The Education and Development of Practising Teachers

This study explores early career academics’ (ECAs) professional learning in a Danish university’s Professional Learning (PL) program, based on problem- and project-based learning (PBL) principles. Using a complexity theory lens, professional learning is viewed as a dynamic process involving intrapersonal, behavioral, relational, and contextual sources. Data from 38 written reflections via a questionnaire and six in-depth interviews were analyzed to assess ECAs’ learning outcomes and challenges during and after the PL program. The findings indicate that the program advanced participants’ PBL and pedagogical knowledge, changed their pedagogical beliefs and teaching practices, and improved their collaborative skills and interactions with students and colleagues. Several challenges ECAs confronted are reported at individual and organizational levels, namely, time management, the learning process, the actual teaching and supervision process, institutional culture, and resource allocation. The study suggests ways for ECAs, program designers and organizers, and university management in promoting more effective professional development processes.

This research examined the conditions under which codesigned approaches to educator professional learning in multilingual, birth to five settings were accessible and supportive of children’s social and emotional development across diverse types of Australian early childhood services. The research sites, in the suburbs of a capital city, comprised a long day childcare center, two short term informal community creches for birth to 5-year-old children of migrants and refugees attending English classes, and a family hub short term informal community creche for children of Afghan refugees. Professional learning mentors visited the participating sites eight times for 2 h every 2 weeks for 16 Weeks in 2021, demonstrating resources and strategies to assist young children to identify their own and others’ emotions and engage with social settings. Over 20 weeks, 97 participants provided data, commencing before and extending after the professional learning program. Participants included professional learning mentors, staff and volunteers, parents, and children via observation. Using Reggio Emilia principles, the research identified that professional learning, flexibly delivered over time, enabled educators and volunteers to build their social and emotional development knowledge, and to try resources and strategies with children in their care. Recruiting educators who shared children’s home or community languages, in addition to professional learning, supported multilingual children to engage with emotional literacy resources, while still developing spoken English. The research affirmed that educators, volunteers, parents, and children benefitted from a sustained focus on children’s social and emotional development in the early childhood education and care settings.

This thesis documents the design, implementation and evaluation of a professional learning programme to support teachers in developing their ability to teach mathematics through problem solving. Teaching mathematics through problem solving is recognised as an effective way to teach mathematics. However, there are a number of different approaches with different descriptors such as problem posing and problem-based learning. In this study, teaching mathematics through problem solving is an approach where learners explore a problem or a task and their responses to the task are ‘orchestrated’ by the teacher to introduce and develop the mathematics to be learned. The development of this teaching approach involves the principles of task design and planning the sequencing of anticipated responses to be orchestrated. The professional development programme was informed by research on task design and the features of effective professional learning for teachers. The programme was built around the professional learning programme Lesson Study and was modified with a ‘pause’ in the research lesson and the use of remote visualisers to observe and analyse the work of the pupils. This latter feature was an adaption of the original programme design to respond to conditions arising in schools during the Covid-19 pandemic. Also a number of additional modifications were made to accommodate the ambitions of the programme. A qualitative approach was adopted using the methodology of design research and comprising two research cycles. The cohort in the first cycle were secondary school teachers and in the second cycle they were primary school teachers, all working in England. The aim of the study was to understand the effect of the programme on the participants’ knowledge, skills and confidence in teaching mathematics through problem solving. Existing frameworks in the literature on the known characteristics of effective professional learning were synthesised to evaluate the effectiveness of the programme. The main outcomes from this research confirm that the designed features of the PD programme were effective in supporting teachers in developing their ability to teach mathematics through problem solving. The use of task design principles in conjunction with the development of the teaching technique of orchestration resulted in gains in teacher confidence and subject and pedagogical knowledge. The pause in the research lesson and the use of visualisers to observe and analyse the pupils’ work provided the participants with a focused learning opportunity to develop the teaching approach. The evaluation of the programme using the designed analytical framework for CPD identified [a range of] known characteristics of effective CPD in the programme as designed and implemented. Three main implications emerged from the study, the first of which concerns the future development of teaching mathematics through problem solving. It was apparent that there were contextual barriers to the approach becoming an established part of teachers’ practice. To address these, the design of mathematics teaching resources would need to reflect the ambition to teach mathematics through problem solving. This is an issue for curriculum designers. There would also need to be recognition of the problem-solving skills that pupils require to access the problems, which would need to be taught either as part of teaching through problem solving or as a separate approach known as teaching for problem solving. The second implication identifies the challenges associated with introducing this type of programme into the current landscape of professional learning for teachers of mathematics in England, including the need for greater coherence between the professional learning of teachers of mathematics and their own workplace contexts. Finally, the third implication relates to the use of Lesson Study. This study described how the use of design research can develop Lesson Study variants that can make a positive contribution to professional learning environments for teachers without compromising the key principles of Lesson Study.

