Beyond effective approaches: A rapid review response to designing professional learning

Background Reflective teaching has long been regarded as playing an important, and potentially empowering, role in teachers’ professional learning. The study reported in this paper considered the longer-term significance of teachers’ self-reflective learning in the course of their daily emergency remote teaching during COVID-19, and how this supported teacher agency. Purpose This small-scale case study sought to explore, in depth, teachers’ perceptions of how their professional learning was realised through reflective practice during emergency remote teaching. Method Three teachers from primary, junior high, and high schools in mainland China participated in the case study during the spring and fall semesters in 2020. They considered the accommodations they made for emergency remote teaching and the corresponding implications for their professional learning and sense of agency. Data were collected via four-monthly, semi-structured interviews, resulting in a total of five interviews per teacher. These charted the progress of their emergency remote courses in the spring, and allowed for final reflections via a follow-up interview in the fall. Data were analysed thematically. Findings The resultant four themes and eight categories related to aspects including pedagogical strategies, home-school communication, classroom management, and teachers’ technological literacy. Within these, approaches to blending online and offline coursework, valuing sociocultural concerns in classroom interaction, and developing adaptive mindsets were among areas identified as relevant to teachers’ professional learning beyond the emergency remote teaching situation. Conclusions The findings highlight the multiple ways in which professional learning took place through reflective teaching in the remote teaching environment. They draw attention to the importance of situating some professional learning in everyday practice. Understandings gained during remote teaching have broader implications for educators’ professional learning and growth in pre-tertiary education.

Though teachers in schools are increasingly being asked to take responsibility for the education and training of prospective and practicing teachers, little empirical research has been undertaken into the support that they require to perform their duties effectively. This study provides an international needs analysis of the professional learning needs of this occupational group through a survey of 1680 school-based teacher educators (SBTEs) conducted in 12 countries. While the findings from this study reveal that most SBTEs receive some form of preparation for their role, they require that preparation to be more collaborative and target the pedagogic and research-related aspects of their work. The findings also indicate how much more needs to be done to recognise, address and support SBTEs’ learning needs in relation to the rapidly-changing socio-economic, cultural and technological contexts that underpin the work of all teacher educators.

Professional learning is critical for teachers to enhance teaching quality and student learning and deal with uncertainty and challenges in modern education environments. Recently, the complexity of teacher professional learning has attracted the attention of many scholars, which has stimulated a rethinking of the nature of teacher professional learning. However, there is a shortage of empirical research focused on the complexity of professional learning for health and physical education (HPE) teachers. Thus, this study explores the nature of professional learning for HPE teachers by examining the professional learning journeys of two HPE teachers from a secondary school in New Zealand. Using an ethnographic approach, the lead researcher collected data through participant observations over 20 weeks, semi-structured interviews, and analysis of relevant artefacts and documents about teacher learning. Data analysis via thematic analysis was conducted during and after the data collection. Informed by complexity thinking as a theoretical framework, the findings suggest that professional learning for HPE teachers can occur in different spaces that afford them various professional learning opportunities and possibilities. In addition, participants’ learning experiences reveal that the professional learning of HPE teachers is non-linear, unpredictable, multifaceted, and self-organised due to individual experiences, roles, needs, preferences, backgrounds, and people and environments they interact with. This study provides empirical evidence to understand the nuanced and complex nature of professional learning for HPE teachers.

