A considerable number of empirical studies have led researchers to identify key characteristics that indicate effective professional development (PD). However, few studies have attended to teacher perceptions of PD characteristics across international contexts. This article reported on an exploratory study utilising latent class analysis (LCA) to…

This study explores teachers' awareness of intuition, and how that awareness affects their classroom practices both conceptually and pragmatically. Scholars have long supported the notion that intuition is a crucial form of knowing that supports teaching. Teachers rely heavily on their intuition to deal with complex classroom situations,…

Throughout the past decades, the profession of school leader has become more complex. To deal with these increasing complexities and the challenges school leaders encounter, it is important that school leaders are provided with effective professional development. However, research on school leaders' learning and professional development, and…

Professional development programs (PDP) are an important tool for achieving educational goals; assessing their effectiveness, however, is complex. The success of PDP depends on teachers' ability to transfer newly gained knowledge and skills into practice. To assess this effectiveness, it is necessary to develop appropriate methodological tools.…

Third sector organisations have been providing continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers in the UK in the field of global learning over decades. Given the patchy provision within initial teacher training, these organisations are the main source of support for teachers in helping their pupils engage with and respond to global issues.…

The environment in which Vocational Education and Training (VET) schools operate changes rapidly due to more varied student populations, personalised, blended and work-based learning paths, developments in digitalisation, industry, and labour markets. These changes and policy pressures to ensure VET quality, demand teachers to continuously develop…

Professional development programmes for teachers that aim at context-based science education are usually lengthy and less effective than intended. In this study, a one-year professional development programme was designed and evaluated that consistently started from the teachers' concerns regarding context-based education. The teachers reported a…

Science and technology education has become increasingly important. However, for most teachers, it is challenging to provide this content. Therefore, professional development programmes are used to support teachers in this regard. In this qualitative study, effective characteristics that should be present in such programmes were identified.…

The purpose of the current study was to examine the perceptions of teachers in different professional development periods regarding their experience of traditional activities for continuing professional development (CPD). The participants were 45 teachers from three professional life periods on the basis of teaching experience. Teachers'…

Personal observations suggest that science lecturers in higher education do not always feel comfortable engaging with the support offered through academic development initiatives. At a research-intensive university in the UK, research was conducted using a mixed-methods approach to establish how science lecturers engaged with continual…

Considerable research has shown professional learning communities (PLC) within schools as a beneficial way for teachers to develop professionally within the context of their own work environment. Although the positives are often highlighted in PLC's, there is limited information as to how teachers function within these spaces. This qualitative…

Professional development (PD) is one way to maintain or increase teacher effectiveness in any number of domains. However, PD comes in many formats and with a wide range of evidence on its effectiveness -- both of which can shape teachers' perspectives of the PD even before they participate. The purpose of this research was to examine how…

Whilst attendance at short, day-long courses or workshops features prominently in teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) profiles, research remains equivocal about their lasting impact. The present study addresses questions about the impact of short-course CPD in the context of a national CPD programme aimed at developing teachers'…

Teacher professional development (PD) is about change. One of the most prominent lines of research on PD addresses what makes it an effective change process. This research produces critical features of effective PD, the seemingly active ingredients of teacher change that are meant to guide professionals in the design, implementation, and…

This study explored how a group of higher education teachers in China used WeChat to build an online Community of Practice (OCoP), which supported their professional learning. A qualitative study was designed. Data were collected from multiple sources including online interaction excerpts, teachers' reflections, classroom observation, and…