Search

The study reported on in this paper is set in the context of a national programme of professional development for primary teachers in the Republic of Ireland which has been in operation since 1999 and finished in 2008. The paper explores the acquisition and interpretation by teachers of the elements of the reform. The authors consider the extent to which the professional development experiences facilitated change in teachers' knowledge and if the teachers interpreted this in the way expected by policy-makers. The theoretical basis to the study draws on previous research that conceptualises teacher learning/knowledge acquisition and the change process as being dependant on an interwoven mix of factors, including teacher, school and policy-level contexts and characteristics. To a large degree the findings of this study do not deviate wildly from this prior work, which suggests that policy-makers and planners of CPD programmes, despite their best intentions, still need to be cognisant of such factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes up two important issues in the professional development of university teachers: the controversy surrounding reflective inquiry and its purported benefits for professional development and the lack of research on what teachers learn from reflective inquiry and how that affects and/or changes their professional practice. 1 Specifically, the article asks what is reflective engagement and to what uses do university faculty put reflective engagement over time? Drawing on data from a study of 20 faculty members of the National University of Ireland at University College Cork (UCC) who created a teaching portfolio to compete for an award for excellence in teaching, I first demonstrate empirically how a greater conscious awareness of the act of teaching is facilitated by the creation of a reflective teaching portfolio. Then, through brief case studies, I examine specific uses three UCC teachers made of insights from their portfolio reflections and how they redirected their practice because of what they discovered. Patterns of redirection suggest that professional development through reflective engagement results from a subtle interaction of personal, professional and institutional elements. I offer a refined definition of reflective engagement and its processes to contribute to current discussions about a needed, shared understanding of it to carry out research and I present a small set of vignettes to suggest potential hypotheses for future investigations of its effects and meaning in the professional lives of university teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]