A school leaders’ professional development project The first year: Progress in researching the professional development needs of secondary school headteachers

Ted Wadsworth is a professional counsellor, educator and trainer. He has taught and counselled in schools for many years before taking up his present position in 1976, and has had a long‐standing interest in the personal and social development of adolescents, a sympathy for their teachers and headteachers and a concern for the organizational health of secondary schools. He has concerns also for equity in education and a desire to see much greater participation by minority groups in a more empowering form of education. As a counsellor educator he has had many contacts with schools and headteachers and has worked to integrate counselling and pastoral care within schools as organizations.

This paper describes the first stage of an investigation into the professional development needs of secondary school heads. The time period is November 1986 to November 1987. The aims of the research are to ascertain what professional development needs the heads have and what strategies might be used to meet them. The style of the investigation is ethnographic and action research. The researcher convened and ran seminars/workshops for the heads, their deputies and sometimes other school leaders twice a term for the year, acted as a consultant to two heads and conducted a school development exercise (in the school of one of the heads to whom he was a consultant). Also 12 heads were interviewed in depth about their professional development needs. Finally, a questionnaire was developed from the total findings and sent to all 60 heads in the Waikato, Bay of Plenty and Central Plateau areas. A two‐year programme for school leaders was developed and has already commenced.     

Teachers’ professional development for differentiated instruction in mixed-ability classrooms: investigating the impact of a development program on teachers’ professional learning and on students’ achievement

The present article reports the results of a study performed to investigate and examine the characteristics of a teachers’ professional development program (Teachers’ Professional Development Program for Differentiated Instruction [PDD]) specially designed to support teachers in the design and application of differentiated instruction. Considering the characteristics of high-quality professional development programs (i.e. active learning, collective participation, closely related to the curriculum and the existing teaching realities, sufficient duration and continuance), the PDD aimed to facilitate change in both attitudes and practices of the participants. The study provides evidence of the success of the program, both in terms of teacher professional development and student achievement, and discusses the elements that made this program successful.     

Looking back on experienced teachers’ reflections: how did pre-service school practice support the development of self-efficacy?

This research focuses on experienced Estonian teachers’ pre-service school practice. Each one of the 19 teachers interviewed in this study had over 25?years of professional experience. We were interested in their recollections of their pre-service school practice and the impact that their experience had on them professionally. The results indicate the importance of support systems and a cooperative atmosphere in the school, both of which enable a beginning teacher’s self-efficacy. Despite the lack of explicit support structures from the 1960s to the 1980s, implicit support existed and played an important role in facilitating the development of student teachers’ self-efficacy.     

Teachers’ experience from a school-based collaborative teacher professional development programme: reported impact on professional development

The aim of this study was to find out how science teachers who have participated in a one-year school-based collaborative teacher professional development programme, perceive the programme’s impact on their professional development. Constant comparative analysis was used on data from three schools to generate the findings in this study. The results indicate that participating teachers perceived a clear effect on their teaching practice and ways of thinking about teaching science. In addition, the findings identify a positive effect on the teachers’ attitudes towards collaboration. The article further discusses how reflection seems to contribute to the teachers’ professional development.     

Aligning professional development,school self-evaluation and principals’ performance standards: a UAE case study

The Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) has introduced professional development (PD) plans and professional standards for school administrators. This was initiated to galvanise the ongoing school reforms. In addition, the Irtiqaa Framework, a school self-evaluation programme that contributes to the broad agenda of school reforms and changes, is currently implemented in public schools throughout the entire Emirate of Abu Dhabi. This study explores school administrators’ experiences of the PD offered in their schools, querying how aligned they are with the school self-evaluation and principal’s performance standards. The research employed a qualitative case-study approach. Semi-structured interviews were used as tools for data collection and they were conceptualised within the framework of the administrators’ performance standards and school-self-evaluation-Irtiqaa documents provided by ADEC. Researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 school administrators, including principals, vice principals, and academic principals that represent six cycle-1 public schools. Findings and recommendations presented highlight the areas of improvement needed for more effective professional development that is not only in synchrony with school demands in times of change, but also in alignment with professional requirements that enhance effective school self-evaluation.     

