The Learning Effects of a Multidisciplinary Professional Development Programme

Professional development (PD) programmes take a wide variety of forms. Lloyd and Davis (2018) present a model to map the diversity of PD programmes based on the extent to which intrinsic control of learning was afforded to the teachers by the PD. In this study, Lloyd and Davis’s model was applied to map two different PD programmes. Both programmes aimed to achieve similar outcomes, they ran over a similar timeframe of 2 years, and both were targeted at early career teachers (ECTs). Yet, despite these similarities, the ECTs mapped the programmes differently onto the model, and the extent to which the programme outcomes were achieved also varied. The degree to which ECTs considered that the PD afforded them a sense of control and an influence over the direction of their learning was found to be associated with the extent to which the intended programme outcomes were met. Building in an optimal balance of autonomy supportive opportunities into PD programmes is likely to be an important feature of their success.

In this study, researchers designed and implemented a 1-year professional development (PD) program that focused on supporting teachers in evaluating and selecting digital learning contents. Participants in this investigation included 109 teachers who consented to the study amongst a total of 171 teachers from five school districts across central Ohio. In addition to their participation in the PD program, they completed surveys, interviews, and self-reflections in this mixed-method study. The results revealed that teachers’ perceived TPACK increased over time throughout the PD program, suggesting that training teachers to evaluate digital contents can be an effective PD model to improve teachers’ capacity in learning technology integration. The PD program was especially effective for teachers with less prior experience in technology integration or related training. Mathematics teachers, in comparison to teachers from other disciplines, began with low TPACK; however, these initial differences gradually diminished over the course of the PD program. In terms of their motivation in digital content evaluation, teachers’ expectancy for success increased significantly while their task values remained medium high. The qualitative analyses provided additional insights and revealed design suggestions for success in future PDs.

STEM professional development program for gifted education teachers: STEM lesson plan design competence, self-efficacy, computational thinking and entrepreneurial skills

This study explored a professional development (PD) program preparing mathematics coordinators to lead effective PD in their schools. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic emerging in the midst of this study, the PD program and school team PD were performed online instead of face-to-face. We explored the PD program and school team PD design before and during COVID-19 period, and the coordinators' expertise-based PD leadership professional identity (LPI). Findings revealed structural stability of the PD program design, and support of coordinators’ LPI. Coordinators enacted a structural transition of effective PD design into the school team PD, demonstrating their LPI in practice.

This past five years has seen a drastic reform takes over in English Language Education. The reform prompts a significant change in the field of teaching, learning and the assessment system. To note, the recent implementation of CEFR-aligned Classroom-Based Assessment (CEFR CBA) demands teachers to be a comprehensive implementer in assessing students within their teaching and learning practices. As this enactment is concerned, teachers’ professional development (TPD) program plays the crucial roles to ensure teachers are well equipped with the content and pedagogical knowledge in the new policy. TPD has become an important professional learning medium for teachers in the aim of increasing their professionalism to enact educational change. Hence, this study was conducted to explore the enactment of teachers’ professional development program within two main contexts which are at the meso (school) and macro (education department) level. This study revealed that the enactment of TPD program for CEFR CBA was largely transmissive but lacking the sense of practicality to ensure the dispersion of knowledge can happened throughout the entire cascade system. Several challenges like the uncertainty to conduct in-house training, non-option teachers, participants engagement and limited time was discovered to become the factors which impede the effectiveness of TPD to serve its purpose in coaching and mentoring teachers to implement CEFR CBA. The findings of this study have the implication on the program designers and providers to better equip TPD which can address the needs of teachers at the micro level.

Purpose: Teacher content knowledge (CK) and its contribution to student achievement (SA) are understudied in physical education, especially concerning the examination of the effectiveness of professional development (PD) programs using direct measures of teachers’ CK and SA. To make progress in this research area, this study investigated the contribution of a content-focused PD program to teachers’ CK and SA in basketball, using direct measures thereof. Methods: A quasi-experimental design was utilized to examine the contribution of a PD program. The authors measured the CK of 52 elementary classroom teachers and their fifth or sixth grade students’ (n = 913) achievement in basketball before and after the PD program. The data were analyzed using unilevel and multilevel regression analyses. Results: Teachers who participated in the PD program exhibited higher learning gains in their CK; their students also exhibited higher learning gains. Discussion and Conclusion: The study findings suggest that PD programs focused on enhancing teachers’ CK might also support SA.

Journal article reviewing is often considered an unexplored or unknown practice. There is limited discussion about it, and what there is often rests on assumptions that reviewers are experienced and have knowledge about the topic of the article review, and that the model of practice involves double-blind reviewing. This curriculum review investigates a professional development program for article reviewers which was introduced by an educational journal in response to its reviewers’ request for professional development. The curriculum was based on a community of practice model and was reviewed by inviting stories of experience from the program participants. The review highlights that professional development initiatives can be evaluated based on participants’ perception of improvement in practice, and that hidden practice elements exist in any professional practice development program, and these can also be enhanced by professional development. The implications of this realisation for academic development practice emphasise not only the viability of a community of practice model for professional development but the value of participant stories in evaluating the impact of such initiatives.

