Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Teacher professional development and learning'
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Bush, Nicole Lea. "The evolution of a professional learning community in a professional development school." Ashland University / OhioLINK, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ashland1458523042.
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Beard, Gaysha V. "The adult learner, professional development, and the literacy coach an effective professional development model proposal /." Access to citation, abstract and download form provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company; downloadable PDF file, 96 p, 2008. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1472129381&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=8331&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Jones, Gail, Grant E. Gardner, Laura Robertson, and Sarah Robert. "Science Professional Learning Communities: Beyond a Singular View of Teacher Professional Development." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2013. https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu-works/764.
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Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) are frequently being used as a vehicle to transform science education. This study explored elementary teachers' perceptions about the impact of participating in a science PLC on their own professional development. With the use of The Science Professional Learning Communities Survey and a semi-structured interview protocol, elementary teachers' perceptions of the goals of science PLCs, the constraints and benefits of participation in PLCs, and reported differences in the impact of PLC participation on novice and experienced teachers were examined. Sixty-five elementary teachers who participated in a science PLC were surveyed about their experiences, and a subsample of 16 teachers was interviewed. Results showed that most of the teachers reported their science PLC emphasized sharing ideas with other teachers as well as working to improve students' science standardized test scores. Teachers noted that the PLCs had impacted their science assessment practices as well as their lesson planning. However, a majority of the participants reported a differential impact of PLCs depending on a teacher's level of experience. PLCs were reported as being more beneficial to new teachers than experienced teachers. The interview results demonstrated that there were often competing goals and in some cases a loss of autonomy in planning science lessons. A significant concern was the impact of problematic interpersonal relationships and communication styles on the group functioning. The role of the PLC in addressing issues related to obtaining science resources and enhancing science content knowledge for elementary science teachers is discussed.
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Moodley, Kimera. "Mobile learning : a professional teacher technical identity development framework." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/67413.
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This study explored Professional Teacher Technical Identity Development through the use of Mobile Technology. A sample of fifteen teachers was conveniently selected from one school in an urban setting. An action research was designed consisting of three phases. Each phase formed the basis of the next phase to identify the development of professional teacher technical identity. Data was collected using a written questionnaire, two reflective journals, an online questionnaire, focus group discussions, lesson reflections, and interviews. Each instrument was designed using the literature to identify factors that impact on the implementation of mobile technology in classrooms and teachers’ acceptance towards mobile technology. The results were interpreted using three existing models to create a framework: The Technology, Pedagogy and Content Knowledge model, Technology Acceptance Model and Substitution, Augmentation, Modification and Redefinition Model.
It was found that there are six factors that affect the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use of technology. These are attitude, anxiety, ability, subjective norm, facilitating conditions and voluntariness. The perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness determine the level at which technology is implemented in classrooms. The level of integration determines whether or not successful teaching in terms of the three elements of TPCK is being used. During the process whereby teachers attempt to implement technology in their classrooms, it is possible to identify changes in their professional teacher technical identity development. These changes are interpreted and a new framework for Professional Teacher Technical Identity Development is created. It is proposed that this framework can be used to explain the implementation process and behaviour of teachers during the process as their teacher identity is altered.Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Science, Mathematics and Technology Education
PhD
Unrestricted
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Brennan, Amy R. "Reconceptualizing Teacher Professional Development as Professional Learning: A Qualitative Case Study of a School-Supported Self-Directed Professional Learning Model." Miami University / OhioLINK, 2021. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=miami1623956218485476.
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Sheffield, Rachel. "Facilitating teacher professional learning : analysing the impact of an Australian professional learning model in secondary science." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2004. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/811.
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In education, innovations are frequently introduced to promote changes to the curriculum, teachers' practice, and the classroom environment, however, these initiatives are often implemented without sufficient evaluation to monitor their impact and effectiveness in bringing about the desired changes. This thesis analyses the impact of a teacher professional learning program on lower secondary science teachers' practice. It examines the relationship between teachers' concerns about the strategies incorporated in the Collaborative Australian Secondary Science Program (CASSP) and teachers' ability to understand the strategies, on their ability to utilise those strategies in the classroom. It also seeks to determine teachers' beliefs about their current science teaching practice and how this is different from their beliefs about ideal science teaching, and also, how these beliefs direct teachers’ classroom practice. Finally this study describes a number of primary and secondary factors found to impact on teachers' professional learning. 11tc CASSP model encapsulates the primary factors of curriculum exemplars (curriculum resources), explanation und modelling (professional development), and reflection (participative inquiry). The secondary factors include ensuring adequate time for change to occur, student support and participation, peer teacher support, support from lenders including-heads of department, support from the school administration and support from state education officers. This study has demonstrated that teachers’ professional learning is a complex process that is strongly influenced by teachers' beliefs, concerns and understandings, and is impacted by the primary and secondary factors identified by the research. Teachers must be able to envision the advantages of incorporating new strategies into their existing practice, and consequently seek to make these changes to their teaching. This study has shown that students are also an important influence the implementation of an innovation, without their support, teachers are unlikely to make successful changes to their teaching practice. lmplications of the research include the need to elaborate the CASSP professional learning model to include the secondary factors identified in the study, and the need to inform students about innovations so that they can see the benefits for them in terms of improved learning outcomes.
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Neufeld, Janet K. "The superintendent’s role in teacher professional development." Diss., Kansas State University, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/2097/34494.
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Doctor of EducationDepartment of Educational Leadership
Donna Augustine-Shaw
Jessica Holloway
School superintendents have traditionally been removed from the systemic process of learning in a school district and instead of been considered more indirect supporters of student achievement. Now, in the face of changing leadership standards, they are being required to provide leadership that more directly enhances student learning by way of teacher professional development. This case study takes a deeper look into the process of the superintendent’s role in district professional development. This will include a purposeful examination to clearly understand the superintendent’s role in designing, implementing, and monitoring professional development in the school district. The study includes (a) the meaning of professional development; (b) examination of school leadership theories and roles; and (c) analysis of how professional development impacts the classroom design of a district instructional framework for professional development.
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Langdon, Frances June. "Beginning Teacher Learning and Professional Development: An Analysis of Induction Programmes." The University of Waikato, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/2624.
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The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the first two years of beginning teachers' professional development and learning. The study sought to document and understand the conditions and discursive practices of seven purposely selected schools that were implementing robust beginning teacher induction programmes. The focus was on induction, located in a comprehensive national system, to reveal the practices and tensions experienced by beginning teachers as they advanced their learning and development. It is anticipated that the seven case studies, along with the working theory of sound induction will add to the body of knowledge in the field of teacher learning and professional development and contribute to the debate about teachers' work and quality teaching. Few studies have investigated beginning teacher (BT) induction in comprehensively resourced systems. Much of the research investigates fragmented parts of BT experiences. The literature shows that when a holistic examination of induction is carried out it tends to be predominantly in the secondary school context. In-depth research into year one and year two teacher learning and professional development in sound primary school induction programmes was not found. The study provides a working theory of beginning teacher learning and, as Renwick (2001, p. 33) suggested, exemplars to maximise the effectiveness of schools to employ and support beginning teachers . Sound induction has the potential to positively influence teacher practice as research evidence indicates early career experiences affect future practice. The research is a multi-site collective case study that takes an interpretative, qualitative stance drawing on constructionism to inform the interplay between sociological and psychological theoretical disciplines, which make the information visible in different ways. The case studies scrutinise in depth, individual school contexts and are instrumental in providing better understanding and theorising about the collective case of beginning teacher induction. The primary sources of data were individual and focus group interview transcriptions. In addition, there were the accompanying notes and related school documentation. i Data analysis was an iterative process of inductive and deductive reasoning to make meaning that moved beyond description to identify categories and themes that emerged both within schools and across schools. Evidence of sound BT induction was found although variation in induction practices between schools was noted. Beginning teacher induction went beyond advice and guidance to incorporate educative mentoring in collaborative, collegial schools where high expectations prevailed. The findings suggest that teacher learning should be informed but not constrained by lock-step models of learning and development. Aspects of development as a professional were advanced and, in other respects, marginalised by the education policy focus on children's achievement. Feedback and children's learning and achievement underpin beginning teachers' judgements about their development as teachers. The socio-economic school contexts were less important than the quality of leadership, school cultures, expectations and the confidence of individual novice teachers. The study raises questions about the nature of teachers' work and teacher, government and societal expectations. It is anticipated that these findings will increase understanding of, and provoke debate about beginning teacher learning and their development as professionals.
