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A starting point for realising connections between leadership and professional learning is to focus specifically on teachers and their conceptions of leadership. Typically, leadership is understood...

Despite group coaching being used to facilitate goal-focused change in a range of organizational contexts, there is little research evidence of its use or efficacy in continuing professional development programs for educational leaders. In the first part of this article we define coaching and consider the benefits and challenges of several forms of coaching for leadership learning. In the second part, we introduce the Professional Learning through Feedback and Reflection group coaching model and report on an international pilot of its use in a continuing professional development program for school leaders. The stimulus for group coaching with this model came from the completion of a self-assessment instrument and subsequent feedback report which provoked individual reflection on personal competencies. A protocol used within the coaching process itself provided structure for school leaders to clarify problems and issues, share perspectives and experiences, reflect and plan for change. Analysis of data from...

Teacher leadership has held a place in leadership theory since the 1980s. In this chapter previous research and scholarly reviews about teacher leadership are highlighted in order to explain its distinctive features and why it still needs to be seen as a viable and attractive form of leadership. The key message throughout this chapter is the need for a different way of thinking about leadership work to enhance student learning and to view this as collective rather than the individual work of a particular leader. Case study research highlights some of the conditions that influence teacher leadership work and how issues have been addressed. Discussion is focussed on who counts as a teacher leader, where multiple categories of leadership work are revealed to show the breadth of teacher leadership. This breadth, is noted whilst being inclusive of multiple participants, at the same time lacks precision. A point taken through this chapter is the notion that leadership is about influence, not personal power over others. In this way leadership is described as a fluid space inclusive of multiple leaders to engage in leadership practices where the intent is for leadership to be distributed widely and always connected to students and their learning. It is further noted that teacher leadership is largely dependent on what those in formal positions allow and constrain by accountability and compliance agendas. This leaves little room for teachers to engage in leadership work because compliance requires a formal role which they do not possess.

Notions of career and career trajectories are explored in this chapter with a focus on early career teachers. Reference is made to three research studies and the school variations in how early career teachers are supported post-registration and how this affects attrition and retention and, ultimately, the next generation of leaders. A career continuum is offered to contrast between upward career advancement to positional roles and a focus on practice-focused improvements. This contrast is used to reveal different ways of interpreting what leadership and being a leader mean. Teacher leadership is associated with a practice focus, indicating a space for teachers to see professional learning as an opportunity to lead others. The longitudinal study entitled “Teachers of Promise (TOPs): Aspirations and Realities” is introduced and subsequently developed through this and other chapters as illustrative material depicting the voices and experiences of early career teachers. This particular study has captured the sources of job satisfaction, challenges, and opportunities for early career teachers with mention of support for teachers’ extended roles and responsibilities, including leadership. Vignettes of three teachers demonstrate the importance of schools being nurturing environments for early career teachers to deepen their professional expertise.

This chapter extends the learning orientation of teachers who engage in leadership work because of their strong moral purpose to make a difference to students. An illustrative vignette captures this intent to show the appeal of a practice focus for leadership work. Adult learning theory is used to emphasise the importance of paying attention to the processes which help teachers to learn, recognising that professional learning requires more than content knowledge. Being a learner first, and a leader second, is how the pathway to leadership is portrayed. Issues of how and when leadership awareness and learning should begin are discussed as well as what that leadership learning might entail. Four examples of system provisions for leadership learning in different country settings illustrate how multiple partners can support teacher leadership learning. The chapter rounds off with a discussion about the role of self-assessment in leadership learning, in particular the use of an online tool trialled in 12 countries to acknowledge leadership learning needs. In this way possible benefits for individuals are signalled when structured opportunities are available for them to identify their existing leadership competencies and those they are still to develop.

