Section archive - Professional Development

The primary purpose of this study was to measure important characteristics of professional development that may influence its effectiveness. The second purpose was to determine if any of the characteristics of effective professional development predicted teachers’ use of new knowledge/skills. The results reveal that the professional development instrument appears to be a viable tool for capturing teacher perceptions about characteristics of professional development. The instrument could provide information for state and district leadership about the quality of teachers’ professional development.

This paper explores one thread from a longitudinal research programme: that relating to senior managers’ and teacher educators’ reported views and experiences of the collaboration and the impact of the co-constructive approach taken on professional development. It examines the impact of the approach taken to collaboration, which included the development and sharing of a pedagogical model for teacher education (ARM: action, reflection, modelling) and reflects on the value of this to professional learning and development. The findings suggest that co-construction of a programme can provide an effective approach to developing teacher education. In this collaboration, because the two elements of trust and shared understanding were achieved, the teacher educators in both countries were empowered to analyse critically what the UK participants brought in the context of local practice.

This article presents a measurement instrument (TERDS) to measure teacher educators’ self-reported researcherly disposition throughout their working lives. The first part of the article reports the results of factor analysis (EFA and CFA), which suggest a four-factor structure of teacher educators’ researcherly disposition: (1) ‘ valuing research’, (2) ‘being a smart consumer of research’, (3) ‘ being able to conduct research’, and (4) ‘conducting research’. Goodness of fit estimates were calculated, indicating good fit. The authors conclude that by using the instrument to explore differences between several subgroups of teacher educators, this study enhances empirical understanding of a previously ‘undiscovered’ and ‘neglected’ professional group.

This research broadly focuses on two distinct concerns: the first relates to what constitutes high-quality professional learning; and the second relates to the implementation of professional learning at the classroom level. This paper addresses each of these concerns by identifying the features of effective professional learning: focus, learning components, feedback, collaborative practices, temporal elements and coherence. The analysis of the three-case study schools suggests that the greatest benefit of system-based professional learning is the level of coherence it can provide.