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A cooperative model of staff development in relation to professional education is outlined which considers staff development within both further and higher education. Examines general principles of human resource development, continuing professional development as well as quality and benchmarking issues. A case study of the development of course tutors who have academic responsibility for managing professional courses approved by the Institute of Personnel and Development (IPD) within further education colleges and universities in the North East of England is presented. Considers the cooperative approach to staff development between competing educational institutions and the collective relationship between the educational institutions and a professional body. The need for cooperation is examined within the context of the professional institute and the challenges facing the Education Group at its inception are briefly outlined. Benefits for staff, students and ultimately the professional body are detailed and, finally, the model is summarised and its application to other institutions is briefly considered.

Secondary professional teacher education (onwards – SPTE) in Russia has gone through many stages, from ups to downs. There have been periods when SPTE was in low demand and associated with poor student success. However, SPTE has been able to meet the socio-economic challenges of the time, take its place in the hierarchy of Russian education and become a competitive and effective system of practice-oriented teacher training.

The chapter is devoted to the subject description of the dynamic process of formation and development of modern SPTE as an educational system. The authors analyse scientific and pedagogical publications and methodological works of Russian scientists and summarise the results on the basis of their analysis. The proposed chapter ‘Secondary Professional Pedagogical Education in Russia’ will consider the development of the modern system of secondary professional teacher education in Russia. Particular emphasis is placed on the continuity of the theory and practice of teacher training, the peculiarities of a person-centred educational environment and the strong continuity of secondary professional and higher teacher education.

The system of higher education in the Russian Federation due to the high share of fundamental training is focused on ensuring the foundation of permanent stability of the graduate, while the system of additional professional education is obliged to take into account the current state of the educational services market, which is characterised by globalisation, diversification, digitalisation and international integration. Therefore, the main focus of the modern system of additional professional education of teachers is the creation of favourable organisational, content, procedural and other conditions that contribute to the professional development and creative self-realisation of teachers, taking into account their individual needs and abilities. In this section, based on the analysis of normative documents and innovative experience of professional development and retraining of education specialists, the goals and objectives, structure and content, main development trends and modern training technologies, features of the internal system of quality assessment of additional professional education of teachers in Russia are disclosed.

The world is shaped by an education system that reinforces unsustainable thinking and practice. Efforts to transform our societies must thus prioritise the education of educators – building their understanding of sustainability and their ability to transform curriculum and wider learning opportunities. The purpose of this paper is to focus on university educators and critically review the professional development and policy landscape challenges that influence their effective engagement with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). The paper is informed by a pan-European collaboration involving 33 countries that identified emerging scholarship and practice in this area and assessed the lessons learned from ESD professional development initiatives. It sets the context for a special issue titled “Professional Development in Higher Education for Sustainable Development” that draws together a collection of articles focusing on professional development of university educators across the world.

This paper provides a critical review of existing practice, international policy frameworks and literature relating to ESD, professional development and higher education. It examines innovative initiatives worldwide that seek to improve the capability of educators in higher education to integrate ESD into academic practice at individual, disciplinary and institutional levels. A rigorous process of selection was applied and overseen by an international expert group. This ensured that the initiatives sought educational change in ESD, and not simply the embedding of content about sustainability into learning opportunities. It also assured that the initiatives had a clear and intentional professional learning process to underpin the engagement of participants with ESD.

ESD has grown in visibility and status worldwide, with a clear increase in activity in higher education. The sector is viewed as a significant force for change in societies, through the education provision it offers to future professionals and leaders in all sectors. However, universities currently lack capacity to integrate ESD effectively into mainstream teaching practices and the training they provide for academic staff or to integrate ESD into their institutional teaching and learning priorities. Many ESD activities remain focused on teaching issues arising in sustainable development research and delivering specialist modules or courses in sustainability. Very few countries and institutions have significant staff development programmes to enhance the ESD competences of university educators and build their academic leadership capabilities for ESD. The contributions to this special issue show the need for greater understanding of the multi-level task of integrating ESD into professional development activities, not just for individual impact in the classroom but to advance institutional change and decisively influence the teaching and learning discourse of higher education.

There are few research studies and documented activities on ESD professional development in higher education available in the literature. This paper attempts to explore what ESD professional development involves and describes its complexity within the higher education sector. The special issue provides a collection of innovative research and practical initiatives that can help those involved in education and learning to develop ESD as a priority for future university innovative pathways.

