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Outlines the programme “Professional Development for Teachers in International Schools” which was developed from a modular programme already in existence at the School of Education, at the University of Bath. The Professional Development Programme is taught both in the UK Summer School and overseas. There are two types of module, taught and school‐based, for which there is no predetermined order of study. The programme leads to an Advanced Certificate, Advanced Diploma or Master′s Degree in Education. The pilot programme was held at the International School of Tanganyika during Easter 1992 and the programme has subsequently evolved and expanded and now includes not only teachers in international schools but also teachers in other English medium schools in countries in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Far East.

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 aim of this study is to explore the extent to which a transnational pedagogical training affected university teachers' approaches to teaching, as well as their efficacy beliefs and cultural perceptions, and to examine how such training could stimulate teachers' pedagogical-development processes beyond the specific context.

An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was adopted for the study. Quantitative data were collected through an online self-reported questionnaire from two-independent samples, both before (n = 119) and after (n = 110) the training. Qualitative data were collected after the training through episodic narrative interviews with five teachers.

The quantitative and qualitative findings indicate contradictory aspects of the teaching approach and perceived culture. While the questionnaire responses highlighted the dominance of teacher-centred teaching approaches and an individualistic culture, a thematic analysis of the interview data showed that teachers experienced pedagogical development as (1) increasing student engagement, (2) improving their own teaching practices, (3) a community activity and (4) an institutionalised process.

The design of the current research may have limited the authors’ potential to deeply investigate the effect of the transnational pedagogical training, as only snapshots of the teachers' perceptions were elicited. Future studies might consider a within-subject longitudinal design to thoroughly follow teachers' trajectories in learning and development over time.

The research findings suggest that transnational pedagogical training initiatives are to be promoted amidst these uncertain times. Even though the focus of the study was not to explore the teachers' perceptions of teaching development during the pandemic, the current results imply that the mentioned training helped teachers in tailoring their pedagogical practices to suit the unexpected online teaching settings.

The study adds to the relatively new literature on the perceived effect of transnational pedagogical training initiatives. This study’s findings contribute to the body of knowledge related to pedagogical development in fragile and conflict-affected contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to explore how principals’ leadership approaches to teacher professional development arise from school banding and may impact upon teacher professional capital and student achievement.

The case study is situated within the context of school-based management, comprising reflective accounts of nine school principals selected by stratified sampling from a sample of 56 Hong Kong schools to represent Bands One, Two, and Three schools. The reflective accounts were triangulated with observations of teachers and analysis of school websites.

First, under school-based management, principals remain obliged to recognize the power of state-defined examinations in determining the schools’ future priorities. Second, the exercise of school autonomy in response to this obligation varies, depending upon the competitive advantage schools have in the school banding system. Ideally, effective school-based management is dependent upon the principal’s capacity to facilitate good instructional practices. However, principals need to adjust their leadership practices to school contextual demands. Third, adaptations to contexts result in the varied developments of teacher capacities in schools, corresponding with the types of principal leadership adopted.

While statistical studies have identified attributes of exemplary principal leadership, few studies have examined the qualitative reasons for the exemplification of these attributes, and the influence of the school context in shaping these attributes. Departing from assumptions that leadership attributes are intrinsic to individuals, this paper considers how principals contextualize leadership in teacher professional development to the schools’ student academic achievement.

Mentoring has been increasingly used in educational development to facilitate transfer of knowledge from programs for higher education teachers to their pedagogic practice. However, studies are missing which would critically assess the outcomes of mentoring in programs for university teachers. The purpose of this paper is to systematically review existing research on mentoring in the context of educational development in higher education.

Using a careful search strategy, 17 relevant scholarly sources were selected and analyzed to document the results of mentoring at individual, departmental and institutional levels.

Among the striking findings was the lack of clarity or definition surrounding mentoring and similar terms, coaching and tutoring and the lack of methodological rigour in many studies. However, those methodologically more advanced studies suggest that mentoring can become a valuable component of educational development programs. As reported by previous research, mentoring can: enhance university teachers’ cognitive abilities, beliefs and attitudes; improve the effectiveness of teaching; increase teachers’ capability to research teaching and learning; enhance mentoring skills; and improve the overall teaching climate at universities.