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Ripley, Jerry W. "Teacher Perceptions of Individual Professional Learning Plans." Digital Commons @ East Tennessee State University, 2016. https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/2949.
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The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine PK-12 teacher perceptions of an individual professional learning plan (PLP). Specifically, the researcher examined the perceived benefits of the PLP as well as the whether the PLP helped focus teacher learning. Additionally, the researcher examined teacher perceptions of learning activities within the context of the PLP, teacher intent to implement new learning, and perceived impact on teaching practice. Participants in this study were teachers from 16 schools in a single eastern Tennessee school district. All data were collected using an online survey distributed to 525 teachers resulting in a 44% return rate with 238 respondents. Data collected from 24 survey questions measured on a 4-point Likert-type scale were analyzed using single sample t tests.
Findings indicate that regardless of level of experience or grade level taught teachers have significantly positive perceptions of PLPs as well as the associated PD activities. Findings also indicate teachers have significant perceptions of the application of their learning and significant perceived impact from PD within PLPs.
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Quantz, Mary Ann. "Effective Professional Development: A Study of a Teacher-Initiated, Interdisciplinary Professional Learning Community." BYU ScholarsArchive, 2012. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/3650.
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This is a narrative inquiry study that describes the experiences of five junior high school teachers who participated in an interdisciplinary, voluntary professional learning community (PLC). Using identity as an analytic lens for the participants' experiences, and content-area literacy as the context for the PLC, the study describes how teachers involved in a PLC focused on inquiry and teacher learning storied their own experiences in the PLC. The participants' experiences highlighted three main themes which were (1) experiences with past ineffective professional development, (2) inadequacy, and (3) changes in thinking. The study highlights how these themes demonstrate the development of the participants' professional and group identities in their school setting. This study also includes a literature review and expanded methods section in the appendices.Keywords:
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Chiu, Siu-hong. "The impact of learning study on teachers' professional development." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B35669962.
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Mettler, Eunice. "Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) practices of teachers in working class schools in the Western Cape." University of the Western Cape, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/5355.
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Magister Educationis (Adult Learning and Global Change) - MEd(AL)Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) of teachers at working class schools in South Africa has come under scrutiny over the past few years. Despite new education policies which incorporated the dire need for CPTD, the achievement of learners at working class schools remains poor. This investigation was prompted by the cause of this discrepancy. This study investigates the participation of teachers in Continuous Professional Development initiatives at working class schools in the Western Cape. The primary research question for this research paper is: “Why are teachers at working class schools not participating in CPTD initiatives as expected?” A qualitative approach within the interpretive paradigm was adopted throughout this study. The interpretive approach allowed the researcher to gain a more social world interpretation of the respondents as it provided insight in CPTD practices at working class schools. The process of data gathering was inductive as information emerges from interviews and questionnaires. Open-ended questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were used to gather data. The study comprised 15 respondents and included teachers at two schools and three officials from the Department of Education. The demographics of the two schools were similar which made it possible to ask the same questions for all respondents. The study highlighted the lack of participation of teachers in CPTD due to human, material and financial constraints. Urgent consideration needs to be given to eradicating these barriers for continuous professional development of teachers. Providers of CPTD should ensure that the needs of teachers are met and training should be embarked upon on a continuous basis. In addition, priority should be given to teachers employed at schools in working class areas.
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Schols, Maurice. "Continuing technology professional development : a technology learning preferences instrument to support teacher educators' workplace learning." Thesis, University of Roehampton, 2016. https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/studentthesis/continuing-technology-professional-development(07a1731f-420f-42ed-af16-7956aeea8eda).html.
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The knowledge-based economy, advances in information and communication technologies and new pedagogical perspectives all influence the need to improve competencies in the 21st century. Innovative educational ideas and concepts have transformed the roles of teacher educators and their students. Adequate technology training is therefore a prerequisite for the teacher educator to develop prospective teachers who can use new technologies to support and improve their students’ achievement gains. However, many of these efforts fail since they are mostly based on a formal, institutional delivery of instrumental knowledge and skills. Adequate technology training is a major factor that can help to promote the uptake of emerging technologies into the curriculum, which in turn benefits students (Yoon et al, 2007; Collins & Halverson, 2009; Earley & Porritt, 2014). This research seeks to add to current knowledge about teacher educators’ technology professionalisation and to provide an instrument for the purpose of mapping teacher educators’ technology learning preferences in the workplace. The technology learning preferences instrument (TLP-instrument) designed, implemented and evaluated in this research is intended to create a link between teacher-educators’ technology learning needs in the workplace and the way in which professional development programmes should be tailored to meet teacher educators’ evolving learning needs. The investigation employs a design-based research approach which is cyclical and appropriate for addressing complex problems in educational practice for which no clear guidelines for solutions are available. To collect and analyse the data, a mixed methods approach was used. The rationale for mixing both types of research is that qualitative and quantitative methods complement each other (Creswell & Plano-Clark, 2011). Findings in this dissertation and in follow-up research are intended to lead to more effective technology professionalisation programmes through suggestions for better design and development based on teacher educators’ learning needs.
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Smith, Charles Raymond. "Continuous professional learning community of mathematics teachers in the Western Cape: developing a professional learning community through a school-university partnership." University of the Western Cape, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/11394/4943.
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Philosophiae Doctor - PhDWays of enacting effective professional development (PD) and professional learning (PL) of teachers are diverse and often contested and therefore needs sustained inquiry (Schuck, Aubussona, Kearney, & Burden, 2013). The “quick fix” mentality that is endemic to most including those aimed at educational systems leads to very superficial implementation of improvement strategies, including teacher development. These strategies are usually bureaucratically mandated and superficially implemented in a top-down manner. One of the critical drawbacks of such superficial implementation of top-down improvement strategies is that it fails to appeal to teachers because of their historical experiences of such short term and intermittent improvement interventions. This study focussed on the development of a Professional Learning Community (PLC) as a possible continuous professional teacher development (CPTD) model with a promise to deliver effective CPTD. Literature in this regard indicates this model of CPTD as highly effective to support sustained teacher development. The efficacy a PLC is predicated on a collaborative and relational approach to teacher development and professional learning underpinned by a microclimate of commonality. The initiation of PLCs is a complex task. It requires a deep understanding of the processes involved in orientating teachers to processes that involve reflective dialogue and collaborative inquiry. Hence this study sought to investigate experiences of teachers in a PLC established through an alliance involving teachers, didacticians and education officials. This study found that the PLC signifier conveys significant meaning for teachers in terms of their engagement in the PLC. Moreover, teachers’ experiences of the PLC model confirmed the generally accepted features of a PLC. The importance of having a common vision, norms and standards was shown to be an important dimension of the PLC. Besides the fact that the active promotion of this shared vision by the PLC leadership and other education administrators was highlighted, teachers in general accepted the importance of being reflective practitioners. Despite this belief in the value of collaborative reflection, this study found that it does not take place as often as one would expect. This is, to some extent, due to the timetabling arrangements at most schools in the sample. Findings of this investigation provided evidence that it is possible in a PLC to effect a shift from professional development to professional learning. This is consistent with literature in this regard, for example, Benken & Brown (2010) support this argument by indicating that CPTD should be viewed as professional learning that is sustained over time. However, the issue of sustainability is an important challenge. This study revealed that teachers see sustainability as a function of three important variables, namely, recognition by school leadership and administrators, support from the organised teacher movements and subject organisations, and teacher commitment. Important affordances of a PLC identified through this study are relational agency, epistemic agency and a micro-climate of commonality. These affordances are viewed as important enablers of collaborative inquiry and reflective dialogue and underscores the community aspect of a PLC.
