Professional Development and Instructional Practice: Conceptions and Evidence of Effectiveness

This qualitative study described the impact of mandatory professional development and school-based professional development as situated learning on English language and literacy teachers' professional knowledge and instructional practices in Qatar's middle school. A hermeneutic approach was used to determine the impact of both a school-based and mandatory professional development on teachers' instructional practices. The theory guiding this study was situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991) where professional learning is seen to be context related. Constructivism, andragogy, school leadership theory and reflective inquiry were used to inform this study. The study considered whether reflection and dialogue with other practitioners contribute to effective professional learning that improves English language and literacy pedagogical content knowledge. Data collection methods included individual interviews, a focus group, document analysis and journal writing to provide insight into teacher professional development. The results revealed that both mandatory (formal) professional development and school-based development (professional learning communities as situated learning) could help teachers make changes in their thinking and practice, which might have a bearing on results. However, with a few exceptions, most teachers found mandatory professional development less helpful. The results revealed that teachers need more comprehensive formal training in English language and literacy instructional practices. They also need more opportunities to experience school-based professional development as authentic learning. They also need to collaborate in professional learning communities and specific professional development programmes to assess students' English language and literacy deficiencies. These findings were of significance to both school leaders and teachers as they sought to increase meaningful professional development aimed at improving English language and literacy instruction in their schools. The study recommended rethinking the current mandatory English language and literacy professional development components within a constructivist framework and developing a set of clear guidelines for high-quality literacy professional development to improve teachers' professional learning.

This study investigates the role of school principals’ instructional leadership as a predictor of teachers’ professional development. The research sample comprised 304 secondary school teachers and 19 principals in Awka South, Anambra State, Nigeria. The study adopts Hallinger and Murphy’s (1985) Instructional Leadership Model. Data were collected using the “Principal’s Instructional Leadership Practices and Teachers’ Professional Development” (PILPTPD) tool. Correlation analysis was utilized to explore the relationship between school principals’ instructional leadership and teachers’ professional development, while multiple regression analysis was employed to ascertain the predictive capacity of instructional leadership on teacher professional development. The results reveal significant associations between instructional leadership and teacher professional development and growth. Ultimately, instructional leadership emerges as a significant predictor of teacher professional development. This study contributes to the expanding literature emphasizing the nexus between principal instructional leadership and teacher professional development, shedding light on the mediating role of principals’ leadership in influencing teachers’ professional development and instructional practices.

This qualitative, interview-based study examined the experiences of 14 teachers with their professional development. The research was conducted to understand teacher perspective of professional development. Many billions of federal dollars have been spent on teacher professional development, and there has been neither a dramatic increase in quality teachers nor a closed gap of the inequities in education. Instead, we have many overworked and frustrated teachers. Teacher quality has been shown to be the single most important quality in student learning, and professional development has been shown to be capable of improving teacher quality. The guiding research question for this study was, 'What is the lived experience of teachers with professional development?' For its ability to simultaneously consider numerous perspectives at one time, Cultural Historical Activity Theory was employed. The findings offered evidence that teachers continue to receive poor professional development. Teacher learning does not appear to be valued enough and it is at the mercy of school leadership, which can change without notice. Another finding was that teachers recognize and appreciate effective professional development. The views of the teachers in this study about quality professional development coincided with existing literature. The researcher recommends (1) educating policymakers, districts, schools, and the public about the value of teacher intellectuality, (2) guiding teacher leaders in the process of quality adult learning, (3) minimizing changes in school leadership, (4) selecting school leadership judiciously, and (5) prioritizing urban schools.--Author's abstract

Interpersonal abilities as critical competencies are a prevalent subject in hospitality training. However, there remains a need to further study how teachers and trainers apply instruction practices to develop and strengthen students’ interpersonal abilities. This study aimed at identifying instruction practices used by teachers and trainers to ensure students’ development of interpersonal abilities and establishing students interpersonal abilities from teachers and trainers use of instructional practices. A qualitative research approach using a descriptive study design was used. A sample of 26 participants was purposively selected from vocational institutions and workplaces. In-depth interviews and observations were used to collect data. The study found out that discussions and presentations strengthened by mentoring were key to inculcating and strengthening the students’ interpersonal abilities. However, some students were confronted with challenges; remembrance of what was discussed, teacher and trainers acting as barricades during the use of instructional practices leading to student passiveness, being laughed at by fellow peers, understanding what has been discussed and in task-specific- feedback from trainers at the beginning of the workplace training. Thus, the study concluded that teacher-trainer collaboration was crucial for clear harmonization of instructional practices of students’ interpersonal abilities development and strengthening.