In the context of a developing society and ever-increasing requirements for the level of education of citizens, the issues of training teaching staff capable of effectively solving professional problems in constantly changing circumstances becomes especially relevant. This, in turn, actualises the issues of such a system of teacher education ensuring the constant professional growth of teachers during the entire period of their active pedagogical activity. Such a system implies the possibility for a person to carry out continuous improvement in the field of professional pedagogical activity, which in modern scientific literature corresponds to the concept of ‘continuous education’. It is interpreted as a process of increasing the general and professional educational level of a person, developing appropriate abilities throughout life. The purpose of the chapter is to analyse the structural and functional characteristics of the system of Russia's continuous teacher education and its status and personality subsystems. The structure of the system of continuous teacher education is revealed, and the structural and functional characteristics of the status and personal aspects of this system are identified and described.

Against a broader global and regional shift toward “quality education for all,” the chapter explores education policy developments and trends related to teacher education and professional development in Latin America and the Caribbean. We examine how multilateral education policy circulation and regional horizontal cooperation has guided these education policy developments. The chapter is organized into three parts. It first provides a discussion of educational multilateralism and new forms of horizontal cooperation, as it relates to educational development efforts. We argue that these new forms of multilateralism and horizontal cooperation guide the development of policies that seek to enhance both educational equity and quality education, particularly through advancing teacher education and professional development. The second section explores several recent education policy trends that relate to teacher education and professional development in Latin America and the Caribbean, and the challenges that Ministries of Education face when designing and implementing programs of teacher education and professional development. Lastly, the chapter examines the role of regional organizations in promoting new forms of regional horizontal cooperation specific to teacher education and professional development, focusing on the example of Organization of American States’ (OAS) Inter-American Teacher Education Network (ITEN).

Preservice teacher (PST) professional development programs are crucial for cultivating high-quality STEAM teachers of the future, significantly impacting the quality of regional STEAM education. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, as a region of cross-border cooperation, integrates the resources and advantages of Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macao, possessing rich cultural heritage and innovative capabilities. Transdisciplinary Education for Cultural Inheritance (C-STEAM) is an effective approach to promoting educational collaboration within the Greater Bay Area, facilitating the integration of both technological and humanities education. This study aims to develop a Technology-Enabled University-School-Enterprise (T-USE) collaborative education model and implement it in the Greater Bay Area, to explore its role as a support mechanism in professional development and its impact on C-STEAM PSTs' professional capital.

Adopting a qualitative methodology, the study interviewed PSTs who participated in a C-STEAM teacher education course under the T-USE model. Thematic coding is used to analyze their knowledge acquisition, interaction benefits with community members, and autonomous thinking and decision-making in theoretical learning and teaching practice.

The findings show that the T-USE model significantly enhanced the PSTs' human capital, including teaching beliefs, knowledge, and skills. In terms of social capital, PSTs benefited from collaboration with PST groups, university teaching teams, in-service teachers, and enterprises, though challenges such as varying levels of expertise among in-service teachers and occasional technical instability emerged. For decisional capital, the T-USE model provided opportunities for autonomous thinking and promoted teaching judgment skills through real teaching challenges and scenarios. Reflective practice activities also supported PSTs' professional growth.

This study reveals the effectiveness and internal mechanism of the T-USE model in C-STEAM PST training, offering significant theoretical and practical references for future PST education.

A growing number of countries have developed Teacher Professional Standards that describe how effective teaching is conceptualized and demonstrated. This article describes how initial teacher education and continuous professional development (CPD) is organized in Estonia, and what role professional standards have in the Estonian context. We demonstrate how the Estonian decentralized preservice teacher education and CPD system supports high quality and flexible teacher professional development throughout their careers. We will also pinpoint the biggest challenges that are currently experienced in Estonia regarding teacher education and professional development. Drawing on the international experiences, we will also discuss how Teacher Professional Standards could be further developed in Estonia to better serve as a guide for both initial teacher education and continuous professional development.

Teacher professional development is a perennial topic in teaching and teacher education. While it is largely agreed that the professional development of teachers is a necessity, what that professional development entails and who decides its content and delivery is disputed. This chapter revisits critical issues in the professional development of teachers. Different forms of professional learning, the influence of collaboration, the pursuit of inclusion and social justice, and the role of technology are discussed. In the future, it is expected that professional development contexts and opportunities will be reimagined along with a new calibration of face-to-face and virtual pedagogies.

In an effort to better understand leadership educator preparation, this qualitative study explores leadership educators’ identity constructions, or (re)presentations of experiences, beliefs, and practices that contribute to one’s professional identity. We used three narrative approaches (storytelling, symbolic interactionism, and anticipatory reflection) to capture short stories of leadership educators’ lived experiences and life perspectives. Analysis of these narratives illustrate the kinds of past experiences that led to shifts in thinking or practice. Leadership education was seen as a process of leadership development, with teachers and students both exercising leadership. And participants’ reflection on their intentions for future practice emphasize learning that is both personal (relational) and procedural (developing knowledge and skills). Findings offer insight into recommendations for intentional professional development experiences and future research.