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Forrester, Catherine Margaret. "The Influence of On-site Professional Development on Teacher Practice." Thesis, Australian Catholic University, 2018. https://acuresearchbank.acu.edu.au/download/1c98ddfb5f1ff302feb888e849c19e2d94242a71358d9ec3b2f54a1a13cbcd8e/6328919/Forrester_2018_The_influence_of_on_site_professional_development.pdf.
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The purpose of this research was to explore how on-site professional development (PD) addresses the goal of improved teacher practice. It was conducted within the context of a national educational reform in Australia. This reform, implemented from 2009 to 2012/13, was a National Partnership Agreement (NPA) with the Commonwealth Government that included the Smarter Schools National Partnerships (SSNP).
This research was a multi-site case study of five Catholic primary schools that implemented on-site PD for four years as part of a system response to a reform agenda. Learning on-site was a change in practice for teachers that involved the establishment of professional learning communities (PLCs) and the appointment in each school of an additional school leader entitled a ‘Teacher Educator’ (TE).
The interpretative paradigm of research, through the lens of symbolic interactionism and the epistemology of constructionism, was adopted to guide and inform the study. A multi-site case study methodology was chosen as the five schools constituted a single case on multiple sites that shared the phenomenon of interest, i.e., on-site PD (Huberman & Miles, 2002). The data gathering methods were semi-structured interviews, group interviews and a pre-interview self-reflection tool. Findings emerged through qualitative data analysis that utilised the Constant Comparative Method (Merriam, 1998).
The major research question was: How does on-site professional development influence teacher practice?
Findings from this research indicate that on-site PD influenced teacher practice in certain ways. First, underpinning the approach to changing teacher practice was collaboration. School leaders shared the instructional leadership role and worked collaboratively with teachers, primarily in classrooms, to demonstrate how teaching practice could change. The influence of system leaders on teacher practice was a secondary process mediated by school leaders. Due to a perceived lack of strategic direction, teacher consultation, or involvement in schools throughout the reform, system leaders were not seen as having a positive influence on teacher practice. Second, the structure of the in-situ leadership role of the TE was a key influence on changed teacher practice because it had a singular emphasis on teaching and learning. However, these new roles also led to tension, defensiveness and feelings of vulnerability from teachers; therefore, building trusting relationships and credibility were critical to their influence. Third, because the evolution of PLCs was an organic process, they emerged differently and did not adhere to any set structure. They morphed over time and the guiding principle that drove their creation was the articulated needs of teachers and what the data revealed to be those of the students. The use of data, the deprivatisation of teaching practice and professional dialogue were associated and instrumental in building teacher capacity, and formed the core focus of the PLCs. These three characteristics influenced teacher practice as their data skills were built along with pedagogical content knowledge. Fourth, the construct of on-site PD influenced teacher practice because the learning for teachers was coherent, active, context specific, relevant, timely, accessible and immediate.
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Sari, Eunice R. "Teacher professional development in an online learning community : a case study in Indonesia." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2012. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/470.
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Over the past decade the rapid pace of technological innovation has changed the knowledge-based society and gradually changed the way teaching and learning are conducted (Hargreaves, 2003). Teachers are increasingly viewed as not only the knowledge providers, but also the facilitators of a learning process. These changes have been difficult for teachers to adapt to, requiring substantial amounts of professional development. In Indonesia, the government has continually developed a number of strategic education policies and implemented various pathways to improve the professionalism of teachers. Nonetheless, there are still a large number of teachers who struggle to access the professional development support provided by the Indonesian government for a variety of reasons. This is particularly the case for teachers who work in rural and remote areas, because many of the current Teacher Professional Development (TPD) practices still focus on teacher-centred approaches instead of collaborative approaches, and often only in the format of face-to-face interaction. Research has shown that an Online Learning Community (OLC) can support TPD and facilitate collaboration among teachers. As an open and voluntary form of gathering that involves education practitioners concerned with the general practice of teaching or specialist disciplines or areas of interest (Lloyd & Duncan-Howell, 2010), OLC promotes active and collaborative learning processes (Helleve, 2010) and gives an opportunity for teachers to engage in reflective practice that can lead to transformative professional development (Windschitl, 2002). This thesis presents the results of a study that set out to develop and implement an OLC to support the current TPD practices in Indonesia. This online learning community was called the Online Learning Community for Teacher Professional Development (OLC4TPD). The study investigated the facilitating and inhibiting factors of OLC4TPD implementation in Indonesia, and analysed how OLC4TPD supported TPD within the Indonesian context.
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Chang-Seo, Andrea J. "The Importance of Teacher Development| Investigating Teacher Experiences and Perspectives in Professional Learning Communities." Thesis, California State University, Long Beach, 2018. http://pqdtopen.proquest.com/#viewpdf?dispub=10823846.
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PLCs have been shown to be a promising professional development model in increasing overall student achievement. As a result, schools have turned to implementing Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) as a way to help teachers to collaborate, identify the needs of students, and formulate a plan to address the needs. However, little research has been done on how effective PLCs can contribute to both teacher development and student learning. Examining the experiences of teachers within PLCs is critical because, as a form of professional development, it can be used to help teachers feel supported within school sites which may, in turn, encourage retention rates.
The purpose of this study is to investigate teacher experiences and perspectives about the characteristics of effective PLCs that support their professional growth and commitment at a single urban high school site in Southern California. By examining effective PLC characteristics in this case study site, administrators and secondary school site leaders can benefit from implementing PLCs that focus not only on student learning but also with teacher development. This information can support the effective implementation of PLCs in K-12 districts that also contribute to teacher development and success. Creating effective PLCs can positively affect teacher development that may help deepen their commitment to the school and in return, create sustainable student achievement and teacher growth.
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Gesner, Emily K. "Talking About Teaching: A professional development group for preservice secondary teachers." The University of Waikato, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/2792.
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As teaching is a highly complex activity, so too is learning to teach. One pedagogy which has been shown to promote teacher learning is the use of small group discussion. This thesis examines the experiences of seven preservice secondary teachers at a New Zealand university who met weekly during their second practicum to discuss their experiences at their placement schools. Individual interviews conducted with five of the participants revealed that students felt positively about the weekly meetings. The preservice teachers appreciated 1) being able to hear about the experiences of other preservice teachers 2) tell others about their teaching 3) being able to seek advice and potential solutions to problems 4) the sense of personal connection and emotional support they gained during the weekly sessions. The students reported that the weekly meetings allowed them to think about their teaching from the perspective of others, and gave them time to reflect about their experiences while on practicum. This study situates these findings within the literature on initial teacher education and offers suggestions for future research using this pedagogy.
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Deignan, Ryan P. "K-12 music teacher-to-teacher collaboration in Iowa : an exploratory pilot study." Thesis, University of Iowa, 2017. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/5928.