<p>Recent trends in the professional learning and development of teachers are moving more towards the activation of learning rather than content delivery. Teachers are expected to take more responsibility for their learning within collaborative environments. This has implications for the practice and learning of inservice teacher educators. Evidence-based inquiry into practice (EBIP) is one approach that is being adopted, which involves evaluation of practice against values, beliefs and assumptions. This study investigated the professional learning and development experiences and perceptions of a group of 10 inservice teacher educators, who participated in the Inservice Teacher Education Practice (INSTEP) project from 2005 to 2009. INSTEP was a New Zealand Ministry of Education project designed to investigate and develop professional learning approaches for inservice teacher educators. In particular, its focus was on the implementation of collaborative EBIP to improve practice. Collective case study and grounded theory methodologies were adopted. Semistructured interviews were conducted with participants in 2008 and 2010. The interviews were analysed using inductive content analysis. Theoretical sampling was applied to identify further participants and document sources such as artefacts, reports and publications, which were also used to inform the research. The findings indicate that, while all participants improved practice and gained knowledge through EBIP, some experienced transformations in their perceptions of themselves, their practice, and their role as inservice teacher educators. Rigorous and systematic EBIP was most effective, and only sustained, when it was supported within formal, informal and social organisational contexts. Such contexts incorporated collective responsibility for learning. This included negotiation and development of shared meanings, tools, mechanisms, and frameworks, which systematised and reified the process of EBIP. This also enabled individual professional learning goals to be located within an overall infrastructure incorporating a shared vision, and alignment with strategic priorities and resourcing. The study suggests that sustainability of change and improvement of practice within system-wide educational reform is more likely to be achieved by individuals working coherently within an educational system and organisations that value and adopt an inquiry approach and nurture collaborative environments. Such environments provide safety to expose vulnerabilities, and enable opportunities for learning that minimise the impact of power relations and contestable environments, while offering challenge, support and diversity of perspectives. The theoretical framework for EBIP derived from the research, and an integrative analysis of the literature, identifies three interconnected and interdependent components linked by a common vision of purpose, and a collective commitment to learning. The components are: individual learning and transformation; communities and connectedness; and systematisation and reification. The study includes recommendations for more research into the contexts and processes of collaborative models of professional learning, and into the changing role and professional learning requirements of inservice teacher educators. It also identifies a need to investigate valid means of judging effectiveness of practice for inservice teacher educators, since evidence of enhanced student learning is linked only by a chain of influence to inservice teacher educator practice.</p>

This article discusses the impact of a professional learning activity called the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) program on the strategies used by primary school leaders to support teacher professional learning with the view of assisting students to become more able readers. It uses data collected from participants in the PALL program, together with case study data collected from school leaders and teachers in seven schools, to analyze the actions taken by school leaders to improve teaching practices through professional learning. The study showed that school leaders felt more capable in their ability to lead their schools after completing the PALL program and that strategic professional learning activity led to improved teaching practices and higher levels of student engagement and achievement in reading. It showed that leaders used elements of the Leadership for Learning approach as key activities for supporting professional learning.

Impending changes in Australian education brings forth the expected transformation of teachers working in schools. Three key points for transforming Australian schools has been identified by Gillard (2008a) including the improvement of quality teaching, ensuring every child benefits and mandating transparency and accountability. A number of initiatives were considered to assist with such reform including the implementation of a Digital Education Revolution, the move to the Australian Curriculum and the implementation of a National Framework for Professional Standards for Teaching. As these transformative initiatives are rolled out to teachers across Australia, the equitable access to PD to support all teachers, regardless of their geographical location, is in question. In line with the literature, the author proposes the concept of delivering PD and accessing PD from regional and remote areas be reconsidered. This research paper will outline the findings from the study including travel time being significant and impacting on teachers personal time; limited relief teachers impacting on access to PD; promotion and teacher registration being explicitly linked to PD; professional learning communities being valued but often limited by small staff numbers; professional learning conducted in the local context being preferred; professional learning established at the teacher and school level being desirable; teachers being confident in using technology and accessing PD online if required; and social cohesiveness being valued and often limited by isolation. Further this research has culminated in the development of a conceptual framework that would facilitate improving the amount and variety of professional learning available to regional and remote teachers.

This chapter re-imagines continuing professional learning and development for tertiary educators through cross-cultural mentoring through the lens of the authors’ experiences with the UNESCO Open Education for a Better World mentoring project. Professional learning occurred while engaging in the actions and processes in this mentoring project, thus improving self-efficacy, as the mentor and mentee collaboratively developed an online, open-access course on ‘Instructional Design’. The authors’ experiences of cross-cultural mentoring are informed by the theory of self-efficacy, thus highlighting mastery experiences, social persuasion, social modelling, and choice processes that impact continued professional learning and development. Framed by research on boundary crossing, the authors share their story of cross-cultural mentoring as an approach for re-visioning open, collaborative, continual, online professional learning and development.KeywordsContinuing professional learning and developmentOnline teachingHigher educationUNESCO open education for a better worldCross-cultural mentoringInstructional design

