaching practice to reduce reactivity (the observer effect) so as to obtain more credible observational information for teacher professional development in a secondary school in the largest city in southern China. Although much has been discussed regarding the use of remote live video classroom observation for professional development, the advantage of remote live video classroom observation in reducing reactivity has often been overlooked. Using the case study method, the research reported here focuses on two components: conducting live video classroom observation and the use of the live video classroom observation in reducing reactivity. This paper suggests that live video classroom observation is effective in reducing reactivity and helps avoid subjective judgement and increase feedback sources, thus providing a solution to compensate for the limitations of traditional classroom observations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Evidence receives elevated attention in teacher education today, and this attention fuels the urge to identify the impact of evidence for teaching. However, this identification turns out to be difficult: Evidence is only infrequently used by teachers to explain or justify action, and this empirically documented situation is argued to be due to a missing connection between evidence and contingent decision-making in teaching, and a lack of recognition of characteristics of teaching in research that produces evidence. The argument points to a schism between the knowledge researchers construct and the knowledge that teachers use for teaching. To address this schism, educational research requires a robust conception of knowledge, and a recognition of differences between knowledge-that and knowledge-how is argued to contribute to such robustness. The paper introduces a Foucault perspective that recognises this difference, and illustrates the relationship of knowledge-that and knowledge-how based on Foucault’s concept of care of the self. Care of the self is described from an educational perspective to highlight that teachers develop professional knowledge on teaching through reflective knowledge-how, and to describe evidence as a resource in this development when it enables the problematisation of personal knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher recruitment and retention is an international challenge. In England the government have reported that more teachers leave before retirement age than five years ago, 30% within five years and schools are finding it difficult to fill posts with quality teachers. This paper evaluates the contribution of the research-informed RETAIN Early Career Teacher (ECT) Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Programme for developing and retaining quality teachers. RETAIN was a yearlong CPD pilot for Early Career Teachers (ECTs) in primary schools in Cornwall, UK (a region with high levels of socio-economic disadvantage). The programme design was informed by research and based on factors shown to support the retention of ECTs. It was contextualised using the precept that teachers should be active researchers, influencing curriculum development as ‘reflective practitioners’, focussed with a Professional Learning Community lens and theorised within a social constructivist frame. In addition, RETAIN utilised robust evidence-informed practice approaches to support teacher development in schools with persistently disadvantaged pupils. The programme was independently evaluated using multiple-methods over the course of the programme to generate data. The theory-based evaluation suggests that the contribution of this intervention to the field is the specific combination of development; taught workshops, coaching and collaborative professional learning, which improved the self-efficacy, confidence and quality of teaching of ECTs in differing but complementary ways. All ECTs who completed the programme have been retained in teaching and all have achieved a leadership role in their school. We argue that these outcomes are of international significance and the promise of the programme can be utilised for developing and retaining high quality teachers in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores ways of enhancing inter-professional skills as part of professional development during university studies. From a socio-psychological viewpoint, inter-professional teamwork can be regarded as an interface between the group and individual levels, where collective commitment, efficiency, shared processes and outcomes, as well as tensions and dilemmas, are brought together. Inter-professional skills, which are already practised in university, may enable professionals to work in inter-professional contexts during their careers. In this case study, the participants (three student-teachers, two social work students and four supervisors) reflected on their shared experience of participating in a shared practicum at a primary school. The data-set comprises two group interviews conducted separately with the students and supervisors following the practicum. The results indicate that it is possible to develop inter-professional competencies during one’s university studies and that this has the potential to promote students’ reflective skills as they reframe their expertise and the expertise in other professions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the context for education research, including teacher education research, in Scotland. Concerns about research capacity are shared with other parts of the UK, but the distinctive context for teacher development and engagement in practitioner research create fertile ground for developments in teacher education research. Schemes such as 'Research to support Schools of Ambition' provide evidence of a shared commitment to teacher research. The national project, 'Applied Education Research Scheme', funded by the Scottish government and the Scottish Funding Council, included a thematic network on learners, learning and teaching. Drawing on activities of this sort, the paper suggests that a key element of effective capacity building lies in collaborative approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been much recent interest in collaboration and networking within and between schools to promote innovation, school improvement, and professional development. This paper starts with a brief review of the recent history of teacher research in the UK in order to consider how pre- and in-service teachers are currently positioned in relation to research. Drawing on the case of the Scottish Schools of Ambition, a network of 52 schools receiving additional resource for targeted school improvement, the paper identifies some of the challenges and opportunities presented by sponsored research engagement. Tensions between evaluating and