scholarly journals Professional Development in a Rural Cluster of Schools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Llyween Janet Delves Couper
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Professional Interaction ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Collegial Support ◽  
Professional Leadership

<p>This study investigated a model of professional development that has been developed by the principals of a cluster of six New Zealand rural schools. It explored the reasons why the principals chose this model of self initiated professional development, how professional development was achieved and the factors that sustained it. Data were gathered using a variety of tools, including interviews with the principals and an external professional development provider, observations, a survey and a limited historical documentation search. Results indicated that the need for regular social and professional interaction with other principals who work in similar communities was highly valued by all participants. They believed that they were unique and capable of providing professional leadership and collegial support for their cluster. The change from meeting for organizing sporting events to providing relevant professional development was strongly influenced by a mentoring contract offered by the Ministry of Education. Implications for the provision of professional development specifically for rural schools and their learning communities are discussed and suggest that the principals of rural schools have specific needs. Their professional development should include opportunities for social and professional interaction with cooperative decisions and activities initiated by them.</p>

scholarly journals Professional Development in a Rural Cluster of Schools

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Llyween Janet Delves Couper
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Sporting Events ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Professional Interaction ◽  
Search Results ◽  
Collegial Support ◽  
Professional Leadership

<p>This study investigated a model of professional development that has been developed by the principals of a cluster of six New Zealand rural schools. It explored the reasons why the principals chose this model of self initiated professional development, how professional development was achieved and the factors that sustained it. Data were gathered using a variety of tools, including interviews with the principals and an external professional development provider, observations, a survey and a limited historical documentation search. Results indicated that the need for regular social and professional interaction with other principals who work in similar communities was highly valued by all participants. They believed that they were unique and capable of providing professional leadership and collegial support for their cluster. The change from meeting for organizing sporting events to providing relevant professional development was strongly influenced by a mentoring contract offered by the Ministry of Education. Implications for the provision of professional development specifically for rural schools and their learning communities are discussed and suggest that the principals of rural schools have specific needs. Their professional development should include opportunities for social and professional interaction with cooperative decisions and activities initiated by them.</p>

scholarly journals Just-in-time online professional development activities for an innovation in small rural schools / Activités de perfectionnement professionnel « juste-à-temps » pour l’innovation dans les petites écoles rurales

2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Hamel ◽  
Stéphane Allaire ◽  
Sandrine Turcotte
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Rural Schools ◽  
Online Professional Development ◽  
Just In Time ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Designed Experiment ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Small Rural Schools ◽  
Intervention Team

This article describes the just-in-time online professional development offered to teachers in the Remote Networked Schools (RNS), a systemic initiative funded by the Quebec Ministry of Education (Canada), which aims at enriching the learning environment of small rural schools with the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The designed experiment method studies the activity identified and the categories of professional development offered by a university-based intervention team (UBIT) over six years of deployment. Cet article décrit le développement professionnel en ligne « juste-à-temps » proposé aux enseignants dans les Écoles Eloignées en Réseau (ÉÉR), une initiative systémique financée par le ministère de l'Éducation du Québec (Canada), et visant à enrichir l'environnement d'apprentissage des petites écoles rurales par l'utilisation des technologies de l'information et de la communication (TIC). La méthode des plans d’expériences étudie l'activité identifiée et les types de développement professionnel offerts par une équipe d'intervention en milieu universitaire pendant six années de développement.

William Smyth (1838–1913), a commercial taxidermist of Dunedin, New Zealand

2018 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 292-308 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosi Crane ◽  
B. J. GILL
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Museum Collections ◽  
Professional Interaction ◽  
New Zealand Birds ◽  
Public Museum

