Team leaders’ beliefs about teachers’ learning-path strategies

2018 ◽  
Vol 30 (5) ◽  
pp. 351-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janne van Bussel ◽  
Sean Justice ◽  
April Bang ◽  
Aquiles Damirón-Alcántara
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Network Theory ◽  
Team Leaders ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Learning Path ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Specific Learning

Purpose This paper aims to focus on professional development in the education sector. Its goal is to understand team leaders’ roles in teachers’ professional learning. Second, this paper seeks to understand the influence that team leaders have on teachers’ learning path strategies. Design/methodology/approach Following from van der Krogt’s (2007a) Learning Network Theory (LNT), this paper presents a qualitative study of teachers’ preferences for specific learning path strategies. Interview data were collected from teachers (N = 24) and team leaders (N = 5) at an intermediate vocational school in the Netherlands. Research questions ask to what extent teachers learning path strategies align with the learning path strategies that their team leaders think they should use, and about the influence team leaders have on teachers’ professional development. Findings Findings suggest that teachers and team leaders’ beliefs about learning path strategies differ greatly, and that team leaders have limited influence on the learning path strategies that teachers adopt. On the other hand, team leaders appear able to create conditions in which teachers can pursue professional learning because they do have influence on learning facilities. Originality/value These findings add to the scarce empirical evidence regarding LNT, learning path strategies and team leaders beliefs about teachers professional development. They also imply practical changes for team leaders who want to influence teacher professional development.

scholarly journals TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN KWARA STATE BASIC SCHOOLS: IMPLICATION ON INTERNAL EFFICIENCY

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Habibat Abubakar Yusuf ◽  
Abdulkareem Rasaq Lanre
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
State Government ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Head Teachers ◽  
Descriptive Research ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Internal Efficiency ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Correlation Statistic

This paper investigated teachers’ professional development in Kwara state basic schools and its implications on internal efficiency. The purpose of the study is to investigate the level of teachers’ professional development in Kwara state basic schools and examine its implications on internal efficiency of the schools. Two research questions and one hypothesis were set to guide the study. Descriptive research design was adopted for the study. Secondary data were collected on teachers’ professional development while researchers’- designed questionnaire was used to collect data on internal efficiency. The questionnaires were given to 315 head teachers in Kwara state basic schools in Kwara State. Percentage was used to answer the research questions while Pearson’s moment correlation statistic formulated. The findings of the study included that; there is low level of teacher professional development in Basic schools in Kwara state; the internal efficiency of basic schools in Kwara state is low; and there is significant relationship between teachers’ professional development and internal efficiency of basic schools in Kwara state. Based on the findings, it was recommended that kwara state government should enhance adequate teachers’ professional development through adequate training, scholarship, more funding to ensure internal efficiency.

Professional learning communities of teachers: Israeli principals’ perceptions

2019 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 658-674
Author(s):  
Orit Avidov-Ungar
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning Communities ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching Staff ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teachers And Students ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Principals Perceptions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to focus on professional learning communities (PLCs) run for and by teachers to achieve their ongoing professional development and greater pupil attainment. The paper examined principals’ perceptions of how such PLCs influence teachers, teacher learning and school processes, and their own involvement in PLCs operating in their schools.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 of 97 principals from three of the four educational districts participating in a pilot programme to achieve in-service teacher professional development through supported PLCs.FindingsMost of the participating principals considered PLCs to influence not only the teacher-leader, but also PLC members and other teaching staff and processes. Principals perceived PLCs as influencing pedagogical processes for both teachers and students, as well as staff leadership processes. Principals reported facilitating the operation of PLCs in their schools by providing the necessary conditions or participating in PLC meetings.Research limitations/implicationsAlthough nearly 20 per cent of principals involved in the pilot agreed to participate, it was not possible to ensure a representative sample. Self-selection bias cannot be ruled out. Most participants were interviewed individually, with a minority later interviewed as a group to obtain a deeper understanding. Thus, the research should be regarded as exploratory.Originality/valueThe study provides a detailed description of how principals perceive and engage with PLCs. Its findings are relevant to international efforts to understand and leverage teacher PLCs for the purposes of teachers’ professional development and pupil attainment.

scholarly journals Teacher professional learning through lesson study: teachers' reflections

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 397-412
Author(s):  
Alison Fox ◽  
Val Poultney
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Student Performance ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Teacher Reflections ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Development Literature ◽  
Subject Departments

