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This paper describes an Online Teaching Lab model that incorporates elements of lesson study and studio model for teacher learning. We focus on changes in design and facilitation decisions of two specific Online Teaching Labs and study differences in teachers' verbal and written responses to better understand how the process supports teacher learning. Middle grades mathematics teachers took part in the Online Teaching Labs. Data included video recordings of professional development team meetings, lesson implementation, Online Teaching Labsi and teachers' written work on 'Capture Sheets.' Data were analysed based on observable behaviours we intended participating teachers would enact. We found a relationship between the intentional changes facilitators made from the first to second Online Teaching Lab and teacher responses. Facilitators made more explicit mention of the learning goals, increased opportunities for teacher discussion, and included varied video clips. As compared to teachers in the first iteration, teachers in the second Online Teaching Lab more frequently identified teacher discourse moves related to engagement and cognitive demand of tasks and identified connections between teacher pedagogy, student strategies, and mathematical goals. The design, implementation, and outcomes are novel because the model includes features of lesson study and studio model through an online medium. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School leaders increasingly view inquiry-based professional learning as a means to address diverse aspirations concerning teacher development, school improvement, and regulatory requirements. This qualitative, case study uses interview data to investigate the experiences of school leaders during a one-year cycle of Practitioner Inquiry: Teacher as Researcher. Initially envisaged by the leaders as a solution to school improvement and compliance targets, the data reports how the practitioner inquiry professional learning initiative shifted to reinforce the leaders' role as expert classroom practitioners, and to be an innovative way to shape collegial reflexive practice. Viewed through the Trialectic Theory of Spatiality lens, this paper reports how leaders in one school setting negotiated the potentially contending educational spaces relating to routinised practice, school improvement, and compliance to shape thirdspace innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study introduces the Professional Development Evaluation Scale (ProDES), a tool that has been developed to evaluate the impact of professional development as it relates to participants' Learning and Use of New Knowledge and Skills, Organisational Support, Student Learning Outcomes, and reactions. Grounded in Guskey's (2000) framework for evaluating Professional Development, ProDES was developed with data from five study groups in Turkey and underwent refinement across four factors. Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses confirmed the scale's structure, accounting for 62.72% of the total variance, with robust fit indices. Within this, ProDES demonstrated high internal consistency and test-retest reliability, with significant correlations validating its effectiveness. The scale's high internal consistency and test-retest reliability ensure that it can be used to make evidence-informed decisions that can foster more effective and supportive professional development activities. As a result, by identifying which professional development initiatives lead to improvements, those associated with professional development can use resources more efficiently, leading to enhanced school and system-wide improvements. Moreover, the use of ProDES can also help schools and education systems track progress over time, making ProDES an invaluable tool for continuous improvement and strategic planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design thinking has emerged as a method for teacher professional learning and development (PLD). Research commonly focusses on PLD responses to specific priorities, particularly STEM, rather than broader applications. This scoping review examines how and why design thinking is used in PLD and discusses the implications for using design thinking as a method for context-specific, student-focussed continuous improvement. A total of 22 publications, published in English between 2000 and 2022, were reviewed. The findings highlight the range of design thinking models used in PLD, including the similarities and differences, as well as the reported justifications, benefits, and caveats. Design thinking is positioned as a topic of and a process for PLD, and teachers engage in immersion programmes or practice-related projects as either directed participants or co-designers. Analysis indicates when design thinking is a topic of PLD, teachers commonly engage as directed participants in immersion programmes, whereas when it is a process for PLD, the modes of participation and roles are more diverse. The implications of the identified differences and variations will be useful to researchers and practitioners, and PLD policy and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Formal in-service professional development programmes may help novice teachers or those new to a school adapt to targeted teaching approaches in their new workplace. However, the extent to which their practice changes in response to in-service learning may depend on prior beliefs. This longitudinal case study explored in-depth the personal epistemological beliefs of four pre-sessional English language teachers, international and national, in an English-medium university context in Turkey during a year-long, formal in-service teacher education course, and for 6 months after the course. It investigated changes in classroom practice and beliefs about knowledge and knowing, teaching and learning, and professional learning as a result of in-service learning. Interviews, classroom observations and reflective journals underpinned a hermeneutic analysis which compared informants' beliefs and classroom practice over time using an existing theoretical model. Underlying patterns of change in epistemological beliefs show belief type, depth, and sophistication, as well as context, as major factors in the uptake and sustainability of targeted teaching approaches in this context. In-service educators' knowledge of a teacher's epistemological beliefs profile can lead to more effective and sustainable uptake in formal in-service professional learning through differentiated, practice-based interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worrying decline in the status of primary school science in schools in England has been linked to low teacher confidence in teaching science and to schools being heavily focused on achievement in English and mathematics. This article reports on a novel professional learning strategy that was provided for 23 primary science leaders over five half-day workshops. Workshops focused on key topics that teachers reported having least confidence in teaching. Through a structured series of learning episodes, each workshop included knowledge and skills acquisition, opportunities to apply new knowledge and skills to primary-focused practicals, the introduction and application of scientific vocabulary, discussion and reflection time. Findings from pre- and post-workshop questionnaires undertaken with all participants and in-depth interviews with eight participants were examined from a phenomenological perspective. Participants reported that the workshops had significant and positive influences on raising their ability to teach science effectively and to build their confidence in leading colleagues. Participants also reported that the status of science in their schools had been improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This comprehensive