The impact of educational development workshops on teachers’ practice

Abstract

Workshops are common practice as a staff and educational development tool in higher education around the world, yet while it is common to seek participants’ immediate reactions there been little attempt made to measure their impact. This paper reviews the available literature on the effectiveness of workshops and reports the findings of a study in to the effectiveness of 33 workshops delivered by the Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development over a four month period. The study used questionnaires at the end of the workshops and four months later, and these were followed up by telephone interviews with a sample of participants. The study demonstrates that workshops can lead to changes in practice, and that these changes are themselves deemed to be successful by those involved. In addition, where at the end of a workshop participants report that they are likely to make changes this can be used as a reasonably accurate predictor of subsequent change. The features of workshops identified in end‐of‐workshop questionnaires which are linked with likelihood of subsequent change are also reported.     

A case study of using an online community of practice for teachers’ professional development at a secondary school in China

In this case study, an online community was designed at a secondary school in China for the teachers to prepare their lessons collectively, reflect on their teaching practices, collect comments from peers, and share resources. A survey was administered to the teachers to investigate their perceptions on the online community for their professional development. Two hundred and eighty-three teachers responded to the survey and eight teachers were further interviewed by email. The result showed that most teachers liked using the online community as they could gain subject knowledge and could obtain support from peers, share experiences and get feedback, and exchange resources. Also, online entries confirmed that transformational changes in teaching pedagogy and students’ learning activities occurred along the time. However, certain teachers did not participate in the online community frequently. This paper describes the context of the case study, design dimensions of the online community, teachers’ positive perceptions on using the online community, and transformational changes. Also, strategies for promoting effective use of the online community are discussed and follow-up studies to address the challenges involved in this study are proposed.     

How is a professional development programme related to the development of university teachers’ self-efficacy beliefs and teaching conceptions?

This study explores how the impact of a five ECTS professional development programme for university teachers affects their self-efficacy beliefs and teaching conceptions using a mixed methods approach. For the quantitative part of the study, participants completed pre-post surveys. From these surveys, we find that the programme led to an overall significant increase in reported self-efficacy beliefs. A sub-sample of ten participants participated in the qualitative part, which consists of four phases: three reflective assignments and an interview. Individual teachers demonstrate a dominant teaching conception in each phase and in almost half of the sub-sample it developed over time, moving from a teacher-centered to a more student-centered conception. When examining the development of self-efficacy and teaching conceptions collectively, three development groups are identified. Noteworthy is that teacher development is credited to the programme as a whole and not to a specific aspect.     

Historicising teachers’ learning: a case study of productive professional practice

This paper reveals the significant historical traces which informed the learning practices of teachers at one particular school site in a rural and regional educational district in Australia. Drawing upon recent theorising into professional practice, the paper argues that teacher learning practices are intrinsically ‘ecologically’ related to teachers’ practices at specific sites. However, extending beyond this theorising, the research also reveals how teacher learning – in the case presented, in relation to classroom dialogue – is also significantly influenced by earlier learning experiences of the teachers involved. In this way, teachers’ practices are revealed as not only influenced by present-day, site-specific, whole-school teacher learning, but also by particular events encountered by teachers at an earlier phase of their careers. The research argues for a conception of teachers’ learning which is not only site-informed and ecologically arranged, but also deeply temporally embedded.     

Increasing the impact of a Master’s programme on teacher leadership and school development by means of boundary crossing

In this case study, we investigate how the development and impact of teacher leadership through a Master’s programme can be supported by a design that encourages boundary crossing activities between schools and universities. The case study focuses on 42 experienced teachers from three vocational colleges who were promoted to senior teacher positions and participated in a Master’s programme. Through individual and focus group interviews, data were collected on how boundary crossing activities can connect professional development and school development, and on favourable conditions for effective boundary crossing. The study shows that strategic alignment and shared ownership between university and school, a collective approach with multiple participants from one school, and the use of boundary objects, created the conditions through which the Master’s programme could serve as a catalyst, stimulating innovation of work practices and development of new leadership practices. The leadership of the senior teachers initiated a development process that shifted from formally mandated forms of leadership to more culturally embedded forms of leadership. This case study leads to a new understanding of design criteria for Master’s programmes and boundary objects that can support the process of developing teacher leadership within schools by facilitating boundary crossing between university and school.     