being supportive when engaged in an externally sponsored initiative with the specific goal of demonstrating school improvement are highlighted. The perception that any change in modes of working tends to be more visible in the institutional context of school rather than the university is also noted. Based on the experience of this Scottish case and a review of current research into school-university partnerships, we argue that effective collaborations need to address questions of power to ensure mutual benefits, reciprocity, and a genuine coalition of interest amongst partners. The paper suggests that teacher educators may have an important contribution to make to building capacity through teacher enquiry given their position as mediators between schools and university faculties of education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a study that shows the use of professional standards in field experience assessment in initial teacher education. A Professional Development Progress Map was developed in field experience assessment in a teacher education institution in Hong Kong. The study enriches our understanding of the holistic nature of assessing professional competence in teaching, problems of using the Progress Map in summative assessment, and the enhancement of professional learning in field experience assessment. While the discussion cautions the limitations of professional standards, it advocates the empowerment of the assessors and the assessed to be agents striving for good assessments. Suggestions on engaging supervisors and student teachers in 'assessment dialogue' are proposed for this empowerment - making explicit judgments on professional competence in teaching and sharing supervisory practices among supervisors, engaging student teachers with the assessment criteria, and reframing supervisory practices to empower student teachers to take an active role in supervision. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses a South African case study to argue that postcolonial, emerging economy societies in transition often contain schools characterised as high risk and high need. Such schools require teachers to adapt to roles other than facilitating learning, such as psychosocial support and care, and which requires additional professional development. In the absence of structured teacher professional development programmes, alternatives are required to assist teachers. The paper describes a nine-year partnership between higher education researchers and teachers in high-risk and high-need schools in three South African provinces. The participatory reflection and action (PRA) study served as platform for a school-based intervention to assist in-service teachers to adapt to their additional responsibilities. Thematic analysis was used to identify the ways in which teachers’ adaptation to high risk benefitted from the programme, and self-determination theory is used to argue for a dynamic and interconnected relationship between the teachers’ demonstrated pathways to psychosocial support and care. The article argues that in socio-politically transforming societies where need is high for in-service teacher training and formal structures for teacher professional development may be limited, partnerships between researchers and teachers appear to be useful platforms for school-based interventions to support teacher resilience. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The present article's aim is to evaluate studies that promote teacher reflection. Through programmes of professional development, teachers are being encouraged to improve their reflective practice. This paper explores the grounding of what is advocated as reflective teaching and looks at possible differences between what is evidenced in research and what is promoted in practice. For this purpose, the content of a collection of texts published in teacher journals was analysed. The texts disseminated reflections on action to teachers. An analytical framework was used to evaluate the professional development proposals for teachers' reflective practice. The findings indicated there was a lack of agreement about how to conduct reflection, as well as a wide variety of types of reflection. Many proposals lacked empirical and theoretical support. A strong trend was noted towards prescription, despite the fact that little justification was provided for the advice. This led us to conclude that teachers are provided with only limited information on how to improve their reflective practice, which may hamper its use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Learning to teach well is a complex task. Teacher-educators have a significant role to play in enabling students to reflect critically and analyse their own practice. However, there is a danger, as a result of funding pressures and other contrary factors, that many institutions that provide teacher education will become separated from their research base. The Welsh Education Research Network (WERN) is a pilot project funded by the Higher Education Funding Council in Wales and the Economic and Social Research Council with the aim of developing educational research capacity in Wales. This paper provides an analytical account of one research group of teacher-educators funded by WERN. The case study describes the research activity of the group and the views of its members on its impact for their professional practice. Finally an analysis of the findings concludes that engagement with research has resulted in positive changes to the knowledge, skills and critical awareness of the teacher-educators which has in turn brought benefits to the learning of their students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews significant events of the last 25 years in schools and teacher education in England and looks ahead to the next 25 years. Various scenarios for the future are examined and the potential is considered for new forms of teachers' initial education and continuing professional development using information and communications technology. It is concluded that the current centrally‐controlled national system is increasingly inappropriate to present needs and will fracture under the combination of pressures of a commodified education market, learners' consumerist expectations of personalised provision, and networks of informal learning enabled by widespread access to portable communications technology. Four lessons from this future prediction are drawn, with recommendations for radical changes in government policy and orientation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the main gains resulting from student teachers' first contact with the teaching profession. The Inventory of Experiences and Perceptions at Teaching Practice (IEPTP) was used to assess the range of experiences of a sample of 224 student