scoping review aimed to identify and synthesize the existing research on professional development (PD) for educators and educational leaders in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) between 2018 and 2023. Fourteen scholarly articles covering a wide range of topics related to education in the UAE were collected and analyzed. The review revealed that PD initiatives in the UAE often focus on enhancing teacher effectiveness and leadership skills, particularly in the context of educational reforms and inclusive education practices. However, significant challenges were identified, including implementation gaps, cultural barriers, and resistance to centrally imposed PD programs. The findings suggest that while PD programs positively impact teacher performance and educational quality, further efforts are needed to address the challenges within the UAE's unique socio-cultural context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to elaborate multiple dimensions of ethical perception in professionalism and introduces novel didactic viewpoints on educational routes through which professionals learn and develop the moral competencies essential to praxis. Results are discussed from recent innovative research projects on professional didactics, education and work practice. The article explores new research pathways through which to learn and develop professional ethics for teachers and social educators in collaboration between several agents in the field: students, teachers and educational leaders, as well as public institutions. Through lifelong learning trajectories, professionals are enabled to skilfully confront ethical challenges in reality, to develop concrete ethical perception and discernment based on practical wisdom, here defined as pedagogical phronesis. Based on a synthesis of empirical findings and theoretical perspectives, we argue that an interchanging dynamic between subjective experiences and dialogical learning constitutes several dimensions of tacit practical wisdom, which is accentuated in the perception of practice. These are: 1) the existential-phenomenological dimension, 2) the life-historical dimension, 3) the dimension of inter-relational competence, and 4) the social dimension of learning. Our findings have significance and applicability for policymaking, professional training, and educational development, as well as wider research projects on professional learning and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored how secondary school EFL teachers engaged in professional learning opportunities when they participated in the development of ELT materials. While increasing research has examined language teaching materials and teacher learning, the two research fields have remained largely disconnected, hindering the potential of materials writing for professional learning. With eight teachers as focal participants, the data included in-depth interviews, written reflections, and official documents. Findings showed that the EFL teachers took advantage of materials writing for their professional learning in the areas of policy, theory, and practice. Their engagement with the national curriculum standards, language, and language learning theories, together with local classroom realities in relation to teaching materials, reciprocally interacted with their professional learning. Based on the findings, we recommend that professional development programs include materials writing by localizing the content, clarifying its objectives, teaming teachers with researchers, and creating feedback loops. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analogizes findings from the project Children in Central Norway, Mental Health in ECEC. A preventive factor for children's mental health in early childhood education and care (ECEC) is the sensitive relationship between children and staff. ECEC staff in three municipalities participated in a competence-raising package for children's mental health. Subsequently, 33 members of staff attended five focus-group interviews. Research question: In what way have ECEC staff's experience changes in their relationship with the children after working with the competence-raising package for mental health, and what kind of processes appeared during this work? The qualitative data has been analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis, while the discussion is rooted in ethics of care and based on children's rights. The findings show that the staff describe the development of compassionate pedagogy and a common language for children's needs for attachment. This facilitates a collective professional language through co-creating processes and affects the relational quality in ECEC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are increasing demands for teachers to continue to improve the quality of education. This focus is evident in the Early Childhood Education and Care sector in Australia where the professionalisation agenda is tied to teacher professional learning. While the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (AITSL) has strengthened expectations on teachers to engage with research and become inquirers into their own practice, current early childhood documents that guide practice use non-descript terms without ascribing them to research or researching. We argue that greater opportunities are needed for early childhood teachers to be recognised as consumers and producers of research and validated as researchers of their own practice. Professional learning programs, such as the Supporting Oral Language Development (SOLD) Program outlined in this paper, provide the potential to acknowledge and build the research skills of early childhood teachers, thereby supporting their self-efficacy and confidence as researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short reflection explores both the challenges and potentials of teacher professional learning in contemporary times. It argues that the neoliberal logics of professional development as deployed in many contexts around the world limit and curtail the potential for teachers to engage in generative professional learning that fosters growth and renewal. It suggests that understanding professional learning as praxis development, as advanced in the papers in this Special Issue provides a source of hope and a critical way forward for educators in these troubled times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

School improvement efforts rely on teachers' capacity for professional development and learning. We investigate the kind of roles taken by early career teachers (ECTs) with a master's degree from a research-based teacher education programme in relation to professional learning and school development in Norwegian schools after five years in the profession. The conceptual framework includes research of professional learning and trust. Semi-structured interviews of 26 ECTs were analysed using reflective thematic analysis. The findings illustrate four different roles that ECTs take: creators, translators, drivers and passengers. All the ECTs become creators, as they were enquiry-oriented and collaborated with colleagues to promote bottom-up professional learning, in order to improve teaching. Translators capture the ECTs' ability to translate a new curriculum into deep-learning and student-active teaching. Drivers obtain formal positions and promote professional learning in schools. Passengers take a passive role, and they are critical of the school system that introduces and performs a high number of top-down school-development projects. We discuss how ECTs want to develop relational trust, while the system may strengthen relational and structural trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Praxis development remains invisible in many discussions of professional learning because professional educators take praxis development for granted as an indissoluble