High-quality early childhood education requires ongoing professional learning for educators, yet Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander educators face barriers to accessing culturally responsive professional development. This study evaluated the Hanen Center Learning Language and Loving It™ (LLLI) professional learning program in an Aboriginal community-led kindergarten in a regional Australian city. Using a mixed-methods single case study design with participatory evaluation methodology, we examined educator-child interactions before, immediately after, and eight months following program completion. Participants included Aboriginal and non-Indigenous educators ( n = 7), a speech pathologist facilitator, and university researcher working collaboratively as co-researchers. The LLLI program consisted of eight group training sessions and individual video coaching delivered over six months. Data collection included focus groups, individual interviews, and validated observational measures: the Classroom Assessment Scoring System Pre-K (CLASS) and Teacher Interactions and Language Rating Scale (TILR). Thematic analysis revealed three key themes: an affirming and transformative professional learning experience, fostering a responsive professional learning environment, and building connections and changing expectations. Quantitative results showed sustained improvements in educator-child interactions, with large effect sizes maintained at eight-month follow-up, particularly in Instructional Support (Cohen’s D = 1.37) and Emotional Support domains (Cohen’s D = 1.81). Participants identified that program effectiveness was influenced by trust, familiar learning spaces, and existing relationships between facilitators and participants. These findings demonstrate that professional learning programs can be delivered with fidelity while maintaining the flexibility required for culturally responsive implementation. The study provides insights into supporting Aboriginal educators through place-based, relationship-centered professional development approaches.

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.

Children’s language learning is shaped through the social contexts of children’s earliest experiences at home and in early childhood education settings with responsive caregivers. Facilitating high-quality interactions between early childhood educators and children affords opportunities to foster language rich exchanges and promote strong language skills. The present study investigated the impact of a language-specific professional learning program on the quality of educator-child interactions and the associated short-term effects on vocabulary knowledge in young children. Educator practice was compared across 38 early childhood education and care services (19 participated in professional learning and 19 were a comparison group). After the professional learning program, significant differences were observed in the instructional quality in services where educators had participated in the Learning Language and Loving It™ program compared to those services who had not. More than one educator in a room participating in the professional learning was associated with higher instructional quality, educator qualifications were not associated with higher quality. We conclude that discipline-specific knowledge and individual coaching of teaching strategies enabled an increase in the quality of educator’s interactions with young children. No differences were detected in children’s vocabulary knowledge between the professional learning and comparison groups following the LLLI program. This finding is discussed with respect to minimum levels of instructional support required to impact children’s development. Quality improvement programs need to engage with early childhood education services regularly and over sustained periods to ensure the quality of educator interactions reaches levels that impact on children’s outcomes.