teachers on five dimensions of teaching practice: (1) learning and professional development; (2) professional and institutional socialisation; (3) socio-emotional aspects; (4) support/resources/supervision; and (5) vocational development. The results describe the main changes occurring in the student teachers' perceptions between the beginning and the end of teaching practice. They also suggest more significant changes in the areas of vocational development, professional and institutional socialisation, and learning and professional development. Strategies to promote student teachers' learning process and to decrease the difficulties emerging during this period are suggested. Supervisors' role in fostering and supporting the new candidates' professional and personal growth is also addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: Quality Education has recently driven more outreach teacher professional development (PD) programmes. While research evidence shows the importance of school-university partnerships for effective PD programmes, this research area remains under-investigated in many developing countries, including Malaysia. This qualitative study investigated the experiences and perspectives of 40 primary school teachers who participated in a three-phase, school-university PD programme. Phase 1 emphasised reflective pedagogy and co-development of teaching interventions. Phase 2 focused on classroom teaching intervention and continuous feedback on teaching methods, whereas Phase 3 consisted of interview sessions. Guided by the 'Interconnected Model of Teacher Professional Growth', an extended version of the model was developed to include an emerging domain; the Initial Positive Perception Domain. This domain addresses teachers' voluntary involvement and their clear intention to collaborate with the university researchers. Most importantly, this domain facilitates positive interaction between the existing domains in the model by promoting teachers' reflective pedagogical practice and strengthening the collective learning community. This study provides explicit evidence that a teacher's initial positive perception towards school-university partnership serves as a fundamental bridge between theoretical k nowledge and practical knowledge for developing highly effective PD programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attempting to connect theoretical arguments for the primacy of ethics in teachers' practice to real life experience we interviewed fifteen teachers from Greece and Iceland. The stories they told were in accord with a broadly Aristotelian notion of moral development. They saw their moral education as process that began early in life and continued through years of work, where the latter stages required opportunities to engage in deliberations about human affairs. Our results suggest that, when thinking about the moral education of teachers, we should focus not only on preservice education but also on lifelong professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kelchtermans and Ballet in their article entitled The micropolitics of teacher induction: A narrative-biographical study on teacher socialisation revealed five categories of professional interests for beginning teachers. Their professional interests framework is adopted to study a Chinese new teacher's workplace relationships. The research relies primarily on an in-depth interview and observations to collect data. It is found that self-interests, organisational interests, cultural-ideological interests and social-professional interests are the most prominent interests that undergird the teacher's relationships with principals, colleagues, and parents. Based on these intertwining interests, she has generally positive (i.e. friendly, cooperative, supportive, etc.) relationships with the principals and most colleagues while negative (i.e. conflicting, competitive, etc.) relationships with parents and novice colleagues. The research has implications for building more constructive relationships from the professional interests perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing numbers of school systems and employers now provide and mandate mentoring for novice teachers. Most studies, however, have focused on the extensive mentoring provided during the first year of teaching, and not on mentoring in the following years. There is little research on the functions and on the relational aspects of mentoring new teachers. To address these issues, the present study implemented a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 35 Israeli novice teachers during their second year of teaching supported by a mentor. The findings shed light on the perceived meanings of the role of mentoring and the types of relationships that develop between the mentors and novice teachers in their second year of teaching. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During 2001-2002 the Faculty of Education at the University of Hong Kong undertook a large-scale evaluation of the school-university partnership scheme. As part of this study, all mentors were asked how, if at all, the mentoring process had enhanced their own professional development. An open-response questionnaire was administered with a selection of follow-up interviews. About 70% of the mentors claimed that they had benefited professionally from mentoring. Here we analyse mentors' responses and from them propose four constructs that we suggest lead to professional development, namely: learning through self-reflection, learning from student teachers, learning through mutual collaboration, and learning from university tutors. Of these, the first appears to be the most significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT This paper reports an investigation into a school-based professional development program. The program was designed to be responsive to the needs of the science teachers involved through a collaborative approach to observation and discussion of their classroom teaching and their students' learning. The school-based professional development program was developed in accord with much of the research literature related to professional development and change. The participants regarded the program as worthwhile, valuable and meaningful to their practice, so much so, that they adapted it to suit their changing needs. The interesting aspect of the research is how, despite obvious acceptance, enthusiasm and ownership by the participants, the impetus for change dramatically diminished when the external support ceased. It appears as though the nature of teachers' work and their workplace itself creates demands which continually affect those involved in change despite their best intentions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