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] Teacher professional development is a key policy lever to redress ongoing concerns about teacher quality and student academic success. This policy lever has been and continues to be employed by the U.S. federal government despite modest and uneven results of federally sponsored professional development in the past. Fortunately, a growing body of research has accreted as a consensus view informing how the enterprise of professional development might better support educational reform. To increase its potential effectiveness, professional development itself will have to reflect this consensus view. This study identified federal policy intentions for professional development activities within a grant program authorized by the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and examined how federal policy intentions for effective professional development were interpreted and implemented by state and local policy actors in one state. While federal policy espoused intentions related to characteristics of effective professional development, no single policy intention remained consistently unaltered across state and local policy sites over time. Policy intentions were augmented, compromised, or omitted whether in part or whole. Change was the norm. Transformations of intentions did not arise primarily from conflict but rather through the process of seeking of agreement with policy intentions. Furthermore, despite multiple transformations, federal policy intentions informed by research may influence professional development practice. State and local policy actors exhibited intentions that were more so aligned than disparate to federal intentions, and local professional development activities exhibited characteristics of effective professional development. A variety of contextual factors and types of transformations of intentions were identified as potentially supporting or hindering the integrity of policy intentions. The interaction of these contextual factors as well as different types of transformations of intentions simultaneously shaped the level of fidelity to federal policy intentions. Findings revealed policy intentions, even if explicitly stated, were not immune to the confluence of concurrent contextual factors and multiple types of transformations of intentions.

This small-scale qualitative study explores the elements that influence effective teacher professional development in Kosovo by examining the perceptions of a selected group of teachers in relation to their experiences of professional development. The study applied a qualitative, multiple case study approach, drawing on the experiences of four teachers who have participated in professional development activities and who have been part of the professional development process that has supported curriculum implementation reform in Kosovo. Findings from the study focus on delivery and quality of training; implementation of the new learning and skills; and institutional support at school level and beyond. The study concludes that there is an on-going need for high-quality professional development; that an understanding of effective adult learning is essential to influence professional growth; and that TPD will be effective only if it is supported by the context in which it is delivered.

The professional development of teachers in India is still, by and large, based on formal and outdated professional learning traditions, often characterised by crash courses and one-off workshops. In education, blogs have proven to be an effective means of establishing and maintaining collaborative learning networks and helping members reflect on their professional practices. Information and communications technology (ICT) enabled practices of teacher professional development is still in its infancy in India. Moreover, there is limited research in India to secure foundational understanding of how and in what ways teachers of English in India use blogs for their professional development. This study explores the use of teacher reflective practice, teacher networking, and teacher collaboration, beyond formal ICT training, through blog-based professional development of English teachers in the Mumbai region of India. Using data collected from 32 teachers from three private schools in Mumbai, through ICT interactive workshop observations, questionnaires, interviews, and blog comments, this action case study explains whether and why blogging, as a learning community, has the potential to add significant value to existing professional development of English teachers in Mumbai.

In the last twenty years in US science education, professional development has emphasized the need to change science instruction from a direct instruction model to a more participatory and constructivist learning model. The result of these reform efforts has seen an increase in science education professional development that is focused on providing teaching strategies that promote inquiry learning to learn science content. Given these reform efforts and teacher responses to professional development, research seems to indicate that whether teachers actually change their practice may depend on the teachers' basic epistemological beliefs about the nature of science. The person who builds the bridge between teacher beliefs and teacher practice is the designer and facilitator of science teacher professional development. Even though these designers and facilitators of professional development are critical to science teacher change, few have studied how these professionals approach their work and what influence their beliefs have on their professional development activities. Eight developers and designers of science education professional development participated in this study through interviews and the completion of an online questionnaire. To examine the relationship between professional development providers' science beliefs and their design, development, and implementation of professional development experiences for science teachers, this study used the Views on Science Education Questionnaire (VOSE), and interview transcripts as well as analysis of the documents from teacher professional development experiences. Through a basic interpretive qualitative analysis, the predominant themes that emerged from this study suggest that the nature of science is often equated with the practice of science, personal beliefs about the nature of science have a minimal impact on the design of professional development experiences, current reform efforts in science education have a strong influence on the design of professional development, and those providing science education professional development have diverse views about epistemology and the nature of science. The results and conclusions from this study lead to a discussion of implications and recommendations for the planning and design of professional development for science teachers, including the need to making equity and social justice issues an integral part of inquiry and scientific practice.

Background/ContextRecent research has demonstrated the potential for teacher professional development to enhance teacher learning, improve instruction, and increase student achievement. Nevertheless, research examining the relationship between state and local policies and teachers’ participation in professional development is sparse. This connection between policy environments and teacher-based outcomes becomes increasingly important as educational reforms place new demands on teachers. Since professional development is a key mechanism to improving teachers’ instruction and students’ achievement, we address the extent to which state and school policy environments are associated with teachers’ participation in content-focused professional development. We consider such policy environments within the context of both mathematics, a high-stakes subject area, and science, currently a low-stakes subject area.Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of StudyIn describing state policy environments along several dimensions, we seek to discover which types of policies are more or less influential in moving teachers into the types of professional development that research has shown to be most effective for improved teaching and learning.Research DesignUsing a national sample of high school mathematics and science teachers from the Schools and Staffing Survey (SASS), we conduct a secondary analysis using a three-level hierarchical linear model (HLM) to predict teachers’ level of participation in different types of professional development. We conduct separate analyses for mathematics (a high-stakes subject area) and for science (currently a low-stakes subject area).Findings/ResultsWe find that the policy context at both the school- and state-level is more predictive of teacher participation in effective professional development in a high-stakes subject (mathematics) than a low-stakes subject (science). We also find that the alignment between state standards and assessments is a key attribute of state-level policies that tend to promote teacher participation in content-focused professional development in high-stakes subject areas. Even though state-level policies are important in promoting participation in effective professional development, we find that policy environments are strongest when they are closest to the teacher.Conclusions/RecommendationsWe conclude that both state- and school-level policy environments are associated with teachers taking high-quality professional development, but these findings are most pronounced in high-stakes subject areas. We also find that policies promoting consistency in the form of alignment between standards and assessments are perhaps the most important type of policies that states can adopt to encourage teachers to participate in effective professional development.