PurposeThis study examines the experiences of five teachers working in two English secondary school subject departments after being given the opportunity to engage with Lesson Study (LS) to increase student performance in their subject areas. This study aimed to reveal the drivers for the teachers' engagement in LS, and how this experience of Joint Professional Development (JPD) might be contributing to their learning as teachers.Design/methodology/approachThis study applies an analytic approach to evidencing teacher learning, based on the work of Knud Illeris, offering this as a methodological contribution to the field of professional development literature.FindingsFindings reveal that, despite all the teachers developing a passion for learning through LS, there are constraints on its sustainability and impact which can be attributed to the teachers' broader contexts and which affected them differently. The constraints centre on tensions between priorities and agendas within and beyond the school, related largely to budgets and visions of staff development.Research limitations/implicationsThis focused study on two subject departments engaging in LS limits its generalisability in terms of findings. However, the study offers a practical research application of a model of learning for analysis of teacher reflections on collaborative learning experiences.Originality/valueUnderstanding individual teacher reflections on LS experiences is under-represented in the literature, in particular studies providing insights into conditions conducive and constraining to JPD.

scholarly journals Action Research and Teachers’ Professional Development: Examples and Reflections

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. p37
Author(s):  
Osama Al-Mahdi
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Action Research ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Teachers College ◽  
Potential Benefits ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Professional Capacity

Teacher professional development had received a growing interest in the past decades due to their importance in improving teachers' knowledge, skills and values. There are various approaches and types of teachers' professional development. This paper begins by discussing the definition, characteristics and models of teachers’ professional development. Then it outlines some ideas related to teacher professional learning communities (PLCs), communities of practice (CoPs), mentoring and coaching. Next, the paper focuses on action research as one of the widely used approaches in both research and teacher professional development. The potential benefits of action research in building teachers’ professional capacity is presented next. The paper concludes with a discussion about the implications of utilizing action research in the educational development program for school principals in Bahrain Teachers College.

Developing professional capital in policy and practice

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 219-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Campbell ◽  
Ann Lieberman ◽  
Anna Yashkina
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Leadership Skills ◽  
Knowledge Exchange ◽  
Policy And Practice ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Professional Capital ◽  
Taking Charge ◽  
Teachers Professional Development

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence from Ontario’s Teacher Learning and Leadership Program (TLLP) with goals to: support experienced teachers to undertake self-directed professional development; develop teachers’ leadership skills for sharing their professional learning and practices; and facilitate knowledge exchange. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on four years of research including: analyses of TLLP project application proposals and final reports; observations and participant feedback for TLLP events; surveys of TLLP project leaders; vignettes by teacher leaders; interviews with teachers, government and union leaders; case studies of TLLP projects; and analyses of TLLP online networking activity. Findings – TLLP provides an example of developing professional capital, involving: changes in the style and substance of policy making concerning government and unions’ approaches to teachers’ professional development; and the experiences of teachers developing their individual and collaborative professional learning and leadership with benefits for teachers and for students. Originality/value – Five implications are highlighted: prioritizing teachers’ learning and leadership of, by and for teachers requires shifts in the substance and style of policy making for teachers’ work; professional collaboration benefits from appropriate partnerships and an enabling system with conditions and support for teachers’ learning and leadership; valuing and supporting teachers taking charge of their own professional learning is integral; developing teachers as leaders of their peers’ learning and educational improvements is vital; and enabling teachers as developers of actionable knowledge is powerful for sharing improvements in practices.

Examining Teachers' Professional Development for Promoting Inclusive Education in Displacement

2019 ◽  
pp. 260-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwadabe Kurawa
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Inclusive Education ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Quality Education ◽  
Education For All ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
Improve Student Learning

Inclusive education, in most countries affected by an emergency or crisis, is focused on providing access to quality education for all children. Provision of quality education for all children, as discussed in much literature about education, is very much dependent on teacher quality. Improving and sustaining the quality of teaching is equally determined by the type of training and professional development offered to teachers. Teachers, however, in emergency contexts such as in the Northeast of Nigeria, may be recruited to improve student learning, having received little or no relevant training. Therefore, professional learning for teachers that is intended to offer them opportunities for immediate and sustained improvement in practice is, this chapter argues, needed in such emergency contexts. This chapter therefore analyses teacher professional development that can improve the standard of education for all children and then assesses the effect of this development in practice in the Northeast of Nigeria.

scholarly journals Online Professional Learning in Response to COVID-19—Towards Robust Evaluation

