Search results

Global focus on reforming teachers has resulted in the inclusion of multiple survey questions about teachers’ professional learning activities in large-scale international studies. A cross-national analysis of these survey data will likely enhance our understanding and inform the future direction regarding teacher professional development policy and practice. Yet we do not know whether these surveys measure the key features and their contextual factors of teachers’ professional learning activities to allow a systematic cross-national analysis. Based on international and U.S. literature, I develop a conceptual model of teachers’ professional learning activities in global context and analyze relevant survey items used in three major international studies – TIMSS, PIRLS, and TALIS. I conclude the chapter with a discussion of the coverage of these survey items and a direction for improving data collections of teachers’ professional learning activities in large-scale international studies.

Research on student teacher learning has identified development of a professional identity as an inevitable focus in teacher education. Accordingly, many teacher education programs have come to include attention for the development of student teachers’ professional identities, but not much research has been done on the (effects of) pedagogies that have such development as their goal. Pedagogies that aim at developing teacher identity share common elements, such as the view that developing a professional identity is an ongoing process and the view that developing a professional identity as a teacher unmistakably includes a combination of personal and professional (including contextual) aspects. This chapter describes pedagogies that focus particularly on the development of student teachers’ and beginning teachers’ professional identity, from different angles, but sharing the views as described above. First, we describe two pedagogies that have “key incidents” in student teachers’ development as focus point. Second, we report on the “subject-autobiography,” in which student teachers describe and develop how their identity is shaped in relation to the subject they (learn to) teach. Third, we describe the “at-tension” program, which teachers follow during their first year of teaching, and which focuses particularly on the professional tensions that they experience in their first year of teaching, and how they personally and professionally deal with socialization in the school context. Together, these pedagogies reflect our view that professional identity development is underlying the entire teacher education program. This view implies that only a combination of various-focus pedagogies enables student teachers to develop a full-fledged professional identity.

The importance of early and developmentally appropriate science education is increasingly recognized. Consequently, creation of common guidelines and standards in early childhood science education has begun (National Research Council (NRC), 2012), and researchers, practitioners, and policy makers have shown great interest in aligning professional development with the new guidelines and standards. There are some important issues that need to be addressed in order to successfully implement guidelines and make progress toward accomplishing standards. Early childhood teachers have expressed a lack of confidence in teaching science and nature (Torquati, Cutler, Gilkerson, & Sarver, in press) and have limited science and pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) (Appleton, 2008). These are critical issues because teachers’ subject-matter knowledge is a robust predictor of student learning outcomes (Enfield & Rogers, 2009; Kennedy, 1998; Wilson, Floden, & Ferrini-Mundy, 2002) and is seen as a critical step toward improving K-12 student achievement (National Commission on Mathematics and Science Teaching for the 21st Century (NCMST), 2000; NRC, 2000). We argue that the same is true of preschool teachers.

This chapter discusses: (a) theories and practices in early childhood science education (i.e., preschool through 3rd grade) in relation to teaching for conceptual change, (b) research on methods of professional development in early childhood science education, and (c) innovative approaches to integrating scientific practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas with early childhood professional development.

The Southeast Ohio Teacher Development Collaborative (SEOTDC) represents a regional professional community-of-practice with leadership as a key component of educator and organizational capacity building. This chapter highlights the work of this collaborative partnership among five teacher preparation programs in Appalachian Ohio that responds to regional contexts in planning and delivering professional development. Individuals from representative public and private institutions of higher education, state and local educational agencies, and school districts engage in action planning to improve teacher preparation, professional development, and mentoring processes for educators. This is accomplished through recruitment, retention, identification, support, promotion, encouragement, and involvement in a variety of SEOTDC initiatives. Professional development to build educator capacities is considered in terms of people and their contributions, the synergies that are created during the process of collaboration, and organizational arrangements that are designed to support renewal, reform, and personal and interpersonal development. After setting the context within which SEOTDC operates, the chapter identifies concerns, solutions, and outcomes related to four collaborative initiatives.

Professional development schools (PDSs) are a specific type of school–university partnership designed to support teacher preparation, professional development, inquiry and research, and student learning. Active teacher engagement in PDS work over the past three decades has led to the emergence of teacher leader practice and development as a serendipitous outcome of PDS partnerships. Emphasizing teacher leadership throughout, this chapter provides an overview of PDSs, including a definition and core purposes, benefits of continuous learning for all PDS stakeholders, and the complexities of PDS work before offering a brief history of PDS in the United States.

A review of publications in teaching and teacher education over 10 years (2000–2010) on teacher professional development is the subject of this chapter. The first part synthesises production referred to learning, facilitation and collaboration, factors influencing professional development, effectiveness of professional development and issues around the themes. The second part selects from the production nine articles for closer examination. The chapter concludes by noting how the production brings out the complexities of teacher professional learning and how research and development have taken cognizance of these factors and provided food for optimism about their effects, although not yet about their sustainability in time.

Scholars and reform activists see district-level leaders as key actors in improving teaching and learning. This study examines the efforts of one district that successfully narrowed achievement gaps by largely focusing on teacher professional development. I employ the concepts of physical capital, human capital, and social capital as key ingredients of the process of instructional reform. I highlight the district's role in creating system-wide changes in instruction through investment in developing teachers’ knowledge and pedagogical skills.

This chapter aims to identify and explore those critical factors in relation to teacher education and development that may hinder or support the wider implementation of policy for inclusive education in practice. The chapter considers key issues related to initial teacher education (ITE) and in-service teacher education and continuing professional development (CPD) that appear to be relevant albeit in differing degrees across most European countries.

The chapter builds on initial work completed in the European Agency project on Teacher Education for Inclusion (TE4I). The project concluded that the role of core values for inclusion (particularly in ITE) can be a critical factor in ensuring more inclusive education systems overall (European Agency, 2011, 2012).

A number of policy questions in relation to preparing teaching staff for inclusive education were highlighted in this work, but two critical issues are the focus here:

• 1. How all relevant policies can support flexible education opportunities in initial and continuing professional development for all teachers.

• 2. How all teachers can be supported to develop the skills to meet the diverse needs of all learners, including a clear understanding of effective learning strategies, such as learning to learn and active learning approaches.

1. How all relevant policies can support flexible education opportunities in initial and continuing professional development for all teachers.

2. How all teachers can be supported to develop the skills to meet the diverse needs of all learners, including a clear understanding of effective learning strategies, such as learning to learn and active learning approaches.

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).

This chapter describes how a college of education sponsored child development laboratory school responded to P-12 school reform movement efforts, particularly related to the establishment of professional development schools for the preparation of teachers. In its efforts to create a diverse learning community where all constituents (teachers, preservice teachers, and parents) are engaged in collaborative inquiry, the school sought inspiration from other sources, most notably the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education. In both the professional development school standards and the principles of the Reggio Emilia approach, emphasis is given to learning to teach within practice, teachers as researchers, making teaching and learning visible and egalitarian roles in carrying out the work of the school.