Patients’ stories in healthcare curricula: creating a reflective environment for the development of practice and professional knowledge

Patient and public involvement in the provision of healthcare professional education is considered best practice by both the Healthcare Professions Council and the Nursing Midwifery Council. One key activity in healthcare education is the classroom-based ‘patient story’. This consists of a person re-telling and reflecting on their experiences of their health-related problem and their interaction with health services. The primary objective of this article therefore was to explore educational theory in order to offer a theoretical critique of the use of patient stories in healthcare education. The article explores the theory–practice gap, theories of reflection as well as dialogue, and proposes that the use of patient stories in healthcare education may help to better prepare students for the realities of professional clinical practice. Patient story told firsthand in the classroom creates a significant learning experience in which both the student and the patient reflect and learn through dialogue, positively impacting on attitudes, beliefs and improved patient care. We argue that the incorporation of patients’ stories in healthcare education encourages the use of reflection and facilitates critical thinking, which in turn can help to bridge the theory–practice gap.     

Walanbaa warramildanha: The impact of authentic Aboriginal community and school engagement on teachers’ professional knowledge

The conundrum of Indigenous education in Australia is that there are multiple, highly contested and polarising narratives that vie to inform both public and policy debate about how to construct effective schooling of Aboriginal students. Two of these contested discourses, which are seen to drive much of this debate, highlight the complexity of concerns—one which is essentially aspirational in its intent but unperceptive to the realities of Aboriginal student achievement and a second data focused discourse that is managerial and evaluative in its focus to disclose policy and pedagogic failures on student outcomes. The first has posed the politically more palatable proposition that there has been a slow, sometimes faltering but inexorable improvement in Aboriginal education, while the second highlights a mounting body of qualitative data that document an overall failure by school systems to lift Aboriginal student education achievement. The author recognises the complex and historical nature of the multilayered ‘issues’ that sit at the heart of Aboriginal underachievement. He argues that one of those underpinning issues that has plagued Aboriginal education centres on the depth of the socio-cultural disconnect between Aboriginal students and their communities, and teachers. He also argues that, too often, teachers are appointed to schools with limited social, political and professional knowledge about the particular needs and aspirations of Aboriginal students such that it impacts on their capacity to establish authentic connections to students. The research on which this article is based sets out to provide an understanding of both the nature and dynamics of community and school engagement in sites with high proportions of Aboriginal students. The study aimed to investigate teachers’ capacity to develop authentic pedagogic practices that are responsive to the educational, cultural and aspirational needs of Aboriginal students. In particular, the research highlights how the relational dynamics between schools and Aboriginal people have been deeply affected by colonial histories of exclusion and systemic disadvantage, pervasive school discourses of marginalisation and in particular an ignorance about holistic needs of Aboriginal students at school and the resultant negative relational interactions between schools and Aboriginal families. This multisite ethnographic study was undertaken with Aboriginal community members, teachers and school principals in 2012 as doctoral research. It was conducted within a relational landscape characterised by an enduring socio-cultural dissonance between schools and their Aboriginal communities. The study focused on examples of authentic collaboration and purposeful interactions between Aboriginal communities and schools that were shown to support teachers in building deeper understanding that enhanced their cognisance of the wider needs of Aboriginal students. The findings in this article highlight that when authentic engagement between Aboriginal people and schools occurred, it appeared to positively impact the teachers’ professional knowledge and created a consequent interest within these communities to engage with their schools. The research further identified that in each site the Aboriginal participants articulated an interest in developing authentic school collaborations that would enhance student outcomes. These findings suggested that teachers need to honour, understand and actively reflect on community history, contexts and aspirations to develop the skills and knowledge to address the particular socio-cultural and educational needs of Aboriginal students.     

Higher education students’ experiences of a short-term international programme: Exploring cultural competency and professional development

Background: Globalisation trends such as increased migration to and within European countries have led to even greater cultural diversity in European societies. Cultural diversity increases the demand of cultural competency amongst professionals entering their work field. In particular, healthcare professionals need knowledge and skills to equip them to work with clients from different cultural backgrounds. Within higher education (HE), the professional development of cultural competency should ideally feature in undergraduate education and is often promoted as a by-product of a study abroad period. However, recognising that logistical and financial barriers often exist for extended study abroad, one alternative approach could be participation, at home or abroad, in a short-term international programme set within students’ own HE institutions.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to explore HE students’ experiences of participating in international ‘short-term mobility week’ programmes at three European universities.

Methods: Each university involved in the research offered short-term programmes for healthcare professions students at their own institution, where both local students and students from abroad could participate. Participants were healthcare students in the programme at one of the three universities. Data were collected through focus group interviews (4–8 students per group; n = 25). The data were transcribed and then analysed qualitatively, using a content comparison method.