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The purpose of this study was to measure the quantity, quality, and types of collaboration amongst K-12 music teachers in the state of Iowa. Survey responses (N = 97) were analyzed and grouped according to teacher characteristics. This sample of music educators reported the least collaboration on post-instruction, evaluative activity, such as reviewing assessments, data collection and analysis, and peer-observation. Respondents rated other parts of the collaborative process, such as group dialogue, decision-making, and action-taking, more highly. Teachers with a higher level of education reported more collaboration than less educated counterparts, while band teachers reported lower levels of collaboration quality compared to their choral and general music peers. Respondents also indicated that collaboration tends to increase with job continuity, but declines somewhat after teachers reach 25 years in the same school. Middle school teachers indicated the highest levels of collaboration, while K-12 teachers reported the lowest. Further, those teaching in larger schools recorded higher levels of collaboration than their smaller school colleagues. These results suggest that this group of K-12 music teachers in Iowa engage in moderate levels of collaborative activity overall and moderate to low levels of evaluative activity. Demographic results also reveal strengths and weaknesses of various subgroups’ collaborative habits. Researchers have found that high quality teacher collaboration improves teaching and learning outcomes. These results have implications for administrators providing professional development, preservice teacher educators, professional organizations, and current practitioners in the field who desire to implement more and higher quality collaboration for the purpose of instructional improvement.
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Duncombe, Rebecca. "Effective teacher learning in primary school physical education : an analysis of school-based collaborative professional learning as a strategy for teacher professional development." Thesis, Loughborough University, 2005. https://dspace.lboro.ac.uk/2134/7723.
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This thesis analyses the use of Collaborative Professional Learning (CPL) as a learning strategy for teachers' Continuing Professional Development (CPD) within primary Physical Education (PE) in England. Underpinning this research are the researcher's own experiences of teaching PE in a primary school and the problems faced as a result of inadequate initial teacher training and professional development in PE. The review of literature provides an overview of CPD and PE-CPD, examines both historical and current models of provision, and considers national and international criteria for effective and ineffective CPD. CPL has been identified as a key feature of effective CPD provision, thus the fieldwork phase of this research aimed to establish whether and how CPL could be used to enhance teachers' professional learning in primary PE. The fieldwork was divided into two phases. In the first phase, observations, interviews and questionnaires were employed to identify how primary teachers in two case study schools teach and learn within PE. In the second phase, knowledge gained from the earlier fieldwork and also the literature review was used to design two `models' of PE-CPD, based around athletics, to be delivered in the two schools over the course of a school term (3 months). Both models included the provision of resources, an athletics scheme of work with accompanying lesson plans and weekly sessions where the teachers were shown the skills necessary to teach athletics (throwing, jumping, running). Sessions within each model of provision were designed to reflect the principles of constructivist learning theory and employed school-based CPL as a tool for learning. The impact of each model upon the teachers' learning was evaluated through interviews, questionnaires and, in one school, observation of subsequent athletics lessons. The data from both phases of the research were analysed using a constructivist version of grounded theory (Charmaz, 2000). Whilst the two models of CPD were rated as effective and changed the ways in which PE was taught in the two schools, the teachers struggled to learn collaboratively. Three potential reasons for this are identified: teachers did not have the necessary PE subject knowledge about athletics to share with their colleagues; Communities of Practice (Wenger, 1998) within which the teachers could collaborate did not exist for primary PE in these two schools; the researcher didn't actively attempt to cultivate a Community of Practice and for CPD providers, this may be an essential step in maximising collaborative learning in PE-CPD. In addition, Wenger's (1998) social theory of learning is used as an analytical tool to further illustrate the personal, structural and practical barriers to CPL that existed in the two case study schools. Three tentative recommendations are made that would act as useful starting points for future research: in order to embed teachers' learning within the school context, teachers' `free' time should be restructured to facilitate CPL within Communities of Practice; timetables could be restructured to encourage team teaching; and lesson planning or planning schemes of work needs to be recognised as an opportunity for collaboration. Finally, in considering these findings in the context of the aims and structure of the new National PE-CPD Programme for England, it is-suggested that if the programme is to deliver its ambitious aims, it may need to be more radical than is currently the case.
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Shurtleff, Kay. "Teachers' Attitudes toward Professional Development: A Mixed Methods Study." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2020. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1703399/.
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Research has identified job context, specific attributes of professional development (PD), and perceived teacher input as factors that contribute to teachers' attitudes. This sequential mixed methods study tested those findings together and further investigated teachers' beliefs and attitudes about their own professional learning. The first phase of data collection included a 5-item attitude survey, demographic information, and two short-answer questions. Multiple regression analysis of the sample (N = 328) showed four statistically significant contributors to teacher attitude: (i) socioeconomic status of the school, (ii) teacher years of experience at the campus, (iii) content area taught, and (iv) degree attained by the teacher. During the second phase, six focus groups were conducted which confirmed earlier findings and revealed four themes in teachers' attitudes: (1) a need and desire for collaborative, engaging PD; (2) perceived interference from outside forces that supplant teachers' own PD goals and wishes; (3) a need to establish a context and a cohesive plan for long-term career and campus goals; and (4) a subgroup of teachers who believe that PD has little inherent value. Limitations and implications are included.
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Martello, Kristen Lynn. "Influence of Professional Learning Communities on K-8 Teacher Responsibilities." ScholarWorks, 2018. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/5373.
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Professional learning communities (PLCs) were established in a local suburban school district in 2010; however, since their inception, the value of the program has not been determined. In a K-8 school district, a qualitative case study was conducted to determine the influence of PLCs on the 4 domains of teacher responsibilities: preparation, classroom environment, teaching, and professional duties. The conceptual framework was based on Bandura's social learning theory and Danielson's framework for teaching. The research questions focused on how teacher participation and the allotment of time in a PLC, and the structure of a PLC, influence teacher classroom responsibilities. Data collected included interviews, written narratives by teachers, and a review of formative assessment documents. The participants were 5 teachers, selected through a purposeful sampling of teachers from across the grade levels of kindergarten to Grade 8, who had actively participated in a PLC for a minimum of 1 year. The data was analyzed to determine themes. The findings confirmed that PLCs allow for the exploration of ideas within a small group and that professional development is necessary to develop PLCs that influence teacher responsibilities in all 4 domains by Danielson. Based on the findings and supporting literature, a 3-day workshop was developed to provide teachers with an improved understanding of PLCs and how they can support teachers in implementing appropriate instructional practices for all students. This effort may result in a collaborative school culture for teachers and significant improvement in student achievement due to the recurring cycles of collective inquiry.
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Merritt, Llian. "Embedding research as core practice for teachers a model for whole school teacher learning /." University of Sydney. Policy and Practice, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/2123/659.
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This is a study of teacher professional development at the school level using teacher research as a strategy for both teacher professional learning and school change. A qualitative study was conducted to determine the conditions that would develop and sustain teachers researching their own practice in a culture of inquiry. Participant observation in one school over a two year period was used to investigate the issue of how to embed teacher research as a central feature of teachers� work. As a result of working with teachers as they researched their practice I have developed a model to explain and understand the complexities of schools and their cultures. Teachers researching their practice provided the driving force in the interplay of the elements of the model and had the potential to change school culture. Relationships, structures and processes are central to this model. Social and professional relationships between the teachers and the university partner developed and were supported by structures and processes. As the research continued these relationships changed and evolved. These relationships help develop a culture of inquiry in schools. The school/university partnership in this study evolved from an initial symbiotic�cooperative partnership (in which I shared my expertise and supported the work of teachers) into a later organic�collaborative partnership (one based on mutual and shared goals and benefits). The existing team of four teachers and the allocation of time for them to meet provided the essential structures for the teachers to research their practice. The collective leadership style instigated by the school Principal provided important human and financial support for the development of inquiry cultures. Collaboration and collegiality as forms of association enabled teachers to conduct research which challenged their individual and collective beliefs and assumptions about students� learning and their classroom practice. The content and form of teacher culture mediated the effects of teachers researching their practice. There are critical and transformational effects when teachers research their practice as part of their core work. Introducing these teachers to research was not without its difficulties. There were events and factors in the school relating to relationships, structures and processes which hindered the development of teacher research in a culture of inquiry. Because of the time frame of this study there is no evidence that school culture change is permanent. This could be the subject of future research.
