Recent decades have brought significant expansion of the so-called shadow education sector of private supplementary tutoring across the globe. Increasing numbers of school teachers provide such tutoring on a part-time basis; and increasing numbers of tutorial centres recruit teachers from schools to work full time. Tutorial centres also recruit…

Employing Connelly and Xu's (this issue) conceptualisation of reciprocal learning, the article explores the potential for reciprocal learning about pedagogy provided by a body of PISA-inspired literature on high-performing education systems. I argue that the opportunities for reciprocal learning provided by that body of literature is rather…

In this article, the concepts of self-regulated learning, learning strategies and metacognition are outlined theoretically and exemplified practically. The teachers and the students presented in the article are taking part in a research and development (R&D) work project. The focus of the article is on how the teachers implement learning…

The dominant cultural image of veteran teachers is conveyed in the fictional life story of Mr Chipping of Brookfield School as conveyed in James Hilton's short novel "Goodbye, Mr Chips." This reflects emerging ideals and practices of teacher professionalism in England from the 1920s onwards in terms of its emphasis on autonomy and…

The Finnish educational system and curricula lay emphasis on play, collaboration and equality. Modern educational practices allow the learning environment to be enlarged from indoor classrooms to outdoor playful learning environments (PLEs). PLEs have been constructed in schoolyards in Finland with the goal of increasing learning through play in…

This inquiry explores the collaborative relationship between Mary, a teacher at a junior high, and Stefinee, a teacher educator at a nearby university. Through the use of emblematic narratives that emerged through the process of reliving and retelling experiences from a shared professional knowledge landscape, we make assertions about our…

Contemporary commentary notes that students are frequently ahead of their teachers in their ability to manipulate and be creative with the internet, digital programs, and mobile technology. In this context it is important to ask, "What knowledge do teachers need to teach in the contemporary context where texts are elaborately multimodal,…

Constructivism has emerged as a very powerful model for explaining how knowledge is produced in the world as well as how students learn. Moreover, constructivist teaching practices are becoming more prevalent in teacher education programs and public schools across the nation, while demonstrating significant success in promoting student learning.…

This paper examines the extent to which political devolution has influenced the nature of education policy-making in Scotland, taking initial teacher education and early professional development as a case. Pre-devolution studies of the policy community in Scotland stressed the close relationships between the various stakeholders and the inherent…

This article uses the new Decree on teacher education in Flanders, Belgium, as a case study to critically examine the changes in the conception of teacher professionalism in education policy. In this examination, the focus is on the "form of problematisation" (Foucault) that is enacted in the texts of the Decree. It will be argued that…

Authority, a fundamental part of the teaching-studying-learning process, is a problematic and poorly understood component of classroom life. It can be said, in practical terms, that pedagogical authority is constructed in classrooms, in teacher-student interaction and in the spirit of their physical presence, confidence, appreciation,…

This paper describes the signature role played by accomplished, experienced teachers in professional learning communities, and the importance that these practitioners make their teaching public and shared. In so doing, the authors describe how accomplished practices can be shared between classrooms and between practitioners with varying levels of…

Teaching depends upon relationships. Yet teaching is only one of a number of professions in which practice depends heavily upon the quality of human relationship between practitioners and their clients. To explore how other professions prepare professionals for the work of building and maintaining relationships, we embarked on a study that…

This article articulates a theory of "presence" in teaching and seeks to establish a theoretical foundation for presence that can serve as a platform for further research. It seeks to address the current educational climate that sees teaching as a check list of behaviors, dispositions, measures, and standards, and to articulate the essential but…

In this paper the authors explore two pedagogical moments that occurred within a diversity-focused secondary teacher education course, giving specific attention to Genevieve's and Debra's reflections as course instructors. We explore the ways in which instructors find themselves challenged, engaged and provoked to rethink taken for granted ideas…