BackgroundProfessional self-concept is one of the important outcomes of nursing professionalism. There is a lack of adequately planned curriculum may limit nursing students’ practical knowledge, skills and professional self-concept in providing comprehensive geriatric-adult care and promoting nursing professionalism. Professional portfolio learning strategy has allowed nursing students to continue professional development and enhance nursing professionalism in professional clinical practice. However, there is little empirical evidence in nursing education to support the use of professional portfolios in blended learning modality among internship nursing students. Therefore, this study aims to examine the effect of the blended professional portfolio learning on professional self-concept among undergraduate nursing students during Geriatric-Adult internship.MethodsA quasi-experimental study two-group pre-test post-test design. A total of 153 eligible senior undergraduate students completed the study (76 in the intervention group and 77 in the control group). They were recruited from two Bachelor of Sciences in Nursing (BSN) cohorts from nursing schools at Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (MUMS), in Iran, in January 2020. Randomization was undertaken at the level of school via a simple lottery method. The intervention group received the professional portfolio learning program as a holistic blended learning modality, though the control group received conventional learning during professional clinical practice. A demographic questionnaire and the Nurse Professional Self-concept questionnaire were used for data collection.ResultsThe findings imply the effectiveness of the blended PPL program. Results of Generalized Estimating Equation (GEE) analysis was indicated significantly improved professional self-concept development and its dimensions (self-esteem, caring, staff relation, communication, knowledge, leadership) with high effect size. The results of the between-group comparison for professional self-concept and its dimensions at different time points (pre, post and follow up test) showed a significant difference between groups at post-test and follow up test (p < 0.05),while at pre-test there was no important dissimilarity between two groups (p > 0.05).The results of within-group comparison for both control and intervention showed that there were significant differences in professional self-concept and for all its dimensions across the time from pre-test to post-test and follow-up (p < 0.05), and also from post-test to follow-up it was significant (p < 0.05) for both groups.ConclusionThis professional portfolio learning program demonstrates as an innovative and holistic blended teaching-learning approach to improve professional self-concept during professional clinical practice among undergraduate nursing students. It appears that the use of a blended designed of professional portfolio can promote a link between theory and the advancement of geriatric adult nursing internship practice. The data obtained from the present study can be useful for nursing education to evaluate and redesign a curriculum for development of nursing professionalism as a quality improvement process and groundwork to develop new models of teaching-learning and assessment.

Active learning is an essential part of good science education. It engages students in the learning process, allowing them to get a better comprehension of scientific subjects. This research aims to enhance scientific problem-solving and also learning achievement of eighth-grade students through active learning organization. This study employed a pre-experimental design. The target group was 30 eighth-grade students from one school in Thailand. Three-hour learning management plans provided 15 hours of active learning organization. The result indicated that active learning encourages students to solve scientific problems. Students actively engage in defining and improving the learning process based on their own interests. As a result, students’ academic achievement and problem-solving in science were improved. Furthermore, when comparing the academic achievement and scientific problem-solving scores between after experiment and criterion. Additionally, students expressed a high level of satisfaction with the active science learning activities, as these activities contributed to their academic achievement and problem-solving in the field of science. It can be concluded that active learning is very useful and engage students to science classroom.

Professional development for teachers is a key mechanism for improving classroom instruction and student achievement, yet there is little empirical evidence upon which to damonstrate the connection between teachers' professional development and students' achievement. This paper presents a pilot research which adopts project-based teaching and learning(PjBL) as an approch to link teahcer professional development and student learning. In our longitudinal study, a resource-rich school in urban areas and a less developed school in outlying areas join hands to carry out a research project. Study groups were composed of 2-3 teachers and 10-15 students in each school. The groups from different regions then collaboratively carried out a learning project with the support of an online learning community. The data is collected from focus groups and interviews with stakeholders, online surveys and paper-based questionnaires, computer proficiency tests, observations from site visits, and an analysis of the students' artificial product. Research findings show that project-based collaborative inquiry activity provides the greatest support for teachers and students to develop their comprehensive capacity.