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Chiu, Siu-hong, and 趙少康. "The impact of learning study on teachers' professional development." Thesis, The University of Hong Kong (Pokfulam, Hong Kong), 2005. http://hub.hku.hk/bib/B35669962.
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Андрейко, Лариса Володимирівна, Лариса Владимировна Андрейко, and Larysa Volodymyrivna Andreiko. "Professional Development of English Language Teachers." Thesis, Севастополь: Рибэст, 2013. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/58865.
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Розглядаються такі аспекти професійного розвитку викладача англійської мови як володіння предметом, методикою та знання потреб студентів.The article deals with such aspects of professional development of English language teachers as knowing about the subjetc matter, theories of learning and teaching , and the students.
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Pitman, Joanne, and University of Lethbridge Faculty of Education. "Teacher perceptions of leadership practices and the development of professional learning communities : an exploration." Thesis, Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Faculty of Education, 2008, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10133/731.
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This study is an exploration of leadership practices that develop and sustain a professional learning community (PLC). More specifically, it explores teacher perceptions of these leadership practices in the context of a school district in Alberta, Canada. The study employed qualitative research in the form of interviews of sixteen teachers from one school district. Findings include description of teacher perceptions of leadership practices as they relate to shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning, supportive conditions, and shared personal practice. It is necessary to recognize the interrelated nature of structural supports along with cultural underpinnings to fully develop and sustain PLCs. Moreover, the findings highlight the influence of structures in supporting dimensions of collective learning and shared personal practice. The need for careful consideration of the power of school culture over the effective use of any structure is evident. Leaders’ continuous modelling and involvement are imperative to develop teacher capacity to embrace shared and supportive leadership, shared values and vision, collective learning, supportive conditions, and shared personal practice. Furthermore, the building of trust and celebration of teacher and student learning moulds a schools’ culture to one that reflects success in the various PLC dimensions. The study concludes by suggesting possible areas for further research in addition to demarcating suggestions for continued reflection within the field of leadership as it relates to developing and sustaining PLCs.ix, 147 leaves ; 29 cm.
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Arkhipenka, Volha. "A narrative exploration of MA TESOL participants' professional development." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2018. https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/a-narrative-exploration-of-ma-tesol-participants-professional-development(b0538e1b-9260-49b1-8adc-5769b27116d3).html.
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This thesis documents my exploration of professional development of four experienced English language teachers of diverse background taking the MA TESOL programme at the University of Manchester. Having considered professional development to be about change construed broadly to professional identity and teacher beliefs, I explored it through a series of individual in-depth interviews held throughout the programme. The majority of the interviews focused on the teachers' ongoing life and development and allowed the teachers space to make meaning of what they were going through and how they were developing as they engaged in the programme. On the basis of the interviews, stories about the teachers and their year were constructed. Within the stories, I synthesized what I had learned about the teachers' experience and highlighted the changes that I could see had happened to their professional identity and teacher beliefs. The stories provide a vivid example of professional development of experienced English language teachers through a master's degree. They also bring to the fore the significance of future-directed thoughts for how teachers develop professionally, which is rarely acknowledged in the existing literature. I further use the stories as a ground to conceptualize professional development of the four teachers to account for the important role their thoughts about the future played in it. Using the concepts of imagined identity and antenarrative, which I borrow from the literature, I describe it as an iterative pursuit of an ever-evolving imagined identity, or identities, and antenarrative, or antenarratives. Finally, I examine the cases using the conceptualization as a lens and offer some further insights about professional development in TESOL.
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Hamblin, Carolyn J. "How Arizona Community College Teachers Go About Learning to Teach." DigitalCommons@USU, 2015. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4283.
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This mixed-method study used a survey and semistructured interviews to learn how new Arizona community college teachers learned to teach, how available certain learning experiences and effective professional development activities were, how valuable teachers perceived those learning experiences and activities to be, and if there were any factors that underlie how new community college teachers learned to teach. The survey questioned whether 26 learning experiences were available to new community college teachers, and whether they had participated in professional development activities conducted using critical reflection, peer group conferencing, professional development cases, and active learning. All of these activities were available to the majority of new teachers except for professional development cases, which were available to only 38% of respondents. The perception of these community college teachers was that active learning, critical reflection, and peer group conferencing were more valuable than other more typical faculty development activities. The researcher expected that professional development cases would be rated more highly than typical faculty development activities; however, the survey respondents who reported participating in professional development cases rated them as equally valuable to other faculty development activities, but not higher. The researcher discovered six factors that underlie the process new Arizona community college teachers used to learn to teach. They were guidance from others, receptive communications, formalized teacher training, personal resources, experimentation and reflection, and student perspective.
The process that new Arizona community college teachers used to learn to teach can be explained by the adult learning theory of transformative learning. They valued learning experiences that were reflective and applicable to the classroom. They benefitted from professional development activities that used the principles of transformative learning theory such as active learning, critical reflection, and peer group conferencing. Learning to teach was a process that included challenging and changing their assumptions about what happens in a community college classroom. They adjusted their assumptions and their teaching behaviors with time and experience.
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Noonan, James. "Teachers Learning: Engagement, Identity, and Agency in Powerful Professional Development." Thesis, Harvard University, 2016. http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:32663230.
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Professional development (PD) is seen by a broad cross-section of stakeholders — teachers, principals, policymakers — as essential for instructional improvement and student learning. And yet, despite deep investments of time and money in its design and implementation, the return on investment and subjective assessments about PD’s effectiveness remain uneven. In this thesis, I focus in-depth on professional development experiences that teachers identify as their most powerful and ask what these experiences could suggest toward improving PD design, policy, and research. Specifically, drawing on 25 in-depth accounts of powerful professional learning, I analyze PD across three papers, each of which applies a distinct analytical lens. First, using self-determination theory (Deci and Ryan, 1985, 2000), I explore the extent to which powerful learning experiences help to satisfy the three basic psychological needs of autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Second, using the growing body literature on professional identity (e.g., Beijaard et al., 2004), I posit that teachers may be motivated to pursue professional learning experiences that align with their core beliefs and identity. Extending this literature, I elaborate three distinct conceptions of how identity interacts with PD: an affinity for the what (content), the who (facilitation), and the with whom (community). I similarly discuss ways that powerful learning may help to form or transform teacher identity. Third, observing a pattern in the data and drawing on emerging literature on teacher agency (e.g., Priestley et al., 2015), I define teacher agency in professional learning as a multi-dimensional construct – agency over, during, and emerging from PD – and analyze the extent to which each dimension was evident in powerful and contrastingly negative professional learning experiences. I conclude that increasing dimensions of agency may be a promising lever for improving professional learning at both an individual and system level.Finally, by privileging teachers’ unique perspectives and emphasizing the deeply subjective nature of learning, this thesis aims both to complement and complicate the existing research on PD design and effectiveness and the policy imperative for scale.
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Smith, Kara N. "Online Teacher Professional Development: The Importance of Training to Deliver PD Online." Thesis, Boston College, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/1949.
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Thesis advisor: Joseph PedullaThe most recent reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, the No Child Left Behind Act, focuses on the continued importance of teacher professional development. There are a great deal of challenges involved with delivering high-quality teacher professional development to all teachers, however, such as time, geography, and available resources. Online professional development is emerging in the literature as a viable alternative to traditional face-to-face online professional development. With the recent emergence of such a trend, however, very little research had been conducted on the quality of the individuals providing the online PD to teachers. The aim of this study was to examine one online facilitator-training program which was designed to train facilitators in the skills and best practices associated with delivering high quality PD to teachers across eight states. Using survey data collected over a two-year period, this dissertation explored the relationship between facilitator trainee ratings of training workshop quality and teacher outcomes of interest through a set of five regression equations. While only three of the relationships were found to be statistically significant, all provided valuable insight nonetheless. Specifically, the significant contributions include; a better insight into the relationship between training facilitators to deliver PD specifically in an online format and teacher perception of course quality, a series of tools to measure this relationship with other facilitator training programs in the future and, a contribution to the sparse literature currently available on this topic
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010
Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education
Discipline: Educational Research, Measurement, and Evaluation
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Casciola, Vanessa. "Preservice Teachers Engaged in Professional Learning Community to Explore Critical Literacy." Scholar Commons, 2016. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6202.