This study compares the views of teachers and professional development facilitators about effective professional development (PD). We analyzed interviews with 72 teacher participants and 23 PD facilitators involved in nine science and mathematics PD projects. The teachers' themes for characterizing effective PD included classroom application, teacher as learner, and teacher networking. Similarly, the PD facilitators discussed effective PD as having classroom application and experiences for teachers as learners. In addition, PD facilitators shared the need to develop collegial relationships with teachers and improve teacher knowledge. These views correspond to some of the standards and recommendations described in policy and research documents on effective PD. Criteria of effective PD in these documents that the participants did not mention included: (1) challenging teachers' content and pedagogical content knowledge with transformative learning experiences, (2) encouraging teacher leadership for sustained support, and (3) focusing on student learning by instructing teachers on how to use student data to inform their teaching practice. Our findings have implications for designing PD that reflects the criteria of standards-based reform.

One of the primary challenges of any educational system is providing effective professional development (PD) for teachers, which will integrate knowledge that can be translated into practice. Moreover, the goal of PD is for teachers to implement new practices in their classrooms. The PD model examined integrated three key components: content knowledge (literacy theory), pedagogical content knowledge (research-based strategies), and practical implementation with coaching support. First, we examined teachers’ perceptions of their knowledge development resulting from PD. Second, we investigated the extent of practical implementation of the PD by teachers and its influence on their literacy self-efficacy. Data were analyzed using dependent sample t-tests and independent sample t-tests comparing change scores among 82 elementary teachers. The teachers in the study reported significantly higher literacy knowledge and self-efficacy after PD than before. Next, differences in the teachers’ degree of implementation of PD were examined based on the teachers’ self-efficacy. Teachers who implemented 5–12 lessons showed significantly greater self-efficacy improvements (Cohen’s d = 0.80) than those implementing 0–4 lessons, demonstrating a clear dose–response relationship. This finding highlights the significance of implementing PD practices in the classroom setting and the role of teachers’ self-efficacy. The results are further discussed in relation to effective PD and a proposed extension of Shulman’s curricular knowledge. Limitations include reliance on self-reported measures and a homogeneous sample, which may affect generalizability.

Professional development is considered as an essential element in enhancing the teaching and learning process to ensure student learning. Professional development can also be deemed as a cornerstone of teacher professionalism and quality. The governments and educational institutions invest significantly in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) to improve teacher quality and to meet the changing needs of the students. To uncover the perceptions and practices of professional development in Saudi Arabia, a survey was conducted at Taif University English Language Centre. The sample consisted of 121 English language teachers from various countries and having varied educational and academic experiences. The survey comprised items relevant to learning approaches, concept of professional development, perceptions and feedback on CPD. The respondents supported lifelong learning and experiential learning leading towards learner centered approach. They perceived the CPD as a challenge to their existing knowledge and classroom practice. However, they expressed their concerns regarding indigenization of activities in CPDs, institutional support in conducting classroom activities, and follow up activities. Keywords : Professional development, Teacher perception, ELT in Saudi Arabia

This longitudinal study assessed (a) whether performance changes in working memory (WM) as a function of dynamic testing were related to growth in reading comprehension and (b) whether WM performance among subgroups of children with reading disabilities (RD; children with RD only, children with both reading and arithmetic deficits, and low verbal IQ readers) varied as a function of dynamic testing. A battery of memory and reading measures was administered to 78 children (11.6 years) across three testing waves spaced 1 year apart. WM tasks were presented under initial and dynamic testing conditions (referred to as gain and maintenance testing). The important results were that (a) WM performance as a function of maintenance testing was a significant moderator of growth in reading comprehension and (b) WM performance of children with RD was statistically comparable within subgroups of RD but inferior to that of skilled readers across all testing conditions. The results support the notion that children’s WM performance under dynamic testing conditions was related to the rate of growth in reading comprehension but unrelated to subgroup differences in reading.

This article explores two beginning Canadian teachers’ experiences of professional development in literacy education. Differences and parallel tensions between the Canadian teachers’ and my own experiences as a teacher and teacher educator in Pakistan were identified through narrative inquiry. The significance of this article is found in the expression of seven necessary conditions for successful professional development: appreciation and awareness of teachers’ internal quest for learning; teachers’ involvement in their own professional development; promotion of active, critical reflection; sharing multiple perspectives in collective conversation; providing time for internal reflection; a democratic context for professional development; and supporting teachers’ efforts to develop their professional knowledge base.

Narrating professional development trajectories in the context of the Statecraft X game-based learning curriculum