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In this article, we highlight ways in which disability critical race theory (DisCrit) (Annamma et al., 2013), inclusive education and community-based participatory research (CBPR) can be used within professional development schools (PDS) to provide students with disabilities with more access to inclusive classrooms. At a grade 4–6 elementary school, we developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms. We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model. Findings suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice. This study can inform tailored professional development efforts to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We conducted semi-structured interviews and used action plan meetings with school administrators, teachers, professionals and students with disabilities and their parents to assess the impact of our critical PDS model.

The findings of this study suggest this model had a positive impact on administrators’ and teachers’ critical consciousness, ideological and instructional practices, students of color with disabilities’ social, academic and personal outcomes, as well as a schoolwide culture of inclusion and social justice.

This study can inform tailored professional development efforts aiming to improve educators’ inclusive practices.

We developed a model of a critical PDS to promote inclusive education and facilitate the transition of students of color with disabilities from self-contained to inclusive classrooms.

The paper aims to examine how a professional development school-district (PDS-D) partnership, enacting an improvement science stance, collectively explored social-emotional learning (SEL) during collaboratively designed professional learning experiences.

This qualitative study, guided by an improvement science orientation, enacted an iterative research design. Data sources consisted of anecdotal field notes and artifacts from 12 professional learning sessions. Using a constant comparative method, the authors applied an inductive thematic analysis to identify salient themes across data related to teacher wonderings and identified goals.

The paper illuminates teachers' voices while highlighting information gleaned from participant wonderings, their identified goals and how this information informed the iterative development of future professional learning experiences within a district-university partnership.

Due to the chosen research approaches and limited number of participants, the research results may lack generalizability.

This paper provides original insight into collaborative development of recursive professional learning experiences within partnership spaces.

This paper shares findings from a multi-year literacy professional development partnership between a school district and university (2014–2019). We share this case of a Literacy Cohort initiative as an example of cross-institutional professional development situated within several of NAPDS’ nine essentials, including professional learning and leading, boundary-spanning roles and reflection and innovation (NAPDS, 2021).

We asked, “In what ways did the Cohort initiative create conditions for community and collaboration in the service of meaningful literacy reforms?” Drawing on social design methodology (Gutiérrez & Vossoughi, 2010), we sought to generate and examine the educational change associated with this multi-year initiative. Our data set included programmatic data, interviews (N = 30) and artifacts of literacy teaching, learning and leading.

Our findings reflect the emphasis areas that are important to educators in the partnership: diversity by design, building relationships through collaboration and rooting literacy reforms in teacher leadership. Our discussion explores threads of reciprocity, simultaneous renewal and boundary-spanning leadership and their role in sustaining partnerships over time.

This paper contributes to our understanding of building and sustaining a cohort model of multi-year professional development through the voices, perspectives and experiences of teachers, faculty and district administrators.

This research paper aims to provide information about certified learning apps for biological education and gave an ordered list of all learning apps currently used by Austrian biology teachers in the classroom, which should serve as an overview for all biology teachers. In addition, the (currently little known) certification process of learning apps (seal of quality for educational applications) is described.

Online questionnaire for all biology teachers throughout Austria, on the one hand to find out the apps, and on the other hand to research how Austrian teachers find suitable apps. The data were evaluated using descriptive statistics.

A total of84 different learning apps are currently used by biology teachers in Austria. There are two certified lernapps in Austria, both are used. The most common app in biology lessons is “Anton”. The teachers find the information about apps throughout their own research or through colleagues. There are regional and school-specific differences in regards of usage and knowledge about seal of quality. It needs its own teacher training (TT) via suitable learning apps, because problems (data protection, advertising) are sometimes not taken into account during use.

Limitations of this paper are that some of the teachers indicated the apps from other subjects (mathematics) to use this learning app, although this is not possible for biology lessons. Data protection was stated to the best of the authors’ knowledge by the authors, if the authors were not sure it says “unsure”. The participants are mainly women, but this corresponds to the gender ratio, which is typical of the Austrian teaching profession.