The literature supports transformative models of professional learning and development (PLD) such as professional learning communities (PLCs). However, there is a research gap relating to PLCs for inclusive practice. This paper draws on findings from a qualitative study with 10 teachers in an urban primary school in the Republic of Ireland, who engaged in a PLC for inclusive practice facilitated by one of the researchers. Two years later the researchers undertook semi-structured interviews with nine of the original participants and five classroom observations to explore if and how teachers can sustain inclusive practices in changing times. The findings evidenced sustained changes in teachers’ individual and collaborative practices, affirming an argument that PLCs can support teachers to develop and sustain inclusive practices in the longer term. This paper offers a conceptual framework for prospectively planning PLCs to narrow the values practice gap for inclusive practice.

New policy initiatives, such as those concerned with promoting young children’s positive mental health, highlight the need for good quality professional education in the early childhood education and care sector. However, although a wealth of literature exists from the school sector, little is known about professional education in early childhood education and care settings. This article presents an analysis of early childhood education and care educators’ perspectives about their professional learning during an initiative to promote young children’s mental health in 111 early childhood education and care centres in Australia. Questionnaires and feedback forms were collected from educators on four occasions over 2 years. In addition, programme facilitators rated the quality of implementation of the initiative in each centre. Thematic analysis indicated that the professional education was instrumental in building early childhood education and care educators’ knowledge about children’s social-emotional learning and mental health, increased educators’ self-efficacy for mental health promotion and encouraged a more collegial and collaborative workplace. Hierarchical linear modelling supported the learning gains identified in the qualitative analysis, but showed that the effect sizes for positive change depended on the quality of programme implementation. The findings highlight important synergies between opportunities for professional learning and workplaces that are conducive to transformation and renewal. Recommendations from participants for improvement included the need to ensure the relevance of content to local contexts, more extended learning opportunities, translation of unfamiliar language and more accessible timetabling of professional learning sessions. Issues concerning the need to advocate for, and sustain, professional education in early childhood education and care settings are discussed.

As governments the world over continue to advocate the importance of teacher professional learning, researchers and practitioners continue to explore ways to enact that learning in meaningful ways. The value of narrative for teacher education has been widely discussed and several studies show that learning is significant when teacher–writers engage in written dialogue. This article is a critical, narrative-based account of the professional learning of Orly, an Israeli teacher. Written reflection and narrative play a crucial mediating role in her learning. This practitioner inquiry explores narrative writing as a means of learning, empowerment and professional renewal for Israeli educators. The author presents multiple ways in which language from a professional learning context can connect with classroom practice and discusses the dialogical nature of this kind of learning.

This chapter explores memory drawing as a self-reflexive and dialogic professional learning approach, emphasising its potential value in academic identity formation and professional growth. Grounded in sociocultural theory, memory drawing enables individuals to critically engage with past educational experiences, reinterpreting them to inform their academic values and practices. The chapter examines how two early-career South African teacher educators, Ntokozo Mkhize-Mthembu and Makie Kortjass, used memory drawings to reflect on their schooling experiences across different historical periods – Ntokozo in the post-apartheid era (2000s) and Makie in the apartheid era (1970s–1980s). Through dialogic engagement with their former doctoral supervisor, Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan, they explored the emotional, pedagogical and sociocultural influences shaping their teaching philosophies and academic identities. Memory drawing served as a powerful tool for professional learning, revealing the complex relationship between personal experience and professional identity. The chapter highlights how negative and positive schooling memories influenced Ntokozo and Makie’s approaches to teaching and student engagement. Through collaborative reflection, they identified core educational values such as empathy, support and inclusive pedagogy, demonstrating how past experiences can shape the way academics foster learning environments. The chapter also underscores the potential of memory drawing for mentorship and professional development for early-career and established academics. By illustrating how arts-based, self-reflexive methods can contribute to academic growth, this chapter positions memory drawing as a creative approach to fostering future-oriented professional learning in higher education.

This chapter extends and deepens the discussion in Chapter 1 to consider what an expertise perspective might bring to the concept of professional learning and development in higher education, and what practical wisdom this might offer for teachers, educational developers and institutions. The general concepts of deliberate practice and progressive problem-solving are considered in the context of teaching in higher education through the lens of research with nine UK National Teaching Fellows. It is suggested that the term 'professional learning' is more relevant to the development of expertise for teaching in higher education. A definition of professional learning is offered for teaching in higher education which places the teacher at the centre, developing their expertise through autonomous, self-determined and evidence-informed progressive problem-solving: an evidence-informed evolution of teaching practice motivated by curiosity, community and care.