Search

The role of educational research, and schools’ and teachers’ engagement in and with research, changes when it is viewed as a form of professional development. The study presented in this paper inte...

The effectiveness of professional learning communities (PLCs) in schools depends significantly on the extent of fostering teacher learning. In this explanatory case study, 16 female teachers from a...

This paper examines a cohort of Chinese preservice teachers’ (PSTs’) (n = 13) international teaching practicums (ITPs) experiences in Canada from the perspectives of complexity theory and boundary-...

Drawing on a larger ethnographic study, this article reports a case study investigating the impact of a blended professional learning community (PLC) on teacher educators’ changes in professional i...

This in-practice article reports a case study investigating the trajectory of teachers who engaged in a professional learning community (PLC) project that aimed to develop language assessment liter...

Professional learning for novice teachers has been an increasing concern among teacher educators and educational researchers worldwide for decades. Previous studies have indicated that successful p...

Let us start the review with these questions: ‘Are you an inquiring teacher seeking to strengthen your continuing research and practice?’ And ‘are you in need of professional learning in your arena...

Teacher educators are an occupational group currently experiencing increased scrutiny by international policy makers and researchers alike. This occupational group however is increasingly difficult to define and identify in a complex, internationally changing teacher education policy reform environment. The question posed is an enduring one: who is a teacher educator? The answer is more complicated. To better understand this occupational group, a literature review and local policy analysis study using the Australian context was conducted to reveal more about their identity; career trajectories and; professional learning needs. Analysis revealed that three sub-groups belonging to the broader teacher educator occupational group have emerged as a result of shifting teacher education policies. Namely, university-based; school-based and community-based teacher educators, each with an important role to play and each positioned differently within the research and policy landscape. Findings suggest that all three groups are important to educating teachers across their career and to best meet the needs of all students for new times. Recommendations are made for future research and practice into how these groups can work collectively together, within and across the multiple sites of learning to teach.

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

peer-reviewed Against a rapidly changing policy landscape for teacher education, exacerbated by Brexit' in the UK, findings are presented from an electronic survey of 272 higher-education based teacher educators in England, the Republic of Ireland and Scotland about their experiences of, and priorities for, professional learning. While the data generated were mainly quantitative data, qualitative features were embedded within the survey design. Both types of data have been used to draw out complexities that emerge when exploring a professional group of educators responsible for the preparation of a future generation of teachers. The findings are presented and discussed in relation to the professional demographics of the sample, research expectations placed on them and teacher educators' priorities for professional learning. Given the unique occupational position of teacher educators, their importance in the quality of teacher education and the lack of formal focus on their professional development, our starting point for teacher educators' professional development lies in their practice situated and positioned within global, regional, national and local policy contexts. ACCEPTED peer-reviewed

This article reports a mixed methods study on the contribution of various aspects of pre-service student teachers’ learning in initial teacher education (ITE) to their professional competence in a Five-year Bachelor of Education Programme in Hong Kong. Special attention is given to how student teachers’ non-formal learning in higher education contributes to their professional competence, an under-researched area in teacher education. A total of 282 student teachers participated in the quantitative survey, 18 of whom were interviewed. Although Undergraduate Learning Experience: Formal Learning and Non-formal Learning was not the most highly rated factor, multiple regression indicated that it was the only ITE professional learning factor that significantly predicted all dimensions of professional competence. This supports the hypothesis that non-formal learning as a part of learning in higher education makes a significant contribution to student teachers’ professional competence. The qualitative fi...

Despite its inherent nature of artificiality, microteaching has been widely used as a routine procedure in pre-service teacher education courses to apply theoretical knowledge and develop practical teaching competence. Its importance in the practice element of teacher education programmes has given rise to a considerable amount of attention to its potential in research. However, there has been little or no research on pair microteaching, which is exploited as a circumstantial compromise and innovation. This article reports on a small-scale study of the effect of pair microteaching on EFL (English as a foreign language) student teachers’ professional learning. Triangulated sources of data were collected qualitatively to investigate a group of 30 student teachers’ perspectives about their eight-week-long microteaching experience on an English language teaching methodology course. The results show a high level of endorsement of the experience despite the drawbacks of limited practice opportunity and ...