A priority for science education is to enhance pedagogical innovation in classrooms with practicing science teachers through professional development programs (PDPs). One way forward is to use a twenty-first century approach by designing a blended (i.e., online and face-to-face) program. While this approach is not new, this model has not been investigated as part of a large-scale PDP in Canada. This chapter reports on a PDP with a blended design implemented by a teaching association to support teachers’ implementation of innovative science teaching practices (e.g., inquiry, technology-enhanced teaching). The PDP had three elements: face-to-face workshops and seminars, collaboration in an online learning environment, and knowledge mobilization through sharing of developed resources. Over the PDP’s duration, 142 elementary science teachers participated. Using aggregate data from a mixed-methods approach, our evaluation research documented minor changes in elementary teachers’ views and practices with respect to the targeted innovative instructional practices. By synthesizing our findings within the current extant literature, we provide specific recommendations for future PDP designers and contribute to the research call to identify evidence-based practices from science-specific studies on blended PDPs. These recommendations include attending to technological supports, accountability considerations, and meaningful integration of online and face-to-face learning opportunities for teachers of science. Contributing to research that is designed for science teaching communities in Canada sheds light onto the nebulous area of professional learning for science teachers.

A Review of:
 Harker, K. R., O'Toole, E., & Sassen, C. (2018). Assessing an academic library professional development program. portal: Libraries and the Academy, 18(1), 199-223. https://doi.org/10.1353/pla.2018.0010
 Abstract 
 Objective – To analyze various measures of need, participation, satisfaction, and impact of an academic library professional development program.
 Design – Multi-modal; surveys, curriculum vitae (CV) analysis, and attendance statistics.
 Setting – Academic library in the United States.
 Subjects – Library faculty of all ranks.
 Methods – Assessment of the Career Development Program began with an interest survey conducted at the beginning of the fiscal year in which participants ranked their interest in professional development topics. Attendance statistics were collected at all program sessions and participants were emailed post-event surveys comprised of three Likert-scale questions and an open-ended question. Participants in the peer-review service were emailed a survey with two Likert-scale questions and an open-ended question. All programs and surveys were voluntary.
 An “activities survey” attempted to document counts of scholarly publications and presentations according to geographic scope, format, and peer-review. However, due to low response rates, the activities survey was replaced after two years with an analysis of library faculty member CVs on a publicly-accessible university website. The final assessment was a narrative annual report that drew on and summarized all of the previously conducted assessments.
 Main Results – Multi-modal assessment of the professional development program improved its relevance and quality while also documenting its impact.
 Conclusion – Continuous and multi-faceted assessment of professional development programs not only leads to improved efficacy, but also provides accountability and details the value of the program to stakeholders. Professional development programs promote scholarly productivity, which has implications for the career satisfaction of academic librarians. Further research should investigate the validity of professional development program assessment instruments and identify which assessment methods are most effective for evaluating professional development programs and measuring the impact of this programming on scholarship.

This research aimed to assess three case studies of in-service science teachers regarding their practices of socio-scientific issue (SSI)-based teaching as they participated in a specially developed professional development (PD) program. Data were collected throughout the PD program from group discussions, observations, interviews, and the review of documents, and they were analyzed using within-case and cross-case analysis methods. The findings showed that the PD program had positive impacts on the teachers’ practices of SSI-based teaching. There were some modifications that combined their old teaching styles and SSI-based teaching; however, they attempted to link the science content within a social context in a way that motivated student ownership of learning. They modified their roles as information providers to be learning facilitators. Their students were also encouraged to employ scientific evidence-based reasoning to address the issues under discussion. The three science teachers also added questions to enhance student thinking about the application of scientific knowledge in society. At the individual level, teaching confidence and teaching enthusiasm had powerful influences on their practices of SSI-based teaching. At the school level, the amount of teaching time and the lack of experts on SSI-based teaching in the school were found to be barriers to SSI-based teaching. The results of this study contribute to the growing body of knowledge about preparing science teachers to link their science lessons to the real world, and they also provide a framework for future studies.

This study aims to examine the processes experienced during the interaction between teacher leaders and their peers. Applying the grounded theory, we present a theoretical model that describes this interactive process in a month-long professional development (PD) program designed for teachers. As a part of the PD program, a total of 150 teachers were tasked with preparing lesson plans in accordance with the principles of Understanding by Design (UbD) and seven teacher leaders, trained and appointed by the researchers, were assigned to guide them. The findings yielded five categories: orientation, improvement, collaboration, communication, and feelings, and a main category, facilitation. It was concluded that the interactions underscore fostering teacher development by promoting professional growth and through structured learning communities, teacher collaboration help promoting educational outcomes as well as student outcomes.