Results: The analysis identified six categories, which reflected students’ journeys within the short-term international experiences.

Conclusions: The analysis suggested that, for these students, engagement in a short-term mobility week programme provided valuable opportunities for encounters with others, which contributed to personal and professional development, greater confidence in the students’ own professional identities, as well as an increasing sense of cultural awareness.     

Power and the ‘autonomous’ principal: autonomy,teacher development,and school leaders’ work

ABSTRACT

One aspect of instructional leadership is the work principals undertake in supporting and developing teachers’ skills and capabilities. This paper examines this aspect of school leadership within a climate characterised by increased principal workloads, heavy external accountabilities, pressure to improve student results, and heightened autonomy which included discourses regarding principals’ increased freedom in staffing decisions. The case studies within this paper focus specifically on principals’ work in relation to the recruitment and development of staff. Policy and discourse suggests that principals have the autonomy to recruit and build staffing teams to meet school needs and improve outcomes, though questions have been raised about how autonomous public schools can be a part of a wider system. This paper explores the role autonomy plays in leadership practices relating to staff recruitment and development. The findings contribute to a body of knowledge regarding the ways principals make sense of and enact their work under highly pressurised school improvement policy conditions.     

Exploring an intervention’s impact on everyday school activities

The focus of this paper is on a group of pupils with reading and writing difficulties who have been participating in an intervention study using assistive technology. That intervention study contained supervised training sessions with reading and writing tasks using an iPad with special supportive applications. The current study is a qualitative investigation of whether there has been any transfer from the intervention, to the pupils’ everyday school activities. Interviews with pupils and their teachers and observations during classroom lectures have been used to collect data. The results show that the pupils were positive to the assistive technology (the applications on the iPads), they found the apps easy to learn how to use and they appreciated the benefits they could give. Even so, only a few of the pupils had found use for and continued to use the tools after the intervention period finished. Possible reasons are that when the novelty wore off, students reverted to their usual study habits and that older students with many teachers and different classrooms were less able to adapt to using the apps. To improve transfer, it is suggested to introduce assistive technology earlier to students, in the younger grades, before study habits have been formed and to inform teachers about the use of AT in the classroom, including what is available and how it can benefit students.     

Constructing a professional development school: A model of one school‐university partnership

Abstract

A partnership between an elementary school and a university in the Midwest evolved into a professional development school. The authors describe this process, making analogies to the process of constructing a house. The steps are also related to Kagan's (1991) stages of organizational development. From laying the foundation of the partnership through adding the sill (the vision), constructing the frame (the goals and objectives), adding the sheathing (the formal structure), installing siding (the implementation), to maintaining through assessment, the parallels are explored and analyzed. Because the process relates to individuals as well as an institution, the authors also discuss ways in which the processes diverge.

The process is presented as a model that might be useful to others engaged in creating a professional development school or improving teacher education. A visual of the model is included.     

Does research degree supervisor training work? The impact of a professional development induction workshop on supervision practice

Supervisor induction and continued professional development programmes constitute good practice and are enshrined in institutional policies and national codes of practice. However, there is little evidence about whether they have an impact on either supervisors’ learning or day-to-day practice. Set in a discussion of previous literature, this article unpacks the concepts ‘impact’ and ‘evaluation’ and assesses the medium- and longer term impact of the University of South Australia's doctoral supervisor induction programme, Supervising@UniSA. It suggests that the workshop leads to the acquisition of understanding and knowledge and, for the majority of attendees, also has an impact on supervisory practice.     

Exploring university-based teacher educators’ teaching beliefs and practice: a Hong Kong study

This study explores two higher education-based language teacher educators’ teaching beliefs and how they implemented their beliefs in classroom practice. Drawing on data from in-depth interviews and classroom observation, the findings revealed the teacher educators’ multiple and complex beliefs, which were derived from their past experiences and continued to be shaped and transformed through their professional work. The study also shows that while the participants tried to act in accordance with their beliefs in their teaching of teachers, they encountered some contextual obstacles (e.g. the ‘publish-or-perish’ system) which resulted in the gap between their beliefs and practice. Through their continuous reflections and agentive work, the teacher educators tried to close the gap and facilitate their students’ learning to teach. This study concludes with some implications for current teacher education and higher education on how to promote language teacher educators’ cognitive learning and continuous development.