Action research: professional development to help support and retain early career teachers

This article analyzes how participation in teacher-led, semester-long, action research projects influences early career teacher (fewer than three years of teaching experience) perceptions of support and learning. All teachers at an urban, newly developed, small high school participated in action research projects as a result of the administrations’ attempts to modify the school’s approach to professional development to better meet the teachers’ needs. Two cycles of action research projects were implemented and teachers provided feedback through an end-of-project evaluation. Data were also collected through participant observation and informal interviews. Results show that teacher-led action research projects as a professional development structure contribute to the development of a supportive professional culture, feelings of context-specific support, and feelings of empowerment and being overwhelmed in an urban school staffed primarily with early career teachers.     

Action research as a school-based strategy in intercultural professional development for teachers

Teacher professional development is a key factor for transforming professional and school culture. This article describes a case study undertaken in a Spanish school during the 2007-2008 academic year. Our aim is to explain how action research methodology was applied to encourage professional and school culture towards an intercultural and inclusive approach. Our results show that the training process challenged teachers’ pre-existing deficit theory perspectives and empowered them as leaders for school change. The conclusions identify the key factors that enabled teachers to engage in critical reflection, and to implement strategies for collaborative work and community participation in school.     

反思性教学:教师专业化发展的必由之路

近年来,反思性教学已为教师及其教学所关注的重要问题。反思性教学是教师专业化发展的重要途径之一,教师只有对自己的教学实践进行理性反思,才能不断提高专业水平,从经验型教师转变为专家型教师,从而适应现代社会对从教者的专业化发展的要求。     

The attitudes and opinions of Cypriot primary teachers about the use of the Internet for their professional development and as an educational tool

This article explores the attitudes and opinions of Cypriot primary teachers about the use of the Internet for their personal development and as an educational tool. It also examines the teachers’ concerns about the implementation of the Internet in schools and their opinions about what has to be done in order to ensure its effective integration into the educational settings. The research revealed that Cypriot primary teachers had positive attitudes towards using the Internet both for their professional development and as an educational tool. The only factor that appeared to have a significant positive relationship with the attitudes of the teachers was the degree of confidence in using the Internet. Additionally, teachers considered training in the use of the Internet as the most important need for its effective implementation in primary schools.     

Fifteen years of action research as professional development: seeking more collaborative,useful and democratic systems for teachers

This paper presents the experience of a group of teachers who have developed action research (AR) dynamics for 15 years aimed at their professional development and teaching practice improvement. The focus is first on the importance of AR, collaborative dynamics and theory and practice relationships for in‐service teacher training. It also shows the different spiral and cycle stages carried out, as well as the group’s characteristics, its evolution during these 15 years and the annual operation structure currently in use. The results show the five large AR thematic spirals developed and the materials generated and disseminated. There is also an analysis of the main benefits and problems so far encountered. Finally, a series of reflections and conclusions on the implications of keeping such a workgroup for so long is detailed.     

Action research as a methodology for professional development in leading an educational process

The need to resolve a researcher’s discomfort, resulting from the inherent gap between values and beliefs and their practical implementation, led to using action research methodology during an academy-field partnership. Two teacher educators, 24 pre-service teachers specializing in science, and six teachers participated in the study. Throughout the two years of the partnership this study describes a reflective perspective process that focuses on actions, events, thoughts, dilemmas and feelings of the participants that emerged from the researcher's reflective journal. Cycles of reflection on thinking and doing helped monitoring the complex process of the partnership that bridges the gap between the academic and field cultures. The collected data underwent three stages of interpretative content analysis that point to the role of reflection cycles on thinking and doing, resulting in the interweaving of cognitive, affective, theoretical and practical features during the academy-field practice model.     