part of education and educational work. This special issue provides new insights into professional learning for praxis development, and about the conditions that enable and constrain the development of educational and social practices through professional learning initiatives. In the lead article in this special issue, Salo, Francisco and Olin Almqvist outline key features of professional learning for praxis development, which are extended in the later article by Francisco, Forssten Seiser and Olin Almqvist. Together, these important features are: power and solidarity, trust, recognition, agency, reflection, collaboration, and time. These are key ideas to be kept in mind in research and practice in professional learning, and in the organisation and administration of professional learning initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ITE has been criticised for being disconnected, with different languages being spoken in the two learning arenas of campus and schools. Bringing people together, such as through formal university-school partnerships, is not enough to open up communicative learning spaces – sites of collaborative learning that are democratic, safe and supportive. Practicum is recognised as a capstone experience in teacher education in which the mentor's role is crucial. However, there are significant variations in the types and quality of mentoring and only some supportive frameworks. This paper investigates what arrangements are needed to enable mentoring practices as communicative learning spaces. An intervention was designed that structured conversations between student teachers, school-based mentor teachers and university-based teacher educators around an observation-grounded mentoring framework (OMF). Data was gathered from completed worksheets, reflection logs, and interviews and analysed through the lens of practice architectures. We explore issues of knowledge and power in the facilitation of learning when university-based teacher educators visit the school, and classroom observations frame the mentoring conversations. Findings show that the OMF offered a shared language for tripartite mentoring conversations as communicative learning spaces. The paper contributes to knowledge about supportive mentoring practices in ITE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on an overview of the existing literature, this paper aims to provide a holistic and coherent conceptualisation and understanding of the complexity of educators' professional learning. First, the way in which professional development, professional learning and everyday learning have been configured in contemporary research is combined with an initial practice theory perspective. Consequently, we conceptualise professional learning as learning in and for professional practice. Subsequently, the theory of practice architectures, a practice theory developed in educational settings, is presented. Based on the authors' previous work, aspects of relatings, that is, the social space in which educators relate to each other in the mediums of power and solidarity, are highlighted. These include power, trust, recognition and agency. The paper ends by presenting a framework for understanding the complexity of learning in and for professional practice, consisting of two complementary perspectives: a site-based and time-bounded focus on professional action and an open-ended process of educators' professional and human growth. Brought together these perspectives enable an understanding of the complexity of professional learning in terms of praxis development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New managerialism and neo-liberal discourses have re-shaped traditional academic practices towards the vocational aspects of higher education. One institutional response to the growing graduate employability policy agenda has been the introduction of work-integrated learning (WIL) within Australian universities, a form of learning to require academics to engage students in work-based or work-like settings to enhance their work-readiness. WIL has required new ways of working and learning for academics who are called on to act as a conduit between the university, students, and industry, raising questions about how academics are developing such skills and knowledge. Adopting the Theory of Practice Architectures, we draw on a study of academics enacting WIL at two Australian universities to consider the ways in which academics undertake professional learning to enact practices in pursuit of the project of WIL. Specifically, we discuss a different conceptualisation of professional learning where academics 'come to practice differently' (p. 3), challenging traditional views of learning as being the results of formal and informal learning activities. We consider how learning activities may enable or constrain academics in coming to academic practices differently. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that professional learning is a crucial aspect of the ongoing professional practice of educators. But how should this professional learning take place, and what arrangements enable and constrain practices associated with educator learning? In this article, we explore two case studies of action research projects: one undertaken with Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) teachers, and the other undertaken with Swedish principals. Using the theory of practice architectures and the Professional Learning Framework (see text), we consider what action research team members identified that they learnt through the action research projects, and what enabled and constrained that learning. The findings highlight five key themes that enabled and constrained educator professional learning and supported educators in making positive changes in their professional practice: power and solidarity, trust, recognition, agency and time. Further, reflection and collaboration were also highlighted as important factors in supporting educator professional learning. We conclude that action research can enable educator professional learning, can support the contextualised understanding of what works, how it works and for whom it works, and can enable educators to make positive changes in their professional practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' professional learning is closely connected to and dependent on different leading practices. Teachers professional learning is regarded as a key factor in successful school development, and development leaders at different levels are assigned to provide for and support such learning. However, the connection between leading and learning needs to be further explored. In this article, we focus specifically on development leaders' leading practice when leading professional learning. Based on the theory of practice architectures, the study explores the interplay between development leaders and teacher leaders in a professional development programme, where the leading and learning practices of the different leaders meet. The findings show that development leaders' leading practice is characterised by responsiveness to ideas of successful leading, to experiences and observations of leading practices, to teacher leaders' understanding and to their own leading practices. Through these types of responsiveness, a formative aspect of leading unfolds where the interplay between development leaders' leading and teacher leaders' learning practices appears. We refer to this as learning leading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to graduate as professional engineers in Australia, engineering students undertake internships as part of their degree programmes. The heart of a productive internship programme is the relationship between the workplace supervisor and the student, yet there are significant gaps in the knowledge about the nature and type of professional learning that takes place