Feeding forward from summative assessment: the Essay Feedback Checklist as a learning tool

Owing to the increasing diversity of assessments in higher education, feedback should be provided to students in a format that can assist future and alternative work. This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of the Essay Feedback Checklist on future alternative assessments. Participants were assigned to one of two groups, one of which completed the checklist prior to assessment 1 (essay) and received feedback using this method. Attainment on assessment 1 and assessment 2 (examination) were taken as pre- and post-test scores. Results revealed increased assessment scores for the checklist group, compared to those who received conventional feedback. Focus group data indicated that students particularly liked elements of the checklist as a feedback method, but potential drawbacks were also highlighted. Implications and future use of the checklist is then discussed.     

Formative assessment and teaching practice: the point of view of Italian teachers

Over the years the debate on the aims, approaches, and impacts of formative assessment has never stopped to grow. Parallel to this growth is the awareness that it is crucial to understand what conceptions teachers have of assessment in order to guarantee more effective teacher education. This paper tries to connect these two fields of research: formative assessment and teacher education through an analysis of teachers’ conceptions: What do teachers think about assessment? What aims do they pursue through it? Do teachers really distinguish between formative and summative assessment? On the backdrop of the formative assessment literature, the article reports on an exploratory research study. Limitations and issues are analysed in order to shed light on teacher education implication and on future educational research paths in the educational assessment field.     

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.     

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.     

Professional development for teachers: a world of change

As the industrialised world shifted to an interdependent and global society, formal schooling was quickly recognised as a major factor in achieving a knowledge society of lifelong learners capable of transforming and revitalising organisations. Teachers were encouraged to engage in learning together to improve teaching and, by extension, improve learning for the children in their care. This article identifies three emerging trends intended to broaden teachers' learning and enhance their practices through continuous professional development: glocalisation, mentoring, and re‐thinking teacher evaluation. The body of the article indicates how these three trends are unfolding in Australia, England, Latvia, the Republic of Ireland, Scotland, Taiwan, and the USA.

However, teachers cannot bring about necessary changes without organisational and systemic change; namely, collaboration with governmental agencies and other institutions. The authors suggest that transforming schooling in the twenty‐first century depends on education policies being supported by expanded teacher participation in education policy‐making, more coherent governmental policies across agencies, and collaborative, differentiated models for career‐long continuing professional development.     

Establishing a portfolio assessment framework for pre-service teachers: a multiple perspectives approach

In the field of initial teacher training, portfolios are widely used to assess pre-service teachers' performance as well as the outcomes of university-based teacher preparation programmes. However, little is known about the explicit design of portfolio assessment mechanisms in teacher preparation programmes. Issues related to the design and validation of portfolios for pre-service teacher assessment are a critical area of inquiry for the field of initial teacher training. In this study, perspectives were elicited from school trainee teachers and faculty from a secondary teacher preparation programme to examine the relationships identified among core competencies of a portfolio assessment framework and pre-service candidate learning outcomes. Comparative findings are presented about the relationships identified by the trainee teachers and faculty across the secondary education programme's portfolio core competencies and trainee learning outcomes. A discussion of the findings is presented with implications and future directions highlighted.     

A tool for capacity building: teacher professional learning about teaching writing

This paper reports on qualitative research from an Australian, K-6, faith-based school about teachers’ experience of a job-embedded professional learning initiative (the Whole-School Benchmarking of Writing, WSBoW) that was designed to improve teachers’ capacity to apply data-driven decision-making to achieve improvements in student learning. Teacher interviews provided the data about experiences and influences on teching practice. The findings demonstrated that the professional learning initiative provided teachers with a supportive pedagogical tool for focusing their teaching practices on improving student learning. A research based evaluative framework was used as a heuristic to analyse the change initiative. This study used the framework and employed a social constructivist and sociocultural epistemology that recognised the importance of leadership and school context in the development of a culture focused on collaborative communities of practice and data-driven teacher decision-making. The study has significance for leaders, schools and systems that engage teachers in professional capacity building.     

Professional role expectations and related feelings when solving pedagogical dilemmas: a comparison of pre- and in-service teachers

This study investigated teachers’ professional identity development. Using Dialogical Self Theory and a socio-cultural semiotic mediational perspective, we focused on pre- and in-service teachers’ communication of professional role expectations and related feelings when solving pedagogical dilemmas to reveal aspects of their professional identity construction. Data were collected from 102 pre- and 90 in-service teachers by asking them to solve seven pedagogical dilemmas. We report: (1) how pre- and in-service teachers solved pedagogical dilemmas in terms of communicating professional role expectations and related feelings; (2) how pre- and in-service teachers differed in the feelings they reported and the solutions they gave when solving pedagogical dilemmas; and (3) how the communication of professional role expectations and feelings was related to pre- and in-service teachers’ work experience. Finally, we discuss the implications of our study for initial and continuing teacher education programmes.     