The overview of the apps, compiled by this Austria-wide research, can be taken over into the biology lessons of all teachers. In addition, on the basis of this study, a TT at the University of Education 2023 in Linz was created. In addition, the (currently little known) certification process of learning apps is described.

The TT and the overview of the learning apps used serve as guidelines for teachers as to which apps they can use in biology lessons without hesitation. Above all, the aspect of the follow-up of digital media/apps will be emphasized. Data backup, inappropriate advertising must be processed in class or completely omitted. Biology teachers need the right training (TT) and appropriate materials and tools (apps) to reduce problems (cybercrimes).

Currently, there is no prepared list of suitable (certified and uncertified) learning apps for biology lessons. There are isolated recommendations and individual apps, but the selection criteria and backgrounds of the authors are not clear. This list shows which apps (how often) are used by which teachers. In addition, the (currently little known) certification process of learning apps is described.

Validation of the Teachers' Sense of Efficacy Scale (TSES) for use with teachers in Macao (SAR) was undertaken to determine its usefulness as a measure of teacher self-efficacy for inclusive education. This paper discusses the results found by analyzing various versions of the TSES and TSES-C in a Chinese format with 200 pre-service teachers in Macao (SAR). Psychometric analyses were undertaken to investigate the validity of the existing scales and the three and two factor solutions. The results indicated a preferred 9-item version that produced improved factor loadings and reliabilities. The use of a relatively quick and short scale to measure such a complex phenomenon as teacher self-efficacy is discussed. Issues are raised regarding generalizability of scales and the impact of culture, demographics, and edifying issues that may impact on the usefulness of such scales.

This research mainly aims to shed light on sustainable development in Syrian higher education during the Syrian crisis.

In this research, the authors mainly study sustainable development in the Syrian Arab Republic through the bibliometrics data of universities and research centres in Syrian Arab Republic, where these data are related to sustainable development. Also, the authors study the strategies used in the university with the largest research output of sustainable development in the Syrian Arab Republic. The authors extract research data arranged in sustainable development goals in the Syrian Arab Republic from SciVal database.

Based on the bibliometric data on sustainable development research in the Syrian Arab Republic, the authors find that universities and research centres in the Syrian Arab Republic have taken important steps towards the goals of sustainable development, especially in the year 2022. The authors also find that the University of Damascus had the largest share in research related to the goals of sustainable development, and the authors find that this is due to the strategies taken by the University of Damascus towards the goals of sustainable development, such as the policy of digital transformation, the policy of recycling and the increase of green areas in the university.

This study is the first of its kind to study the goals of sustainable development in Syrian higher education during the Syrian crisis period.

This study explores the role of previous occupational identity in the formation of the (new) teacher identity of vocational teachers. The focus is on how vocational teachers discover their teaching identity, how they describe the connection between their previous occupation and teacher identity and how they describe a competent member of the teaching community.

The theoretical approach is inspired by Communities of Practice (CoP) theory. More specifically, the realignment between socially demanded competence in the profession and personal experience as well as identification with the teaching community are discussed. The research material comes from 14 interviews with vocational teachers in different disciplines.

Findings indicate first that the process of professional identity (trans)formation was initiated by finding one's teaching self when the individuals became aware of their interest in teaching by discovering that they had already achieved some sort of teaching-related competence. Second, individuals had been connecting their professional identities – finding common competence between their previous occupation and the teaching role. Third, vocational teachers experienced legitimising their competence and their new identity with reference to what their new CoP instructed as important competence (regime of competence).

While teachers' vocational competence is not scrutinised, their teaching competence needs to be constantly proved. This imbalance often leads to teachers returning to an aspect of their identity that is well established – their vocational competence. Looking back to their occupational competences constitutes a realignment backwards, when teachers attempt to serve their new professional goal by drawing on old competence.