Improving professional development relationships that support teacher learning

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 365-381
Author(s):  
Danielle Lillge
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Literacy Reform ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Need Support ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Support Teacher

Purpose Current top-down literacy reform mandates have reenergized attention to professional development (PD) outcomes. Still, questions remain about why English teachers struggle to apply their learning. Refocusing attention on understanding the complex yet critical relationship between professional development (PD) facilitators and teachers offers one explanation. Design/methodology/approach Using a telling case from an interactional ethnography, this paper illustrates how through their language-in-use teachers and facilitators can productively resolve conflicts that, if left unaddressed, can prevent teachers from acting on their professional learning. Findings A set of discursive moves – flagging, naming, soliciting and processing – provide a toolkit for surfacing and successfully resolving conflict in PD interactions. Research limitations/implications These moves offer a way of prioritizing the importance of teacher–facilitator relationships in future research aimed at addressing the longstanding conundrum of how best to support English teachers’ ongoing professional learning. Practical implications Teaching facilitators and teachers how to collaboratively address inevitable conflicts offers a needed intervention in supporting both teacher and facilitator learning. Originality/value Previous research has affirmed that facilitators, like teachers, need support for navigating the complexity of professional learning interactions. This paper offers a language for uncovering why teacher–facilitator interactions can be so challenging for teachers and facilitators as well as ways of responding productively in-the-moment. It contributes to a more capacious understanding of how these relationships shape diverse English teacher learning.

Master teachers as system leaders of professional learning: master teacher studios in China

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Zhang ◽  
Allan David David Walker ◽  
Haiyan Qian
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Chinese Literature ◽  
Master Teacher ◽  
Effective Teacher ◽  
Central System ◽  
Content Type ◽  
System Leadership ◽  
System Leaders ◽  
Support Teacher

PurposeThis study aims to describe and analyze an innovative mechanism of teacher-led, system-wide professional learning that has been widely adopted since the beginning of the twenty-first century in China – the Master Teacher Studio (MTS).Design/methodology/approachThis paper drew from policy documents, published Chinese literature relating to MTSs and personal fieldwork experience in Shanghai, Guangdong and Zhejiang province.FindingsThe article first outlines the context framing the system change, including its policy background and evolution, and then the MTS's purpose, formative process and structure. It finally examines major teacher learning activities and the leadership roles of the MTS hosts (leaders).Research limitations/implicationsThis study contributed to the knowledge base of system teacher leaders and how they lead cross-school leading.Practical implicationsThe MTS initiative described in this article shows the power of central system leadership to spread and embed effective teacher learning practices at schools.Originality/valueThis article provides implications for understanding and practicing teacher system leadership to support teacher professional learning in different societies.

Teacher agency in a multiyear professional development collaborative

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-414
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Wagner ◽  
Marcela Ossa Parra ◽  
C. Patrick Proctor
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Instructional Practices ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Classroom Teacher ◽  
Teacher Agency ◽  
Longitudinal Case Study ◽  
Content Type

Purpose This paper aims to report on the decisions two teachers made about how to engage with a five-year school–university collaboration that used professional development (PD) to foster changes in language instruction for teachers of multilingual learners. Design/methodology/approach A longitudinal case study was used to examine the experiences of two teachers to provide insights into classroom-level decisions and changes in instructional practices. Findings Changes in instructional practices occurred when teachers made active, engaged choices about their own learning and teaching in the classroom. Teacher learning did not follow a consistent trajectory of improvement and contained contradictions, and early decisions about how to engage with PD affected the pace and nature of teacher learning. Through personal decisions about how to engage with PD, teachers adopted new instructional practices to support multilingual learners. Positive changes required extended time for teachers to implement new practices successfully. Practical implications This collaboration points to a need for long-term PD partnerships that value teacher agency to produce instructional changes that support multilingual learners. Originality/value PD can play a key role in transforming literacy instruction for multilingual learners. Teacher agency, including the decisions teachers make about how to engage with professional learning opportunities and how to enact new instructional practices in the classroom, mediates the efficacy of PD initiatives. This longitudinal case study contributes to the understanding of effective PD by presenting two contrasting case studies of teacher agency and learning during long-term school–university collaboration.