The focus of this chapter is why teacher leadership is of interest to researchers and practitioners despite its lack of a clear definition. It is claimed that if notions of leader and leadership are solely attributed to those holding formal roles or positions then this is a problem. The view is advanced that informal interactions with colleagues matter and these are seen as offering opportunities for extending spheres of influence. That such interactions are typically not deemed as leadership work seems to be because those sharing their influence have no particular leadership title. This chapter signals the need for a conceptual separation of the terms leader and leadership so as to make room for formal and informal leadership. It is asserted that how teachers use and share their professional knowledge with colleagues is what matters. This is seen as collective rather than individual work, to which all may contribute, regardless of whether they hold a designated role or title. Essentially it is the shared commitment to the moral purpose of the school which is of prime concern. This accounts for a preference for the term “leadership” over “leader” recognising that teachers, interchangeably, can be leaders and learners who work for the needs of students rather than for personal gain or status.

This chapter is framed around teacher interview data specifically exploring teachers’ understandings of the terms “teacher leader” and “teacher leadership”. The return to a small number of the Teachers of Promise study participants for these interviews provides an opportunity to check their views with research and scholarly writing on teacher leadership. The interview discussion begins by asking whether the teachers think teacher leadership exists and, if it does, what it looks like, and then about its opportunities, challenges, and constraints. Seven matters surface from the interview data. These include the continuing perception that leadership occurs through a named positional role; reluctance amongst teachers to be leaders; a realisation that leadership involves personal risk taking, courage, and supportive colleagues; the invisibility of teachers’ classroom leadership, leadership as collective activity amongst peers being activated because of the moral obligation to enhance students’ learning, the ability of teacher leaders to provide clear evidence of their impact on students and colleagues’ work, and how teacher leaders see their work as remaining connected to classrooms.

In this chapter an earlier definition of teacher leadership is extended to reflect the importance of continuous professional learning and how this becomes the impetus for teacher leadership as spheres of influence are realised. A vignette describing a teacher with a practice focus, albeit inside a designated leadership role, extends the earlier intent of teacher leadership with a learning orientation. The potential of networks beyond individual schools for teachers without formal leadership roles is featured to explore issues of practice alongside other teachers. It is argued that wider networks can compensate for teachers working in environments which are not conducive to professional learning. Indicators of schools with collaborative learning cultures are presented, particularly what it takes to form trusting relationships where teachers are able to learn alongside their colleagues without fear of repercussions. Two program examples illustrate the potential of learning networks. The first is the HertsCam Network from England. The second is the IDEAS program from Australia. These examples show the possibilities when schools focus on building the leadership capacity of teachers as recognition of the importance of their input in the development of school-wide pedagogy. The terminology of learning relationships is then taken into a discussion of mentoring and coaching to explore how issues of practice can become topics for joint reflection and inquiry, all the while recognising that such learning relationships require professional learning too.

The focus for this chapter is understanding why it is that some teachers view leadership work as separate from an individual’s position, role, and status. The chapter begins with three vignettes illustrating pathways to teacher leadership which emphasise conceptions of leadership tied to positional roles. These vignettes demonstrate how teachers’ lives, aspirations, and realities are shaped and constrained by who they are as individuals, the people who surround them, and the school environments in which they work. This realisation is important for understanding why leadership is associated with a named position for some while for others it is possible without such an appointment. A discussion about readiness for leadership work and how acting professionally draws teachers to a different form of leadership, namely a learning orientation, is described in terms of teacher leadership activity. This links to the appeal of teachers engaging in a reciprocal process of learning through leading, in order to make sense of their own teaching knowledge and practices whilst helping others. The chapter ends with an emerging definition of teacher leadership which is based on research work with the Teachers of Promise study and an analysis of the teacher leadership literature.

