Teacher evaluation policy as perceived by school principals: the case of Flanders (Belgium)

In Flanders (Belgium), a new teacher evaluation policy was issued which placed a lot of autonomy with school principals to develop and implement a new teacher evaluation system. In this study, we explore how Flemish principals perceive the new teacher evaluation policy and what influences their perception. Results demonstrate that principals perceive the policy as clear, but they are rather negative about the need, practicality, and complexity of the summative teacher evaluation. This perception is influenced by policy, context, and individual factors as is demonstrated in our qualitative analyses.     

Teacher professional development in Teaching and Teacher Education over ten years

A review of publications in Teaching and Teacher Education over ten years (2000-2010) on teacher professional development is the subject of the paper. The first part synthesises production referred to learning, facilitation and collaboration, factors influencing professional development, effectiveness of professional development and issues around the themes. The second part, selects from the production nine articles for closer examination. The paper concludes by noting how the production brings out the complexities of teacher professional learning and how research and development have taken cognisance of these factors and provided food for optimism about their effects, although not yet about their sustainability in time.     

CFG与大学英语教师专业发展

促进教师专业发展是大学英语教学质量提高的关键.然而作为一个特殊的教师群体,大学英语教师发展存在着诸多障碍.CFG作为一种全新的教师专业发展模式,弥补了传统训练指导模式的不足.通过对CFG模式的概念和组成要素的介绍,分析了这一模式在教师发展过程中的实施条件、障碍和策略,对促进大学英语教师专业发展有理论上和实践上的借鉴意义.     

The role of feedback from the school leader during teacher evaluation for teacher and school improvement

Since the turn of the century, teacher evaluation has been introduced around the world with the intent to improve teaching. However, in the literature on teacher evaluation, often findings reveal critical accounts about the effectiveness of feedback in teacher evaluation for teacher and school improvement. This article presents a qualitative study in eight schools where teachers did indicate to find the feedback they discussed with school leaders during teacher evaluation processes useful. In this study, we investigate whether we can identify what teachers actually do with this feedback and which factors contribute to their response. Our findings demonstrate the importance of school organizational characteristics and an integrated leadership approach for the feedback response of teachers. Also, our findings reveal how teacher evaluation is used in these schools to further school improvement.     

Teacher,team, and school change through reciprocal learning

This paper documents the first year of a qualitative case study investigating the experiences of reciprocal learning teams of teachers within a small, rural secondary school. The purpose of this study was to examine how teachers experienced collaborative professional development (PD) and how their experiences contributed to developing the culture and structure of their school. Collected data were analyzed using an iterative process of coding, categorizing, and abstracting data. Three themes emerged: (a) self- and co-regulated learning in teams invigorated collegial relationships and contributed to a sense of agency toward change at the school level; (b) differentiating support for collaborative inquiry among teachers and within teams is critical; and (c) creating structures to support collaborative inquiry among teachers engages teachers in their ongoing professional learning. This case study of a rural secondary school demonstrates how deep and substantial school change can happen when teachers co-construct and co-regulate their PD.     

学校改进路径下的教师专业发展驱动力研究

教师的专业发展是学校改进中的关键。在学校改进的路径下,外部和内部两种力量对教师专业发展起到重要促进作用。外部驱动力包括外部机构对教师的干预和教师培训,而内部驱动力主要是通过教师参与学校管理、学习、反思与评价的行动而内生的。在学校改进的路径下,综合两种驱动力的合力,真正实现教师专业发展的目标。     

Issues and challenges regarding environmental education policy implementation

Abstract

In this article, the authors have chosen to inquire into a topic that has specific relevance to the status and inclusion of environmental education in the curriculum at a stage when the translation of policy into practice stands at the crossroads: the transition of environment as phase organiser to environment as integral to all learning areas. In education praxis, the translation of policy into practice is in the hands of educators and teachers (using the terminology as suggested in this article). The issues and challenges regarding the implementation of environmental education policy as experienced by educators and teachers are identified through examining this phenomenon as portrayed in two case studies where in-service education and training (INSET) in relation to environmental education occurs. This study is one of the first to provide a researched background that identifies issues and challenges that impact on the implementation of environmental policy in formal education contexts.     