PurposeThe South African vocational education and training (VET) sector is required by legislation to redefine postsecondary education, advance industrialisation and expand the job market to address unemployment in the country. Yet, VET leaders' heterogenous educational and occupational backgrounds do not enable them to address the needs of the VET sector. Continuous professional development of leaders in the education sector needs to include support structures such as mentoring.Design/methodology/approachThe present study sought to investigate how VET managers in South Africa perceive three different types of mentoring – individual, peer group and expert-based key performance area (KPA) mentoring – during a part-time professional leadership development programme. Using interactive qualitative analysis (IQA), the authors collected and analysed data from focus group discussions (n = 24) and individual interviews (n = 21) from two cohorts of the programme.FindingsThe results revealed that individual mentoring represented the most important driving mechanism, followed by peer group mentoring and expert-based KPA mentoring. Participants identified leadership as a prerequisite for their development. Emotions formed the final outcome of the mentoring framework.Research limitations/implicationsBased on the findings, the authors suggest investigating the role played by leaders' interpersonal competences such as emotional competence in the workplace. Additionally, research needs to clarify if and how mentoring can support leaders to develop interpersonal competences in formal and informal settings.Originality/valueThe study offers empirical evidence on a three-pillar mentoring framework adopted in a professional development programme for leaders in VET in South Africa. It highlights the importance of individual, social and emotional factors.

Purpose: This study explored teacher-researchers' professional growth as well as their social and educational contributions after co-designing a professional development and learning program led by the Red de Investigación Chilena en ELT (RICELT), a Chilean Language Teacher Association. Methodology: Employing a qualitative, holistic, and descriptive case study, five ELT teacher researchers from Chile participated in individual semi-structured interviews and a focus group. Findings: The findings reveal three main themes: (a) RICELT PDL Program as a motivation to share equal voices, (b) PDL as a critical pedagogical tool for academic and social change, and (c) RICELT as a supportive LTA for schoolteachers' professional and personal development. Originality: The study underscores the transformative potential of Language Teacher Associations in fostering contextually relevant and socially responsible professional growth, advocating for teacher-driven initiatives that empower educators and enhance pedagogical practices, particularly in educational contexts characterized by disparities.

The paper examined professional development of senior secondary school biology teachers on inquiry-based teaching. To become and remain a competent biology teacher requires a continuous process that starts from pre-service experiences in undergraduate years to the end of a professional career. Science knowledge is constantly changing and expanding its relevance to societal issues therefore, these teachers needs constant opportunities to build their understanding and abilities in the same direction. Consequently, the National Science Education Standards (NSES) presented a vision of learning and teaching science in which students will have the opportunity to become scientifically literate. (NSES)(NRC,1996: 56). In the vision, science teachers are professionally responsible for their own professional development and for the maintenance of their teaching profession, hence this paper. Professional development is a specialized training, formal education or advanced professional learning to offer help to administrators, teachers and other educators improve their professional knowledge, skill and effectiveness in the teaching of biology in the classroom (hidden curriculum, 2014). The paper considered some majors issues that leads to teacher professional development which includes: professional development for biology teachers on inquiry-based teaching,  teachers current teaching of biology, concept of inquiry-based teaching, student learning of biology, consensus  or standards for professional development programme, impact of professional development programme, researches on professional development programme, challenges of professional development programme,  the paper was concluded by stating that  coaching and support for teachers at points of implementation should be encouraged,  professional development programs should be for a longer period of time more than what is obtainable presently, proper monitoring and evaluation of training received and its implementation among others.

The present paper is an attempt to explore professional development practices for teachers in secondary schools of Pakistan. Research has attempted to discover the better ways for professional development of teachers in secondary schools in addition to many other factors like continue training, in service education, workshops etc. counseling and incentives are also very important factors to discuss here because in Pakistan teachers face many problems while getting professional development so counseling, incentives are necessary for continuous professional development of teachers. Otherwise many lose heart due to a lot of problems faced by them during professional development trainings. The purpose of the study is to explore the term professional development, to make teachers able to manage the class more efficiently and also increase the level of learning throughout their career and also find the hindrances in professional development programs of teachers in secondary schools of Pakistan and to provide the better solution to overcome the hurdles by providing different training programs batter than that provided in the past. So for these purpose schools of Pakistan we took a sample for the collection of relevant data. Our study is also helpful to explore how we can make the professional development programs more effective and professional development is helpful for teachers and what are their purpose to design these programs moreover explore the challenges they are facing recently and what issues arises related to it and how could we minimize these. Researchers have applied qualitative technique in order to collect and interpret data. Semi structured interview were conducted from ten teachers of public and private schools. Moreover hundred questionnaires are also filled up from both of the schools, in which we use the liker scale. This study also explores practical implications and what adoptions can be utilized in order to improve the professional development program of public and private school teachers in Punjab. From research it has concluded that professional development programs are not so effective because programs are characterized with inflexible curriculum which ignored teacher’s needs. In other sense there is no connection between their professional development and every day class room needs. Secondly due to the time constraints mostly teachers are not interested in these programs, they just take in to get certificates. Thirdly teachers have no input while planned training topics there is lack of teacher’s involvement in planning and training process. At the end there is no proper plan for follow up and transferred activities to class room practices. Professional development of teachers must be planned, funded and supported. Teachers must be encouraged to participate in training programs. There should be proper co-ordination in professional development programs, so that logical sequence of experience should be followed. Key words:Professional Development, Enhancement, Issues, Secondary education, Appraisal, Learning