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A continuing challenge for the education system is how to evaluate the wider outcomes of schools. Wider measures of success--such as citizenship or lifelong learning--influence each other and emerge over time from complex interactions between students, teachers and leaders, and the wider community. Unless methods are found to evaluate these broader outcomes, which are able to do justice to learning and achievement as emergent properties of the learner's engagement with his or her world the education system will continue to focus on narrow measures of school effectiveness which do not properly account for complexity. In this article we describe the rationale and methodology underpinning a pilot research project that applied hierarchical process modelling to a group of schools as complex living systems, using software developed by engineers at the University of Bristol, called Perimeta. The aim was to generate a stakeholder owned systems design which was better able to account for the full range of outcomes valued by each school, and for the complex processes which facilitate or inhibit them, thus providing a more nuanced leadership decision-making analytic. The project involved three academies in the UK.

Drawing on the findings of a three-year, longitudinal study investigating early career teachers' (ECTs) experiences and perceptions of leadership development in English secondary schools, this paper highlights, from the perspectives of ECTs, some of the factors that support and facilitate leadership development during the first few years of the teaching career. ECTs' leadership dispositions and aspirations seemed to be formed within and in response to what they perceived to be the nature of their particular school contexts. They appeared to position themselves in relation to the perceived school leadership ethos at a range of points along what might be conceptualised as a continuum from resistance and alienation to amenability and identification with the perceived ethos. Amenability and identification with the school leadership ethos seemed to be associated with high levels of personal agency, such that ECTs gathered important developmental experience as leaders and were developing leadership skills, dispositions and aspirations. In a minority of contexts, ECTs experienced feelings of alienation, and positioned themselves as resistant to school leadership in contexts they perceived to be characterised by high accountability, blame and coercion. This resistance and alienation were associated with reduced agency, and restricted development as leaders.

Two departments in a secondary school in England participated in "lesson study" projects over a five-month period to explore its usefulness as a vehicle for professional development. Through a cycle of two research lessons, conducted separately in each department, teachers identified challenges that inhibited the learning of their students and collaboratively prepared innovative approaches to address the learning challenges. The process yielded multiple sets of data: DVD-recorded lessons, lesson plans and resources, transcripts of preparation and evaluation meetings and individual interviews at the end of the project. This paper draws principally on detailed qualitative analysis of end-of-project interviews about teacher experiences of learning and practice development in the two contexts. While the teachers encountered some logistical challenges to the implementation of lesson study, a number of important gains were reported: collaboration in lesson study reduced feelings of professional isolation; teachers reported a sharper focus on pupil learning and more confidence to take risks with approaches to teaching, which led to greater opportunities for pupils to engage in interactive activities, for example, involving problem-solving and peer teaching in groups.

This paper reports the outcomes of a "lesson study" project conducted in a mathematics department with four serving teachers in a secondary school in England. Using Dudley's lesson study framework and drawing on Hargreaves and Fullan's notion of professional capital, the feasibility and value of collaborative lesson study as a vehicle for the development of teacher learning were explored. Planning and evaluation meetings as well as end-of-project interviews were analysed to investigate how teachers planned research lessons together and how these were evaluated. Despite time constraints, teachers who engaged in lesson study reported that the process improved understanding of their students; that collaboration helped them to develop less-teacher-centred approaches and created a stronger sense of teacher community. The project demonstrated that lesson study has potential as an alternative or complementary model of teachers' learning, but it also throws up substantive organisational challenges if its use is to expand.

Through its positive influence on teachers' classroom practices and their students' learning, effective professional learning of teachers is an important condition for school improvement. However, the Teaching and Learning International Survey reports that teachers' professional development in most countries falls short of meeting the needs of teachers. This paper reports analysis of survey data collected for a national study of teachers' professional development in England, although the issues it raises have international relevance. Through factor analysis four underlying dimensions of teachers' learning orientations were identified and used as the basis for developing profiles of teachers' professional learning values and practices through cluster analysis. Based on these profiles, five distinctive groupings of teachers were identified: "engaged learners", "moderate learners", "infrequent learners", individual explorers' and "solitary classroom learners". The concept of dissonance between values and practice is a strong theme in the findings and for policy development. The main findings are that only a minority of teachers are "engaged" learners. There is a prevailing individualist approach to learning among the majority of teachers. And there are important between and within school differences in the mix of teachers' learning orientations. This leads to recommendations for more differentiated forms of support for promoting effective professional learning in schools.

