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.     

美国科学教师专业发展标准及其启示

美国科学课程教师专业发展标准是美国科学课程教师培养的重要依据,其特点为:重视科学课程教师正确的科学观与探究能力的形成,为科学课程教师构建综合、完整的知识结构,倡导终身、连续、一体化的培养模式。我国应加快研制自己的科学课程教师专业发展标准,使我国科学课程教师专业发展体现终身性、综合性、探究性与创新性。     

对农村学校师资队伍现状的思考

农村教师对农村教育发展具有重要意义。本分析了目前农村学校师资队伍建设与农村教育发展不相适应的现状，进而提出了加强农村学校师资队伍建设的途径。     

城乡教育统筹下外语教师均衡发展模式探索

本文从城乡教育统筹的视角,分析目前乡镇外语教师发展现状,探索从树立统筹观、创新培养模式、构建网络平台等多方面促进外语教师城乡均衡发展。     

Using video to support in-service teacher professional development: the state of the field,limitations and possibilities

Video is increasingly used to support in-service teacher professional development (TPD). Advances in affordability and usability of technology mean that interest is set to develop further. Studies in this area are diverse in terms of scale, methodology and context. This places limitations on undertaking a systematic review; therefore the authors use a scoping review approach. Their analysis involves 82 studies from which they thematise subtopics and assess research characteristics. This provides a much-needed analysis to inform researchers and practitioners. Additionally, the authors identify robust studies that consider the effect of video on teacher cognition and classroom practice. A consistent finding is that video is effective when used as part of TPD. Since studies largely use thematic qualitative analysis, however, this consensus needs further examination. Further qualitative and quantitative research is needed to identify how the use of video impacts on classroom practices.     

美国教师专业发展的几种模式及启示

随着教师专业化的发展,美国对教师专业发展采用不同层次的发展模式,主要有教师专业发展学校;学习型组织与团队学习;教师个人专业发展计划与自我教学实践反思等。将教师的职前培养,初任教师的过渡,在职教师的继续教育一体化,促进教师的专业成长。其成功的经验可以为我国教师专业发展提供借鉴。     

重庆市农村教师队伍持续发展方略探析

促进重庆市农村教师队伍持续发展的方略是：政府及时巩固已有成果,大力加强政策保障;提高工资福利,增强农村教师职业的吸引力;实现管理大改观,提高农村教师职业认同度;高度重视农村教师对于农村社会的特殊价值;改革师范教育,确保农村教师来源量足质优;多管齐下,全面提高农村教师职后培训质量;大力促进农村教师学习研究以实现自主发展。     

作为课程决策主体的中小学教师专业发展

当前我国中小学课程改革的一个重要趋势是教师参与课程决策,这一方面显著地提升了教师的专业地位,另一方面也对教师的专业发展提出了新的要求.作为课程决策主体,教师须具备课程意识、课程理念、课程决策能力及课程研究能力.养成这些专业素质的途径主要有校外培训、校本培训、课程研究、反思性课程决策实践和文化浸润.     

Professional identity tensions of beginning teachers

This study reports on interviews with 24 beginning teachers about tensions they experienced regarding their professional identity. The interviewees reported a total of 59 tensions of tension that fell into three themes: (1) the change in role from student to teacher; (2) conflicts between desired and actual support given to students; and (3) conflicting conceptions of learning to teach. Most of the tensions experienced conform with those found in the literature. Tensions were often accompanied by feelings of helplessness, frustration or anger, and the teachers had a strong desire to learn to cope with them. Because of their negative impact on beginning teachers’ professional development, it is important that teacher educators and mentors in schools pay serious attention to tensions like these that relate to beginning teachers’ professional identity.     

Discourse communities: A framework from which to consider professional development for rural teachers of science and mathematics

This paper explores aspects of professional development for teachers of science and mathematics in schools in rural Australia. The study identified a range of issues including tensions between government, school and individual professional learning priorities and their respective responsibilities; the shaping of professional development by rurality; and issues of generic versus subject-specific professional learning. The paper will focus on the needs of teachers, particularly secondary teachers, for subject-specific professional development and the capacity of different professional development approaches for satisfying these needs. The notion of discourse communities is proposed as a framework for considering this issue.     

