Using activity systems analysis to identify inner contradictions in teacher professional development

This study took place in the United States and explored teacher perspectives on the situational factors that influence their professional development using Engeström's (Engeström, Y. (1987). Learning by expanding: An activity-theoretical approach to developmental research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit Oy) four levels of inner contradictions in activity systems analysis. In this process, we addressed the question: what do teachers perceive as sources of conflicts in their professional development? Semi-structured interviews with participants were the primary data source in this study. By using this analysis method, the findings indicated that teachers perceived that their motivation and goals for participating in professional development were not in alignment with their school district and universities that designed and facilitated professional development activities. This misalignment contributed to various situational challenges that became obstacles for teachers to improve their classroom practices through curricular-based interventions.     

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。     

维果茨基社会文化理论视域中的教师专业发展

维果茨基的社会文化理论采用多维方法,特别关注个体认知、情感、社会和情境方面的变化,对我们理解教师的学习和发展模式提供了新的视角。考察了社会中介的概念,它是维果茨基学习理论与现有教师专业发展模式之间缺失的环节。新教师可以使用各种工具,包括专业期刊、通信工具、在线论坛、互联网、相关软件、实习或实习脚手架的内部或外部来源,促进专业发展并逐步成长为专家教师。讨论了拟议方法对设计和实施教师专业发展的各种影响,将教师专业发展与维果茨基的社会文化理论的核心原则联系起来。     

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.     

Preliminary impacts of the “Learning to Read in a Healing Classroom” intervention on teacher well-being in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

This article examines the impacts of a partial year of implementation of Learning to Read in a Healing Classroom (LRHC), a curricular and social-emotional teacher professional development intervention in southeastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on teacher professional well-being. Using a cluster-randomized control trial, this study assesses LRHC impacts on a sample of 346 teachers from 64 primary schools. We find statistically significant increases in job dissatisfaction for female teachers and increases in motivation for the least experienced teachers. Implications are discussed for the role of teacher professional development and well-being in improving education in low resource and conflict-affected contexts.     

国企高职院校教师专业发展的发展性评价

国企高职院校教师素质落后影响着办学质量,教师专业发展应该得到重视,实施发展性教师评价是促进国企院校教师专业发展的必要途径。实施策略在于：坚持以人为本的原则,关心教师实际需要;以教师专业发展为目标,制定相关评价标准;尊重教师个性心理发展,让教师有更多自主权;立足于教学模式改革,着眼于教师文化建设;坚持评价方式科学性,注重产学结合诊断教学;倡导政府与企业协作共建,把国企院校纳入正轨     

The role of stereotype threat in ethnically minoritized students’ science motivation: A four-year longitudinal study of achievement and persistence in STEM

Grounded in expectancy-value and stereotype threat theories, this four-year longitudinal study examined associations between changes in stereotype threat and motivation (self-efficacy, task values, and perceived costs) among 425 undergraduates from racial/ethnic groups typically underrepresented in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Growth analyses indicated that students’ stereotype threat and perceived cost of studying science increased during college, whereas science self-efficacy, intrinsic value, and attainment value declined. Parallel growth analyses suggested that higher initial stereotype threat related to a faster decline in attainment value and faster increase in perceived costs throughout college. Higher initial levels and a steeper increase in stereotype threat related to lower STEM GPA. Higher initial levels and a slower decline in motivation variables related to higher STEM GPA and more completed STEM courses. These findings provide empirical evidence for the relations between stereotype threat and motivation among underrepresented minority students during a key developmental period.     

Can you hear it? Toward conceptual clarity of emotional cost and negative emotions

Research on cost beliefs has surged over the past several years. Though many dimensions of cost have been identified, researchers have often conflated these dimensions with one another. Moreover, some dimensions of cost may actually refer to already established constructs. In the current study, we explore the potential jangle fallacy between emotional cost and negative emotions, including anger, frustration, anxiety, boredom, and confusion, with particular attention to the costs and emotions that students anticipated to be associated with a course, as well as the costs and emotions that students actually experienced during the course. Results of this study provide evidence that emotional cost and negative emotions are distinct constructs in both their anticipated and experienced forms, although some similarities between constructs were also identified. Future directions are discussed for providing more conceptual clarity of emotional cost.     

Teachers’ Understanding and Operationalisation of ‘Science Capital’

Across the globe, governments, industry and educationalists are in agreement that more needs to be done to increase and broaden participation in post-16 science. Schools, as well as teachers, are seen as key in this effort. Previous research has found that engagement with science, inclination to study science and understanding of the value of science strongly relates to a student's science capital. This paper reports on findings from the pilot year of a one-year professional development (PD) programme designed to work with secondary-school teachers to build students’ science capital. The PD programme introduced teachers to the nature and importance of science capital and thereafter supported them to develop ways of implementing science capital-building pedagogy in their practice. The data comprise interviews with the participating teachers (n?=?10), observations of classroom practices and analyses of the teachers’ accounts of their practice. Our findings suggest that teachers found the concept of science capital to be compelling and to resonate with their own intuitive understandings and experiences. However, the ways in which the concept was operationalised in terms of the implementation of pedagogical practices varied. The difficulties inherent in the operationalisation are examined and recommendations for future work with teachers around the concept of science capital are developed.     

教师专业发展实施策略研究

教师专业发展是当前课程改革实施的关键。教师专业发展的主要途径应基于教师的自主学习、教师的反思、课题的研究、课程的开发及教师间的合作。为确保教师专业发展,学校要为教师专业发展创造良好的条件和环境。