The final chapter affirms advocacy for teacher leadership and a concern that conceptions of leadership practices, when limited to describing those in formal positions, fail to acknowledge teacher leadership as a recognised form of leadership. A return is made to the original purposes of the book, which were to clarify who counts as a teacher leader and to offer a definition encompassing the scope of teacher leadership work and what it would take for schools, education systems, and individuals to value teacher leadership and increase its visibility and appeal. Key messages in response to each of the chapters’ focus questions are presented along with an extended explanation of teacher leader and teacher leadership to show teacher leadership as interconnected activity aligned to five principles of adult learning. The chapter ends with suggested next steps for leadership learning programs at the education system level, for school-level actions, and for individual teachers as our current and future leaders. It is asserted that it is more helpful to talk about teacher leadership rather than teacher leader because the improvement of student learning and achievement is work which requires more than one individual’s input. However, at the same time it has been found difficult to completely dismiss the term “teacher leader” because that would suggest there is no place for individual teachers as teacher leaders. Teacher leadership represents a form of leadership which can embrace individuals as well as groups of teachers. Leadership when it is viewed as collective work sends a message that learning together as professionals helps students and their achievement. This is precisely why it is necessary to advocate for teacher leadership as a viable form of leadership for and by teachers.

In this chapter we describe the research into leadership for learning which was used as the platform for the initial and ongoing development of the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Program. We commence by reviewing studies undertaken in the first decade of the present century with a particular interest in a number of influential meta-analyses. This work is supplemented by confirming research carried out more recently. The results of the review are brought together as a framework or ‘Blueprint’ identifying eight dimensions of leadership activity known to help link the work of school leaders with student learning. These dimensions isolate and describe important connections which provide a foundation for the positions taken on leadership, and leadership learning elaborated in Chap. 2.

In this chapter we explain how the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Program was developed using relevant research literature as the source for a series of positions underpinning its design. Five positions are explained: The centrality of the moral purpose of leadership; what it takes to learn to read; how reading interventions are planned; what shared leadership involves; and the importance of support for leaders learning on-the-job. Following an elaboration of these positions, the design of the PALL Program is explained. We show how five linked professional learning modules: (i) Leadership for Learning, (ii) Learning to Read, (iii) Gathering and Using Data, (iv) Planning Reading Interventions, and (v) Evaluating Interventions were coupled with between-module tasks supported by leadership mentors over a 2-year period. A series of criteria drawn from the research literature on leadership learning is then used to critique the quality of the ‘time-rich’, context-related modular design (Dempster, Lovett, & Fluckiger, 2011). The chapter concludes with a description of the studies accompanying each of the six PALL Program iterations highlighting their research questions, the data gathering methods employed, where, with whom and how.

This chapter considers the evidence related to changed student achievement which is evident in schools embracing the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Program. It commences with the truism that inside the school gate, teachers have the greatest level of influence on student achievement, but it acknowledges that principals play a vital role in supporting them. The chapter then explores student learning in literacy, especially their engagement in aspects of the BIG 6, their attitude and achievement in reading, and their improvement journeys as presented in the six studies, demonstrating the dependence of this achievement on changed teaching practices. In particular, it highlights ways in which teachers, with the support of their principals, became more informed about processes for assessing and analysing quantitative student performance data at the individual, class and school level, complementing this with the assessment of qualitative evidence of improvement in student work samples. It also highlights a diversity of internal school processes for identifying, documenting and responding to differences in students’ reading abilities. Underlying these diverse processes, however, is evidence of the PALL view that the common moral purpose is improving children’s literacy.

The overall findings from the PALL studies show that despite principals and teachers making site-specific changes to teaching practices and the learning environment designed to improve student outcomes in reading, engaging and sustaining the support of families remains a difficult, but not insurmountable, problem to resolve. This chapter first discusses how the PALL work with principals began to disrupt a deficit discourse about disengaged parents such that alternative strategies for building sustainable relationships between families and schools became a serious component of change. It then explains how PALLIC introduced such a strategy in the form of a school-based Indigenous Leadership Partner working between the school and families to build dual capacity for families and schools to work with rather than against each other. Key to such a strategy is the recognition of the respective strengths of schools and families to support children’s learning, albeit differently, an understanding that as it develops further could segue into a new discursive practice of shared leadership between schools and families for children’s learning.