Australian and international research has identified that many generalist teachers have limited confidence and experience in teaching the Arts in the early years of schooling and education. There is also a significant gap in the provision of quality professional learning programs for teachers. Research has identified that appropriate training and professional learning programs need to provide teachers with practical experiences, informed by sound pedagogical theory and some form of ongoing support and potential for collaboration and shared learning. This article reports on the development of a professional learning programme which sought to support arts-focussed professional development of early years teachers. The project, known as The Open Storybox, lead to the development of a model which could be called a ‘transmedia’ learning model, as it utilises different media, and flows of content across digital platforms and technologies as well as the embodied and material.

In line with teaching standards requiring teachers to evidence research capacities, this paper explores responses to a professional learning programme designed in partnership by an educational authority and a university. Intended to enable practising teachers to develop research capacities and complete postgraduate qualifications, the professional learning programme featured collaboration, distributed leadership and participatory action research. Focusing on the experiences and responses of teachers participating in the collaborative project, data collected through teacher interviews, focus groups, researcher observations and teacher-and-student documentation were analysed. Findings indicate that a collaborative practice-based approach to professional learning and postgraduate studies developed teacher appetite for, appreciation of and emerging capacities in both empirical and conceptual research including defining a research question; reviewing literature; conducting an action research project; engaging with evidence; criticality; and reporting on findings. Enabling conditions of and limitations to the development of research-based capacities are explored.

This paper presents an action learning project demonstrating how a structured professional learning (PL) programme transformed the capabilities of sessional academic staff, enabling them to transition into unit coordinator (UC) roles. By equipping these staff with the leadership skills necessary to manage digital learning environments effectively, the study explicates a model that enhances student engagement and institutional teaching quality. The aim was to develop a consistent approach to the design and delivery of the PL programme that would position sessional teaching staff to move into UC roles. The work of these UCs is critical in ensuring quality experiences for students who learn in primarily digital-based learning environments. Approaches to professional development that focus on fostering transformational change (Lamm et al., 2021) were taken rather than the transactional information-giving that characterises some PL. Key to the approach was the application of an action learning cycle and scaffolding frameworks and tools. The underpinning critical reflection elicited deep participant input and perspectives that created a fruitful social constructivist learning environment (Chuang, 2021). The paper demonstrates how transformational learning was achieved for the participant group and focuses on explaining their learning journey through the systematic application of Brookfield’s reflective lenses (2017) as well as other key scaffolds. This report provides guidance for a capacity-building model that will inform those in higher educational leadership seeking to develop staff into first-level leadership roles.

Despite the importance of reasoning and proving in mathematics and mathematics education, little is known about how future teachers become proficient in integrating reasoning and proving in their teaching practices. In this article, we characterize this aspect of prospective secondary mathematics teachers’ (PSTs’) professional learning by drawing upon the commognitive theory. We offer a triple-layer conceptualization of (student) learning, teaching, and learning to teach mathematics via reasoning and proving by focusing on the discourses students participate in (learning), the opportunities for reasoning and proving afforded to them (teaching), and how PSTs design and enrich such opportunities (learning to teach). We explore PSTs’ pedagogical discourse anchored in the lesson plans they designed, enacted, and modified as part of their participation in a university-based course: Mathematical Reasoning and Proving for Secondary Teachers. We identified four types of discursive modifications: structural, mathematical, reasoning-based, and logic-based. We describe how the potential opportunities for reasoning and proving afforded to students by these lesson plans changed as a result of these modifications. Based on our triple-layered conceptualization we illustrate how the lesson modifications and the resulting alterations to student learning opportunities can be used to characterize PSTs’ professional learning. We discuss the affordances of theorizing teacher practices with the same theoretical lens (grounded in commognition) to inquire student learning and teacher learning, and how lesson plans, as a proxy of teaching practices, can be used as a methodological tool to better understand PSTs’ professional learning.