for industry supervisors. The aim of this research is thus to develop a clearer understanding of their practices and perceptions of their student supervision, and the types of learning that take place. This study was conducted with industry supervisors of students from the Faculty of Engineering and IT in an Australian university. It adopted a qualitative research approach using semi-structured interviews and an online survey. The data were analysed through the lens of practice theory perspectives. Our results show that learning was generally confined to the learning of students. Supervisors generally did not position themselves as potential learners in the internship experiences. The deeper understanding gained from this study calls for more purposeful, relational and values-based learning practices in supervisor-student interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article considers the motivations of teachers to pursue ongoing professional learning. During recent decades, the international policy context has been characterised by high-stakes accountability, but the implications of this agenda for teachers' motivations toward professional learning remains under-explored. In this mixed methods study, combining a large teacher survey and in-depth teacher interviews, a new and significant concept of 'instrumental motivation' is generated to capture how high-stakes performance management policies damage the motivation of teachers to learn professionally. This innovative approach, employing ordinal factor analysis and inductive/deductive hybrid thematic analysis inclusive of self-determination theory, reveals how the 'instrumental motivation' of teachers should be constrained and argues for the adoption of alternative motivational strategies to support effective professional learning in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research literature reports that teacher collaboration has great potential to increase various teachers' competencies; however, less has been said about how leaders can facilitate and support the development of these collaborations. This study examines the relative impact of distributed leadership practices, teacher professional learning, and innovative climate on teacher collaboration. Data are from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). The sample consists of 2,324 teachers from 159 US lower secondary schools. Results indicate that distributed leadership has a direct and indirect impact on teacher collaboration in that professional learning and innovative climate serve as mediators for the leadership–collaboration relationship. The findings imply a potential benefit to be gained from distributing leadership among various stakeholders throughout the school, as well as expanding access to improve collaborative pedagogical practice among teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teachers' professional learning plays an important role in their attempt to change their teaching practices; however, few studies have been conducted on how teachers prepare themselves for the vast initiatives in ameliorating students' outcomes. This study aimed to explore EFL teachers' perceptions toward their professional learning practices and their professional developmental orientations that contribute to the process of their professional learning. To this end, 30 Iranian EFL teachers selected through purposive sampling participated in this qualitative phenomenological study. The data was collected through focus-group interviews, semi-structured interviews, and narrative inquiries to ensure the trustworthiness criteria of the data. The thematic analysis of the data revealed three themes of professional development programs, collaborative learning and experience-based learning. The results showed that only a few teachers were satisfied with the school-based professional learning programs, indicating that revision in the educational system was required to develop teachers' professional learning. Meanwhile, effective learning occurred through collaboration among the teachers and the mutual learning between teachers and students, hence, leading to participative decision-making and teachers' reflective practice. Overall, participants mentioned students' outcomes as a key level of teachers' professional learning. This study has important implications for policymakers, school administrators, and teacher educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A professional learning community (PLC) instrument was developed to determine the level of PLC practice in small schools in Peninsular Malaysia. This study was conducted in Perak and Negeri Sembilan to determine the instrument's reliability and validity. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and item reliability analysis were used to determine the questionnaire's reliability and validity. Next, the average congruence percentage (ACP) is used to determine the reliability test between expert assessors. Experts approved the validity and reliability of the instrument before the EFA test was conducted. All five constructs have high-reliability index values between 0.86-0.95. Next, the EFA analysis shows five dimensions in the PLC instrument with factor loadings ranging from 0.61-0.84. The findings also show that the variance explained in the data is 68.99% with an Eigenvalue greater than 1. This result indicates that all items are received with high approval. In addition, a very high-reliability coefficient value, α=0.96. The results prove that this PLC instrument has high validity and reliability and can measure the level of PLC implementation practices in small schools in Peninsular Malaysia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article describes how some Swedish compulsory schools work to achieve collective development of practices in mathematics and science. The overall aim is to increase knowledge about factors influencing progression to professional learning in different school contexts. Data were collected through four case studies by interviews with teacher teams and principals and were analysed in a meta-perspective by using the components of the Collaborative Action Research model. The findings showed that the schools had reached different phases concerning progression to professional learning. Changes aiming to improve teaching and learning are context-bound. Therefore the authors suggest some crucial questions to support professional learning in the prevailing school culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purposes of this research were to design a professional development (PD) initiative to introduce teachers to a pedagogical innovation—the Meaningful Physical Education (PE) approach—and to understand their experiences of the PD process. Method: Twelve PE teachers in Canada engaged in an ongoing PD initiative, designed around characteristics of effective PD, across two school years as they learned about and implemented Meaningful PE. Qualitative data were collected and analyzed. Findings: This research showed that teachers valued a community of practice and modeling when learning to implement Meaningful PE. While teachers were mostly favorable to the PD design, there were several tensions between ideal and realistic forms of PD. Discussion: This research offers support for several characteristics of effective PD to support teachers' implementation of a novel pedagogical approach and highlights the need to balance tensions in providing forms of PD that are both effective and practical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The majority of art education research in the United Kingdom originates from England; however, the devolved nations each have responsibility for education resulting in four different curricula working concurrently across Great Britain. It can be argued that in comparison to England, art and design education research in Scotland is an under‐researched