Chapter 3 deals with a central part of the leadership framework or blueprint used as a guide for action during the PALL Project . We explain the term ‘disciplined dialogue’ to show how professional conversations stimulated by evidence about student learning in general, and reading in particular can be conducted, always with an eye firmly fixed on the moral purpose of the educator. That purpose is widely accepted as working continuously to improve the life chances for students through learning. In this particular case, the moral purpose was evident in a commitment to improving reading for all children. The driving questions employed in disciplined dialogue are illustrated through a simulated discussion of sample evidence gathered from principals and teachers using a well-tried tool. The chapter also shows that the sources of evidence go well beyond student reading assessment results, though these are clearly essential. Other necessary sources of evidence are derived from the dimensions of the Leadership for Learning Blueprint explained earlier in Chap. 1. The benefits which flow from the use of disciplined dialogue identified during the six PALL research studies are outlined.

In this chapter discussion focuses on how teachers responded to what their principals took from participation in the five PALL professional learning modules. Discussion focuses on how decisions were made about schools’ reading priorities and the factors that influenced their choices i.e., composition of their student cohort, evidence and data gathered from a range of assessment processes, principals’ preferences, teachers’ content knowledge, and teachers’ pedagogical confidence. Further, examples are given about how reading priorities were enacted by participating teachers at the classroom level. Tensions that arose for teachers in their planning, programming, and instruction are considered and examples of their reflections about involvement in the PALL Program are highlighted. Arising from these considerations is affirmation of the role and impact of principals in the everyday teaching of reading.

In this chapter we consider the conditions for learning that principals must consider and address if reading achievement is to be sustained. It considers how school resources, including time, materials and curriculum decisions, might be aligned in ways that support the reading program of the school. It considers the physical, social and emotional support required by students if they are to do well, including the physical plant of the school and how it is decorated, the safe, pleasant and trusting environment that is developed by the principal and staff, and the need for celebration as a means of encouraging higher levels of activity. The chapter addresses how having a consistent supportive policy environment, the development of teamwork across the school and establishing a culture of high expectations in the school are important factors in supporting high levels of student engagement and achievement. The chapter also considers how the external environment impacts on schools and how the leader needs to understand how this works to ensure positive connections, but also, in some respects, needs to shield the school from it as well.

In this chapter we consider two main aspects of how the PALL Program contributed to a better understanding of supporting the professional learning of leaders and of teachers. In the first instance we consider how the PALL Program supported leaders to better understand reading and how to support teachers to do this well. Consideration is given to the learning that occurred from the PALL modules themselves, where principals’ content knowledge about reading and how to teach it well was addressed. The learning that occurred during the modules was further supported and extended by, on the one hand, the use of literacy leadership mentors who provided ongoing contact and support to principals in the periods between the modules and, on the other, the professional learning communities established, sometimes initiated by the mentors, but in other cases, developed naturally by the participants themselves. Finally the case study action research was used as a means of providing feedback to those schools that were involved. The chapter also considers how principals used the knowledge from PALL to support teachers in their ability to assess student learning in reading and make decisions based on that assessment and ultimately to take responsibility for and leadership in the reading program themselves.

In the final chapter we summarise what has been found through the Principals as Literacy Leaders (PALL) Program research overall. We start by providing two case studies, one of a successful PALL school and one that was less successful and we explore some of the reasons why this occurred. We point to the confirmation of its five design principles and to a series of issues which we argue should underpin professional learning for school leaders concerned with literacy learning and achievement in their schools. On the basis of our findings, we advocate the bringing together of generic leadership processes with significant curriculum content knowledge if leaders are to make significant differences in intractable learning problems wherever they are encountered. We also affirm the need for much greater attention to be given by school leaders to the relationship between teachers, children and parents in learning to read. This is particularly so where children live in difficult economic and socio-cultural circumstances. We note that it is encouraging that the program has been offered in almost all Australian states, and in both government and non-government school systems. Finally, the research has shown that the program has a high level of acceptance in schools, that the frameworks offered make sense to school leaders and teachers and that the resources provided are seen as valuable to practitioners pursuing reading improvement. We end with an overall summation of the conclusions reached from the research findings and a consideration of future research opportunities.