ABSTRACTThis paper examines a professional learning (PL) program for upper elementary teachers focused on developing instructional practices to support multilingual learners (MLLs) in science. The PL sought to support teachers' praxis, which we describe as their sense of agency to critically analyze and take action against barriers to MLLs’ opportunities to learn. We analyzed pre‐PL interviews with teachers to identify the ways that they framed MLLs from asset‐ and deficit‐based perspectives and the barriers that they identified that undermine MLLs' science learning. Then, we analyzed the extent to which the teachers' participation in the PL shifted their framing of MLLs and fostered their sense of agency to challenge the barriers faced by MLLs. We found that teachers shifted toward more asset‐based views of students' existing language resources and deepened their sense of agency to employ scaffolds that engage these resources in their own instructional practice. However, teachers continued to surface barriers in their organizational contexts, including the emphasis placed on standardized language assessments and the misalignment between English language instruction and science learning. Our analysis shows that the PL did not adequately support teachers in navigating these particular institutional barriers. Based on our analysis, we argue that teachers and science education researchers should expand their focus beyond teachers’ instructional practices and work together to remove barriers for MLLs in the larger organizational systems of schooling.

In this article, we draw upon notions of occupational professionalism and organizational professionalism to interrogate the complex, and sometimes contradictory, teacher learning practices that characterize educational policy enactment. We apply these understandings to the Growing Success assessment and evaluation policy in Ontario, Canada, and in relation to how five educators in varied positions in a regional school district made sense of this policy through professional learning. Our research considers how the interactions between professionalism and teacher learning can be deployed to better understand policy enactment as part of educators’ work and learning. The research reveals that organizational professionalism, characterized by hierarchical modes of decision-making, standardized work practices, external regulation and accountability processes, limited teachers’ learning. However, at the same time more occupational professionalism cultivated forms of professional learning necessary for productive enactment of educational policy. In relation to teacher learning for policy enactment, more occupational professionalism was characterized by, inter alia, commitment to student learning, the generation of dialogue about teachers’ assessment practices, coherence in relation to the whole reform agenda, a focus upon the immediacy of practice, and accountability to one another. The research indicates that even as more organizational professionalism is clearly evident in policy reform, the occupational cultures fostered by districts and schools can have significant beneficial effects for how teacher learning is expressed as a form of policy enactment.

The demands faced by teachers when dealing with diversity are prompting several countries to reform professional learning (PL) policy to support sustainable learning opportunities for all. As inclusive education (IE) unfolds within a complex dynamic, it is essential to consider how different elements interact during PL deployment in context. There are potential tensions between government policy, the traditional special needs orientation of PL programs, and the fact that IE definition and practice differ from one instance to another. There is currently limited research on how PL is being transferred to the classroom. This article reviews scholarly evidence concerning four domains that have been studied separately but not integrated as a whole in inclusion education inquiry: Inclusive education, inclusive practice, teacher learning and professional learning. The purpose of this review is threefold: (i) to provide an overview of the evolution of the concept of IE and the context of the contemporary reform of Education For All; (ii) to understand how inclusive practice is permeated by developments in IE and their implications; and (iii) to critically examine different research perspectives on PL in IE and illustrate the value of a complexity approach that encompasses macro, micro, and mesoscale elements that combine to describe IE's complex phenomena.

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.

Assessing student learning is a complex process requiring teachers to have deep knowledge of the curriculum, assessment, and pedagogy. Changing political climates mean that teachers are expected to respond to new approaches or systems and adjust their classroom practice accordingly. Teachers often engage in professional learning (PL) to assist their knowledge and classroom practice, but what impact does PL have on their assessment practice as well as student learning and achievement?This paper examines optimal PL principles, the New Zealand assessment policy context, and application of assessment for learning principles in a nation‐wide PL programme. Empirical data presented in relation to the five levels of Guskey%s (2002) model evaluating PL indicate successful outcomes at the classroom level. However, application of Carless’ (2005) theoretical framework on embedding PL changes in schools reveals an area of neglect: attending to system (macro) level needs. Collaborative partnerships between schools and the wider community are posited as essential determinants of assessment literacies and transformational PL in times of political change.