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Alireza Ahadi ◽  
Matt Bower ◽  
Abhay Singh ◽  
Michael Garrett
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Perceptions ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Background Information ◽  
Evaluation Approach ◽  
Online Mode ◽  
Evaluation Models ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Workshop Evaluation

As COVID-19 continues to impact upon education worldwide, systems and organizations are rapidly transiting their professional learning to online mode. This raises concerns, not simply about whether online professional learning can result in equivalent outcomes to face-to-face learning, but more importantly about how to best evaluate online professional learning so we can iteratively improve our approaches. This case study analyses the evaluation of an online teacher professional development workshop for the purpose of critically reflecting upon the efficacy of workshop evaluation techniques. The evaluation approach was theoretically based in a synthesis of six seminal workshop evaluation models, and structured around eight critical dimensions of educational technology evaluation. The approach involving collection of pre-workshop participant background information, pre-/post-teacher perceptions data, and post-workshop focus group perceptions, enabled the changes in teacher knowledge, skills, and beliefs to be objectively evaluated, at the same time as providing qualitative information to effectively improve future iterations of the workshops along a broad range of dimensions. The evaluation approach demonstrated that the professional learning that was shifted into online mode in response to COVID-19 could unequivocally result in significant improvements to professional learning outcomes. More importantly, the evaluation approach is critically contrasted with previous evaluation models, and a series of recommendations for the evaluation of technology-enhanced teacher professional development workshops are proposed.

Enhancing EFL Teachers’ Pronunciation Pedagogy Through Professional Learning: A Vietnamese Case Study

RELC Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 003368822095247
Author(s):  
Loc Tan Nguyen ◽  
Jonathan Newton
Keyword(s):  
Professional Learning ◽  
Classroom Practice ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Teaching Skills ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Teachers Perceptions ◽  
Efl Teachers ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Teachers Professional Development ◽  
The Impact

The role of teacher professional learning (TPL) in assisting teachers to teach pronunciation in English as a second/foreign language (ESL/EFL) contexts has received little attention. The study reported in this paper extends this line of research by investigating how six EFL teachers at a Vietnamese university transform and integrate the pronunciation pedagogical knowledge they received from a TPL workshop into teaching practice. It then examines the teachers’ perceptions of the impact of the workshop on their knowledge gains and pronunciation teaching skills. Data were collected from seven lesson plans designed by the teachers, video recordings of 24 subsequent classroom observations, and six individual semi-structured interviews. The study adopted a content-based approach to qualitative data analysis. The findings show that the teachers were all able to translate TPL into classroom practice of pronunciation teaching. The findings further show that workshops designed and implemented in accordance with research-based TPL principles can be effective for promoting teachers’ knowledge of pronunciation pedagogy and refining their pronunciation teaching skills. The study has implications for ESL/EFL teachers’ professional development in pronunciation teaching.

scholarly journals Professional Learning in a Digital Age / L’apprentissage professionnel à l’ère numérique

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Charmaine Brooks ◽  
Susan Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Educational Leaders ◽  
Digital Age ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Formation Professionnelle ◽  
De Re ◽  
Teacher Professional ◽  
Online Teacher

While professional development (PD) has always been central to the teaching profession, increasingly traditional models of PD are out of step with contemporary ways of learning. Commiserate with the literature, we see the field moving along a continuum which reflects changes in what, how and when teachers learn. Following a brief sketch of the online teacher professional development (oTPD) field, we identify important considerations of emerging models of technology-mediated professional learning (TMPL). We posit the catalyst for the transformation of education, as envisioned by countless educational leaders, may lie in reimaging professional development as professional learning in a networked age. Alors que le perfectionnement professionnel (« PP ») a toujours été au cœur de la profession d’enseignant, les modèles traditionnels de PP sont de plus en plus décalés par rapport aux méthodes contemporaines d’apprentissage. Nous voyons ce domaine progresser dans un continuum qui reflète les changements dans ce que les enseignants apprennent, dans la façon et le moment où ils l’apprennent, et cette progression correspond à la littérature. Après un survol du domaine du perfectionnement professionnel en ligne pour les enseignants, nous cernons des considérations importantes sur les modèles émergents de la formation professionnelle assistée par ordinateur. Nous postulons que le catalyseur de la transformation de l’éducation, comme conçue par d’innombrables chefs de file de la pédagogie, pourrait être de ré-imaginer le perfectionnement professionnel comme une formation professionnelle à l’ère des réseaux.

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