English is vertically distributed in the socioeconomic layers of Turkish society as there has been a discrepancy between English learning opportunities in public vs. private educational institutions and developed vs. underdeveloped regions. Attracting qualified English teachers to work in unprivileged regions and public schools would be one of the solutions for the social inequity caused by unbalanced access opportunities to satisfactory English proficiency. Collecting and analysing questionnaire data from pre-service teachers from 13 English Language Teaching departments (N = 583), and conducting semi-structured interviews with 88 participants, this study aims to understand regional and institutional plans of pre-service English teachers with a focus on factors affecting their plans. Majority of the participants plan to work in public institutions as they offer job security and moderate workload; on the other hand, professional development opportunities in private institutions are quite attractive for many teacher candidates. Participants seem to have a tendency to work in developed regions. Cultural concerns, geographical concerns, altruistic concerns, opportunities and beliefs derived from others' experiences are found to be effective on their regional plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers are expected to meet professional requirements concerning: (1) their role as a teacher, (2) capacity to teach and meet students' specific learning needs, (3) managing the classroom effectively, and (4) cooperating with other professionals within the school. Teachers build up competencies and experience challenges associated with these requirements at different career stages. The present study investigates teachers' perceived challenge and competence at different stages when dealing with professional requirements. A total of 655 teachers from 250 primary schools in the state of Zurich, Switzerland, at different career stages (pre-service, beginning and experienced teachers), completed a survey measuring four professional requirements in competence and challenge dimensions. Structural equation modelling was used to assess the validity of the measures and teachers' sense of competence and perceived challenge were compared across different career stages. Beginning teachers were found to be lower in their sense of competence in all four requirements, but teachers' experiences of challenge varied at different career stages. The findings call for attention to facilitating new teachers to accomplish the required competencies and to minimise any stress arising from the challenges they face. Promoting optimal use of resources through cooperation in the workplace may help beginning teachers to maximise their sense of competence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This report describes two teachers' challenges and coping strategies while teaching online following the suspension of face-to-face classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings shed light on proactive and passive agency. This study also provides an understanding of teachers' 'tea or tears' in online teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study investigates the nature of Iranian student teachers' reflections and their professional development in the context of teacher education practicums. The participants were student teachers (N = 41) enrolled in teacher education colleges at Farhangian University in Tehran, Iran. A total of 620 reflective writing excerpts were coded using deductive content analysis across three cohorts in three different practicums during a two-year period. To analyse the data, this study applied a rubric for evaluating student teachers' reflections developed by Ward and McCotter. The analysis also involved Friedman's test and follow-up Wilcoxon tests. The results show that routine levels of reflection significantly decreased across the three practicums, while technical levels of reflection significantly increased. The higher levels of reflection, namely dialogic and transformative levels, were rarely found in student teachers' reflective writings across the practicums. This study discusses the need both to develop appropriate methods to guide student teachers in centralized contexts such as Iran and to investigate further aspects that enhance or hinder progress in the quality of reflection in teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study revolves around an organically lived online community of Chinese elementary teachers. The teachers shared their reflective journals and engaged in conversations with the facilitators and also with their peers. Following one participant's postings over a span of thirteen months helped the research team to narratively explore how the teacher, through reflections and interactions with his other fellow community members, refined his personal practical knowledge and cultivated his best-loved self as a teacher-principal in a rural school in China that lacked learning resources. Highlighted in the discussions are how the participant integrated his personal being with his professional being and eventually became the teacher he wanted to be. This research study adds to the literature about teachers as agents of change. This knowledge contribution, among others related to technology, shows how professional development and the development of teacher identity can be promoted in online teacher knowledge communities. Implications for teacher education are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyses the contemporary work and potential contribution of university supervisors supporting preservice teachers´ during their practicum experiences in initial English language teacher preparation. The study draws on a complex data derived from surveys, interviews, and observations of university supervisors working in a diverse array of English language teacher education programmes across Chile. A cultural historical activity theory perspective is employed to explore and analyse the motives, activities, and actions that underpinned the work of these supervisors. Findings suggest that supervisors have to respond to often contradictory demands and an overemphasis towards quality assurance actions that are potentially detrimental to preservice teachers´ development. The work of supervisors is analysed to understand how potentially to re-envision their role and functions, toward proposing how to productive expand supervisory practices as an integral part of teacher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to identify some of the tensions which will need to be resolved if those of the professionals engaged in initial teacher education and continuing professional development for serving teachers are to be able to play an appropriate role in ensuring they have a teaching professional that is capable of critical yet positive engagement with change.