This paper uses results from a national survey of teachers in England to test a hypothesised model of teacher orientation to learning (consisting of beliefs, practice and experiences about learning) and its relationship to teacher learning change. Results from a structural equation modeling process of 1126 teacher survey responses show that teachers bring an internal, external and collaborative orientation to their professional learning. The beliefs and practices associated with these orientations are also shown to have a moderate influence, via path analysis, on teacher learning change defined as a composite outcome of change in beliefs, practices and students. (Contains 6 figures and 7 tables.)

This paper explores three influences on the effectiveness of teacher professional development for improving schools--the individual teacher, the learning activities in which teachers participate and the structures and supports provided by schools for teacher learning. It does so by relying on survey data collected for a national study of teacher professional development in England. The analysis indicates that while the professional development of teachers in England is generally ineffectual and lacks school level systems and supports, the professional development and supports for professional learning by teachers in high performing schools display many of the characteristics associated with effective professional learning. Given the results showing a link between school factors and professional learning and the lack of influence of individual teacher factors, the paper concludes that the previously reported importance of school capacity in influencing learning and improvement is supported by the findings. (Contains 2 notes, 9 tables, and 1 figure.)

This article presents a theoretical argument for assuming that schools have an orientation to learning that influences both whether teachers learn and also whether they change professionally as a result of the learning. This school-level orientation to learning is hypothesized to consist of beliefs and practices about learning. Results from a structural equation modeling process of 1,126 teacher survey responses in England show that schools have an orientation to learning that includes beliefs about learning, systems and supports for learning, and collective capacity for learning. The practices constituting the school-level orientation to learning have a strong to moderate influence, via path analysis, on teacher learning change defined as a composite outcome of change in beliefs, practices, and students. The beliefs that constitute a school-level orientation have a weak, but still significant, influence on teacher learning change. (Contains 3 figures, 6 tables and 1 note.)

The purpose of this article is to bring together findings developed from the Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England--State of the Nation Study. This large-scale national study, commissioned by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, investigated the range and kinds of continuing professional development (CPD) activities in which teachers at primary and secondary schools in England participate and the kinds of support provided by schools. Teachers' professional learning practices and perspectives were researched in relation to three main themes: the benefits, status and effectiveness of CPD; the planning and organization of CPD; and access to CPD. The research was based on a review of the UK literature related to teachers' CPD for the period 2004-2007, qualitative research (school snapshots) at nine primary and three secondary schools, and a survey of a national representative sample of teachers. Our analysis concludes that teachers' professional learning in England is generally ineffective and lacks school-level systems and supports. As such, the potential of teachers' professional learning for enhancing the quality of classroom teaching and learning in schools remains largely untapped.

This paper sets out to investigate issues of access to continuous professional development faced by teachers in England. Specifically, the paper attempts to understand the types of CPD activities that are offered to teachers, the types of activities in which teachers participated and whether a disconnect occurs between activities offered and those needed by teachers. Further, the paper also explores the barriers to access to high quality CPD that exist for teachers at both the individual and school levels. Data for the analyses presented were collected as part of the nationally representative, "Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England--State of the Nation" research study which was funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). (Contains 6 tables.)

