Subject departments as professional communities?

A growing body of literature suggests that when schools become professional communities there are expected benefits in terms of teacher learning, school improvement and student achievement. In this article the concept of professional communities is examined for certain subject departments in Dutch secondary schools. The authors report on research into the extent to which mathematics departments operate as professional communities. At the same time, it was investigated whether the level at which departments operate as professional communities is related to student achievement. The results indicate that departments are cohesive bodies regulating teacher behaviour in several respects. However, as professional communities they do not focus on improving the quality of their teachers and instruction. Some characteristics of professional communities prove to be beneficial for student achievement, while others are not. The authors offer recommendations on how departments can develop into more professionally organised communities.     

Mathematics professional development for elementary teachers: Building trust within a school-based mathematics education community

Despite increased attention in professional development to building communities of teachers, few studies have investigated the development of trust in these communities. This paper presents issues related to trust in a professional development project at an elementary school. The project aimed for school-based elementary teachers and university-based mathematics educators to work together to improve mathematics instruction at the school by developing a mathematics education community of learners, where learners were conceived of as both the teachers and the mathematics educators. This paper addresses the following question: What factors in the project supported the development of trust among mathematics educators and teachers as the community was formed? More specifically, the paper is about one aspect of trust, namely, building school-based elementary teachers’ trust in the university-based mathematics educators. We point to three factors that helped the development of trust and we use care theory to further understand and discuss these factors in the context of in-service teacher education initiatives.     

中国大陆教师专业学习社群的内涵与发展——基于对上海市中小学的调查研究

国际上越来越多的研究表明,专业学习社群能够促进教师专业发展及推动学校变革。本研究对专业学习社群进行概念化,并基于中国的学校背景,探索出一套教师专业学习社群的表现指标,对上海市7所中小学进行抽样调查。运用主成分分析法对数据进行分析,得到适用于中国大陆的指标体系,并进一步分析教师专业学习社群的内涵与发展状况。研究发现,所调查的学校在教师合作学习、专业能力、校长领导、结构支持方面均具有良好的表现,且组织变革障碍不大。可通过改善校长领导和结构支持,控制学校内部的组织变革障碍等途径促进教师合作学习和专业能力的发展,以进一步促进教师专业学习社群的发展。     

Cultivating an Environment That Contributes to Teaching and Learning in Schools: High School Principals’ Actions

Improving principal leadership is a vital component to the success of educational reform initiatives that seek to improve whole-school performance, as principal leadership often exercises positive but indirect effects on student learning. Because of the importance of principals within the field of school improvement, this article focuses on investigating the actions taken by principals working to cultivate an environment that contributes to effective teaching and learning. Utilizing data from 183 high school principals in Taiwan, this article finds that principals contribute to the healthy environment through personal, organizational, professional, and communal approaches. This article proposes that a respectful and caring learning community is the ideal environment for teaching and learning. This article also provides suggestions for principal leadership development that will help facilitate such an environment.     

Exploring teachers’ beliefs about teacher learning in professional learning communities and their influence on collegial activities in two departments

Factors leading to successful professional learning communities (PLCs) have been widely discussed in the West, but little is known about how/whether teachers’ beliefs contribute to PLCs in the Chinese context. This qualitative case study aimed to investigate teachers’ beliefs about teacher learning in PLCs and their influence on collegial learning activities in two departments of a Hong Kong secondary school. Semi-structured interviews and observations were employed to collect data. The findings indicate that teachers in the Chinese Department believed that learning could be achieved in PLCs and their practices of collegial activities were conducive to teacher learning. Conversely, teachers in the English Department did not believe that interacting with colleagues would foster learning and their collegial activities yielded limited accomplishment in teacher growth. It is suggested that teachers’ beliefs play an important role in facilitating or impeding reform initiatives on teacher development. Implications for teacher education and further studies are discussed.     

Whole-School Collaborative Sustained Professional Development and Science Teacher Change: Signs of Progress

The experiences of middle school science teachers at two schools in the southeastern US who participated in collaborative, sustained, whole-school professional development and their implementation of standards-based instructional practices are the focus of this study. Participants were involved in their second year of the professional development experience. The research question that was explored was “How are science teachers implementing standards-based instruction while participating in effective professional development experiences?” Data collected in the form of teacher interviews and classroom observations using an observation protocol. Findings indicate that even with effective professional development, teachers implement standards-based instructional practices at varying levels. The reasons for these differences are discussed and the role of teacher beliefs and the impact of beliefs, experience and support from administrators on professional development efforts are discussed. Implications for future science education reform stakeholders and professional development efforts are revealed.     