论教师的行动研究与专业发展

实现教师专业的持久性发展是一个值得关注的问题。教师的行动研究对教师教育科学理论的完备与深化、教学实践知识的养成以及教学研究能力的发展具有重要意义。目前 ,教师行动研究的有效开展还存在明显的障碍 ,应树立正确的教师教育 (教学 )研究观 ,依据实际情况 ,采取分阶段突出重点、复合型培训等策略 ,并改革学校管理 ,为行动研究的有效开展营造良好的环境与条件     

Principals and teachers as partners in critical,participatory action research

Abstract

This article reports on a two-year study of one principal’s professional learning practices in ‘Transform,’ a professional learning program in Edmonton Catholic Schools, Alberta, Canada. Transform was designed to be a bottom-up, morally-oriented professional learning approach in which principals and teachers worked as partners on critical, participatory action research projects. This article examines the research question ‘How are principals shifting from technically- to morally-oriented professional learning practices in their schools?’ and explores one theme – co-creating social spaces for risk-taking – to illustrate how principals shifted from being managers of teachers’ learning to being partners with teachers in researching and refining classroom practices.     

Personally driven professional development: reflective self-study as a way for teachers to take control of their own professional development

This article is about personally driven professional development through the use of reflective self-study. The argument that teachers need to take responsibility for their own learning while also taking decisions on how and in what areas to develop is strongly made throughout the article. Data for this article were gathered over a 10-year period where the author engaged in several studies using self-study as methodology. Between studies, the author kept using reflective self-study as a professional development tool, and it is these data between various studies that were analysed using thematic and reflective analysis. Such analysis resulted in various overarching themes that show how reflective self-study can be of benefit if used by teachers researching their own classrooms. Benefits include teachers taking full ownership of their learning, relevance of learning, learning that is ongoing and not restricted to specific times and places, taking problematic situations as learning opportunities and how other sources take on new relevance through reflective self-study. Some implications for teacher-education programmes and current school structures are also discussed.     

Exploring the teaching of culture in the foreign language classroom within the context of collaborative professional development: a critical participatory action research study

ABSTRACT

This article describes the experience of French language teachers as they explored interculturality within a collaborative professional development environment. Participants studied how to design culture lessons for their classrooms through the lens of Intercultural Communicative Competence with the support of theoretical frameworks for intercultural learning. The findings underscore a need for teacher professional development that creates space for teachers to explore topics of interest in an in-depth and collaborative manner, that makes time for exploration of theoretical frameworks, and that models practical strategies for embedding interculturality in curricula. Furthermore, this study reveals that explicit examples of intercultural lessons taught while using the target language are needed in order for language teachers to gain confidence in this area.     

Collaboration between academics and teachers: a complex relationship

Collaboration between academics and teachers has become increasingly prevalent over recent years. Whether its aim is joint research or continuing professional development for teachers, collaboration seems to offer a realistic opportunity for reducing the perceived gap between theory and practice. However, collaboration is not merely academics and teachers working together on a common project. It is complex in nature and involves a range of requirements that must be satisfied in order to maximise the potential of the relationship. In this paper we will theorise on the nature of academics and teachers working together and suggest that a working relationship between academic researchers and teachers can be one of three models: client–supplier, a coercive relationship or a collaborative relationship. We identify and unpack specific factors that underpin collaboration and suggest a number of concrete actions to establish collaboration between academics and teachers. We draw heavily from existing literature and our own reflections on two collaborative projects with which we have recently been involved. We use data from these projects to provide a number of anecdotes from the teachers who participated to support our own reflections. Finally, we suggest that further research should investigate the different ways attempts to collaborate fail, to build a more complete sense of the problems and potential of this special relationship.     

From pre-service to in-service teachers: a longitudinal investigation of the professional development of English language teachers in secondary schools

This study reports on a longitudinal inquiry into professional identity construction among six novice cross-border English language teachers from mainland China, who completed their pre-service teacher education in Hong Kong (HK) and began their teaching practice in local HK schools. The findings indicate that the participants navigated obstacles in teaching by deploying their own multiple languages as a cultural and linguistic repertoire. The findings also show that the teachers experienced difficulty legitimising their professional identity in the teaching community, where contextual issues and power interplays mediated the process. Furthermore, it is found that the participants’ commitment to teaching was negatively influenced by their non-legitimate position in the teaching community and the discordance between their teaching beliefs and the norms and values of their workplace. This study suggests that complex inter-relationships between marginal status in and legitimate membership of the community, between historical and cultural background, present practice, and future expectations, between social discourse and personal location, are involved in the process of identity construction. Measures to legitimate these teachers’ position and to transform the linguistic and cultural repertories of these teachers into valuable resources of the local schools are suggested. Implications for future research are outlined.     

