Essential elements in a professional learning and development programme: a New Zealand case study of autism professional development to promote collaborative practices

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 631-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jill Bevan-Brown ◽  
Roseanna Bourke ◽  
Philippa Butler ◽  
Janis Carroll-Lind ◽  
Alison Kearney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Collaborative Practices

scholarly journals A case study examining the mediating impact of Coach Educators delivering a professional development programme.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Sobolewski
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Qualitative Data ◽  
Research Strategy ◽  
Development Programme ◽  
Personal Agency ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Coach Development ◽  
Professional Development Programme ◽  
High Degree

The important mediating influence of Coach Educators (CEs) delivering a programme of learning has been largely ignored in research seeking to find the key to effective CPD. This paper aims to bring CEs to the fore by reporting the experiences of 7 CEs and 2 Programme Managers delivering a sport National Governing Body coach development programme. Qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews and interpreted through the theoretical lens of relational interdependence (Billett, 2008) using a retroductive research strategy. The findings identified the subjective and idiosyncratic processes through which CEs developed their understanding of the programme resulting in individual differences in construal. The high degree of workplace affordance gave CEs autonomy to deploy their personal agency and intentionality to shape practice leading to wide variations in CPD delivery. The results suggest the subjectivity of CEs can have a potentially significant impact on the fidelity of the programme being delivered.

scholarly journals A social-cognitive study of Indonesian Google educator groups

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Pratiwi Artati
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Educational Technology ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Technological Environment ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Education Groups

<p>Self-directed professional learning is distinct from the traditional approach of directed professional development. The introduction of the Internet into Indonesian society provides the opportunity for teachers to use digital tools for their teaching and to access professional learning without attending mandated professional development. An emerging phenomenon in Indonesia is the establishment and use of Google Education Groups (GEGs) for professional learning about the use of educational technology (ed-tech) in the schooling sector. Two research questions guided the examination of Indonesian educators’ experiences of GEGs: (1) how do Indonesian educators participate in the GEGs for ed-tech professional learning? and (2) how do the GEGs function to enable Indonesian educators’ ed-tech professional learning? Collective case study methodology was applied, and three Google Education Groups were examined, one from a metropolitan area, one from an urban area and the third from a rural context. In each case study, the leader of the group and three group members with varying levels of online engagement were interviewed and online forum conversations were examined. Data were analysed using Stake’s method of categorical aggregation leading to within-case assertions and cross-case analysis. A social cognitive perspective was used as a framework to analyse and interpret findings. It was found that the Indonesian educators had an agentic approach to professional learning, which was context-dependent with three major interrelated aspects: the regional-technological environment as context, the individuals as agentic learners, and the connectedness as social learners enabled meaningful learning experiences. The regional-technological environment influenced how the GEGs functioned. The Metropolitan group was innovative and collaborative, focusing on the use of web-based tools to improve productivity of ed-tech practices. The Urban group aimed to explore how they could use web-based tools to improve efficiency through paperless classroom practices and school administration. The Rural group sought to use of web-based tools for simple teaching and learning practices within a context of low bandwidth and limited ICT infrastructure. In addition, certain conditions that support online collaboration and factors that can minimise and optimise ed-tech learning opportunities are identified. Participants overcame limitations and constraints by enacting agency and developing social connectedness in learning through the groups. The group leadership positions were voluntary and found to be driven by a desire to share expertise and practices that support, inspire, and empower others rather than about gaining positional authority. Participation in online informal groups such as Google Education Groups appears to be a supportive method of professional learning that facilitates agentic and experiential learning about the use of educational technology in Indonesia. This model can enhance professional learning opportunities for Indonesian educators. It can also be implemented into the design of government-supported ed-tech PD programmes, to create an empowering and safe learning environment that can optimise their potential in learning and improve practice.</p>

School-Based Professional Development Programs for Beginning Teachers

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joanna Madalińska-Michalak
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Beginning Teachers ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Quality Teachers ◽  
High Quality ◽  
School Based