Categorization of different types of outcomes of mentoring in educational development can help the practitioners engaged in introducing or re-designing educational development programs with a mentoring element.

This is the first systematic review of the studies discussing the process, value and outcomes of teacher mentoring to improve pedagogical practice at the university level.

Changing immigration patterns in the USA have led to a growing number of “new immigrant destinations.” In these contexts, opportunities for teacher learning are crucial for developing the school capacity to serve the academic, linguistic and socio-cultural needs of immigrant students. In response, the purpose of this paper is to examine how schools in Wisconsin provided both formal and informal teacher learning opportunities to develop the instructional capacity to support recent immigrants, specifically Spanish-speaking English language learners (ELLs).

Using descriptive analyses of teacher and administrator survey and interview data, this study examined the focus and within-school distribution of formal professional development, as well as teacher collaboration as a mechanism for informal learning.

Most commonly, professional development focused on concrete strategies teachers might enact in their classrooms, rather than developing broader understandings of the needs of immigrant students. In addition, formal professional development commonly targeted particular groups of teachers, rather than faculty as a whole. Finally, general education-ELL teacher collaboration was most often deployed “as needed” and focused on particular student needs, rather than systematically.

Future work might address the limitations of this study by examining teacher learning opportunities in new immigrant destinations in other locales, the quality and effectiveness of such opportunities, and other mechanisms for the distribution of expertise.

Findings suggest the need for more systematic and integrated approaches to teacher learning in new immigrant destinations, with an emphasis on pushing beyond the short-term need for instructional strategies to develop more holistic, collaborative approaches to integrating ELLs into schools and classrooms.

The Kenyan Government, being concerned about the quality of school education, is attempting to increase teacher effectiveness and student learning. To achieve these goals, current in‐service programs need to be improved for all head teachers and teachers. Also, the role of the head teacher in promoting relevant teacher development requires greater recognition and administrative training. Organizations such as the Kenya Education Staff Institute need to be more involved in providing up‐to‐date staff development for all educational administrators and other educators. More attention also must be paid to effective induction, internships, strategic staff placements, financing, collaboration among provider organizations, and opinions of teachers concerning in‐service needs. Head teachers can do much to improve teaching and learning by using professional formative evaluation of their teachers.

The purpose of this paper is to touch upon the unaddressed points regarding the practice of lesson study (LS) in the field of language teacher development in a Turkish education context by considering the challenges faced and observed by the EFL teachers, their suggestions to design a process like LS practice and benefits that LS practice could provide them in terms of teaching and professional development.

The analysis is based on the data from five EFL teachers’ collaborative work in an arrangement of lesson and learning study and from the researcher’s observations during meetings and discussions throughout the process. The data consist of interviews with participant teachers (pre and post), video recordings of the teacher workshops, field notes of the researcher and video recordings of the research lessons. The analysis was carried out through content analysis beginning with listing the responses of participants, identifying the frequency of citations, collecting similar responses under a common category to determine the categories and at last placing codes into the related categories.

The results show that the teachers had some concerns about LS practice both before and after practicing the model in the study context. They stated their concerns mostly about time, increasing responsibility and effort, being a demanding process. However, the practice seemed to meet their expectations, lead to improvements in knowledge, teaching practices and perspectives, contribute to the personal and professional development of teachers and triggered enthusiasm and a desire for students to participate actively in learning process.

This paper serves as an explicit example of LS practice with its plus and minuses in a Turkish education context as teachers’ views and the researcher’s personal reflections in the current study can guide the process of change and provide evidence and practical suggestions on the feasibility of the program for the ones attempting to experience it. Besides, the teachers’ perceptions and suggestions regarding LS practice in the present study can enable other teachers, organizers of professional development programs and the researchers an opportunity to lead future practices.