Enhancing literacy practices in science classrooms through a professional development program for Canadian minority-language teachers

Literacy in the Science Classroom Project was a three-year professional development (PD) program supporting minority-language secondary teachers’ use of effective language-based instructional strategies for teaching science. Our primary objective was to determine how teacher beliefs and practices changed over time and how these were enacted in different classrooms. We also wanted to identify the challenges and enablers to implementing these literacy strategies and practices at the classroom, school, and district levels. Data collection involved both qualitative and quantitative methodologies: student questionnaires; interviews with teachers, principals, and mentor; and focus groups with students. The findings suggest that the program had an impact on beliefs and practices commensurate with the workshop participation of individual teachers. These language-enhanced teacher practices also had a positive impact on the use of talking, reading and writing by students in the science classroom. Finally, continuing PD support may be needed in certain jurisdictions for strengthening minority-language programs given the high teacher mobility in content-area classrooms evident in this study.     

从课程开发到课程领导：高职教师项目课程实施策略探索﹡

从教师专业发展的视角,针对部分高职教师参与课程开发的动力不足的问题,论证了课程资源建设与教师专业发展之间的正相关性关系,提出了高职教师采取主动参与课程开发、开展教研进行研究反思以及合力打造课程团队等策略,可以通过从入门--成长--熟练--专家的专业发展的四个阶段,逐步完成从课程开发者成长为课程领导者的过渡,而这也是教师专业发展成熟的重要标志。     

The role of a professional learning community in teacher change: a perspective from beliefs and practices

This longitudinal study aimed to examine the role of a professional learning community (PLC) in changing teachers’ beliefs and practices. Teachers of a Chinese department in a Hong Kong secondary school were interviewed and observed. The findings indicate that the features of a PLC-facilitating teacher change are development of a coherent structure, a collaborative culture, and effective learning activities. These help teachers to overcome initial difficulties and induce their motivation for transformation. Teacher change in five dimensions (curriculum, teaching, learning, roles of teachers, and learning to teach) and three patterns (change in practice but not in belief, change in belief but not in practice, change in practice and belief) were detected. It is argued that cultivating an effective PLC is significant to teacher development.     

Professional learning and development needs of women teachers in the Republic of Pakistan: a social realist perspective

ABSTRACT

This article, emerging from a wider study on the professional development needs of women teachers working in Catholic convent schools in the Republic of Pakistan, explores the perspectives and experiences of school leaders and Principals who developed professional development programmes. This area, which has been under-researched in the professional development literature, addresses the complexities and contradictions that the glocalisation of professional development can create for women teachers in developing world contexts. A social realist approach, using Archer’s morphogenetic framework, was employed to facilitate an exploration of the varied responses that professional development needs produce. The responses of former Principals and school leaders and their efforts to provide professional development for women teachers was captured, and revealed different agential responses. These responses included an acceptance of the realities of the education system in Pakistan and the role of women in that context, a desire to follow the ethos of the Catholic religious Order which was at variance with accepted educational praxis, and the changing expectations of society within Pakistan with reference to education of children.     

School Teachers' Continuous Professional Development in an Online Learning Community: lessons from a case study of an eTwinning Learning Event

A social revolution is occurring in the way information is shared, knowledge is generated and innovation takes place over the Internet and there is renewed interest in the social concept of ‘community’ to support online learning. This article describes action research conducted in the context of an eTwinning Learning Event (LE) that provides useful insights into how an online learning community can support the continuous professional development (CPD) of school teachers. Using the Community of Inquiry framework (Garrison et al., 2000), it offers empirical evidence of how cognitive, social and teaching aspects impact competence development. It suggests that online learning communities offer an appropriate environment for teachers' intellectual and emotional reflection, characterised by trust, mutual respect and shared values centred on improving pupils' learning. It also suggests that the educational experience within such a community is significantly influenced by the tutor's design and moderation of activities aimed at fostering critical thinking. The article concludes that online learning communities offer a valuable alternative to traditional teacher training by supporting teachers to learn in the context of their everyday practice, whilst collaborating and reflecting on their experience with peers across regions and countries. Concerning the wider use of social networking for learning, it suggests that educators still have a valuable role to play in ensuring that collaboration leads to an effective educational experience.     

Linking literacy teaching with assessment: a continuing professional development initiative for secondary schools

As part of a professional development initiative helping secondary school teachers use assessment data to guide their instruction, teachers in this study changed their knowledge, skills and dispositions. Over time, they were able to identify assessments, administer these assessments, interpret the results and plan instruction. As a result, the students who were tutored by these teachers increased their achievement compared with a control group.     