This paper presents a comparative critique of key education and teacher education policies in England adopted by New Labour (1997-2010) and the Coalition government (2010-15). It focuses on direct measures intended to alleviate the effects of poverty on young people’s educational outcomes, and on teacher education policies with implications for preparing teachers to tackle such problems. It questions the consistency, coherence and effectiveness of the policies pursued by each administration and analyses the similarities and differences between them. Particular attention is paid to the conceptions of professional knowledge and educational research that underpin their assumptions about the role of teachers' professional learning in seeking to break the link between young people’s socio-economic status and their educational outcomes. While policies implemented by both administrations are deeply imbued with neo-liberal perspectives, our analysis highlights important differences, the effects of which may become more apparent as the Conservatives exercise their independent authority over education.

This book is relevant for anyone who is involved in planning and delivering professional development for teachers. It explores the way in which teachers learn and develop their practice, identifyin...

This qualitative case study examines the perspectives and experiences of seven Chinese primary teachers on the integration of shared knowledge artefacts into teaching in professional learning communities. The analysis of the semi-structured interviews and observation data revealed that using knowledge artefacts, such as preview sheets, flowing charts and grouping rules, had dual effects in teacher development in professional learning communities in mainland China. Although the participating teachers acquired instrumental skills to meet the requirement of education reform, the ready-made paradigmatic model constrained critical thinking and resulted in conservatism in teachers′ mindsets. The findings highlight the lack of trial-and-error opportunities and teacher motivation in conducting professional dialogues in situated collective learning settings. The study suggests that stimulating teacher agency must be employed in the development of teaching practice under the scaffolds of knowledge artefacts.

In response to evidence that teacher quality has the greatest in-school impact on student learning, and the consequent need for reform of intial teacher education, clinical approaches to the preparation of pre-service teachers have gained international prominence since the turn of the twenty-first century. This adaptation of medical discourse for the preparation of teachers has presented a new paradigm for teacher preparation and professional learning: a key tenet of this approach is the ‘translation’ and application of theory and research in the sites of practice. This paper will explore the ways in which two clinical pre-service teacher preparation programme, The Master of Teaching at the University of Melbourne and the Partnership Model at the University of Glasgow, utilise clinical approaches to develop the research-informed practice of pre-service teachers working at designated clinical sites (schools). A central aspect of this paper is a discussion of the ways in which the medical metaphor and its consequent models can be effectively translated into different national contexts, and the affordances and appropriations required when undertaking this cross-disciplinary work.

Improving the quality of learning outcomes for all learners represents a major target for the organisers of the 2015 World Education Forum in Korea. Enhancing the effectiveness of what teachers do in the classrooms is a key strategy for reaching this target. This paper seeks to provide some insights into the use of Teacher Effectiveness Maps (TEMs) and the associated targeting, analysing, contextualising, translating, interpreting, changing, suggesting (TACTICS) framework as strategies for educators and governments seeking to document the nature and impact of professional learning activities for improving the quality of learning outcomes for all learners. The USA’s concept of ‘Teacher Leader’ and principles teacher professional learning provide a conceptual lens for interpreting the impact of using these strategies. Despite the limitations of a pilot size of two, the results offer some useful insights about designing and documenting teacher leader professional learning activities for improving the quality...

Career-long teacher learning is essential to the teaching profession because it isstrongly connected with teacher quality and practices. Student teachers in the first stage of their career-long learning continuum, however, vary in the extent towhich they participate in learning activities. This study explores the relationshipbetween beliefs about learning and teaching and participation in learning activities among student teachers, in a school-based teacher education setting for secondary education in the Netherlands. The results indicate that student teachers vary in their beliefs. Structural equation modelling analysis shows that pupil-oriented beliefs are positively related to self-reported participation in learning activities; no relationship emerges between subject matter-oriented beliefs and learning. A cluster analysis reveals two distinct belief profiles, and the findings confirm the relationship to participation in learning activities. Implications for teacher education programmes intended to enhance the chances that their student teachers will become pupil-oriented, career-long learning professionals are discussed.

