Restructuring a traditional student teacher supervision model: Fostering enhanced professional development and mentoring within a professional development school context

The purpose of this study was to pilot an alternative student teaching supervision model at a college of education in a US context. In the study, the collaborators used multiple paired dyads to supervise student teachers with multiple supports from college faculty. This study examined how teachers and university faculty planned the use of paired dyads and how participants responded to the innovation. The findings suggest teachers and junior faculty can undertake bottom-up reform within larger systemic constraints.     

美国教师专业发展学校的形成与发展

“专业发展学校”的建立是美国教师教育改革的新举措，它对美国教师教育的发展和教学质量的改善起了重要作用。该文从美国教师专业发展学校的产生因素、形成过程及其意义三方面对其形成和发展进行了探讨。     

The skill development processes of apprenticeship

Apprenticeship has a long history of success in developing skills. Despite this potential for adult education, the tacit core of apprenticeship has made it difficult to derive educational principle. This paper addresses the nature of this tacit core by intuiting generic principles from case studies of apprenticeship. Cases are taken from the Japanese tea ceremony, traditional crafts, and strategic thinking. The cases highlight a novice's cumulative growth in internal knowledge from reflectively practising a prescribed skilful process. The implications of the principles of internal knowledge and skilful process for adult education centre on instructors who are skilled experts engaged in continually improving the skilful processes they model. Implications for theory centre on an emphasis on a demand for worker participation and cooperation with management in on-the-job training.     

Supporting online collaborative design for teacher professional development

ABSTRACT

This article describes a study of online collaborative design in the context of teacher professional development. Twenty-five teachers from different Spanish universities participated in the online course. The aim was to understand how to support teachers in interuniversity teams to collaborate fully online throughout the learning design process of a scenario based on their discipline integrating information and communications technology (ICT), an issue scarcely tackled in the literature. The described interpretive study, using mixed methods, explores the support of online co-design provided by a novel ICT community platform named ILDE (Integrated Learning Design Environment). Lessons drawn from the results can contribute to the improvement of online collaborative design processes in the context of teacher professional development.     

Situated learning,professional development,and early reading intervention: A mixed methods study

The purpose of the present mixed methods study was to investigate a model of situated professional development and classroom-based early reading intervention implemented by the K–2 teaching teams from one school in a large urban/suburban school district in the southeastern United States. Twenty-nine teachers participated along with 125 students (74 intervention, 51 comparison). Student-level data sources included letter-word identification, word attack, spelling of sounds, and passage comprehension measures. Teacher-level data sources included semistructured interviews with each teacher, planning/recording documents, and pre/post questionnaires to gather information about teachers’ self-efficacy and demographics. The main conclusions were the following: (a) struggling readers eligible for intervention made significant gains, (b) struggling readers eligible for intervention made significantly greater gains than their nonstruggling peers did, (c) teachers’ reflections on the intervention and the situated professional development were generally positive, and (d) teachers’ self-efficacy for instructional strategies positively changed across the year.     

The contradictory location of high school apprenticeship in Canada

Recent education policies focus on making youth pathways more transparent while addressing skills shortage. However, there appears to be ambivalence about the target audience for ‘new vocational’ programmes in secondary schools and how they should be organized. This paper begins from the observation that Canadian policy‐makers, like those in other countries, have shown increasing interest in bringing vocational and academic tracks into closer alignment. However, drawing on empirical data from a number of case studies of high school apprenticeship, we argue that persistent tensions in educational policy and practice can be explained by the legacy of the historical development of high school vocational education, the ambivalent position of vocational education in the ‘knowledge‐based economy’ and the competing interests of different partners. We conclude that greater awareness of the distributional issues that underlie vocational education policies is needed.     

The challenges of scaling-up and sustaining professional development school partnerships

This article addresses the challenges PDS partnerships face as they go to scale. Based on Coburn's (2005) notions of scale, the article uses organizational theory to analyze data from a ten-year qualitative meta-synthesis of PDS partnership research. Based upon the analysis, the article offers four recommendations: PDS partnerships should sustain strong trajectories of research regarding their work; Stakeholders in PDS partnerships need to ensure that faculty and staff have adequate support to thrive; PDS partnerships need to be based upon enabling bureaucratic structures; and PDS partners need to create opportunities to engage with each other in positive, normative spaces.     