The Teachers of Promise study has followed the work histories of 57 primary and secondary teachers who had been identified at the beginning of their third year of teaching as having the potential to make a significant contribution to the profession. Using data from surveys and interviews, this paper reports on what sustained or inhibited their initial commitment to and enthusiasm for ‘making a difference’, six years later, both in the classroom and in broader school leadership roles. Satisfaction with their day-to-day experiences in their schools was a particularly strong driver of teachers’ career decisions over time. Thirty-four teachers responded to survey items that were used to identify three different groups of teachers: a group of 10 primary school teachers with the highest levels of job satisfaction who were ‘fulfilling their promise’; a group of 21 primary and secondary teachers who were ‘persevering and coping’; and three teachers who were ‘detached and disengaged’. The group with the highest le...

How to best address the professional learning needs of those aspiring to leadership roles in schools is a crucial issue. Robust evaluation practices are needed to determine the quality of current provisions and to identify where improvements can be made. This paper considers the quality of professional learning programmes using a set of 10 criteria distilled from a synthesis of compelling international leadership learning research. We show the potential of the 10 criteria for judging the quality of professional learning programmes by applying them to examples of programmes drawn from five countries around the world. These examples provide a launching pad from which questions can be posed about the potential use and applicability of such criteria in making design decisions about the quality and value of professional learning programmes in a range of national and international contexts.

The starting point for this article is the lack of a robust research base regarding details of what works and why for school leaders’ professional development. The article extends work undertaken for a recent commissioned literature review of selected international reports on supporting school leaders’ development strategies. The authors reveal that the leadership learning landscape seems to be one where system provision over-shadows individuals taking personal responsibility for their leadership learning. In an endeavour to create a balance between system and individual agendas, the authors have created an augmented version of a leadership learning heuristic tool originally developed by Clarke and Wildy. The tool is designed as a starting point only, intended to help leaders identify the state of their current knowledge about leadership as well as their future professional development needs using the tool’s five focal points – pedagogy, people, place, system and self. An example of the tool completed by ...

This chapter is informed by the findings of a longitudinal study of the personal and professional factors that keep early career teachers engaged and interested in their work in New Zealand schools. The New Zealand study entitled “Teachers of Promise” began tracking the professional lives of a purposive sample of 57 primary and secondary teachers who were in their third year of teaching in 2005. We returned to these teachers in their ninth year with an online survey and interviewed 20 of those still teaching in 2011. This gave us an opportunity to record career progressions, working conditions, and satisfactions and challenges. The focus of this chapter is the teachers’ conceptions and experiences of leadership as part of their career trajectories and the extent to which their employing schools distributed and supported leadership opportunities to help their career advancement. Our data highlight the extent to which leadership is viewed as an attractive option and how others nurture those with potential for leadership roles. We discuss these data alongside relevant issues from the literature and conclude with suggestions for making leadership work a more enticing career option.

Purpose To establish the age at which children can complete tests of spatial listening and to measure the normative relationship between age and performance. Method Fifty-six normal-hearing children, ages 1.5–7.9 years, attempted tests of the ability to discriminate a sound source on the left from one on the right, to localize a source, to track moving sources, and to perceive speech in noise. Results Tests of left–right discrimination, movement tracking, and speech perception were completed by ≥75% of children older than 3 years. Children showed adult levels of performance from age 1.5 years (movement tracking), 3 years (left–right discrimination), and 6 years (localization and speech in noise). Spatial release from masking—calculated as the difference in speech reception thresholds between conditions with spatially coincident and spatially separate speech and noise—remained constant at 5 dB from age 3 years. Data from a separate study demonstrate the age at which children with cochlear implants can complete the same tests. Assessments of left–right discrimination, movement tracking, and speech perception were completed by ≥75% of children who are older than 5 years and who wear cochlear implants. Conclusion These data can guide the selection of tests for future studies and inform the interpretation of results from clinical populations. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.14963589

Retaining early career teachers and enticing promising teachers to become teacher leaders are issues of international interest not only because large numbers of teachers will retire from the profession over the next five to 10 years but also because the strongest teachers are the teachers most likely to leave the profession during their early years in the profession. This article explores the promise two formal teacher leadership roles – the consulting teacher role in Maryland, USA, and the specialist classroom teacher in New Zealand – have for extending and enhancing the work and career engagement of early career teachers. The article also focuses on one early career teacher, Ruby, who, having assumed the role of specialist classroom teacher, shaped it so she could connect teacher leadership and teacher professional learning in ways likely to enhance her own and her colleagues’ pedagogical practice and thereby raise student achievement.