This study investigates Turkish pre-service teachers’ experiences related to a two-month international teaching and cultural experience in the United States of America. In total, 289 graduate students from Turkey participated in a collaborative project from 2001 to 2010. The experience included an orientation week, six weeks of student teaching in a high school, seminars and projects at Iowa State University and cultural visits. The data were collected through a pre-service teacher questionnaire and their reflective journals. The results showed that pre-service teachers perceived the international teaching experience helped them develop professionally and personally. Through cross-cultural exchanges with their mentors along with other students and their community, the pre-service teachers expanded their knowledge of a new culture and adapted to a new working environment. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Proposals made by the European Commission in 2007 led to the Education Council adopting, for the first time, a European agenda for improving the quality of teaching and teacher education. This article reports on a small-scale longitudinal interview-based study with teachers in England, Norway and Germany demonstrating that while opportunities for professional development are increasing in all three countries, dissatisfaction is expressed by most teachers in relation to its quality and outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes a novel UK school/university partnership, the Plymouth Model designed to encourage young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to aim for higher education (HE) study. The model incorporates the activity of university students, researchers and teachers working together to improve aspirations and outcomes for pupils and potentiate their own intellectual, professional and personal development. Background policy and curriculum development models are outlined and a UK study in which inner city primary and secondary school teachers’ views and pupils’ aspirations were gauged before and after the school/university partnership model was implemented. The intervention led to a significant increase in pupils’ motivation to go on to HE study and findings further suggest that the problem of aspiration and motivation for progression to HE may lie not with the pupils themselves, or with their parents or carers but with their teachers. The serious implications of the findings for policy and practice are discussed and suggestions made for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Written lesson appraisals (WLAs) by mentors (n = 30) of pre-service teachers experiencing two different mentoring regimes in an English university teacher education programme were selected for analysis. The WLAs were analysed for their length and content using professional knowledge categories derived from pre-service teacher perceptions of the content of WLAs. The professional knowledge categories were 'topic-specific pedagogy', 'class management' and 'generic issues'. Statistically significant differences were found in the length of WLAs written by mentors from the two mentoring regimes and in the content of all professional knowledge categories. Pre-service teacher perceptions of content are similar to the actual content of the WLAs but the degree of emphasis was different. Implications for the training and continuing professional development of mentors, pre-service teachers and others who receive or provide WLAs are identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The diversity and complexity of the post-modern era places new and important challenges on teacher education. The crucial role that personal dispositions have for professional learning needs to be better understood and acknowledged. Teacher training programmes need to focus more on objectives such as promoting conflict literacy, self-awareness, empathy, leadership and collaborative skills, i.e. taking into account not only the cognitive but also the social and emotional aspects of human development. In this article, Swedish lecturers' descriptions of what they consider to be competences and qualities necessary for future teachers constitute the starting point for a wider discussion on the decisive role of beliefs and emotions in being and becoming a teacher. Issues raised here should be able to contribute to a better understanding of what it means to be a teacher and, consequently, result in improvements in the planning of teacher training programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article compares the experiences of small groups of newly qualified teachers before and after the introduction of statutory induction in England in 1999. It examines how far some of the beneficial outcomes of a structured induction programme advocated by Glickman and Bay (1990) have been evidenced by the experiences of the post‐induction NQTs, compared with their pre‐induction counterparts. It is argued that there is evidence that structured induction has resulted in increased reflection; improved collegiality, openness and communication; greater teacher autonomy, self‐growth and personal efficacy; but that a climate of ‘accountability’ and ‘raising standards’ has served to add to the workload of NQTs and thus increase, not lessen, anxiety and burnout. It contends that if teacher retention rates are to be improved, there is a need to develop individualised induction support, rooted in professional education, rather than training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mentoring has traditionally focused on trainees and newly qualified teachers (NQTs). There is no established, effective mentoring procedure to help teachers who have worked for longer periods of time (one or more years in the classroom) and who are still not coping after all available help has been offered. This study shows that as a result of effective intervention, in such cases, useful change can occur. When Intensive Mentoring (IM) takes place over a period of two weeks, the Intensive Mentor works throughout the day in the classroom with the teacher. Teachers are encouraged to improve their practices through discussion and reflection and by example. During IM, teachers experience a series of emotional stages that involve coming to terms with the loss of old habits, ideas and notions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role and numbers of teaching assistants (TAs) in English schools has grown dramatically in recent years. This is associated with professional development which could give access to Qualified Teacher Status. This part-time, school-based route is consistent with the growth of alternative routes into teaching that are based on an 'apprenticeship model of teacher training'. This model is consistent with the dominant model of 'reflective practice' in teacher training. This study of a cohort of students in their first year of a part-time degree programme for TAs examines the role of experience from constructivist and sociocultural perspectives. It concludes that the TAs' social context in school has a significant impact on the potential to learn from experience and this needs to be addressed in the design of such programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A questionnaire and interviews involving 20 faculty members were administered in a College's School of Education faculty in Israel. Ninety-six responses were received. Several groups could be identified within this population. The young and ambitious (35%) seemed to be involved in research for extrinsic rewards: additional pay, Ph.D. or promotion, and are at the advancement or maintenance stage of their career. They use research to advance their careers but do not consider that research as helpful for their inclusion in decision-making processes at the College (Schein, 1971). A second group are teacher educators, towards the end of their career (45%), who view research as an activity that can contribute to their professional growth and self-actualization. They tend to look for intrinsic rewards such as esteem, need for affiliation, relatedness and job autonomy. They are at the withdrawal stage of their career, and use research to remain 'stars' or 'solid citizens' (Hall, 1976), and to slow down their decline. Finally, about 20% of the respondents are not tenured, probably are at the establishment stage of their career, and hope that engagement in research will improve their chances of obtaining tenure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents information about the project "Becoming a teacher" (BaT) (2003-2009), funded by the Department for Education and Skills, the General Teaching Council for England and the Teacher Training Agency, and carried out by researchers at the University of Nottingham, and the University of Leeds. The BaT project is tracking beginner teachers from a range of different routes into teaching, including university-administered, school-centred and employment-based initial teacher preparation (ITP) programmes, over a period of five academic years. It will explore teachers' experiences of ITP, induction and early professional development, and how these experiences may vary according to provider type and ITP route/programme. It is now well established that, like all learners, student teachers and beginning teachers view and interpret new information and experiences through their existing network of concepts, experiences and beliefs. Data are being generated via a longitudinal survey of approximately 5000 student teachers and via regular, in-depth interviews and electronic-mail exchanges with a subset of survey respondents.

The article offers the authors insights on continuing professional development (CPD) seminar for English teachers held in June 2009 at Hong Kong University in Hong Kong, China. The author mentions that CPD seminar aims of strengthening teacher's role in their own CPD through traditional model of knowledge transmission and knowledge consumption. The author states that teachers shared preliminary thoughts on a list of discussion questions designated to a specific topic during a pre-seminar preparatory meeting. The author says that teachers were provided a presentation on how to mark student writing. Moreover, the author says that teachers can play the role of knowledge producers in a professional learning community through active participation.