This article considers the in‐service learning opportunities arising from the emergence and early formation of the learning representative scheme in New Zealand. Drawing on an interview study with respondents from the major stakeholders involved in the design of the scheme and subsequent ongoing research, the article makes comparisons between the scheme in New Zealand and its counterpart in the United Kingdom. The article suggests that in New Zealand both the training for learning representatives and the forms of learning they are likely to facilitate for others have tended to be more standardised initially than was the case with their UK counterparts. A tripartite framework that did not exist in the United Kingdom and the initial smaller scale of the New Zealand learning representative project facilitated greater standardisation of the process by which people acquired the skills and knowledge to be learning representatives. The greater standardisation of the training that learning representatives may facilitate for others is attributed to the stronger sector‐based vocational learning arrangements that existed in New Zealand and the lesser funds that have been made available to the New Zealand scheme to date. The article concludes by emphasising the merits of both the New Zealand and UK schemes that give workers greater choice and control in learning opportunities.

The present article focuses on how faculty can be guided in the mentoring process and how formal mentoring programs improve practice, as well as the impact of formal mentoring on new faculty and faculty mentors. The empirical case study described features a new faculty mentoring program in its second year of development in a university research culture in Florida, USA. A goal of early‐stage faculty mentoring programs might be to attain what Gladwell refers to as the ‘tipping point,’ where faculty mentoring becomes contagious. Perspectives and strategies used to create not only an effective mentoring program within research cultures but also a movement entrenched in faculty–faculty mentoring are highlighted. Results from program assessment data are reported, with insights and recommendations from faculty mentors and mentees.

Assessment as integral to good teaching and learning has come to be accepted as a core principle underlying curricula in many educational systems around the world. Indeed, the evidence that high quality assessment can make a big difference to pupil achievement, especially the low achievers, is mounting up (see, for example, Black & Wiliam, 1998) and provides a strong justification for those who promote assessment in schools. However, it seems that many teachers’ assessment skills (what we may call teachers’ assessment literacy) need to be improved. I will begin this paper by examining some of the international evidence for the last assertion and then proceed to outline an agenda for professional development in assessment that acknowledges the place of both classroom assessment and official assessment in supporting teaching and learning.

Teacher professional learning and development has recently come to the fore in Scotland as the government and bodies representing teachers view professional development and learning as important ingredients in the renewal of the profession in the context of the post‐McCrone Report arrangements for teacher conditions of service and remuneration. This paper considers the issues associated with the emergence of a framework of teacher standards and how some primary teachers engaged in professional development and learning in information and communications technologies relate to the aims and objectives of this framework in the context of their own and their students' needs.

This paper reports on a case study of an in‐service teacher‐training programme for Greek philology teachers, from 2002 to 2003, which was designed to develop the use of information and communications technologies in their teaching. It draws on questionnaires and interviews with 34 teachers who took part in the training. In addition, the three trainers who led the sessions, 10 head teachers from the schools in which the teachers worked and three programme designers were also interviewed. A holistic picture of the programme was formed by comparing and contrasting the views of different ‘stakeholders’ in the programme. It was found that the programme had some impact on developing teachers’ information technology skills and knowledge of information and communications technologies as a curricular tool, but the programme had very limited impact on classroom practice. The reasons for this lack of impact included curriculum constraints, lack of time, lack of support and inadequate access to technology. The programme is discussed in the context of the structural difficulties in promoting change in highly centralised educational systems.

In an attempt to manage within schools the introduction of a revised Primary School Curriculum in the Republic of Ireland, the Department of Education and Science instigated a seven‐year national support programme. Learning from the experiences of other national systems, there was recognition of the strong role of continuing professional development in providing a mechanism through which to embed these changes. Drawing on data gathered during the evaluation of the Primary Curriculum Support Programme, this paper discusses one aspect of the study that investigated the complex interaction between externally initiated professional development and the physical characteristics, working, teaching, learning and leadership environment within the school. Our interpretation of the data indicates that although the Primary Curriculum Support Programme provided schools and teachers with a good grounding in the revised curriculum, systemic and structural issues around primary schooling will potentially undermine any long‐term effects.

Teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) is being given increasing importance in countries throughout the world. In Scotland, the changing professional and political context has resulted in unprecedented investment in CPD. However, analysis and evaluation of CPD policies, practice and impact is complex. In seeking to understand some of the complexities, this article proposes a triple‐lens framework, drawing on three different accounts of teacher learning. The framework is then used to analyse three specific examples of CPD initiatives. Conclusions point to the need to consider a much wider conception of teacher learning in which socio‐cultural aspects are given due attention.

This article presents five case studies of grade six to grade eight science and mathematics teachers engaged in supported collaborative inquiry. The research focus is on teachers’ growth trajectories related to their participation in professional learning communities supported through a professional development project. There were noticeably different trajectories in the teachers’ progress through the inquiry cycle and a variation in the degree of collaboration in different professional learning communities. Some of the successes and challenges are attributed to the cross‐grade, cross‐disciplinary nature of the collaboration; others to teachers’ existing relationships with each other prior to the beginning of this professional development project. The case study data indicate that dialogic inquiry grounded in classroom‐based data is a key element in teachers’ professional growth.