Status problem and expectations of competence: a challenging path for teachers

Complex Instruction (CI) is a cooperative learning approach, which aims at improving the equal status interaction among students working in groups who may be at different academic and social levels. Based on an ethnographic research, the article examines how a group of Italian primary school teachers understand the status problem and how the finding from this research demonstrates a change in their expectations of competence through using CI. This research analyses to what extent these teachers meet the original goal of achieving greater equity, as well as discussing implications for teachers' professional development.     

The workplace experiences of beginning teachers in three countries: a message for initial teacher education from the field

Previous research indicates that beginning teachers are not fully prepared for what awaits them in the workforce. This study highlights the value of partnerships among higher education providers, schools and employers and links the experiences of beginning teachers to initial teacher education (ITE). Real-life experiences from the field provide information regarding beginning teachers’ complex teaching positions that is beneficial to prospective teachers and teacher educators. This transnational qualitative study, completed in Norway, South Africa and Australia, adopted a Vygotskian social constructivist theoretical stance. Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy was applied to offer an in-depth understanding of the effects of classroom experiences on beginning teachers’ professional identities and feelings of ‘belonging’ and ‘at homeness’ in their positions. The results of this study highlight the school leaders’ perceptions of how well graduate teachers are prepared to meet the demands of the workforce. The study concludes by demonstrating the value of linking beginning teachers’ experiences to interventions and the development of ITE programmes. This study’s evidence-based findings support its recommendations for policy-makers and its reflections on the link between ITE and employment.     

Functional anatomy of the cardiovascular system: Professional development for PreK‐3 teachers using a “Train and equip” method results in learning opportunities for students

Preadolescent students are interested in learning the structure and function of the human body. However, their teachers are not trained in this content. The purpose of this project was to expand a successful outreach effort in the health sciences for grade 7–12 teachers to include PreK‐3 teachers. A “Healthy Hearts” workshop was offered to train the teachers in relevant content and also to give them a resource kit of supplies and equipment to facilitate the transference of the training into educational opportunities for their students. The workshop included many role‐playing activities and use of all items in the resource kit. A total of 25 workshops were conducted in 14 different community locations with 716 PreK‐3 teachers attending from 169 communities representing 59 (79%) of the state's 75 counties. African American (AA) teacher participation was 35%, twice the state AA population rate and 3.5× the AA public school teacher rate. Pre to Posttest scores increased an average of 15%. The results of the evaluation measures regarding the workshop and the transference of the training and use of resource kit items into learning opportunities for students were excellent. Universities have the capability, perhaps the responsibility, to provide the much‐needed professional development training to PreK‐12 teachers. Anatomists in medical and nonmedical school settings are well positioned to participate in this process and help close the gap between the interest young children have in learning about the human body and the lack of teacher training in this content. Anat Sci Ed 1:119–125, 2008. © 2008 American Association of Anatomists.     

Towards accomplished practice in learning skills for science (LSS): the synergy between design and evaluation methodology in a reflective CPD programme

This study was carried out in the framework of continuous professional development (CPD) programmes following a CPD model aimed at promoting ‘accomplished practice’ involving: pedagogical knowledge, content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge and scholarship of teaching. Teachers were asked to bring evidence about their practice. The context was related to the ‘Learning Skills for Science’ (LSS) programme, which advocates the explicit incorporation of high‐order learning skills into science school curricula. The main goal of the study was to test the evidence‐based LSS CPD model by investigating the impact of its related CPD programmes on participating teachers. The impact relates to teachers’ perceptions about teaching learning skills, teachers’ LSS practice, and their professional influence in the educational system. As part of the evaluation method, we developed a criterion‐based diagnostic tool and a visual representation, designed to assess a teacher’s professional profile and progression according to dimensions of ‘accomplished practice’. The diagnostic tool can be adjusted and tailored to different CPD domains. Results indicated that requiring teachers to bring evidence from practice and students’ learning enabled us to follow teachers’ progress and succeeded to improve their performances towards accomplished LSS practice. The results exemplify a synergy between CPD designed activities and the ongoing evaluation of its impact.     

Documenting with early childhood education teachers: pedagogical documentation as a tool for developing early childhood pedagogy and practises

The Finnish social pedagogical curriculum for early childhood education directs early childhood teachers to use documentation to assess and develop pedagogy and practise. This empirical study examines the challenges and benefits a group of Finnish preschool teachers experienced when they learned to document their work. Although the idea of documenting appears fine in theory, and international experiences of constructing child-centered pedagogy through documents are promoted in the literature, accomplishing this task successfully is challenging in practise. In this study, as the features of documentation in early childhood education and care practise were considered critically, ideological discord was found within the national and local policy-making process, including problems with pedagogical leadership, which reduced the power of documentation in practise. However, the study also revealed that using documentation empowered the teachers as professionals, helped them communicate with parents and children, and guided them to focus on the children’s views.