Social capital in the theory and research of LIS professionals in the light of the literature on the subject. Review of current knowledge

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Dorota Wojciechowska
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Current Knowledge ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Social Capital ◽  
Rural Libraries ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Moment ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to present the latest scholarly trends in the field of social capital in libraries, to review research concepts published by LIS professionals and to suggest further research possibilities in this area. Design/methodology/approach This paper presents a review and critical analysis of literature associated with research on social capital in libraries to highlight its importance for the development of LIS and its impact on the functioning of environments linked with various types of libraries. The goal of literature analysis was to determine the current condition of research on social capital in libraries. The main trends were identified and the need for further qualitative analyses, which are missing at the moment, was confirmed. Findings It was determined that, so far, LIS professionals have focussed mainly on the role of municipal libraries in developing social capital, the problem of building trust, especially in immigrant circles and the impact of libraries on promoting a civil society. Academic libraries, rural libraries, organisational capital in libraries and individual social capital of librarians were a much less frequent subject of research. The role of libraries in developing social capital in educational (primary and secondary education) and professional (non-university professionals) circles is practically non-existent in research, and it will require in-depth studies and analyses in the coming years. Originality/value This paper constitutes a synthetic review of the latest research concepts concerning social capital in libraries. It identifies the most important research trends and areas that so far have not been explored and suggests research methods to help LIS professionals design future research in this area more effectively.

Professional development for teachers of advanced placement courses

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Small ◽  
Rebecca A. Thessin ◽  
William R. Dardick
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Advanced Placement ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Repeated Measures ◽  
Teacher Perception ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Multidisciplinary Study ◽  
Diverse Student ◽  
Instructional Needs

PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore how the Advanced Placement Summer Institute (APSI) supported Advanced Placement (AP) teacher's instructional needs considering the expansion of the AP program in recent decades.Design/methodology/approachA survey including Likert-style and open-ended questions was distributed to participants at one East Coast APSI to gather data, which were analyzed quantitatively. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was conducted on the Likert items to identify latent constructs, and two logistic regression (LR) models were run to predict what features of the professional development (PD) improved teacher perception of APSI. Open-ended constructs were analyzed by identifying and describing common themes.FindingsThe findings indicated that APSI improved teachers' perceived content knowledge and pedagogy and improved teachers' perceptions of their ability to better support student achievement, but that more focused professional learning was needed in working with academically diverse student learners in AP courses.Research limitations/implicationsThis study was limited to analysis of perception of teachers who attended one APSI training site, making it difficult to generalize without repeated measures.Originality/valueThis is the only multidisciplinary study connecting literature on effective PD to an analysis of the effectiveness of APSI for AP teachers.

scholarly journals Blog-based professional development of English teachers in Mumbai: The potential of innovative practice under scrutiny

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Atiya Khan
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Community ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
English Teachers ◽  
Information And Communications Technology ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Interactive Workshop

The professional development of teachers in India is still, by and large, based on formal and outdated professional learning traditions, often characterised by crash courses and one-off workshops. In education, blogs have proven to be an effective means of establishing and maintaining collaborative learning networks and helping members reflect on their professional practices. Information and communications technology (ICT) enabled practices of teacher professional development is still in its infancy in India. Moreover, there is limited research in India to secure foundational understanding of how and in what ways teachers of English in India use blogs for their professional development. This study explores the use of teacher reflective practice, teacher networking, and teacher collaboration, beyond formal ICT training, through blog-based professional development of English teachers in the Mumbai region of India. Using data collected from 32 teachers from three private schools in Mumbai, through ICT interactive workshop observations, questionnaires, interviews, and blog comments, this action case study explains whether and why blogging, as a learning community, has the potential to add significant value to existing professional development of English teachers in Mumbai.

Social media efficacy and workplace relationships

2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-476
Author(s):  
Jason Snyder ◽  
Mark D. Cistulli
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Professional Development Programs ◽  
Communication Privacy ◽  
Supervisor Trust

PurposeWith the increase of social media usage in the workplace as a background, this paper specifically addresses social media efficacy's and social media privacy's impact on supervisor and subordinate trust, affective organizational commitment (AOC) and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through the theoretical lens of communication privacy management (CPM) theory.Design/methodology/approachAn online survey of 337 full- and part-time workers was conducted.FindingsPath models showed that social media efficacy positively influenced social media privacy which in turn impacted both supervisor trust and subordinate trust. Supervisor trust was positively related to AOC, while subordinate trust positively influenced OCB. t-tests revealed differences between workers who have social media relationships with supervisors and/or subordinates and those workers without such relationships.Practical implicationsIf workers believe they are adept at using social media, they will also be less concerned about the company's ability to infringe upon privacy through unwanted access to social media content. If social media efficacy drives perceptions of social media privacy and indirectly influences trust and organizational outcomes then it may be worthwhile for organizations to help enhance workers' feelings of social media efficacy through professional development programs.Originality/valueThis study is the first to extend research on workplace communication privacy into the realm of social media. Social media relationships also influence the work environment. These findings can be used as information in future research as well as policy development and professional development programs.

