Teaching in secondary education is mostly grounded in the practical wisdom of teachers. In general, teachers have limited knowledge of, access to, and interest in insights from scholarly work. Teacher research might be a way to move beyond practical wisdom as the only basis for good teaching. This study aimed to explore whether teacher research…

After more than 20 years of a critical shortage in special education teachers, this mid-Atlantic state expedited program development for undergraduate-level teacher preparation programs. To meet the accelerated timeline, one program at a large public university used its graduate-level coursework as a model for the undergraduate level program.…

Professional development and learning are vital components of the educational system due to their dynamic impact on teachers (Bayar, 2014; Darling-Hammond, 2010; Guskey, 2002). Despite the importance of teacher development and the impact of student learning outcomes, professional development and learning often rely on traditional…

This exploratory study, in which the participants portrayed a critical role, aimed to discover the perceptions of professional development in changing educator practice at the secondary level with middle school teachers in an urban school district. The data collection process included semi-structured interviews with nine secondary teachers via…

Instructional coaching is a widely accepted form of job-embedded professional development in schools across the United States. The problem is that many new instructional coaches have limited experience facilitating professional growth or working with adult learners. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the perceptions coaches…

In today's workforce, individuals are staying in their respective professions longer and retiring at ages past 67, resulting in a generationally diverse workforce. Currently, teachers range from 21-80 years of age, working in the same profession and receiving the same professional development. Considering adult learning and the dynamics associated…

This article explores the sustained impact of an Access module on mature students from disadvantaged backgrounds as they progress to undergraduate study. Framed in the context of OfS concerns about attrition and conceptualisation of dispositional, situational and institutional barriers, student survey and tutor focus group data were collected in a…

In this paper, we report the results of a qualitative study examining the development of leadership competencies as Montessori school leaders gain experience using a coaching protocol with their teachers. Extending previous work, the emphasis is on the school leaders' specific roles as instructional supervisors leading reflective practices.…

Online professional learning experiences can address K¬--12 computing teachers' need for content knowledge and professional communities. However, it can be difficult to design effective, large-scale experiences that reach broader audiences while addressing individual teachers' professional needs. We facilitated a two-week online professional…

Using the Transformative Learning Theory lens, this qualitative case study examined the experiences of teachers as adult learners in the Northern Bahamas who taught before, during, and after a natural disaster. The initial findings of the ongoing study highlight the challenges faced by teachers during natural disasters, including disruptions to…

High school instructional leaders describe how they reframed professional learning around autonomy with structured support. The new system, guided by trust and teacher inquiry, sparked innovation that proved critical during the pandemic.

Teacher professional development (PD) is often an underutilized resource for reform in K-12 schools, and ineffective models often limit the organizational improvements that can be made. In this Action Research report, teachers' experiences with PD at the research site were analyzed using qualitative methods to determine what components of learning…

Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) is a combination of different forms of teaching knowledge necessary to provide students with a meaningful learning experience. This article aims to improve teachers' PCK by incorporating it into an action learning approach. The authors designed the Blended Model of Reflective PCK (BMRP) to enable teachers to be…

This phenomenological, action research study engaged a sample of teachers from a large middle school in northern South Carolina in developing a protocol and recommendations for the use of peer observations that would provide meaningful professional development for teachers at this school. Data collection methods consisted of interviews, focus…

The concept of learning ecologies emerged in a context of educational change. While the "learning ecologies" construct has offered a broad semantic space for characterizing innovative ways of learning, it is also true that its potential to promote innovative educational interventions may have been hindered by this same broadness. Based…