This article introduces the "Schools and Continuing Professional Development State of the Nation" study (SoNS). Discussion of English policy together with an account of the study's aims and research design provide a context for the other articles included in this special issue. A key assumption behind the research, and the prevailing CPD policy context in England, is that organisational conditions in schools are highly influential in the development of sustained and effective classroom-based, collaborative, inquiry-oriented CPD. Therefore, the aims of the study investigated the range and kinds of support that schools in England provide as well as the range and kinds of CPD activities in which teachers were able to participate. Teachers' professional learning practices and perspectives were researched in relation to three main themes: (a) the benefits, status and effectiveness of CPD; (b) the planning and organisation of CPD; and (c) access to CPD. These questions were explored through a mixed methods design consisting of three strands: (a) literature review; (b) qualitative research (school snapshots); and (c) a national survey of primary and secondary teachers in England. Discussion of processes and procedures of data analysis is followed by a summary of our conceptual model of schools and teachers' CPD. (Contains 1 note, 2 tables, and 1 figure.)

Reported here is one part of the nationally representative, "Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England--State of the Nation" research study which was funded by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). This paper sets out to understand how teachers and school leaders in England perceive the benefits and effectiveness of CPD activity. The investigation of benefits and effectiveness of CPD presented in the paper focuses on the various impacts that could result from participation, the forms and features of activities, as well as the conditions that make effectiveness more or less likely to occur. (Contains 9 tables.)

This article focuses on the planning and organisation of teachers' continuous professional development as part of the nationally representative "Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England--State of the Nation" research study (SoNS), commissioned by the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA). Thematic analysis of data developed from the literature review, qualitative research, and survey strands of the SoN study led to the identification of four issues related to the planning and organisation of CPD in schools in England: (1) there is a lack of strategic planning of CPD provision to balance effectively between individual and organisational learning needs and national policy priorities; (2) organisational choices made in schools about roles and responsibilities do not always support or help to develop effective CPD planning and provision; (3) little progress has been made in the promotion of the New Professionalism in schools through developing closer alignment between Professional Standards, Performance Management and CPD; (4) school systems and processes for evaluating the effectiveness of CPD provision tend to be developed without reference to planned outcomes, specific criteria or value for money judgements. The article concludes with a number of recommendations for policy and practice. (Contains 7 tables.)

In this article, we report results of a survey of 1,397 teachers in 26 primary and 17 secondary schools in England as part of the Learning How to Learn project. We consider how school self-evaluation can be understood within an organisational learning frame. Factor analysis of teachers' responses helped us identify 4 dimensions of organisational learning approaches to school leadership and management. Comparisons were made between teachers' perceptions of school leadership and management practices and the values they placed on those practices. We discuss the usefulness of analysing values-practice gaps for furthering understanding of organisational learning approaches to school leadership and management. Analysis of gaps between teachers' values and practices reveals significant inconsistencies between perceptions of current practices and values across a broad spectrum of school leadership and management practices. Perceptions of practice were significantly behind the values that teachers place on each of the 4 dimensions of practice. (Contains 11 tables, 1 figure and 1 note.)

This article addresses the question, "What organizational conditions foster successful classroom promotion of Learning How to Learn?". Data are reported from the ESRC Learning How to Learn Project's Staff Questionnaire administered in 2002 and 2004. In 2002, 1212 Questionnaire returns were obtained from primary and secondary support staff, teachers and managers at 32 schools. In 2004, 698 returns were obtained from 23 schools. Thirty items in Section A are about classroom assessment, 28 items in Section B are about teachers' learning, and 26 items in Section C are about school management practices and systems. Factor analysis generated sets of factors from items in each of the three sections of the Questionnaire. Levels of teachers' values and practices are reported and compared for each factor. These factors were then used in multiple regression analyses of baseline responses to the Questionnaire in order to explore relationships between classroom assessment, teachers' learning and school management practices. Patterns of change for each dimension of practice are explored by analysing the difference between 2002 and 2004 mean practice and values factor scores. Main findings are: (1) in-class teacher learning practices appear to be a key precondition for the classroom promotion of Learning How to Learn; (2) organizational conditions, understood in terms of school management practices and systems, appear to influence what happens in classrooms through the mediation of teachers' learning, particularly learning that has a clear basis in classroom activity; (3) values remained ahead of practice in 2004 for the four dimensions of school management practices identified in this study. This indicates considerable challenges for schools that decide to develop organizational strategies for sustaining change in the classroom through promoting Learning How to Learn.