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As demographics change, our school populations are ever changing. Preservice teachers (PSTs) need to be aware of how to meet the needs of all of their future students. Teacher education programs have been charged with the duty of preparing these PSTs for the diverse school population they will encounter. This qualitative multiple case study focused on the influence of specific work with PSTs in the inquiry process within a learning community to make sense of critical literacy. The following research questions guided this study: (1) How do elementary PSTs engaged in practitioner inquiry make meaning of critical literacy instruction within a facilitated learning community? (2) How do PSTs enact critical literacy instruction in the field experience elementary classroom while engaged in practitioner inquiry in a facilitated learning community? (a) What facilitates PSTs as they enact critical literacy instruction in the elementary field experience classroom? (b) What inhibits PSTs as they enact critical literacy instruction in the elementary field experience classroom?
Participants included six PSTs from a cohort in a two-day a week field experience. A sample of three cases was selected to analyze in more detail and for a cross-case analysis. Data sources included transcriptions of learning community meetings, PST written reflections at the end of each learning community meeting, two interviews with each participant, a researcher’s journal, video-recorded literacy lesson and lesson plan, critical literacy concept maps, literacy belief platforms, and plans for learning community sessions.
The findings for each case are detailed in chapters four, five, and six. These findings were analyzed to develop assertions in a cross-case analysis. These assertions included: (1) The three preservice teachers’ sensemaking and/or enactment of critical literacy was impacted as they “saw” examples of critical literacy, (2) Making meaning of critical literacy and critical literacy enactment are an interwoven process that inform each other, (3) As these PSTs engaged in the PLC, their sensemaking and enactment of critical literacy evolved, (4) All PSTs faced similar inhibitors to critical literacy enactment, however, Jodi and Tira were able to negotiate many of these inhibitors to enact critical literacy.
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Payne, Jettie Pearl. "Professional Development and Its Influence on Teacher Practice and Student Achievement." TopSCHOLAR®, 2018. https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/3064.
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This paper examines the characteristics of effective professional development (PD). It discusses the change process in a system and how it applies to an educational setting, including teacher practice and student achievement. This study uses a survey, interviews, and student benchmark assessment data to assess the influence of PD on a district. Four main themes surfaced from the research in this study: past experiences mold beliefs and practices, coherence throughout a system clarifies expectations, individualized professional learning leads to authentic change in practice, and professional development influences the entire system.
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Mccarthy, Kelly Elizabeth. "An Analysis of the Formal and Informal Professional Learning Practices of Middle and High School Mathematics Teachers." Scholar Commons, 2016. http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/6318.
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Although there has been a substantial amount of research on the topic of teacher professional development, few studies adequately captured the types and frequency of formal and informal professional learning teachers undertake to improve as educators. The purpose of this study was to examine the types of activities middle and high school mathematics teachers engaged in to improve their abilities as educators, analyzed by the participants’ school setting, years of teaching experience, level of education, degree major, certificate type, and their school’s Title I status.
Teachers from two large school districts in Florida participated. The Teachers’ Opportunity to Learn (TOTL) survey was used to collect the data. The TOTL measured the professional learning activities of teachers based on seven learning categories: (a) workshops, (b) teacher collaboration, (c) university courses, (d) conferences, (e) mentoring/coaching, (f) informal communication, and (g) individual learning activities. Teachers were solicited to participate two times; which generated 245 responses for analysis.
The results of this study indicated that teachers devoted an extensive amount of time on professional development, with the majority of time spent on informal learning activities. Every participant in the study engaged in at least one professional development activity; most engaged in four or more activities. The activity with the highest amount of participation (99.2%) and greatest amount of time spent (36.62 hours per month) was individual learning activities. Other notable areas of participation were professional development programming, teacher collaboration, and informal communication. When the activities were analyzed by demographic variable, 16 comparisons were found to be statistically significant. Mentoring/coaching activities produced more significant results than any other activity in the study. Analyses also confirmed that the professional learning practices of new teachers were significantly different from their more experienced peers.
The findings from this study could serve as the impetus for programmatic changes and policy reform within the education community. School districts could benefit by creating professional development programs that support teacher collaboration, informal communication, and self-directed learning. State education departments could encourage these endeavors by redirecting funding and redesigning certification systems to recognize these non-traditional individualized activities.
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Andreou, Andreas M. "Teacher Professional Development in an online Learning Environment : An Action Research Project." Thesis, University of Manchester, 2008. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.504767.
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Various reports from the European Union and UNESCO consider teacher professional development (TPD) as the first priority in educational reform plans. The same reports emphasise the inadequacies of current teacher professional development programmes to meet the immediate demands of the lifelong learning policies and educational reforms. The case of Cyprus reflects the European and global situation in that matter. This study explores an alternative way for ongoing teacher professional development through the power and flexibility of the Internet. It situates teacher professional development within a constructivist framework underpinned by adult learning theories and aided by the literature on teacher professional development. It applies this framework to the development and delivery of an online learning environment to primary school teachers in Cyprus. The general aim of this study is to delineate the factors that contribute to effective professional development and develop a more democratic teacher professional development programme by giving greater control to the teachers. Thirteen of my colleagues - in-service primary school teachers from Cyprus - voluntarily participated in an online learning environment for a period of two months. Results show that teachers are more responsive to voluntary participation in professional development programmes than compulsory participation. Teachers may assume an intrinsic motivational orientation to learning and their professional development when they have control and ownership of the process and context of learning as well as time and place flexibility. Problem solVing enhances teachers' participation, interaction and collaboration and helps to promote a sense of community. Socialisation between learners nourishes the learning process and enhances intimacy and social presence and strengthens the sense of community. Subsequently, learners are more responsive to cognitive engagement. Asynchronous CMC seems to be an effective medium in supporting both the cognitive and the social aspects of learning. Scaffolding, at least during the initial stages of the learning process, is essential for learners in order to assume self-direction in learning. Control over the content and the learning environment increases learners' engagement with the content. This study suggests that the power and fleXibility of the Internet, under certain conditions, can afford teachers an alternative learning experience in which they can assume control of their professional development in collaboration with their peers in online learning communities.
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Ayubayeva, Nazipa. "Teacher collaboration for professional learning : case studies of three schools in Kazakhstan." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2018. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/273675.
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This thesis explores the nature of teacher collaboration for professional learning, key enabling and inhibiting factors, and their implication for the development of a culture of collaboration for professional learning in Kazakhstani schools. The current teacher professional development reform initiative in Kazakhstani secondary education has incorporated teacher collaboration as a strategy to encourage teachers to take ownership of innovations and changes. The underlying assumption for it is that when teachers engage in professional collaboration, there is both an individual and collective benefit. However, an increasing scepticism that followed the initial enthusiasm about the benefits of teacher collaboration in Western countries, where a second look at collaboration from a cultural and micropolitical perspective identified the contradictions between human agency and power, voluntarism and determinism, action and settings. Against this background, this study was undertaken to examine the Kazakhstani teachers’ beliefs, values and attitudes towards collaboration and interdependence. The study draws upon case study data gathered in three purposefully selected Kazakhstani schools. The first two schools represent Kazakhstani schools established during the Soviet communist era. One of them is selected from among the comprehensive rural schools and the second is a gymnasium located in a district town. The third one is an autonomous school tasked to serve as a platform to pilot a new reform initiative before its dissemination to all the mainstream schools of the country. Each case-study was covered during a six-to-seven week period, which corresponds to a term in a school year in Kazakhstan. The findings demonstrate the dependence of teachers’ personal beliefs and values about teacher collaboration on micropolitical, school organisational culture, and socio-political factors, mainly inherited as a legacy of the Soviet education system, as well as ambiguities in the understanding and implementation of reform initiatives dictated from the top. The study suggests that Kazakhstani school history and the culture of the teaching profession possess the potential to overcome these barriers, for there is a tradition of peer evaluation and peer observation in the system with teachers expected to observe and be observed by other teachers on a frequent basis within an appropriately defined school organisational structure, which historically is seen by the authorities as a means of control. The study concludes that it is of particular importance to build on the momentum of the recent reform initiatives and help teachers to develop agency by providing the support and conditions conducive to the continued development of professional learning communities based on teacher collaboration for learning.