The professional development needs of secondary school information technology co-ordinators

Abstract

Analysis of a recent survey in the United Kingdom of the roles, concerns, training needs and support priorities of secondary school Information Technology Co-ordinators has revealed a number of factors and relationships amongst these variables and with other variables concerning the characteristics of schools. In this article we present and discuss the results of a recent survey in the United Kingdom of the roles, concerns, training needs and support priorities of secondary school Information Technology Co-ordinators (ITCs). We draw conclusions concerning the unique problems faced by ITCs as a result of the expectations placed upon them, not only to teach their own subject, but also to train and support other teachers in the pedagogical application of information technology (IT). In response to a great variety of needs, there is only limited support provided for them formally by their schools and by external sources. The most highly valued support comes from informal sources. We consider the implications of these conclusions for those concerned with providing professional development in IT education. We suggest that partnership approaches may provide the basis for much improved support for ITCs, with the aim of raising the standard of teaching in schools, both of IT as a subject and with IT as an aid. We also highlight the challenges for the partnerships between schools and higher education institutions which are attempting to provide initial teacher education for IT specialists.     

Bridging campus and field settings through professional development schools

Abstract

An assessment of the hopes, ambitions, and quality of life for millions of our young people leaves us with one inescapable fact—America is losing sight of many of its children and youth. There is grim and persistent evidence that our concern for the emotional and psychological well‐being of young people continues to wane—a fact that could have grave consequences for the future of our nation. This article advances a cause to which the next generation of professional teacher educators might productively dedicate themselves—a call for a renewal of spirit and a commitment to nourishing the conscience of our profession.     

The role of context in a collaborative problem-solving task during professional development

This article analyses how a group of teachers managed the resources available while performing computer-supported collaborative problem-solving tasks in the context of professional development. The authors video-recorded and analysed collaborative sessions during which the group of teachers used a digital environment to prepare a pedagogical scenario for subsequent implementation in their schools. The findings provide evidence that some aspects of context management can be explained in terms of explorative (opening problem space) and focused (closing problem space) actions. The results indicate that (a) the focused problem-solving took place when the problem space reached a provisional stability and problem-solvers developed a plan for proceeding with the task, (b) the individual exploration of the context was associated with the process of appropriation of a digital educational environment, and (c) the collective exploration of the context fostered the advancement of collaborative problem-solving and the introduction of new elements in the joint problem space.     

Developing and sustaining an educative mentoring model of STEM teacher professional development through collaborative partnership

In this paper, we present details of a partnership undertaken by four universities with field-based, alternative STEM teacher preparation programs and a large urban school district to provide ongoing professional support for teachers serving as mentors for individuals preparing for careers in high-poverty schools. We also present key findings related to our implementation of an educative mentoring professional learning community (PLC) as a professional development (PD) model for these mentors. Our analysis reveals that mentors as well as candidates identified the PD program as addressing their specific interests and concerns, and that they were regularly and deeply engaged with key activities that were part of each session’s agenda. These findings signal how key elements of PD workshops can contribute to creating and sustaining a local but replicable PLC utilizing an educative mentoring model to support mentors and the future teachers whom they support.     

Learning from dilemmas: teacher professional development through collaborative action and reflection

This article aims at describing and analysing the interpersonal and intrapersonal dilemmas experienced by a group of five university teachers as they engaged in collaborative inquiry, including the ways in which teachers managed these dilemmas and how this contributed to their professional development. The results are based on qualitative data collected through in-depth interviews, working sessions, participant observation and teacher narratives. Our findings illustrate how interpersonal and intrapersonal dilemmas co-occur when teachers engage in collaborative inquiry. Working together towards shared goals brought to the surface differences in beliefs and expectations that generated conflict and tension, which sometimes interfered with teachers’ willingness to work together. At the same time, introducing changes to their teaching practice – a major goal of inquiry communities – challenged teachers to question and revise their personal beliefs about teaching and learning, thereby triggering intrapersonal dilemmas. Our findings also confirm the key role of critical reflection for bringing these dilemmas to the surface and benefiting from the opportunities they provide for learning and change. Areas that warrant further exploration to better understand the dilemmas within inquiry communities and how to support teachers in handling them are discussed.     