This article reports the findings of a survey of 558 teachers in England. It describes how conceptual and empirical insights from the literature informed the construction of questionnaire items to provide answers to questions about the way in which teachers value different classroom assessment practices and how congruent with these values they perceive their practices to be. Results from item, factor and cluster analyses reveal three underlying dimensions of assessment practice, sizeable values-practice gaps on two dimensions that appear to be in tension (promoting learning autonomy and performance orientation), and differences among teachers which show that over half of this sample report that they are unable to sustain practices across all dimensions in line with their values. We conclude that teachers are demonstrably committed to the values (not just the methods) of assessment "for" learning within a moral framework that gives importance to the quality of students' learning, yet they experience and need to resolve contradictions in order to realize their values. (Contains 7 figures, 5 tables, and 8 notes.)

Twelve years ago Blatchford and Mortimore's authoritative review of class size research appeared in this journal. They concluded that a major problem with class size research was the lack of detailed studies of complex classroom processes that might mediate class size effects on pupils' learning. This article reviews two UK class size reviews and quantitative, qualitative and mixed method class size research. Evidence from research, and insights from 30 years of classroom-based inquiry, form the basis for the development of theoretical models of relationships between class size, classroom processes and pupils' learning. Recent research evidence from secondary school classrooms calls into question simple one-way relationships between class size and pupils' learning. Politicians are challenged to face up to the complexities involved and to be open to more flexible approaches to reforming the organisation of teaching and learning in schools that go beyond expensive programmes of crude across-the-board class size reductions. Further class size research is recommended that incorporates sophisticated qualitative methods in order to adequately understand and represent the kinds of teacher and pupil expertise involved in promoting and maximising opportunities for high quality learning in different large and small class contexts in primary and secondary schools.

We studied how teachers use ideas that pupils offer when they are consulted. Six teachers (two each in English, Maths and Science) and their Year 8 classes at three secondary schools were involved. In this paper we explore the importance of social capital for understanding the processes and dispositions that underpin classroom consultation. "Consummatory" and "instrumental" motivation as distinct sources of social capital (Portes, 1998) proved useful explanatory concepts. Our main findings are that pupils demonstrated awareness of how they and their peers prefer to learn and what motivates them, that higher achieving pupils expressed awareness of the perspectives that shape the practices of their teachers, and that teachers differed in their responses to pupils' ideas. We explain these differences in terms of "traditional teacher professionalism", "unsustained consummatory social capital", and "developing social capital". Achieving coherence between "consummatory" and "instrumental" motivation appears to be the key social capital condition behind fruitful processes of pupil consultation.

If teachers are to sustain engagement with the challenges involved in promoting Learning How to Learn in classrooms they need to continue learning, and to be supported to do so by their schools. This article addresses the research question, "How do teachers value and practise professional learning?" Data are reported from the ESRC TLRP Learning How to Learn project's Staff Questionnaire in 2002; 1018 Questionnaire returns were obtained from primary and secondary teachers and managers at 32 schools: a return of 73%. Theoretical and empirical insights that influenced the construction of Questionnaire items are discussed. Four hypotheses about teacher learning were developed on the basis of a review of over 30 years of research into teachers' learning: (1) teachers' learning is an "embedded" feature of teachers' classroom practice and reflection; (2) teachers' learning is "extended" through consulting different sources of knowledge; (3) teachers' learning is "expanded" through collaborative activity; (4) teachers" learning is "deepened" through talking about and valuing learning. Item specific analysis, and factor and cluster analysis were carried out. The strong factor structure provides support for the hypotheses. Our main findings are: (1) teachers appear to differentiate between learning that takes place in the classroom and learning that takes place outside the classroom; (2) teachers tend to value a wide range of individual and social learning as important for creating opportunities for pupils to learn; (3) levels of practice for classroom-based learning tend to be lower than for out-of-class learning. This was particularly marked for learning that involves engaging with research and pupil ideas and feedback. We conclude by arguing that, despite the risks involved, teachers' classroom-based learning and the institutional support for it are indispensable to the sustained provision of high quality education in schools.