Focusing on Teacher Learning Opportunities to Identify Potentially Productive Coaching Activities

2017 ◽  
Vol 68 (4) ◽  
pp. 411-425 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynsey K. Gibbons ◽  
Paul Cobb
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Science Teachers ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Instructional Coaching ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Improve Instruction ◽  
Support Teacher ◽  
Coaching Activities ◽  
Mathematics And Science Teachers ◽  
Mathematics And Science

Instructional improvement initiatives in many districts include instructional coaching as a primary form of job-embedded support for teachers. However, the coaching literature provides little guidance about what activities coaches should engage in with teachers to improve instruction. When researchers do propose activities, they rarely justify why those activities might support teacher learning. Drawing on the preservice and inservice teacher education literatures, we present a conceptual analysis of learning activities that have the potential to support mathematics and science teachers to improve practice. We argue that our analysis can inform research on mathematics and science coaching, coaching policies, and the design of professional learning for coaches.

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.

Instructional Improvement and Teachers’ Collaborative Conversations: The Role of Focus and Facilitation

2017 ◽  
Vol 119 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Christine Andrews-Larson ◽  
Jonee Wilson ◽  
Adrian Larbi-Cherif
Keyword(s):  
School Districts ◽  
Teacher Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Collaboration ◽  
Instructional Quality ◽  
Learning Goals ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Support Teacher ◽  
Support Students

Background/Context School districts are increasingly expected to support students in meeting ambitious mathematical learning goals. Many schools and districts are investing significant resources in the provision of time for teacher collaboration in the hope that this will help teachers improve their instruction in ways that support students in meeting ambitious learning goals. While existing research points to the potential of this collaboration time to support teacher learning, findings from previous work suggest that use of this time varies in ways that are likely to be consequential for teachers’ learning. Research Question In this analysis, we investigate the question: In what ways do focus and facilitation shape teachers’ opportunities to learn during collaborative conversations? Research Design The data for this analysis comes from a 4-year study of 4 large urban school districts that examines what it takes to improve the quality of middle school math instruction at scale. Our analysis draws on the broader data set by first using teacher-level data (observed instructional quality) from 30 schools to identify schools that exhibited the most growth in instructional quality. We then analyze audio recordings of teacher collaborative meetings at those schools to better understand how the conversations that take place in these meetings might function to support teachers’ professional learning. In particular, we examine differences in facilitator questioning and subsequent facilitator press on teachers to elaborate their pedagogical reasoning. Findings/Results We observed two foci in identified sessions: writing learning targets and lesson co-planning. As enacted, the lesson co-planning sessions held greater potential for supporting teachers’ professional learning. Use of an activity-structuring tool was related to higher quality facilitator questions in these sessions but was not related to improved facilitator press on teachers to elaborate on their responses to these questions. These facilitator moves are marked by (1) solicitation of detailed representations of teachers’ classrooms and practice, (2) orientation toward students as sense-makers, and (3) press for teachers to articulate rationales for instructional decisions that are tied to goals for student learning. We provide examples of facilitator questioning and press that are generative for teacher learning. Conclusions/Recommendations This work contributes to the research on the ways collaborative time can support teacher learning. It identifies specific practices that facilitators can draw on to support teachers’ professional learning—which has the potential to inform both teacher learning and the training of facilitators. This work can additionally inform the design and use of tools (protocols) that can help productively structure teacher collaborative time and also reveal the limitations of such tools. Importantly, we offer a coding scheme for analyzing the quality of facilitation through questioning and press that can subsequently be challenged, problematized, and built upon in the field.

Future Research and Directions for Professional Learning

2020 ◽  
pp. 163-181
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Continuous Improvement ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teacher Practice ◽  
Collective Responsibility ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Continuous Learning ◽  
Future Learning

This chapter provides direction for future learning endeavors that inform teacher practice. It provides leaders with suggestions for professional development including the understanding of layers present in collaboration, such as the development of trust and respect that leads to a collective responsibility. Teachers valued this cycle of learning resulting in time for continuous learning. This cycle, referred to as the Cycle of Continuous Improvement, will be elaborated on as it pertains to professional development. Additionally, social media as a form of professional learning is examined. Suggestions for self-directed investigation and application are provided.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document