Intertwining opportunities:: participants’ perceptions of professional growth within a multiple-site teacher education network at the secondary level

Teachers’ professional growth is far better documented within elementary professional development schools than it is within multi-site school partnerships at the secondary school level. This article fills an empirical gap by focusing on the professional development of 35 secondary school teachers and two professors within a school/university teacher education partnership focused on one content area. The University of Georgia Network for English Teachers and Students (UGA-NETS) is attached to a Research I institution and committed to on-going, discipline-based, collaborative inquiry and the education of 25 teacher candidates each year. Analysis of surveys, focus group and individual interviews, field notes, and documents across 5 years reveals that participants perceive 4 sites for their own professional development: individual school and university classrooms, school and university departments, the teacher network, and teacher education locally and beyond. The author also presents challenges to professional development within multi-site and secondary school partnerships including disturbing the status quo and the question of agendas, levels of buy-in, and diversity and equity.     

Locating learning in teachers’ communities of practice: opening up problems of analysis in records of everyday work

Research spanning more than two decades points to the benefits of vigorous collegial communities, yet relatively little research examines specifically how professional communities supply intellectual, social and material resources for teacher learning and innovations in practice. This paper examines the theory-building potential of audio- and videotaped records of situated interaction among teachers in the course of everyday work. The paper employs a small segment of a larger data set to chronicle analytic dilemmas and opportunities and to introduce a scheme for theorizing about the nature and significance of professional community for teacher development and school reform.     

校本教师发展与教师专业学习共同体的建构

相对传统教师发展的范式,即自上而下的发展模式——校本教师发展强调教师为改革的中心,教师发展应立足于教师工作的环境和脉络之中,以课堂和学校为本位。教师专业学习共同体则关注教师发展的脉络化,强调通过在学校中建构专业学习共同体,实现教师学习和实践的共享,从而提升教师质素,并实现学校向学习型组织的转变。校本教师发展与教师专业学习共同体在学校脉络这一平台上实现融合,教师在学校的专业学习共同体之脉络中,借由分享领导、集体学习、共享实践,并最终形成教师发展的学校本位之系统建构。     

以专业共同体促进教师专业成长

生态变革取向的教师专业发展观超越了只从教师个体层面探讨教师专业发展的单一视角,注重从文化、组织或制度的层面研究教师的专业发展,提出建构教师专业共同体。本文以教师专业共同体理论为基础,分析教师的专业成长对专业共同体的诉求,立足于建立教师专业共同体的四大基石,阐述如何促进和支持教师专业共同体的成长。     

试论中学英语教师继续教育模式规定性的建构

通过阐述中学英语教师继续教育的时代背景，探究处于教育现代化、英语课改和教师专业发展视角下的英语教师角色特征，从而探寻中学英语教师继续教育模式规定性的建构。     

“There's going to be community. There's going to be knowledge”: Designs for learning in a standardised age

Using the case of a secondary English department in Ontario, Canada, this article examines the constraints that academic departments face in transforming themselves from communities of practice into learning communities. This distinction between a community of practice and a learning community has taken on heightened importance as increasing curriculum standardisation and high stakes assessments further narrow the historically fragile opportunities for deep and collaborative teacher learning within the traditionally structured academic department. The paper proposes some theoretical considerations and concrete strategies to assist academic departments in overcoming constraints to learning within an era of increasing standardisation and accountability. It further explores how the international movement of educational post-standardisation promises greater opportunities for the development of teacher learning communities within academic departments.     

专业共同体:教师发展的组织基础

在专业共同体中推动教师专业发展是教师教育改革的新方向。本文论述了教师专业共同体的概念、特征、理论基础、重要意义,并指出构建教师专业共同体的关键是学校文化的重建。     

Teacher storytelling: A means for creating and learning within a collaborative space

Research has suggested that collaborative professional communities of teachers support on-going teacher professional development, school reform, and student achievement. Little research has outlined how teachers, especially high school teachers, develop new patterns of interaction to create such communities. This articles focuses on how teacher storytelling fostered collegiality and learning for a cross-disciplinary group of high school teachers. The storytelling helped the teachers create a collaborative learning space, link the personal–private realm of teaching to the public-conceptual realm, reflect on their teaching and see new practical directions, and co-construct a shared understanding of good pedagogy.     