教师专业发展的矛盾及其化解

教学自主与管理制度规约、教育理论淡漠与实践经验自觉、教师个体成长与学校培养责任、学生主体性张扬与教师自我价值失落、教学技能模仿与教学艺术创新是教师专业成长过程中的几组矛盾.合理地分析并化解这些矛盾对教师专业发展有着积极意义.     

Teacher policy: a framework for comparative analysis

This article outlines a framework for analysis of teacher focused policy studies within an international and comparative perspective. Using the notion of the professional life cycle of teachers, the article examines examples of key empirical studies that illustrate the impact of policy on addressing such issues as teacher recruitment, education, selection, retention and development. The article concludes that the framework is useful in identifying the strengths and weaknesses in the conceptualization and design of teacher focused policy and studies, and gives recommendations for the design of rigorous studies to inform future policy in this area.

成人学习理论下教师教育与教师专业发展再思考

研究目的在于应用成人学习理论指导教师教育的实践,促进教师专业发展。首先,通过诺尔斯的成人教育学理论分析了成人学习理论对教师教育的适用性,探究各个成人学习论对教师教育的指导作用和对教师发展的促进作用,构建了较为完整的指导框架。然后,分别阐述了自我导向学习理论指导下教师教育生成内生动力,促进教师知识发展;转化学习理论对于教师教育提供新途径,促进教师伦理发展;熟练理论指导教师教育产生外部动力,帮助提升教师专业能力;情境学习理论指导下创设多元的教师教育环境,丰富教师实践经验。最后,成人学习理论于教师教育领域具有很强的适用性,应充分尊重教师成人身份和主体地位。     

Teacher evaluation in Chile: highlights and complexities in 13 years of experience

The paper examines the process of establishing a teacher evaluation system in Chile and its acceptance by teachers over time. The conceptual base upon which the system was established is described. Evidence is also examined from a variety of data sources and research related to the evaluation system as well as teachers’ use of its results. This evidence includes information from an external review of the system noting tensions between the formative versus accountability purposes of the evaluation system and that are being attended to in the new Teacher Professional Development Law (2016).     

Measuring characteristics of teacher professional development

The primary purpose of the study was to create and psychometrically test an instrument which measured teachers’ perceptions of characteristics of professional development. The sample consisted of elementary teachers from five school districts in Washington State participating in a district improvement initiative. Results of exploratory factor analysis resulted in a five-component solution which provided evidence of construct validity. All components/subscales had moderate to strong internal consistency as measured by Cronbach’s alpha. The secondary purpose was to determine if characteristics of professional development predicted teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, and student learning outcomes, thus contributing to the predictive validity of the instrument. There was a slight, but significant, correlation between Active Learning in Classroom and teachers’ use of new knowledge and skills, as measured by classroom observation scores. A small negative correlation emerged between Collective Participation and student learning, as measured by student scores on the state’s mathematics assessment. Potential uses of the instrument, called Characteristics of Teacher Professional Development (CTPD), are discussed.     

Evaluative relationships: teacher accountability and professional culture

ABSTRACT

Research on recently adopted methods for teacher evaluation are largely focused on issues of validity and pay less attention to the consequences of implementation for the everyday practices of teaching and learning in schools. This paper draws on an ethnographic case-study to argue that the joint tasks demanded by neoliberal teacher evaluation policies structure interactions among teachers and between teachers and administrators in ways that erode professional culture. Implications for policymakers, school leaders, and teachers are considered.     