Objectives: Objectives were, first, to estimate the additional number of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) gained by deaf children from bilateral compared with unilateral implantation (Delta Q); second, to estimate the additional cost to the healthcare system in the United Kingdom for providing bilateral compared with unilateral implantation (Delta C); and, third, to compare the values of incremental net benefit (INB), r Delta Q - Delta C, with criteria used by policy makers in deciding whether to adopt health technologies. In England and Wales, the healthcare policy-making body must be satisfied that the INB is positive for a maximum value of r of 30,000 pound (the "net-benefit" criterion). Policy makers may also require the likelihood that the technology is cost-effective to exceed 0.8 (the "likelihood" criterion).Design: An opportunity sample of 180 informants, composed of clinicians/researchers, students, and parents, valued the quality of life of a hypothetical child born profoundly deaf. The child was described in written vignettes as achieving typical outcomes with no implant, a unilateral implant, a unilateral implant with benefit from a contralateral acoustic hearing aid, or bilateral implants. Valuations were made using the time trade-off (TTO) and a visual analog scale (VAS). A decision model was constructed to describe events related to implantation that could occur over a child's lifetime after the decision to implant. A cost and a probability were associated with each event. Monte Carlo simulations modeled the management of cohorts of 3000 children and estimated a value of Delta C for each child. An increment in quality of life was sampled with replacement from the appropriate distribution of informants' valuations to estimate a value of Delta Q for each child. The minimum value of r for which the average INB was positive was calculated to test the net-benefit criterion. The proportion of simulations for which the INB was positive when r was 30,000 pound was calculated to test the likelihood criterion.Results: Estimates of the cost-effectiveness of unilateral implantation aligned closely with published estimates, giving credibility to analyses of bilateral implantation. Based on TTO data (VAS data in parentheses), bilateral implantation was associated with an increment in quality of life of +0.063 (+0.076), yielding 1.57 (1.87) additional QALYs at a cost of 34,000 pound. Net benefit was positive, provided that 21,768 pound (18,173) pound could be spent to gain a QALY. If 30,000 pound could be spent, the probability that bilateral implantation is cost-effective was 0.480 (0.539). Thus, the net-benefit criterion, but not the likelihood criterion, was met in both analyses. The net-benefit criterion was also met in analyses based on data from the three groups of informants individually.Conclusions: Groups of adults varying widely in age and life experience perceived sufficient additional quality of life from giving children two implants rather than one to mean that bilateral cochlear implantation is possibly a cost-effective use of healthcare resources in the UK. Wide variation in valuations within the groups of informants means that considerable uncertainty surrounds that conclusion. Further data on the costs and benefits of bilateral implantation are needed to resolve the uncertainty.

This paper focuses on the experiences of a group of beginning secondary school English teachers involved in ‘Making a Difference’, a national New Zealand study of the influence of initial teacher education and beginning teacher induction on teachers’ early development as professionals. Rich data drawn from three rounds of interviews with beginning teachers highlight the challenges faced by beginning subject‐specialist teachers in secondary school contexts. The focus is on how such teachers balance their need to be confident in their curriculum knowledge and at the same time devise strategies to engage diverse learners at all levels. Data from four case studies highlight the challenges and complex realities experienced by beginning teachers as they move from ‘surviving to thriving’ (or not) as specialist‐subject teachers, how these teachers continued to develop sound curriculum and pedagogical content knowledge in their specialism area beyond their initial training year, and the in‐school factors that cont...