关于中学数学教育研究的元研究——基于2005—2009年中国期刊网数据的分析

应用文献计量法,对2005—2009年中国期刊网上有关中学数学教育研究的文章进行再研究.研究内容主要涉及文章的篇数、期刊、参考文献引用情况、研究者身份、研究领域和研究方法等方面.研究表明:中学数学教师的专业发展正由外部期望转向内部需求;中学数学教育研究具有两面性;中学数学教育研究"趋同度高"、"分野度低";中学数学教育研究在方法上"程序简单的多"、"复杂设计的少"等特征.     

小学教师教育模式改革的设想

当前小学教师教育面临基础课程改革和教师教育发展的挑战,高等师范教育和教育管理部门面临重组教育资源、课程设置、教材建设等方面的诸多问题。因此,要通过全面深入地改革创新小学教师培养模式,转变教育观念,优化小学教育专业课程设置,强调教学实践环节,加强教材建设,努力培养适应基础教育改革与教师教育发展需要的优质的小学教师。     

They Said It Couldn't Be Done: Implementing a Career Academy Program for a Diverse High School Population

The literature on teacher turnover has traditionally focused on teachers whose destinations are external to the school (be it another school, district or state, or profession). In this article I examine internal turnover that takes place among teachers who remain at their school but change their subject assignments. I analyze the levels, causes, and impacts on school reform of internal turnover within the science faculties at three urban middle schools during 4 years of a whole-school reform program. Major findings include the following: (a) Internal turnover levels are high, higher than external turnover; (b) subject assignments made without regard to both teachers' subject interests and stability of assignments appear to be the primary causes of internal turnover; (c) district policies allowing elementary-certified teachers to teach any subject foster internal turnover; and (d) internal turnover has serious detrimental impacts on school reform. I identify district and school-level policy options to reduce the level of internal turnover to support reform.     

CONTENT ANALYSIS OF 1998–2012 EMPIRICAL STUDIES IN SCIENCE READING USING A SELF-REGULATED LEARNING LENS

In this study, we investigated the impact of teaming school-based instructional coaches with science or mathematics middle school teachers to build a community of practice around inquiry instruction. This professional development model began with a 2-week summer institute and continued with four follow-up sessions during the academic school year for the teacher and instructional coach participants. The teachers’ participation in this professional development program with (1) content instruction through inquiry lessons, (2) practice teaching to middle school students, and (3) coach-led reflection improved their understanding of inquiry-based practices and the quality of their classroom inquiry implementation. Professional development experiences that prepare teachers and coaches simultaneously in inquiry and content may help build a shared language for reform and accelerate inquiry instructional changes.     

中学英语教师高效教学行为归因研究——教育信念的分析视角

强调实践性英语教学,主张促进学生自主学习与主动发展,坚持教师专业发展的教育信念,是中学英语教师专业素质的综合体现,它蕴含了基础教育改革所要求的现代教育理念,成为优秀英语教师高效教学行为的动力源泉和有力支撑。     

Developing collaborative approaches to enhance the professional development of primary mathematics teachers

This research project promoted a collaborative model of professional development between lead teachers from three schools, supported by a project coordinator and a researcher from a local university. Each lead teacher worked with their head teacher to design, lead, and evaluate an innovative, personalised, and school-based mathematics continuing professional development (CPD) programme in their school. University staff helped to facilitate project meetings across the schools and monitored impacts within each school. Professional development meetings, involving all teachers and teaching assistants (TAs) from the schools (n?=?55), were designed to encourage a whole-school approach. The project also provided structured opportunities for the lead teacher to work with colleagues in the classroom, for example, through lesson observation and/or collaborative teaching. The outcomes from this project confirmed that collaborative models of CPD, as opposed to transmission, formal training, and ‘top-down’ models, were welcomed by teachers and head teachers – some of whom reported early indications of improvements in student performance. Commenting on what constitutes the most effective forms of CPD, there was a reiteration of the importance of combining peer and external support through a collaborative process.