Although research reveals that pre-service student teachers often regard their relationships with their significant others as an important element of their initial teaching practice experience, much remains unknown about the influence of significant others on non-native English as a Second Language (ESL) student teachers’ professional learning process during field experiences. This paper presents the findings of a qualitative study of the professional learning experiences of 17 pre-service non-native ESL student teachers during an eight-week-long practicum. Grounded in a sociocultural view of teacher learning, the study explores how the ESL student teachers developed their understanding of professional learning in the light of their experiences of engaging with their supporting teachers, supervisors, other school staff members as well as peer student teachers during the practicum. Analysis of the data reveals that these people assumed the role of coach either directly or indirectly, having a positive infl...

This paper reports on a Professional Learning Programme undertaken by primary school teachers in China that aimed to facilitate the development of ‘adaptive expertise’ in using technology to facilitate innovative science teaching and learning such as that envisaged by the Chinese Ministry of Education’s (2010–2020) education reforms. The study found that the participants made substantial progress towards the development of adaptive expertise manifested not only by advances in the participants’ repertoires of pedagogical content knowledge but also in changes to their levels of confidence and identities as teachers. By the end of the programme, the participants had coalesced into a professional learning community that readily engaged in the sharing, peer review, reuse and adaption, and collaborative design of innovative science learning and assessment activities. The findings from the study indicate that those engaged in the development of Professional Learning Programmes in Asia-Pacific nations need to take cognizance of certain cultural factors and traditions idiosyncratic to the educational systems. This is reflected in the amended set of principles to inform the design and implementation of professional learning programmes presented in the concluding sections of the paper.

This paper outlines new educational policy initiatives that have been recently introduced to Australian schooling contexts and describes the challenges of providing rich and empowering professional development opportunities for classroom teachers and educational leaders in an era of heightened accountability and change. A framework for large-scale professional learning is proposed; one that adopts a theoretical lens associated with practice architectures, situated within community- and individual-focused professional learning experiences. The theoretical component of the model has been utilised effectively in a number of countries, while the personalised learning component is drawn from an evidence-based project that established a national learning framework.

This research explores the value and challenges of establishing and maintaining a master’s-level professional learning community. The research has a focus upon participants on the Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) in one higher education institution (HEI) in the south-east of England. The impulse for the design of the MTL was concern on the part of the UK Government that schools placed in the category of ‘National Challenge’ suffered from an unsettling turnover of staff and low pupil attainment. The MTL was thus designed with the aim of addressing these issues through a new and rather different master’s programme that merged the boundaries between school and university. This three-year longitudinal study draws upon work undertaken with 30 MTL participants on the value of a learning community. Through narrative enquiry, participants’ voices have been captured, focusing in particular upon a consideration of critical incidents. Participants’ voices highlighted the demands of working in challenging schoo...

With the constructivist view of learning as a conceptual lens, this paper examines student teachers’ professional learning in initial teacher education (ITE). A mixed-method study was conducted with student teachers of a Bachelor of Education Programme in Hong Kong. The quantitative element of the study reveals that student teachers held a constructivist conception of teaching and learning, and this conception was related to their learning experiences in different aspects of the ITE Programme, including the core components of the formal curriculum, informal and hidden curriculum, field experience and non-local experiences. The qualitative findings added further understanding of the dynamics and complexities of student teachers’ development of the constructivist conception through learning in ITE coursework and fieldwork as well as their active construction of the professional artistry of teaching. Implications for enhancing student teachers’ professional learning in ITE in support of the constructivist co...

Student teachers’ research is usually valued more for its contribution to their professional learning than for its contribution to the research topic itself. This paper reports on a research collaboration with eight student primary teachers in England, intended to build on a previously established project investigating young children’s epistemological beliefs. Analysis of the students’ written reports leads to an elaborated conceptual framework that draws attention to the need for a dialogue with all children about the interfaces experienced within, between and beyond each school context. The conclusions point to the distinctive research position held by student teachers in crossing boundaries between school and university contexts, and the particular relevance of the research topic for illuminating the out-of-school knowledge integral to children’s sense of self and learning.