area though one that is increasingly garnering interest. This paper contributes to the field by presenting and discussing some of the findings from a survey of teachers focused on art and design education in Scottish primary schools in 2022. A total of 110 teachers participated and the survey examined the value of the subject, the current delivery in schools, the future of the subject and support for teachers. A wealth of data were gathered so this paper focuses particularly on the value of the subject among staff, confidence levels regarding delivery and the role of training and professional learning. The paper concludes that while the value of the subject among staff is strong, confidence levels with regard to teaching the subject are not. Staff felt that training had left them unprepared to teach the subject, and there was limited awareness of professional learning opportunities in their geographical area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we are exploring the development of professional learning of nearly qualified teachers, here referred to as prospective teachers, during their subject teacher education at a Finnish university. From a teacher educator stance, we aim to understand how teacher education practices can support prospective teachers' professional learning. The research question guiding our study is: How are prospective teachers portraying their professional learning by making use of a self-reflective portfolio? The data analysed consists of self-reflective learning portfolios written by prospective subject teachers as a course assignment in a course in general didactics. Drawing on a practice theoretical perspective, the analysis highlights how activities and assignments supporting both individual and collegial learning can be arranged during pre-service teacher education, and how prospective teachers can achieve a sense of collaborative and dialogic professional learning. The results contribute to discussions about promoting sustainable professional learning for both prospective and in-service teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Early career teachers (ECTs) face numerous challenges during their transition from preparation programmes into professional employment contexts. Social media platforms have created many new opportunities for teachers' ongoing professional learning by putting them in contact with other teachers from anywhere in the world. However, being connected to more people also means that ECTs must navigate an increased number of potentially conflicting messages about what and how to teach. Thus, entering the profession presents ECTs external conflicts as they adjust to new colleagues and internal conflicts as they encounter cognitive dissonance between old and new ideas. This study explores how and why ECTs expand professional learning networks (PLNs) – that is, the supports, people and spaces useful for improving teaching and learning – with social media in response to early career challenges. Interviews with nine ECTs demonstrate that they expand PLNs to navigate change, scarcity of resources and conflicting teaching beliefs. Interviewees use social media to look for supports for instructional practise and for connecting socially, but they also described how they maintain boundaries around their social media use. Implications are discussed for ECTs, administrators and education leaders – especially regarding how stakeholders can help alleviate early career pressures on ECTs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sudden transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic compelled teachers worldwide to develop the skills necessary to contend with online education and execute effective teaching. Whereas several studies have investigated the professional development opportunities provided by educational institutions during this time, research on the effectiveness of engaging in such activities for higher education teachers in Bangladesh seems limited. This study explores Bangladeshi English teachers' experiences of engaging in online professional development (OPD) and the impact it had on their teaching and professional learning during COVID-19. Data were collected using a qualitative survey distributed to twenty-five English teachers working at various public and private universities in Bangladesh. A thematic analysis demonstrated that teachers participated in both self-directed and institution-led professional development activities. While engaging in such activities was beneficial, teachers' application of the knowledge in teaching and professional learning was hindered by an overload of online information, insufficient logistics facilities, and inadequate collegial support. The study recommended that designing cost-effective OPD and ensuring a collegial environment might inspire teachers to explore OPD opportunities. In addition, providing institutions with proper orientation and awareness would ensure better institutional support in executing OPD even in the post-covid-era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional learning at work is related to the opportunities to participate in explorative and constructive practices. Co-designing tools and technologies to support work offers such opportunities, which need to be better understood in the field of professional and vocational learning. As digitalisation initiatives become more ambitious and aim at wider service reorganisation, more professionals from nontechnical domains become involved in the work of designing technologies and developing routines for their practice. This study explores how health professionals participate in the design of a technology for the registration and sharing of patient information across healthcare units in a Norwegian city. Over a year, we observed the design meetings with a team of health professionals and IT developers. The health professionals were mandated this task as part of their regular work to ensure that the way of categorising and displaying patient information would serve the services' needs. The interactions in the design meetings were analysed to examine how categories of patient information were explored and negotiated as objects of design. Our findings show how the team needed to test candidate categories for various contexts of use. This implied both negotiation of future service routines and efforts to reconfigure tasks and responsibilities in multiple service contexts. This work brings extended responsibilities and opportunities for learning to health professionals. We discuss how their decisions are consequential beyond their own workplace as the information system and its categories condition the work of colleagues in the wider service chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Middle leaders in schools are increasingly recognised as playing pivotal roles in school improvement. Although some school systems provide formal professional development for middle leaders, many middle leaders express a preference for job-embedded learning. Yet, international research has documented difficulties in providing intensive support from principals which instead is often ad hoc. This study examines how middle leaders' professional learning can be supported through the development of appropriate organisational structures. It presents three principal-designed models distilled from qualitative data collected in 12 case study schools, inclusive of public, semi-private, and international schools in four East Asian societies. Each model contributed to the development of middle leadership capacity in areas relevant to the schools' improvement agendas. The models vary in degrees of formality, resource intensiveness, and processes for engaging and developing leadership. The findings contribute to the growing literature on middle leader development, and the role of school infrastructure in professional learning by suggesting how