Teacher research in Dutch professional development schools: perceptions of the actual and preferred situation in terms of the context,process and outcomes of research

This study aims to provide deeper insight into participants’ (e.g. school principals, teachers and student teachers) perceptions of the actual and preferred situation in terms of the context, process and outcomes of practice-based research through teachers-as-researchers at Dutch professional development schools. We interviewed eight school principals, 10 teachers, and six student teachers from four professional development schools in the Netherlands. A trend displayed across all types of participants was their focus on the context dimension of research. Moreover, respondents often focussed in rather general terms on the process of conducting teacher research within the school and the content of this research. A major difference exists between perceptions of the actual and preferred situation related to the effects of teacher research on pupils’ outcomes: despite the central focus of research on pupil learning and learning results, according to participants effects on pupil level were not (yet) reached at this moment. These results suggest that in Dutch professional development schools increased attention is needed both by researchers and practitioners on the process and outcome dimensions of doing teacher research.     

乡村教师的赋权增能:困境与转向

在乡村教师队伍建设和教师专业发展运动的助推下,教师"赋权增能"的问题受到广泛关注,而当前我国乡村教师的赋权增能情况却不容乐观,普遍存在决策参与、课程自主以及专业发展上的缺失。文章从乡村教师赋权增能的内涵、意义、缺失原因等方面进行了分析,建议从管理体制上提升教师的决策参与权,从教育理念上加强教师的课程自主权,从教师培训上保障教师的专业发展权,从而最终实现对乡村教师的赋权增能。     

Revealing the balancing act of vertical and shared leadership in Teacher Design Teams

Teacher Design Teams (TDTs) are professional learning communities in which teachers collaborate to (re)design educational materials. Although studies have indicated that leadership is vital for TDTs’ functioning, providing adequate leadership is challenging. Both shared and vertical leadership are needed, and how to combine them is not obvious. TDT participants and coaches might benefit from insight into what shared and vertical leadership look like in practice. In this study, we monitored two TDTs that used a stepwise method that integrates shared and vertical leadership. Findings reveal that combining shared and vertical leadership in TDTs is possible, but remains a challenging balancing act.     

Teacher Appraisal,Professional Development and School Improvement: a case study

The paper argues that in respect of the day‐to‐day work activities required in being a headteacher, and in the work relationships involved in running schools, the occupational culture of headship has changed fundamentally. Using the accounts of 20 headteachers, interviewed in respect of their career histories in 1990 and followed up by means of a postal questionnaire in 1992, the paper illustrates the changes experienced and identified by this group of heads. It is argued that a new headteacher is required; that aspects of educational leadership have diminished dramatically in the work culture of headship.     

Using Questionnaires in Teacher Research

Teacher research is described as being beneficial and yet it is hampered by teachers' lack of knowledge about research, including how to use popular research methods. Given that accounts by teachers describing their use of such methods in a systematic manner might prove useful for their peers, this article describes my experience of using a questionnaire in teacher research.     

Improvement Science as a Promising Alternative to Barriers in Improving STEM Teacher Quality through Professional Development

STEM teaching occurs within national and state policy contexts that are constantly shifting in terms of standards and accountability due to the current and intense focus on students’ STEM outcomes. In the last two decades, federal legislation as well as common standards movements increasingly influence what and how STEM teachers instruct their students. Improvement science in education (ISE) has recently emerged as a new method of addressing many of the issues that impact teacher teaching and STEM teacher quality. ISE is a context-focused process improvement approach targeted at school improvement. This article explores three main barriers between STEM teacher professional development and student learning, and focuses on ISE as a promising alternative to current forms of STEM teacher professional development.     

A studio tells its story: student-teachers learn differently

The paper presents the story of an experimental learning studio in a teacher education programme at a college in Israel. The study investigates what students found significant in the studio and more specifically, the meanings students attributed to the experiences in the studio and how it constituted a site for learning. Open ended questionnaires distributed to 171 students were used and analysed qualitatively. The analysis indicates that the studio provided students with opportunities to see elements of ‘a lesson’ from creative ways of looking at teaching and learning. Students revealed capabilities of making inferences and implications to wider phenomena based on theoretical and practical knowledge. Thus transgressing boundaries of segregated disciplines can lead to meaningful learning and more motivated students.