As part of a cross-cultural collaboration, a teacher performance assessment (TPA) was implemented during 2009 in three Malaysian institutes of teacher education. This paper reports on the TPA for graduating primary teachers in Malaysia. The investigation focused on the pre-service teachers’ perceptions about whether the TPA provided them with an opportunity to document successfully their professional learning and professional practice. Successful completion of the Malaysian TPA was closely aligned to successful relationships, support and collaboration between Malaysian lecturers and pre-service teachers, and between pre-service teachers and their classroom teachers. Overall, the TPA did provide pre-service teachers with an opportunity to focus on the connection between theory and professional learning during field-work, and to become reflective evidence-based practitioners. Recommendations for improving the assessment of pre-service teachers are discussed.

This study focuses on critical incident analysis in initial teacher education and the part played by the professional learning conversation. A reflection framework was used to identify changes in levels of reflective practice. Conversational skills of the supervising teacher in recognising the ‘person’ in the student teacher, and their management of the student's emotions, appear central to unlocking and increasing critical reflective practice. Dialogues that focused only on training standards, using evidence from practice to ‘sign off’ particular standards, were concerned more with the routines of teaching and less with increased and considered analysis of practice and change.

This paper reports on the evaluation of a six‐day programme that provided professional learning to middle school teachers with the aim of equipping them to assist their pupils to achieve improved numeracy outcomes. A teacher profiling instrument designed to measure varied aspects of teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics was administered to 29 teachers at the beginning and end of the programme. As well, over 670 of their pupils were surveyed at the beginning of the programme and the end of the school year in relation to the mathematical experiences they had in their classrooms and their performance on basic numeracy tasks. Evidence of changed classroom practice and improved pupil performance was observed.

Unprecedented numbers of primary teachers in New Zealand are currently involved in professional learning activities, with practice, in essence, the major focal point. In recent years, however, an increasing trend has emerged for primary teachers to undertake a degree qualification. Although study towards formal tertiary qualifications is acknowledged in the literature as a form of teacher professional development, there is limited research available about the role such study has played in teachers’ professional learning. In this research project, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected, the former from 202 questionnaire respondents; the latter from eight teachers who were interviewed. The findings indicated that the teachers were exposed to an array of new knowledge and perspectives that they reported had impacted on their professional learning, both in terms of their classroom practice and their influence on school‐wide practices.

Writing is a complex skill that requires effective teaching practices in the classroom. One of the challenges English teachers in the English as a second language (L2) context face is the lack of t...

This paper presents a review of research of teacher education and the formulation of a model of teacher development that encompasses five domains of knowledge. The model provides a curriculum and pedagogical framework for initial teacher education that links together the theoretical, practical and professional elements of teaching and learning. Cohorts of approximately 25 teacher candidates are placed individually with supervisory classroom teachers. Teaching fellows and clinical specialists consult with teacher candidates and their supervisors and conduct seminars for their cohort in the neighbouring schools. This multidimensional curriculum model for teacher development and the supporting clinical pedagogy presents a new professional learning framework for initial teacher development.

This article highlights the blurring of boundaries as beginning teacher educators cope with the varying demands of teaching and research activities in higher education institutions (HEIs) in England. It suggests that the different forms of research and scholarly activities be made more transparent in order to support early professional learning in this area. Three cases of newcomers to higher education and working in different HEIs are examined over a two‐year period. The concept of the ‘turning point’ as a betwixt state is adopted to help identify significant experiences which result in a developing sense of belonging (or not) to academic and scholarly life. Four different categories are also deployed to highlight the case studies' understanding of being a university researcher. All the newcomers saw research as a route to developing themselves personally. Over time there was a shift for some toward establishing oneself in the field, with an indication of the institutional and national pull towards fulfi...

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.

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 practic...

Recent educational changes in China such as the decentralization policy and the marketization of education have introduced concepts such as performativity, competition and effectiveness to the education sector and they have become part of the educational lexicon. Such policy shifts force more local participation in teacher education programmes and schools are now identified as the prime site for offering relevant professional learning activities to teachers. However, interestingly, research on professional development of teachers in China has not devoted significant attention to the voices of teachers. This paper examines how teachers from seven schools in Guangdong Province view the effectiveness of these school‐based learning activities within the new context of educational change.