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Koelsch, Jane-Marie Fetty. "Teacher Perceptions of Professional Learning Community Maturity in Catholic Schools." ScholarWorks, 2016. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/2737.
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Many Midwestern Catholic schools have implemented professional learning communities (PLCs) to enhance teacher quality and attain school goals. However, not all schools have aligned practices essential to increase maturity in the five PLC dimensions, as defined by Hord. Guided by Hord's framework, this research study investigated teachers' perceptions of PLC maturity in select Catholic schools. A convenience sample allowed an examination of schools engaged in an initiative that included PLCs. Using a sequential explanatory mixed-methods design, the Professional Learning Communities Assessment - Revised was administered to 42 teachers in 4 schools. Quantitative survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Data revealed the dimensions of shared leadership and shared vision and values were most mature in the majority of participating schools. The dimension of shared personal practice was least mature in all participating schools. Demographic data, analyzed using independent sample t tests and a series of ANOVAs, showed some demographic factors had significant findings in individual schools but no single factor had a significant finding in all schools. Results of quantitative data analysis provided direction for qualitative interviews. Four teachers participated in interviews that examined PLC practices affecting maturity. Transcribed interviews were coded and 7 themes emerged: supportive administration, teachers as leaders, shared vision, peer teaching, teacher buy in, too many meetings, and improper use of PLCs. PLC training for administrators and teachers could result in positive social change as school staffs learn to align specific instructional practices with an infrastructure that supports increasing PLC maturity. This increased PLC maturity directly determines a school's ability to improve.
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Taylor, Philip Robert. "The complexity of teacher professional growth - experiences of professional learning and development, including practice-based inquiry." Thesis, Birmingham City University, 2018. https://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.758579.
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In this thesis, teacher professional growth is conceived as complex, relational, adaptive and recursive, comprising processes of learning and development. Teacher learning is considered an ongoing, everyday process of building on experience through interpretation, integration and application. Teacher development is viewed as a continuous, longer-term process of journeying, more outward-facing to encompass professional knowledge, practice and status. Professional growth unfolds within one or more organisational contexts that mediate the external conditions of an educational system currently dominated by performativity. Teacher practice-based inquiry is explored as a vehicle for professional growth. Suggested critical aspects of teacher professional growth are intended purpose, enacted opportunity and lived response, considered intertwined or complex and employed as an interpretive framework. Six secondary teachers have participated in this study, through recorded conversational accounts of professional growth and twenty written accounts of their practice-based inquiries. Unravelling purposes, opportunities and responses in this material suggests categories of description and variation that together form a possibility space, for both interpreting past experience and projecting future potential. Teacher practice-based inquiry offers an expanded space of possibilities for professional growth. This study utilises the theoretical perspectives of complexity thinking and participatory inquiry, complemented by agential realism, enactivism and relational being. Together, these trans-disciplinary approaches challenge representationalist ontologies and epistemologies, embracing axiology, and positioning researcher and participants as part of the phenomena to be studied. A recurring theme is complicity, mutually adaptive change, between teacher and learner, leader and teacher, teacher and context, and researcher and research. The contribution made by this thesis is a re-working of conceptualisations of teacher professional growth, combining identity, experience, learning and development, in a continual and complicit process of being and becoming, sustained through a sense of belonging. The resulting possibility spaces offer exemplary knowledge and tools for re-thinking teacher professional growth as a complex adaptive process.
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Whitney, Brian T. "Searching for patterns of discourse in a sea of professional development : professional learning and teacher discourse /." Boise State University: Complete ScholarWorks record including accompanying resources if available, 2009. http://scholarworks.boisestate.edu/td/20/.
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Quattlebaum, Simon F. "Designing Professional Development for Elementary School Teachers." ScholarWorks, 2015. https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/1549.
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Within a Northeast urban school, there is little empirical evidence to indicate the effectiveness of the district professional development (PD) program. Elementary teachers at the study site reported that they encountered problems accessing professional development programs applicable to their needs. The purpose of this case study was to examine teacher perceptions of district PD programs and to discover teacher perceptions of PD best practices. Knowles' adult learning theory provided a frame of reference for this study. The research questions assessed teachers' perceptions of the format, content, and process of professional development programs and examined how teachers applied new knowledge, concepts, and skills offered in professional development training. A case study design was used to gather focus group data from a critical case sample of 6 elementary teachers who were participating in PD training or who had participated in PD within the past 3 years. Emergent themes were identified from the data. Findings were developed and validated with member checking. The findings indicated that these 6 teachers desired more involvement in planning relevant PD, greater time allocated to collaborative activities, and more grade-level customized programming. Implications for positive social change include improved district professional development opportunities that align with best teaching practices for effective student instruction and increased student achievement.
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Smith, Prudence M. "Professional development : teachers' learning in reading recovery." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2007. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/298.
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With the national spotlight firmly focused on Australian students attaining benchmark standards in literacy and numeracy and on the capacity of teachers to facilitate student achievement in literacy, questions of effective teacher development have emerged. This study investigated how professional development, which is consistent with the principles of effective practice, builds capacity in teachers. By examining the development of teachers' understandings in the Reading Recovery professional development program, key aspects of teacher development were identified and some suggestions given regarding the preparation and support of literacy teachers generally.
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Zhen, Shuyi. "Learning in a pre-service teacher residency program." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2015. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/1749.
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Teacher educators worldwide are seeking ways to develop stronger links with schools, to improve the quality of initial teacher preparation. In this study the researcher investigated a residency approach to initial teacher education (ITE) in a one-year Graduate Diploma of Education course designed to prepare primary school teachers at a university in Western Australia. A mixed methods inquiry approach was employed to examine the nature and quality of the professional learning experiences of the pre-service teacher participants.
The Teacher Residency Program (TRP) was based on a medical residency model, with residents given a semester-length placement in two schools. Each placement provided a continuous two-day per week placement and concluded with a five-week fulltime block teaching experience. University course work complemented the in-school practical experience during each of the placement periods. The researcher used concurrent nested research design with quantitative data embedded in the qualitative data to explore the professional learning of the residents; Specifically, the researcher sought evidence of perspective transformation in the residents’ learning process, and a determination of how particular elements of the TRP supported or hindered residents’ professional development.
The findings indicate that the residents perceived their professional learning as one of continuous growth. The data confirm that the TRP provided a professionally oriented study of teaching that provided time and opportunity for cumulative learning from both course work and practical teaching. Through the lens of a transformative learning paradigm, the study found that individual development in the TRP varies considerably. Further the residents experienced perspective transformation relating to a range of aspects about learning to teach. The process of transforming perspectives about teaching and learning was multidimensional, individualistic and contextually dependent. Elements of the TRP that assisted residents’ professional development were the concurrent university course work integrated with extended clinical school placement; the opportunities for continuous two-day per week school placement; the block practicum and the two different school placement learning experiences. Aspects that appeared to hinder residents’ professional development were related to the quantity and quality of the university course work offered; the discrepancies that the residents experienced between what they studied about teaching and what they experienced in schools; differences between mentor teachers, and the length of the course. The findings of this study have implications relevant to other ITE programs for improving the learning outcomes of pre-service teachers.