Action research and collaborative research: their specific contributions to professional development

The increasing complexity of the teaching profession calls for engaged professionals in their professional development. This article claims that participative types of research contribute differently to professional development. Its intent is to explore the different contributions action research and collaborative research bring. One action research and one collaborative research have been conducted involving school personnel. They have been assessed mid‐course with regard to various components of professional development, including the learning taking place, changes made to professional practices and development of the collective competencies. Group interviews were conducted and each participant produced a written summary. The results show that participants’ individual competencies are strengthened, as well as collective competencies emerging such as the development of a common vocabulary and a shared vision about the school’s mission and mathematics curriculum. Learning is more relational in the action research project, and more connected to knowledge in the collaborative research project. Tensions are also present. They deal with the need to come up with concrete results, the urgency of action, the need to be open to the unknown, a tacit agreement to expose one’s vulnerability to others, the need for interdependence and for accountability. In conclusion, researchers identify their own sources of tensions and recognize that those types of research are important situations of learning.     

Teacher collaborative inquiry as a professional development intervention: benefits and challenges

The paper reports on a collaborative learning project coded as the teacher inquiry community that was carried out over a year in a private higher education institution to improve the professional capability of language-based subject teachers. Nine teachers completed the project all of whom were females and shared work experience of 2–29 years. Six of them held some form of qualification in education, and all except for one possessed at least a basic degree in some field. The study focused on three questions namely teacher benefits, impact of practice, and application of solutions. Findings revealed that the former two questions were well substantiated for most teachers, but the same thing could not be said of the third. While a number of senior teachers benefitted at the level of classroom implementation, the others explained away their inability to incorporate new ideas in their teaching. Individual characteristics and personality, and culture seemed to make a difference. However, the study concluded that the collaborative learning model could serve as a viable mechanism for the teachers’ professional development.     

校本课程开发与教师个体专业性发展

在我国基础教育课程从单一的国家课程模式走向国家、地方、学校三级课程管理模式的背景下，校本课程开发将成为今后我国中小学教师的一项重要任务。教师通过参与校本课程的开发工作，可以提升课程参与意识，掌握课程开发的技术，确立专业思想，拓展专业知识，发展专业能力，形成专业自我，从而不断促进教师的专业发展和教育质量的提高。     

The impact of a professional development model on middle school science teachers' efficacy and implementation of inquiry

This study investigated a professional development model designed to improve teachers' inquiry teaching efficacy as well as the quality of their inquiry instruction through engaging teachers in practice-teaching and reflection sessions. The programme began with a two-week summer Institute focused on both inquiry pedagogy and science content and continued with academic year support for participants' inquiry implementation. An inquiry teaching efficacy instrument was administered 3 times to 25 teacher participants to gauge changes in their personal self-efficacy and outcome expectancy across 5 essential features of classroom inquiry. To examine actual practices, pre/post classroom observations of the teachers' inquiry enactments were evaluated using a quality of inquiry observation protocol. Following the summer Institute, teachers had statistically significant increases in their self-efficacy for teaching inquiry in four of the five essential features and increases in one of the five essential features for outcome expectancy. Teachers' quality of inquiry teaching also increased after the professional development programme. We discuss implications of this PD model for moving teachers towards implementation of new instructional techniques as well as the influence of a supportive school community on teachers’ efficacy with inquiry instruction.     

试论小学教师专业特性及其培养体系的构建

当前,我国小学教师培养体系"乱象纷呈",复杂异常,面临诸多发展困境,主要症结在于我们对小学教师专业特性缺乏深度研究.小学教师需要的情商应超过智商,职业情感要求更为鲜明;教育专业性超过学科专业性,教育素养要求更为突出;技艺性超过研究性,专业技能要求更为侧重;广博性超过深刻性,专业知识要求更为全面.依据这些专业特性,我们应该采取如下对策:创立全国统一的小学教师教育标准体系;创建省域统筹的小学教师培养基地;创新人格本位的小学教师培养模式.