school-based leader development strategies can be framed in coherent and intentional models that take into account of the available infrastructure and potential professional interactions to provide systematic in situ support for middle leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of a two-year curriculum field test study that implemented a curriculum-based professional learning framework, we investigated the factors that influenced teachers' willingness and ability to implement NGSS-aligned, phenomenon-based storylines for teaching the nature of science, evolution, and climate change. Through qualitative data collected from interviews and lesson evaluation surveys from 25 middle and high school science teachers, we identified potential implementation barriers and support structures relating to organizational culture as well as curriculum and instruction at the classroom, school, community, and systemic levels. The data indicate that lack of administrative support, time constraints, difficulty with student sense-making, and mismatched classrooms are the largest barriers to implementation, while curriculum-based professional learning including working through the lessons from a student perspective, peer collaboration, autonomy, and flexibility were the largest predictors of successful implementation. Administrators can play a large role in providing successful supports and removing barriers for teachers implementing NGSS-aligned, phenomenon-based lessons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although physical education (PE) teachers have increased access to digital/online continuous professional development activities, there are few robust accounts of how they engage with and experience these environments. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine PE teachers' participation patterns within self-directed online PE continuous professional development activities using mobile instant messenger. Methods: Data were generated from (a) 5,246 messages exchanged in the mobile instant messenger chatroom from 281 teachers, (b) semistructured interviews with 10 teachers, and (c) 1,275 messages posted by the 10 interviewed teachers. Quantitative data were analyzed for measures of central tendency, and qualitative data were analyzed inductively. Findings: Five patterns of PE teachers' usage of mobile instant messenger were identified: (a) ringmasters, (b) passive uploaders, (c) active uploaders, (d) requesters, and (e) bystanders. Discussion: The findings suggest that each engagement pattern illustrates the differential goals of learning, types of interaction, and forms of participation by teachers engaged in online continuous professional development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background For vocational and professional education to remain relevant, instructors need to keep developing themselves and their practices. Much of instructor learning happens on-the-job. Drawing on literature on teacher learning in the workplace, this article explores how structural and cultural conditions shape professional learning of instructors in departments for post-secondary vocational and professional education in western Canada. Methods A multiple case study approach was used to explore how instructors perceive departmental conditions as enhancing or inhibiting professional learning. Interview data, meeting observations, and program documentation was collected from 27 instructors from 5 departments in three institutes for post-secondary vocational and professional education. The educational programming in the five departments cover four industry sectors: two healthcare departments, one building trades, one business, and one social services department. Results Structural conditions reported to facilitate instructor professional learning at the department level include student feedback, job-rotation, coordinating work-placements, and whether participation in continuing professional development is a licensing requirement of the profession. Heavy workload and the way teaching is scheduled are most often reported as conditions inhibiting learning. Considering cultural conditions, three in-depth case descriptions illustrate how instructors draw on beliefs and practices prevalent in their original trade/profession when shaping their departmental culture as a learning environment. Conclusions The concept of sense-making proved useful to describe how instructors draw on elements of the occupational culture taught in the program when shaping their workplace as a learning environment. This influence of occupational culture could help explain previously observed differences in how instructors from various industry sectors engage in professional learning. Organizational support is warranted for facilitating organizational conditions for instructor learning including the development of departmental leaders’ capacity to influence workplace conditions for professional learning.

This case study explored 18 Taiwanese novice elementary school English teachers' practice of critical friendship models as an avenue for professional development. Based on the thematic analysis of the interviews, documents, and observation, the following major conclusions were drawn. Participants spent most of their time with critical friends in lesson planning and professional dialogue on classroom management. However, a lack of time was regarded as the major factor that influenced participants' implementations of critical friendships. Suggestions on effective critical friendship as novice teachers' professional learning and development were provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence to support the normalisation of performativity. However, what has been less remarked on are the tensions that emerge when teachers seek to implement performative learning in a post-performative teaching context. This paper draws on interviews with 9 Chinese teachers undertaking Cambridge's Professional Development Qualification (PDQ) within the context of private language schooling in China to nuance the notion of performativity. Findings show that tensions can still emerge when differing performative modalities intersect. In this instance, the modalities refer to teachers' performative learning and their teaching context (a private language school that deploys performative technologies). This finding suggests that performativity does not take on a global form, but might be seen as a loose assemblage of technologies that are often in tension. This paper also shows that even when a programme focuses on critical reflection, the focus can still be on neoliberal notions of performativity, with critical reflection being given a new meaning in the neoliberal agenda to mean something different from its customary transformative meaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This qualitative case study explored the experiences of a digital technology (DT) coach over the duration of a school year, as she forged her role and sought to support elementary teachers' abilities to integrate technology in instruction across the curriculum. In a school district in Ontario, Canada, the DT coach engaged teachers in individualised, face-to-face, classroom-based coaching and facilitated small group professional learning meetings. This study sought to understand how a DT coach navigates her role, with attention to the factors that affected her ability to support teachers. Multiple data sources were collected including observational field notes from group meetings and classroom-based coaching sessions with teacher participants, as well as individual interviews with the coach and a convenience sampling of teacher participants. Analyses of these data derived six interconnected themes: flexibility and responsiveness, authenticity and humility, growth mindset, relationships, engagement, and resourcefulness in overcoming constraints. Implications include the