叙事行动研究：高校辅导员专业成长的有效途径

高校辅导员岗位是一个集思想教育、学业辅导、学生发展指导功能于一身的复合型岗位。如何加强辅导员队伍专业化建设,促进辅导员个体的专业成长成为新时期高校辅导员队伍建设的新课题。本文拟借用教育研究中叙事行动研究的思路,倡导辅导员通过自我叙述来反思个体的教育职业生活,并在反思中改进和重建自己的教育生活,使辅导员从教育研究和生活研究做起促进自身的专业成长,并进一步完成从“实践”型向“实践-研究型”人才的转变。     

我国物理教师专业发展研究述评

物理教师专业发展是目前我国物理教育理论界关注的热点。诸多学者对物理教师专业发展进行了深入的理论研究,并取得了一定成绩。物理教师专业发展研究的不足之处在于：理论研究水平有待提高;实践研究急需加强;忽视了物理教师的主体地位;物理教师教育与基础教育课程改革脱节。     

Planning as action research

Planning contains so much more than the written plan. Early in 2000, an invitation came from the Collaborative Action Research Network (CARN), to people experienced in action research who might want to help plan and present an action research event for elementary school science teachers in Venezuela, South America, in Autumn 2000. This article analyses the outcomes from planning and enacting the resulting workshop to show how planning can be the subject of action research. It goes on to show how planning and teaching interact in a multifaceted way towards technical, practical and emancipatory ends. Planning and teaching are best seen as conversation, a conversation that is both synchronous and asynchronous.     

幼儿教师专业发展的途径与方法研究

对幼儿教师专业发展现状进行调查和分析,以期为幼儿教师教育发展提供最基本的理论依据,更好地促进幼儿教师的专业发展。在幼儿教师专业发展中存在很多问题：师资队伍建设没有规划,专业配置不合理;学历达标率较高但专业程度不够扎实;教育教学教研问题突出;家园合作还停留于表浅水平;园长管理水平不够成熟。笔者提出幼儿教师专业发展的对策：制定师资队伍建设规划,建立和完善幼儿教师任用制度;改革师范院校幼师教育,确保幼师生源质量;加强教师自主专业发展,提高教育教学教研能力;加大宣传力度,推进家园合作;发挥终身学习方式,翻新自身专业素养;提升幼儿园园长的管理理念,为教师创造支持性发展平台;加强与其它教师培训机构的联系,开展多渠道的培训。     

Understanding classroom practice: ethnographic reflection as a methodological tool for professional development

To identify the possibilities for collaborative professional development; a research-driven model was adopted to assist an English First Additional Language teacher to appreciate how he could teach effectively by using an approach that takes into account the students' culture. Using critical observation and stimulated recall discussion, this study examined how his teaching addressed the requirements of the curriculum policy. Evidence points to a reluctance to consider this policy. The teacher's disposition posed challenges to the research process. We suggest that such research could be used effectively if policy were to clarify how a ‘new field’ could contribute to the public good and teachers' development of a ‘new habitus’. In conclusion, we explain how the envisaged outcomes of policy are underpinned by a notion of cultural harmony that has to inform teaching.     

论影响中小学教师专业发展的基本因素

当前中小学教师专业发展面临着根基性的难题,主要表现在教师工资、教师学习、学校管理、教师培训与专家引领等方面,这些问题的解决是有效促进教师专业发展的前提。     

发展为本的课程目标与中小学教师的专业发展

基础教育正在进行新一轮课程改革．从课程目标、教学方法到学生的学习方式以及成长要求,都在发生根本性的变革。课程目标由社会为本、知识为本转变为以人的发展为本。这就要求中小学教师的教育理念、能力素质随之变革和发展。     

试析教育期刊对中小学教师专业发展的促进作用

当代教育改革对中小学教师专业发展提出了新的要求,各类教育期刊如何在促进中小学教师专业发展方面发挥更大的作用,是需要探讨的一个新课题。分析教育期刊对中小学教师专业发展有哪些作用,存在哪些问题,会促进我们改进办刊思路,正确定位,充分发挥教育期刊对中小学教师专业发展的促进作用。