Objective Cochlear implantation in one ear (unilateral implantation) has been the standard treatment for severe-profound childhood deafness. We assessed whether cochlear implantation in both ears (bilateral implantation) is associated with better listening skills, higher health-related quality of life (health utility) and higher general quality of life (QOL) than unilateral implantation. Design Cross-sectional observational study. Setting University of York. Participants Fifty severely-profoundly deaf and 56 normally-hearing children recruited via a charity, the UK National Health Service and schools. Interventions Thirty of the deaf children had received bilateral cochlear implants; 20 had unilateral cochlear implants. Main outcome measures Performance measures of children’s listening skills; parental-proxy valuations of the deaf children’s health utility obtained with the Health Utilities Index Mark 3 and of their QOL obtained with a visual analogue scale. Results On average, bilaterally-implanted children performed significantly better than unilaterally implanted children on tests of sound localisation and speech perception in noise. After conservative imputation of missing data and while controlling for confounds, bilateral implantation was associated with increases of 18.5% in accuracy of sound localisation (95% CI 5.9 to 31.1) and of 3.7 dB in speech perception in noise (95% CI 0.9 to 6.5). Bilaterally-implanted children did not perform as well as normally-hearing children, on average. Bilaterally- and unilaterally-implanted children did not differ significantly in parental ratings of health utility (difference in medians 0.05, p>0.05) or QOL (difference in medians 0.01, p>0.05). Conclusions Compared with unilateral cochlear implantation, bilateral implantation is associated with better listening skills in severely-profoundly deaf children.

Both electrophysiological and behavioural studies suggest that auditory deprivation during the first months and years of life can impair listening skills. Electrophysiological studies indicate that 3½ years may be a critical age for the development of symmetrical cortical responses in children using bilateral cochlear implants. This study aimed to examine the effect of auditory experience during the first 3½ years of life on the behavioural spatial listening abilities of children using bilateral cochlear implants, with reference to normally hearing children. Data collected during research and routine clinical testing were pooled to compare the listening skills of children with bilateral cochlear implants and different periods of auditory deprivation.Children aged 4-17 years with bilateral cochlear implants were classified into three groups. Children born profoundly deaf were in the congenital early bilateral group (received bilateral cochlear implants aged ≤3½ years, n=28) or congenital late bilateral group (received first implant aged ≤3½ years and second aged3½ years, n=38). Children with some bilateral acoustic hearing until the age of 3½ years, who subsequently became profoundly deaf and received bilateral cochlear implants, were in the acquired/progressive group (n=16). There were 32 children in the normally hearing group. Children completed tests of sound-source localization and spatial release from masking (a measure of the ability to use both ears to understand speech in noise).The acquired/progressive group localized more accurately than both groups of congenitally deaf children (p0.05). All three groups of children with cochlear implants showed similar spatial release from masking. The normally hearing group localized more accurately than all groups with bilateral cochlear implants and displayed more spatial release from masking than the congenitally deaf groups on average (p0.05).Children with bilateral cochlear implants and early experience of acoustic hearing showed more accurate localization skills, on average, than children born profoundly deaf.

Worldwide, teachers struggle to keep pace with demands for learning. Educational reforms mandated at a national level require teachers to reconsider their teaching, curriculum and assessment philosophies and practices. This reliance on national policy initiatives increases teachers’ dependence on others knowing what their learning needs might be. Such dependence creates problems for sustained learning because teachers are not encouraged to help themselves. This article introduces an alternative approach to professional development, known as the Quality Learning Circle (QLC), to show how it can empower teachers to become agents of change able to meet both local needs alongside national agendas.

In the United Kingdom, children are considered candidates for bilateral implantation if their unaided pure tone thresholds exceed 90 dBHL at 2 and 4 kHz (National Institute for Health and Care Exce...

