Teachers Are Adult Learners

2020 ◽  
pp. 20-42
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Community Of Practice ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Situated Learning ◽  
Adult Learning Theory ◽  
Learning Groups ◽  
Joint Activities ◽  
Values And Beliefs

This chapter will expose the reader to adult learning theory, with particular emphasis on situated learning and discourse theory. Adult learning theory should inform the design of professional development sessions, with particular attention devoted to context and collaborative settings. Professional learning of teachers within the classroom is influenced by situated learning theory and has the potential for sustained professional development. Situated learning proposes that learning involves a process of engagement in a community of practice. People who share a concern or passion for something they do, involving members in joint activities and discussions as they build relationships that enable them to learn from each other, form communities of practice. The concept of community of practice is further discussed as it pertains to teacher professional learning groups. In education, teachers come to professional development sessions with espoused platforms, already equipped with values and beliefs about instruction in the classroom. Therefore, professional development cannot be a one-size-fits-all opportunity.

Instructional Change Through Collaboration and Peer Coaching

2020 ◽  
pp. 118-145
Keyword(s):  
Action Research ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Lesson Study ◽  
Peer Coaching ◽  
Adult Learning Theory ◽  
Research Process ◽  
Instructional Change ◽  
Learning In Context

This chapter explains the connection made between Japanese Lesson Study (JLS) and adult learning theory. For the purpose of further understanding the action research process and how it connects to teacher learning, Phase 3, learning in context with a peer coaching emphasis, will be discussed. This chapter will inform leaders as they develop their own system of professional learning for teachers.

scholarly journals Transforming Schools: The Power of Teachers’ Input in Professional Development

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda E Martin ◽  
Sherry Kragler ◽  
Diana Quatroche ◽  
Kathryn Bauserman
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Achievement ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
School Reform ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
School Context ◽  
Adult Learning Theory ◽  
Positive Outcome ◽  
Professional Development Of Teachers

Recent legislative actions have mandated the professional development of teachers in hopes of improved student achievement. However, research has shown that mandated professional development most usually does not lead to a positive outcome. This article describes three aspects that have been identified as contributing to the transformation of instruction in schools: school context, role of the administrator, and cohesion between professional development and needs of students/teachers. Mezirow’s adult learning theory supports these important aspects of school reform and has implications for planning and developing educators’ professional development.

Collaborating alone? Teachers’ and pedagogues’ unequal cross-professional collaboration and what it means for their professional learning in Danish schools

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 246-260
Author(s):  
Kari Kragh Blume Dahl
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Situated Learning ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Professional Collaboration ◽  
Professional Capital ◽  
Professional Boundaries ◽  
Professional Groups ◽  
Professional Teaching

Cross-professional collaboration in schools is a prerequisite for professional teaching practice and thus for professional development in many post-industrialized societies, yet little is known about how teachers with different professional backgrounds make meaning of and internalize cross-professional collaboration and how inequities in legitimacy and power in cross-professional collaboration affect professional learning. This article examines cross-professional collaboration and the professional learning it initiates between teachers and pedagogues (Danish term for childcare professionals) in Danish schools. Drawing on situated learning theory, critical psychology and Pierre Bourdieu, it explores teachers’ and pedagogues’ professional learning in conflictual cross-professional collaborations. The findings of the study document that cross-professional collaborations are spaces for negotiating and drawing professional boundaries and for producing hierarchies of different forms of professional capital, thereby re/producing dominant understandings of what constitutes teaching professionalism for teachers and pedagogues. The article concludes that cross-professional collaboratory practices may position and draw boundaries between the different professional groups, thus limiting productive learning.

Implementing adult learning theory into dental education

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-46
Author(s):  
Jane McHarg
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Adult Learning ◽  
Learning Theory ◽  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Vocational Training ◽  
Dental Education ◽  
Adult Learning Theory ◽  
General Rules ◽  
Continual Professional Development

Examples from undergraduate education are used to illustrate the implementation of adult learning theory. However, the general rules apply to vocational training, postgraduate and continual professional development: empower the learner to take control!.

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