William Smyth, unable to get work in a New Zealand museum, ran a commercial taxidermy business at Caversham, Dunedin, from about 1873 to 1911 or 1912. His two decades of correspondence with Thomas Frederic Cheeseman at the Auckland Museum provide a case study of Smyth's professional interaction with one of New Zealand's main museums. We have used this and other sources to paint a picture of Smyth's activities and achievements during a time when there was great interest in New Zealand birds but few local taxidermists to preserve their bodies. Besides the Auckland Museum, Smyth supplied specimens to various people with museum connections, including Georg Thilenius (Germany) and Walter Lawry Buller (New Zealand). Smyth was probably self-taught, and his standards of preparation and labelling were variable, but he left a legacy for the historical documentation of New Zealand ornithology by the large number of his bird specimens that now reside in public museum collections in New Zealand and elsewhere.

scholarly journals Implementation of a developmental model of teachers' and didacticians’ learning through inquiry: design, operationalisation and outcomes

ZDM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 53 (5) ◽  
pp. 1073-1084 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Jaworski ◽  
Despina Potari
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Implementation Process ◽  
Developmental Model ◽  
Mathematical Tasks ◽  
Learning And Development ◽  
Theory Analysis ◽  
Project Proposal ◽  
Trace Learning

AbstractThis paper addresses implementation with respect to the professional development (PD) of teachers of mathematics and the educators/didacticians who work with them, through an inquiry-based developmental model. In contrast with a PD model in which educators show, guide or instruct teachers in classroom approaches and mathematical tasks, we present a developmental model in which teachers and educators collaborate to inquire into and develop their own teaching practice. The project, Learning Communities in Mathematics (LCM: e.g., Goodchild, Fuglestad and Jaworski, 2013) exemplifies this developmental model. Here we focus on a project Teaching Better Mathematics (TBM) which extends LCM and implements its developmental model at larger scale. We trace the implementation process through analysis of data gathered during and after the extended project, including written reflections of key didacticians, minutes from leadership meetings and two versions of the project proposal. Particularly, we trace learning and development through an activity theory analysis of the issues, tensions and contradictions experienced by participation in TBM.

Critical Pedagogies in PETE: An Antipodean Perspective

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 316-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rod Philpot
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Physical Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
School Curriculum ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
New School ◽  
Physical Education Teacher Education ◽  
Critical Pedagogies ◽  
Pete Programs

In the 1990s, New Zealand and Australia rolled out new school physical education curriculums (Ministry of Education, 1999, 2007; Queensland School Curriculum Council, 1999) signaling a significant change in the purpose of physical education in both countries. These uniquely Antipodean1 curriculum documents were underpinned by a socially critical perspective and physical education teacher education (PETE) programs in both countries needed to adapt to prepare teachers who are capable of engaging PE from a socially critical perspective. One way they attempted to do this was to adopt what has variously been labeled critical pedagogy. Critical pedagogies as a label is something of ‘big tent’ (Lather, 1998) and this paper reports on the published attempts to operationalize critical pedagogy and its reported success or otherwise in preparing teachers for the expectations of the socially critical oriented HPE curriculum in both Australian and New Zealand.

scholarly journals Using Learning Communities to Support Cantonese/Mandarin Family Child Care Providers in a Professional Development Intervention Program

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Yafen Lo ◽  
Shu-Chen Yen ◽  
Shinchieh Duh
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Professional Development ◽  
Child Care ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Learning Communities ◽  
Intervention Program ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Family Child Care ◽  
Care Providers ◽  
Development Intervention

High-impact educational practices can promote student involvement and learning outcomes, but are rarely tested in the community college setting—where involvement is a typical challenge to student success. For Family Child Care (FCC) providers, who tend to be older and overworked, higher-education training can be especially difficult. The present study examined the use of learning communities as a high-impact practice in Project Vista Higher Education Academy (PVHEA), a two-year professional development intervention program for Cantonese/Mandarin FCC providers at the East Los Angeles College in California. Quantitative and qualitative data during the inaugural term (January 2012-December 2013) indicated that PVHEA successfully helped FCC providers access and complete college coursework towards Child Development degrees and credentials. Course completion rate reached 100%, and the providers gradually increased course load while maintaining above-average grades. Positive changes were also observed in self-efficacy, aspirations, and professional image. The associated program challenges were discussed.

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