美国促进农村教师专业发展的策略及启示

提高农村教师队伍的素质和水平是一个世界性课题。美国根据自身农村的结构性和动态性等特点,对如何促进农村教师的专业发展采取了有针对性的策略。美国教育部加大了对农村教育的专项经费资助,用于改善农村办学条件、提高农村教师工资和促进农村教师专业发展。美国高等学校专门设置针对农村教师的培养方案,并利用学校现有资源开展多种形式的农村教师专业发展项目。     

面向教师专业发展的区域视频网络教研

随着教育技术能力培训的深入开展,网络教研作为教师专业发展的有效途径越来越得到重视。本文分析了利用网络开展区域视频直播教研活动对教师专业发展的优势与作用,提出区域网络教研平台的结构和过程模型,并介绍了广州市开展这项活动的实施过程与效果,对于城乡之间和校际之间的网络教研体系的构建、促进区域教育均衡发展具有一定的借鉴价值。     

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.     

An evaluation of the collaborative mode of professional development for teachers in special schools in Hong Kong

This study, by Fuk‐chuen Ho of the Hong Kong Institute of Education and Michael Arthur‐Kelly of the University of Newcastle, aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a professional development programme for in‐service teachers in Hong Kong special schools. The goal of the programme was to deliver a field‐based mode of training for teachers in special schools. A school cluster system was set up, with the goal of providing participants with a platform through which it is possible to conduct an interactive exchange of ideas, resources, services and expertise, mutually addressing the issues pertaining to children with special needs. Twelve school clusters were organised. Participants in this study included four educators from teacher training institutions, 31 expert teachers from supporting schools, and 101 trainees from participating schools. The most significant response came from trainees, because the participating schools had the opportunity to apply the learned skills in their own classrooms.     

职业学校教师专业学习团队——一种基于校本课程开发的教师专业发展途径

教育质量是职业学校发展的生命线,提高职业学校教育质量的关键在于教师专业的发展,而校本课程开发是教师专业发展的有效途径。本文提出职业学校要依托校本课程开发这一平台,以建构教师专业学习团队为途径,通过促进教师专业发展来提高职业学校的教学质量。     

农村基础教育与农村城市化协调发展——以皖北地区农村为例

随着新农村建设进一步推进,农村社会发生了很大的变化,对农村基础教育也提出了新的要求。农村城市化、农业工业化、农民职业化是农业现代化发展的必然趋势。也是新农村建设的发展方向。然而,现阶段皖北农村基础教育远远滞后于新农村建设的需要,农村基础教育与新农村建设极不协调。因此,急需对农村基础教育进行改革,使农村基础教育适应农村城市化的需要。     

Understanding affordances and challenges of three types of video for teacher professional development

Although researchers have reported positive effects on teacher learning from observing published video, teachers’ own video, and their colleagues’ video, very few professional development programs have integrated all three types of video to improve teacher learning. In this study, we examined the affordances and challenges of the three types of video when they were used in a Problem-Based Learning professional development program, drawing upon multiple data sources from 26 K-12 science teachers. We present a case study to illustrate how one teacher might learn from each type of video, and conclude with recommendations for using video in professional development.     

突破职业认同困境 谋求农村学校体育教师专业发展

教师整体素质主要取决于教师专业化水平。关注农村学校体育教师生存现状,探索个体自我发展的内驱式教师专业自我发展路径,增强农村学校体育教师专业自我发展意识,督促在岗体育教师制定专业发展自我规划,优化专业知识结构,开展教师行动研究,是农村在岗体育教师专业发展的有效策略。     

Teacher collaboration and professional development in the workplace: a study of Portuguese teachers

This article reports on findings from research aimed at investigating teacher collaboration and professional development in the workplace. It draws upon a broader study carried out in a school in Northern Portugal. Data were collected through questionnaires, semi-structured interviews and written reflective accounts. In total, 80 teachers participated in phase 1, 11 key informants participated in phase 2 and 10 teachers participated in an intervention/training project (phase 3). Findings suggest that problems and limitations in relation to collaborative work are situated at the organisational level, such as time and working conditions. Lack of training in collaboration, and issues such as motivation and personal difficulties, also emerged from the data. Teachers tend to stress the importance of interpersonal relationships at school, but they also identified formal meetings when they described the contexts and opportunities to work collaboratively in the workplace, namely department meetings and projects driven by central government or school administration initiatives. Implications for teacher collaboration and professional development are discussed.