School-based professional development for beginning teachers must be seen as a dynamic identity and decision-making process. Teachers as lifelong learners from the beginning of their career should be able to engage in different forms of teacher education that enable them to progress their learning and development in ways that are relevant to their own individual needs and the needs of their schools and pupils. Teacher individual professional learning is necessary but not sufficient for sustainable change within groups in school and within school as an organization. It is helpful to consider three elements. First, note the importance to schools of recruiting and developing high-quality teachers. Teachers are among the most significant factors in children’s learning and the quality school education, and the questions why and how teachers matter and how teacher quality and quality teacher education should be perceived require serious considerations from academics, policymakers, and practitioners. Second, understand teacher education as career-long education, and problematize the issue of teachers and coherent professional development within schools, asking key questions including the following: “how do schools create effective opportunities for teachers to learn and develop?” Third, focus on the particular journey and the needs of beginning teachers because their early career learning and development will have an impact on retention of high-quality teachers. It is important that coherent lifelong professional education for teachers is planned and implemented at the level of education systems, individual schools, teaching teams, and individual teachers.

Enhancing teachers' and administrators learning experiences through school–university partnerships: a qualitative case study in China

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Guoyuan Sang ◽  
Jun Zhou ◽  
Abdulghani Muthanna
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Qualitative Study ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Qualitative Case Study ◽  
Process Analysis ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
Case Study Methodology ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThis qualitative study aimed to explore how the school–university partnership (SUP) enhances the elementary teachers' professional development in a school-based setting.Design/methodology/approachBy following the qualitative case study methodology, this case study employs semi-structured interviews (the authors designed) with 10 school teachers and administrators. The authors adapted the iterative process analysis (Miles and Huberman, 1984) for compiling, coding, annotating the data and interpreting the interview transcripts. The authors also used the member checking technique that establishes credibility in a qualitative study (Lincoln and Guba, 1985) with six participants.FindingsThe findings suggest that participating in a series of professional learning activities led to the enhancement of teachers' and administrators learning experiences in view of educational theories, action research abilities, teaching efficiency, teaching research capacities and improvement of school guidelines. Further, they reveal that the participants' expectations for future SUP collaborations centred on realizing the sustainability and effectiveness of collaborations, and autonomy of teachers.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the current study include its focus on a single SUP within one school and the reliance on data collected only by interviews during the SUP process. This study offers implications for teacher learning within SUP collaborations. First, schools should consider how to involve and influence all teachers rather than SUP core members only. To this end, authentic professional learning communities need to be constructed. Second, universities should pay much more attention to the professional development of their faculty members towards integration of theoretical knowledge and practical experiences.Originality/valueThis original study explores practical ways of improving teachers' theoretical and practical teaching practices/experiences through SUP projects, and contributes new knowledge to the teaching professional development of school teachers and administrators.

scholarly journals Making the most of mobility: virtual mentoring and education practitioner professional development

2015 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hazel D. Owen
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Research Study ◽  
Learning Needs ◽  
Learning Technology ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Virtual Mentoring ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Knowledge Cultures

Learning provision, including professional learning, needs to embrace mobility (of knowledge, cultures and contexts – physical and cerebral) to enable education practitioners to interact locally and globally, engage with new literacies, access rich contexts, and to question, co-construct and collaborate. Virtual mentoring, also known as distance, remote, tele-, cyber- and eMentoring, offers a level of flexibility that enables mentors and mentees to maximise these concepts of mobility. There are Professional Learning and Development (PLD) initiatives that offer contextualised, individualised learning experiences via mentoring partnerships and Communities of Practice (CoPs), but not so many that have focussed on virtual mentoring and online CoPs. This article describes a Virtual PLD programme that has been offered in Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009 to date and discusses findings from the associated research study, including benefits that can be specifically equated to the virtual nature of the mentoring and access to the online CoP. Also reported are shifts in mentees’ self-efficacy and perceptions of changes in professional practice.Keywords: online communities; professional development; coaching(Published: 16 September 2015)Citation: Research in Learning Technology 2015, 23: 25566 - http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/rlt.v23.25566

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