The study explores how teachers use the ideas that pupils offer when consulted. Six teachers (two each in English, Maths and Science) and their Year 8 classes at three secondary schools were involved. The research was carried out in three stages. During the first stage the focus was on eliciting pupils' ideas about classroom teaching and learning and teachers' responses to their pupils' ideas. Six pupils from each class were interviewed individually about each of three observed lessons. Transcripts of these interviews were fed back to the teachers. Teachers were interviewed about their reactions to them. During the second phase teachers' use of pupil ideas was investigated and both the teachers' and the target pupils' evaluations of what happened were sought. In the third stage, each teacher was visited some six months later, in the following academic year, to explore how far the pupil ideas had had a lasting impact on the teachers' practice and what use the teachers were making of pupil consultation. Our main findings were: (1) Pupils' responses were characterised by a constructive focus on learning, consensus about what helps learning, and differences in articulacy; (2) Pupils agreed that interactive teaching for understanding, contextualising learning in appropriate ways, fostering a stronger sense of agency and ownership, and arranging social contexts amenable to collaborative learning were all helpful to the learning; (3) Teachers tended to respond positively and were reassured by the insightfulness of pupil ideas; (4) Teachers differed in what they did in response to pupils' ideas. Three types of teacher reaction were identified: "short-term responsiveness", "growing confidence", and "problems with using pupil consultation". Some of the conclusions, based on evidence from the six teachers and their classes, are reassuring for teachers, others are perhaps less so. We construed them as "comfortable" and "uncomfortable learnings".

This article focuses upon the developing professionalism and emergent thinking of 36 secondary trainee teachers, in terms of their motivation to teach, their early beliefs about teaching and the teaching-learning process and their views of themselves as trainee teachers. It analyses their perspectives on how they expect to learn to become teachers and how these perspectives match with their early experiences on their training courses. Discussion of these starting points of beginning teachers reveals some understanding of models of outstanding classroom practice, but equally a relatively unsophisticated analysis of the essential characteristics of this practice. The challenge for teacher educators is to frame courses in such a way that beginning teachers are provided with the contexts and the methodologies whereby they can reflect upon their own preconceptions and refine their own understandings as to how they themselves learn as teachers, to enable them to facilitate the learning of pupils and to fulfil their own clearly articulated aspirations to become quality teachers.

Background: Age-related declines in many cognitive abilities are common in healthy aging. However, the ability to effectively regulate emotions is preserved, and possibly even enhanced, in late adulthood. This capacity has been examined most commonly in relation to low-intensity emotional stimuli that typically involve static pictures. Evidence is suggesting that older adults may become overwhelmed when exposed to emotional cues of heightened intensity.Objective: In the current study, we assessed whether older adults retain the ability to regulate emotions successfully when exposed to more emotionally evocative (e.g., dynamic) stimuli.Methods: Young and older adults were instructed to regulate, using expressive suppression, their outward behavioral expression of emotions while viewing dynamic stimuli involving amusing and sad films. Facial reactivity, as indexed using electromyography, self-rated emotional experience, and memory for the stimuli were assessed.Results: The results showed that, relative to young adults, older adults were unable to suppress zygomaticus (cheek) activity to amusing films or corrugator (brow) reactivity to sad films, which is likely due to their relatively reduced facial muscle reactivity. Expressive suppression did not affect young or older adults' subjective feelings or memory for the stimuli.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that there are age differences in facial muscle reactivity to amusing and sad cues of heightened intensity. These findings suggest that older adults' ability to effectively regulate emotions may be limited, at least with expressive suppression, in the context of high-intensity emotional cues. Further research is needed to investigate possible exceptions the preservation of emotion regulation in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The characteristics of silicon substrate interconnection technology when operated in the microwave regime are examined. The experiment, which is a precursor to the thin film realization of multichip module technology, was conducted on wafers with a four-level metallization aluminum-polyimide interconnection system consisting of microstrips, spiral inductors, coupling lines and ring resonators. The results of Radio-frequency-on-wafer measurements and modeling of the wafers are also discussed.