The Toy Discrimination Test measures children's ability to discriminate spoken words. Previous assessments of reliability tested children with normal hearing or mild hearing impairment, and most studies used a version of the test without a masking sound. We assessed test-retest reliability for children with hearing impairment using maskers of broadband noise and two-talker babble.Stimuli were presented from a loudspeaker. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) was varied adaptively to estimate the speech-reception threshold (SRT) corresponding to 70.7% correct performance. Participants completed each masked condition twice.Fifty-five children with permanent hearing impairment participated, aged 3.0 to 6.3 years. Thirty-four children used acoustic hearing aids; 21 children used cochlear implants.For the noise masker, the within-subject standard deviation of SRTs was 2.4 dB, and the correlation between first and second SRT was + 0.73. For the babble masker, corresponding values were 2.7 dB and + 0.60. Reliability was similar for children with hearing aids and children with cochlear implants.The results can inform the interpretation of scores from individual children. If a child completes a condition twice in different listening situations (e.g. aided and unaided), a difference between scores ≥ 7.5 dB would be statistically significant (p.05).

Modern health services need efficient tools for measuring outcomes from interventions, that is, tools of proven efficacy which make minimal demands on the time of clinicians in learning to administer tests and in interpreting results. This paper describes an apparatus designed to meet those requirements. The apparatus administers performance tests of spatial listening for children and adults with unilateral and bilateral cochlear implants. The apparatus was designed with guidance from clinicians. It possesses three key attributes: it is simple to use; the results of tests are scored automatically and are compared with reference data; the apparatus generates comprehensive personalized reports for individual participants that can be included in clinical notes. This paper describes the apparatus and reports results of a test measuring spatial release from masking of speech which illustrates the compatibility between the new apparatus and an older apparatus with which the reference data were gathered.

In this chapter, we highlight the critical connection of teacher leadership with improved pedagogy and quality learning. Illustrations from Australian and New Zealand case studies are used to reveal a variety of ways in which teachers can create opportunities and structures to support professional talk centred on observation of one another’s teaching, shared reflections and planning of next steps. Traditional notions of leader and leadership are presented to show how they no longer serve schools well. Instead we emphasise the need to foster communities of teacher leaders who can inspire those around them to make a difference in the lives of their students. In attempting to clarify what we mean by teacher leadership, we argue that new forms of leadership are now needed which value professional learning not as the transmission of knowledge from experts but as a discovery and co-construction of knowledge which teachers develop alongside one another as learners and operate within a professional learning community. We argue that investing in teachers as learning leaders needs to be intentional so that promising teachers are supported in their professional learning and see leadership with and alongside their colleagues as attractive and satisfying options.

This study, as part of a larger longitudinal study, “Teachers of Promise”, seeks to explore the perceptions and experiences of a group of teachers judged to have the potential to become strong teachers. It is these promising teachers who are needed for a strong and vibrant teaching profession, and it is these teachers who are most likely to leave teaching. Entrants to teaching have been differentiated according to the pathways of first career and career/job-changers. This study shows no appreciable differences between the two groups of teachers in their reasons for entering teaching, a finding that accords with international experience. Given international concerns about recruitment and retention in the teaching profession, there is an increasing need for messages about teaching as a career choice to be positive rather than negative.

The RAD52 and RAD54 genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae are involved in both DNA repair and DNA recombination. RAD54 has recently been shown to be inducible by X-rays, while RAD52 is not. To further investigate the regulation of these genes, we constructed gene fusions using 5' regions upstream of the RAD52 and RAD54 genes and a 3'-terminal fragment of the Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase gene. Yeast transformants with either an integrated or an autonomously replicating plasmid containing these fusions expressed beta-galactosidase activity constitutively. In addition, the RAD54 gene fusion was inducible in both haploid and diploid cells in response to the DNA-damaging agents X-rays, UV light, and methyl methanesulfonate, but not in response to heat shock. The RAD52-lacZ gene fusion showed little or no induction in response to X-ray or UV radiation nor methyl methanesulfonate. Typical induction levels for RAD54 in cells exposed to such agents were from 3- to 12-fold, in good agreement with previous mRNA analyses. When MATa cells were arrested in G1 with alpha-factor, RAD54 was still inducible after DNA damage, indicating that the observed induction is independent of the cell cycle. Using a yeast vector containing the EcoRI structural gene fused to the GAL1 promoter, we showed that double-strand breaks alone are sufficient in vivo for induction of RAD54.