need to further examine the characteristics of effective DT coaches, with particular attention to their flexibility, humility, and learning orientations. Additionally, this study revealed the need for further research exploring the professional learning of DT coaches and continued exploration of factors that affect the efficacy of DT coaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional learning (PL) in education is thought to be a key mechanism for improving classroom instruction and student achievement. Yet despite decades of research into PL, the impact of this investment is not well understood, with reports of limited change in both research and practice. As part of a large-scale investigation focusing on practitioner use of evidence in education, the authors undertook a rapid review to understand what is known about effective PL for K-12 school-based educators. Based on analysis and synthesis of 12 included studies, the review identified eight features of effective PL: collaboration; active learning and reflection; content and pedagogy in context; sustained duration; coaching; external expertise; models and modelling; and, audience and alignment. It also highlighted additional considerations for effective PL, including workplace conditions, PL providers, and online and blended approaches. This paper argues that though there is a consensus around effective PL features, there is a need to go beyond 'effective approaches' and consider the broader conditions and methodological limitations that impact improved and sustained change. Overall, this paper has implications for understanding the research landscape around effective PL, and applying an evidence-informed approach to designing PL programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving schooling outcomes is a preoccupation facing school leaders globally. At the heart of such an agenda is the school leader's capacity to make professional learning decisions that best support the professional learning needs of their teachers. Thus, this paper investigates the extent to which principals' control to make professional learning decisions for the teachers in their schools is influenced by confidence in their understanding of professional learning and by four decision-making influences. To achieve such ends, 73 principals who were members of a large state-based cross-sectorial professional association for school leaders accepted an invitation to be surveyed concerning professional learning for teachers in their school regarding control, confidence in understanding professional learning, accountability, organisational constraints and school system influences. Key among the findings were that principals' sense of control to provide their teachers with effective professional learning was positively predicted by three factors: their own engagement in ongoing professional learning; the experience of fewer organisational constraints; and confidence in their understanding of what constitutes efficacious professional learning. School system influences such as regional office priorities were found to predict a negative impact on control. The article concludes by offering three recommendations to improve principals' control regarding the provision of professional learning for their teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this conceptual paper is to posit a possible reason why non-Indigenous educators are seen to be 'cautious' in their pedagogic engagement with First Nations perspectives in curriculum, why interventions and programmess around reconciliation and truth-telling have limited traction in affecting change in school culture, and why the Australian education system is constructed to be, and remains, largely hostile to First Nations Peoples and perspectives. Despite several decades of studies exploring these phenomena and concerted efforts to 'fix the problem', there has been a systemic failure to shift discourses and practice beyond the completely absent, tokenistic, or superficial inclusion of First Nations narratives in Australian education. We argue that power-knowledge relations of settler-colonial discourses are fundamentally at play and that by examining how disciplinarity and settler-colonial frameworks of knowledge control operate in education, we conceptualize a possible reason to the pedagogical challenges faced in the decision-making and integration of First Nations narratives in curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report on an international collaborative project designed to address the professional development needs of Vietnamese teachers for the implementation of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL). We collected data on a group of CLIL Vietnamese teachers and leaders through online interviews. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the paper illuminates how CLIL teachers, as the subject of the professional learning (PL) system, utilized tools to develop their capacity for CLIL teaching against the backdrop of various sociocultural factors that regulate this learning process. The analysis helped us to identify various challenges facing CLIL teachers' PL. These challenges arose from an absence of an effective learning system mostly related to contextual obstacles and widespread misconceptions, even among the leaders and CLIL trainers, about the nature of CLIL. This study contributes suggestions to enhance the quality of PL for CLIL teachers, which is a pressing issue for the successful implementation of CLIL in the context of Vietnam and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1999, the western concept of 'Learner-Centred Education' (LCE) was nationally mandated for schools and universities across Thailand. Most early research into this mandate portrayed Thai teachers in deficit terms, suggesting they were unwilling or unable to implement government policy. Such studies often underappreciated the range of cultural, institutional, and historical factors that were mediating the teachers' practices. This narrative-based qualitative case study reflexively investigates how four university teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) from three contrasting universities in Thailand negotiated socio-cultural and institutional factors to successfully implement the national mandate of LCE. The study analyses a range of narrative-based qualitative data to show how the teachers were able to differentiate teaching approaches, respect student diversity and independence, and promote dialogic teaching and learning. It also argues for the importance of ongoing professional learning to support teachers' implementation of LCE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: This paper presents a counter-narrative to the long-held belief that Physical Education (PE) is impermeable to change. Transforming and enacting curriculum is incredibly challenging and sometimes impossible but if teachers have particular resources available to them over time, this makes 'radical reform more, rather than less likely' [Kirk, D. 2009. Physical Education Futures. London: Routledge]. Purpose: This paper addresses the on-going and pervasive issue of sustainable curriculum transformation and enactment in PE. More specifically, the purpose of this research is to examine the source, nature and purpose of resources that made curriculum transformation and enactment possible in one school. Data collection and analysis: As part of an exemplary case study, 7 Secondary PE teachers and one Principal from an Australian Secondary school engaged in the process of curriculum transformation and enactment. Data consisted of semi-structured individuals (3) and paired interviews (6) and field notes. We drew upon the notion of 'contextual dimensions' and 'activity layers' to support the analysis. Findings suggest that the teachers were supported by resources that spanned different contextual dimensions (situated, material, external contexts and professional culture) and layers of activity. The most valued resources identified by the teachers were (i) structural and networked support; (ii) sustained leadership; (iii) a clear vision for PE in their school; (iv) professional learning; (v) time. Conclusion: The findings suggest that while changes in policy do not necessarily prompt change in practice, particular kinds of policy are necessary if the change is to be viewed as possible and worthwhile by teachers. In this study, a layered policy landscape acted as a catalyst for the teachers to reimagine what PE could look like in their school. Moving from vision to action, it was the interplay of resources across the contextual dimensions and activity layers that the teachers drew on to support curriculum transformation and enactment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting teacher professional learning by empowering established master teachers as leaders is a priority in many societies, including America, Australia, and Canada. Yet, few systems have implemented strategies that allow this to happen at scale. China is one of the few societies that engage master teachers in spreading learning. They do this through several initiatives, one of which is through Master Teacher Studios (MTSs). This article investigates how teacher leadership is enacted in an MTS and how the studio leader nurtures teacher learning across schools. Teacher leadership is widely touted as powerful means for improving teacher professional learning within and beyond schools. However, relatively few empirical studies have examined how teacher leaders promote teacher professional learning, especially in China. This paper uses one provinciallevel MTS in Zhejiang province, an economically and educationally advanced region in China, to explore the leadership practices of the MTS host, a master teacher in promoting the MTS members' professional learning. The paper identifies three major leadership strategies adopted by the host of MTS: acting as a conduit between local government and studio members, yanchuan shenjiao ('mentoring in words and demonstrating in deeds'), and providing studio members with intellectual, social, and emotional supports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores school principals' and teachers' views of the Italian teachers' appraisal system and related indicators. In particular, the research aimed at examining the opinions of school principals and teachers regarding the domains to be considered for teacher appraisal purposes. An investigation involving 37 school principals and 868 in service teachers, from three Italian regions, is presented. The data was collected through a questionnaire and statistically analysed. Findings suggest operationalising new data sources - specifically students and parent, - is beneficial to evaluate teacher quality as a construct in data-based professional learning communities. They show different positioning: teachers seem to be really inclined to be evaluated, especially by students and parents, while school principals still seem very cautious in entrusting the teachers' appraisal to an external point of view. This paper adds to the existing research showing the perspective of a new teachers' appraisal, inspired by multi-faceted models based on multiple points of view (students, parents, not only principals) and not reduced to simplistic solutions of an accounting type. Furthermore, the study answers the call for research into teachers' appraisal as part of the professional learning actions and in view of more integrated professional leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Professional learning (PL) for inclusion is a key policy focus internationally, arising from a growing commitment to the goal of a rights-based approach to education for all. Transformative teacher PL for inclusion is paramount to this goal but it is a complex endeavour, as evidenced in the persistent knowledge-practice gap relating to inclusive practice. Models of collaborative inquiry hold promise for affecting teacher change, yet there is limited research on how such models can support quality teacher PL for inclusion. This qualitative cross-case analysis focuses on two models of collaborative inquiry in different contexts in the Republic of Ireland (RoI): a professional learning community (PLC) for inclusive practice in a primary school and an online learning community (OLC) that supported preservice teacher learning during school placement. Parallel findings across the two case studies demonstrated changes in participants' beliefs, efficacy and practice, arising from collaborative inquiry that was characterised by critical dialogue and public sharing of work. External facilitation of the learning communities supported the creation of a 'safe space' which was paramount to transforming PL contexts. We proffer design principles for sustainable collaborative PL approaches across teacher education contexts that support teachers to navigate the complexity of enacting inclusive practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is strong evidence that professional learning in schools can positively impact learner experience and outcomes. This conceptual paper draws on key literature focused on understandings of high-quality professional learning and what makes an excellent environment in which to learn. This literature informed and spoke to the sense-making of our experiences of working directly with school leaders in Wales to adopt and promote enquiry as a way of being to support the professional learning of their staff. It examines the complex nature of meaningful professional learning and the culture and conditions leaders need to create to successfully enable the professional growth and expertise of their staff. This paper presents a rationale for why leaders should adopt, promote and grow cultures that value enquiry as a way of being. It outlines key considerations and understandings that can empower school leaders to create the necessary culture and conditions for impactful professional learning. It also provides a practical framework to support leaders in developing contextualised, sustained and meaningful professional learning to nurture enquiry as a way of being. We highlight how leadership practice which fails to model these ways of working authentically presents the danger of staff disillusionment and disengagement with professional learning more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have called for considering professional learning (PL) through the lens of complexity. One lens for operating amidst complexity is design. Designers thrive in complexity because of the responsive nature of their work; a designer develops their practice in response to a particular situation, adapting as it changes. Thus, a design lens is useful for navigating complexity in teacher learning and practice. As a designer, a teacher learns and practices in a classroom amidst complex nested systems. Design calls for seeing beyond traditional, linear practice; experimenting with new approaches; and adjusting those approaches in response to the situation's feedback loops. In this article, we illustrate the relationship among complexity, design, and PL through examples from four teachers who participated in a design-centred PL program before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program aimed to support teachers in a creative design approach to address a problem of practice. Analysis highlighted that when teachers needed to learn and practice amidst complexity, it was difficult to see possibilities outside of traditional practice and to perceive feedback from the situation. Our analysis suggests that a focus on finding non-traditional approaches and listening to disruptive feedback might support teachers to learn and practice amidst complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]