Section archive - Professional Development

This article examines how second-career teachers may be better supported in their professional development. The study found that second-career teachers' skills and experiences were not valued within their schools. It also found that this was reflected in a rigid division the participants drew between the institutionally endorsed identity positions made available to them and the type of teachers they wanted to be. In response to this antagonism, second-career teachers used their position of non-participation to establish identity territories that connected aspects of their first-career identities, such as engineers and managers, to their emerging teacher identities.

In this study, two data collection instruments were used to examine how Dutch secondary school teachers learn in the workplace. Firstly, they completed a questionnaire on their preferences for learning activities on two occasions. Secondly, during the intermediate period, they reported learning experiences in digital logs. Results of both instruments indicate that teachers often learn by critical individual reflection and by involving colleagues in particular challenging or problematic situations.

This article explores the nature and varying forms of professional learning communities in rural Gansu, one of China’s poorest provinces, in northwest China. The authors use qualitative and quantitative data. They draw on survey data collected in primary schools serving 71 villages in rural Gansu Province as well as transcripts from in-depth interviews with 30 teachers. The findings suggest that engagement in professional learning communities is associated with strong leadership of the principal, policy reforms and the initiative of teachers themselves.

This study explores the preservice teacher learning in the context of conversations about their field-based challenges. First, a review of the literature investigates studies that highlight the role of evidence-based conversation as a mechanism to approach the inevitable problems faced by teachers in the classroom. The subsequent case study provides an analysis of how a group of preservice teachers approached a colleague's challenge through a structured conversation and used digital videotapes and artifacts to add specificity to their analysis.