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Lai, Ting-chun. "The use of learning study to enhance teachers' professional development : a case study." Click to view the E-thesis via HKUTO, 2005. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record/B35670927.
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Abdelhafez, Ahmed. "An investigation into professional practical knowledge of EFL experienced teachers in Egypt : implications for pre-service and in-service teacher learning." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2010. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/119325.
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This study aimed to investigate what constituted the professional practical knowledge of EFL experienced teachers in the Egyptian context and what the sources of their knowledge were. It also aimed to examine the relationship between the teachers’ knowledge and the contextual factors intervening in action. By delineating its focus as such, the study responds to call for reconceptualising the core of the knowledge base of teaching to focus on teaching as a knowledge-based activity and an act of common sense and reasoning, the pedagogy by which teaching is done, and the context in which it is done. The study was carried out using multiple methods for collecting qualitative and quantitative data. This design was chosen to investigate the participants’ views of professional practical knowledge and to construct their different understandings and interpretations which they brought with them. Questionnaires completed by 236 EFL experienced teachers, semi-structured interviews conducted with 14 of them and stimulated recall classroom observation data with three of them were the data collected for the current study. Although it provided a parsimonious view, quantitative questionnaire data made an important contribution to the bricolage of information built up during the study. A more in-depth understanding was gained from qualitative data using responses to the open-ended section of the questionnaire, interviews and classroom observation. Based on quantitative and qualitative data analyses, six core areas of teacher knowledge were constructed from the participants’ responses and accounts. These were: subject matter, pedagogy, students, classroom learning environment, curriculum and self. The findings also revealed a variety of sources which shaped the teachers’ professional practical knowledge including: experience, teacher education, university study in the subject department, student and peer feedback, in-service training, expert advice, student output and postgraduate study. The findings also revealed that the relationship between teacher knowledge and practice was reflected in two ways. The first was that teacher knowledge represented an operative model which underpinned practice. The second was that it informed the classroom decisions. However, not all teacher knowledge found application in practice. A variety of intervening contextual challenges were revealed to deter the actualisation of teacher knowledge in action such as the EFL exam policy, lack of time, support and resources, mismatch between teacher purposes and students’ expectations and needs, and large class size. These findings were discussed in relation to existing research evidence and context. Implications for pre-service and in-service teacher learning were also drawn based on the findings of the study.
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Porter, Cindra K. "Planning to co-teach with ELL teachers: how discourse positions teachers within professional learning communities." Diss., University of Iowa, 2018. https://ir.uiowa.edu/etd/6250.
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This purpose of this single case study was to describe the discursive practices of an ELL teacher and a general education teaching in a co-teaching PLC setting. With the increased use of co-teaching as an approach to English language development supports, it is vital to gain a better understanding of how teachers plan to support the academic learning of English learners, and what language they use in these interactions. This study implemented a qualitative research design based in grounded theory and positioning theory. The results of this study found that the discursive practices of co-teachers were based in the content of topics, the method of discursive interactions, and their previous experiences in co-teaching that formed their interactions.
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Castro, Julie Anne. "Becoming a Teacher Educator: A Self-Study of Learning and Discovery as a Mentor Teacher." Diss., CLICK HERE for online access, 2008. http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/ETD/image/etd2472.pdf.
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Best, Kathryn W. "UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF A GLOBAL UNIVERSAL DESIGN FOR LEARNING (UDL) VIRTUAL CLASSROOM ON JAMAICAN EDUCATORS THROUGH THE LENS OF HOW PEOPLE LEARN (HPL)." VCU Scholars Compass, 2016. http://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/4105.
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This case study examined learning components and outcomes of the UDL Virtual Classroom project, a web-based professional development program that was a collaboration between educators in the United States and Jamaica. The study applied the HPL lens (NRC, 2000) in order to understand the ways that Jamaican educator-participants perceived the integration of learner-centered learning, knowledge-centered learning, assessment-centered learning, and community-centered learning in the program itself, and also examined the impact of these components, despite numerous hurdles, on teachers’ mindsets and practices and the engagement and performance of students in their schools and classrooms. The researcher’s intent was to address the contextual nature of teacher learning, which must contend with the challenges of meeting the needs of individual teacher-learners, as well as obstacles and real-world situations impacting the implementation of theories and strategies. A multi-case study design was used to gather data through observations, interviews, group meetings, and surveys. Findings were analyzed using qualitative methods, focusing on the experiences of participants both as adult-learners in the professional development program and as educators themselves as they returned to their own educational contexts to implement what they had learned. This study provided insights about strengths and challenges of hybrid learning, international resource-sharing, and long-term impacts of teacher learning.
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Gruenhagen, Lisa Marie. "Investigating professional development : early childhood music teacher learning in a community of practice /." Digitized version, 2007. http://hdl.handle.net/1802/5630.
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Castañeda, Imelda R. "Teacher Perceptions of Effects of Professional Development on Teaching Practice and Student Learning." University of Cincinnati / OhioLINK, 2002. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1022685935.
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Hewitt, Julie E. "Blended Learning for Faculty Professional Development Incorporating Knowledge Management Principles." NSUWorks, 2016. http://nsuworks.nova.edu/gscis_etd/950.
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Adjunct faculty comprise a large percentage of part-time faculty for many colleges and universities today. Adjunct faculty are hired because they are experts in their content areas; however, this does not guarantee that they are skilled in effective classroom management. These instructors can become bewildered and frustrated because they lack the knowledge and skills that are needed to run an effective classroom.
While educational organizations have adopted blended learning environments as an effective delivery method for their students, this method has not gained much traction as a way to deliver instruction to their own employees. Thus, there are opportunities to use blended learning as a strategy for professional development in the workplace. What is more common in the workplace is the application of knowledge management (KM). KM is used in organizations to identify, share, and validate knowledge in order to improve individual and organizational performance. Blended learning combined with KM strategies, can leverage face-to-face and online instruction delivery methods to give adjunct faculty real-time support as they learn to implement specific instructional methods and classroom management techniques into their face-to-face classrooms.
The goal was to construct and validate a blended learning professional development course for adjunct faculty. Design and development research methods were used to conduct the study in four phases. In phase one, a course design framework that integrated the four modes of the SECI KM model (i.e., socialization, externalization, internalization, and combination) was developed. Included with the framework was a mapping of the learning outcomes, knowledge type, and activities associated with each SECI mode. In phase two, an expert panel reviewed the framework and mapping. The Delphi technique was used to capture panel members’ feedback. Revisions to the framework and mapping were made based on the results of the expert review. In phase three, the framework was used to develop the course within the Desire2Learn learning management system. In phase four, a formative evaluation of the course was conducted using focus groups with key stakeholders including faculty, staff, and administrators.
The sequential nature of the phases in which the professional development course was designed and developed resulted in a refined instantiation of the course, which was received positively by key stakeholders; however, summative and confirmative evaluations would be needed to determine the effectiveness of the course delivery and content, as well as, whether the course is viable over time. The incorporation of the SECI principles for faculty professional development was also determined to be worthy of continued consideration. Future research focusing on the implementation of SECI principles to guide instructional design in various online and blended learning contexts is recommended.
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Roberts, Irma. "Performance management : a connected professional learning model." Thesis, Edith Cowan University, Research Online, Perth, Western Australia, 2006. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/324.
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Increasingly school principals are more accountable for the performance of both their staff and students. In Australia and most OECD countries, the performance management process is identified as a mandatory vehicle for accountability and improving teacher professional development to advance student achievements. Yet, professional development is identified as a secondary discourse in performance management models, while accountability is arguably the dominant discourse. The purpose of this portfolio is the development of a blended performance management model that meets teachers' needs. The model seeks to shift the emphasis from accountability to professional development and bring the two discourses into a more compatible relationship.