Educational reformers in New Zealand and England have turned their attention towards network creation as a way of facilitating school improvement. The idea is that greater collaboration can drive school improvement through building professional learning communities, spreading best practice, and driving innovation in education. It is based on a triple helix model of innovation, which is a term principally used in economics to describe the formation of social relationships between individuals based on collaboration. The introduction of the ‘Extending High Standards in Schools’ reform in New Zealand, the Performance‐based Research Fund and the incorporation of pre‐service teacher education into the universities are designed to help create this kind of model of innovation through facilitating knowledge transfer. This paper offers a critical assessment of the Extending High Standards in Schools reform and related reforms, and argues that although network creation makes sense, the efficacy of the strategy is li...

The importance of developing effective learning strategies and motivational beliefs has been widely acknowledged as a way of meeting the demand to acquire lifelong learning capabilities for successful functioning as professionals in the ‘information age’. The study reported in this paper examined the learning orientations and strategies of prospective teachers as well as their assessment preferences and compared them with those of in‐service teachers. The Motivated Learning Strategies Questionnaire (MSLQ) and the Assessment Preferences Inventory (API) were used to test the hypothesis that in‐service teachers will exhibit a deeper approach to learning and assessment due to their constant engagement in meaningful learning experiences. The results confirmed the hypothesis and their implications for teacher education programmes were then discussed.

This article explores the development of a generative, research‐based approach to mentoring initial teacher training students in a Training School/university partnership. Drawing on data from mentors, trainees and pupils it describes two phases of development, both of which use video recordings of participants' classroom practice to stimulate reflective dialogue. The authors point to the additional pedagogical insights made available through accessing pupil voice and the potential contribution such learning conversations can make to transforming the professional knowledge of both mentors and trainees. They highlight the dispositions and conditions which support the co‐construction of this inclusive approach and how it has contributed to the development of the school as a learning community. The authors suggest its wider relevance and how it can contribute to the creation by the profession of a new epistemological base for professional learning.

The influence of, and the interplay between biographical and contextual factors in new teachers' professional learning and development during their first years of teaching are examined. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. Findings suggest the powerful influence of prior experiences as students, the low impact of Initial Teacher Education on new teachers' socialisation and the strong effect of workplace conditions in shaping beginning teachers' practices and attitudes towards teaching. It is argued that more importance needs to be given to the structural and organisational factors of the workplace if a 'learning culture' is to be fostered in schools. Implications for Teacher Education and Induction are discussed.

This paper reports some recent research into the way in which secondary school teachers in England construct and develop their notions of 'professionalism' and how this is affected by changes in their working lives and by recent educational reforms. Data from interviews with teachers of Maths, Technology and Humanities suggest that local contexts, and in particular departmental cultures, are influential in shaping teachers' sense of professionalism and that this is an important source of professional learning. The paper suggests that there is a need to develop a broad concept of continuing professional development, which includes, but is not restricted to, continuing teacher education.

An empirical exploration of a professional development project is described. Within the activities of the project, professional growth was sought through a reflective process coupled with action learning. The focus was on individual teachers’ knowledge, values, beliefs, assumptions and goals. The outcome for the majority of the teachers was an enriched understanding of the role of the self in teaching and an orientation to professional development that was meaningful and enduring. In the broader context the project sought to extend Stenhouse's position in this manner: curriculum development implies teacher development implies self‐development.

The vast proportion of Australia’s Indigenous students are represented persistently as well below the national benchmarks for literacy and numeracy. Recent national school-based research and develo...

A group of student primary teachers, their college tutors and supervising teachers were observed and interviewed during a structured, two‐week, introductory school experience to investigate what student teachers learned from the experience and how this learning was facilitated by teacher and tutor. Despite great efforts to structure and standardise the school experience for all students, it took a variety of forms, offering qualitatively different types of professional learning experience. For some students, it amounted to a modelling exercise, for others the accumulation of a wide range of practical tips, a critical reflection on their own and others' practice, a process of self‐discovery, or an occasion for the hardening of existing attitudes concerning teachers and teaching. Factors contributing to this variance included the conceptions of student teachers' professional learning and of their own role within it, held by students, teachers and tutors, and several organisational features of the s...