Research into schoolteachers' professional development often focuses on its subject and pedagogical content, delivery model and mechanisms for and evaluation of professional learning. However, the role of the professional development facilitators who lead, plan and deliver professional development activities is under-researched and their…

Professional learning communities (PLCs) have become the gold standard of teachers' professional learning. However, their success is far from guaranteed. Little is known regarding the processes that groups of learners undergo to become fully-fledged PLCs. This study followed a teachers' PLC over three years. It shows how the facilitator learned to…

Since facilitators are considered to be crucial actors in teacher teams, the aim of this study is therefore to explore, observe and characterise actions of facilitators by means of detailed video-observations of facilitators during teacher-team meetings. Results show that facilitators' actions vary from passive-absent and passive-waiting to…

This paper describes an Online Teaching Lab model that incorporates elements of lesson study and studio model for teacher learning. We focus on changes in design and facilitation decisions of two specific Online Teaching Labs and study differences in teachers' verbal and written responses to better understand how the process supports teacher…

Communal learning is a common paradigm for professional learning among teachers and teacher educators (TE). In this article, TE refers to faculty in institutions of higher education who train teachers. While the professional learning of teachers has been extensively studied, little is known about TEs' professional learning. This study contributes…

In low- and middle-income countries, cascade models of teacher professional development are often used as routes to educational reform. In these models, external agents deliver professional development, which is then disseminated by in-country facilitators. However, little is known about how to support facilitators of professional development,…

This article addresses the need for 'coherent, holistic frameworks offering insightful understandings as well as viable, connected and synergistic solutions to schools'. We describe a model which emerged from a research study developed in the context of a professional development course attended by more than 150 teachers from primary and secondary…

The aim of this study is to establish an empirically substantiated professional development programme for teachers to become lead teachers who are able to support professional development of peers in times of curriculum innovation. The design of a professional development programme, participants' learning outcomes and their interrelatedness are…

This article reports on the recognition and management of risk within the context of an intensive literacy intervention professional development programme, designed to enable expert literacy teachers become teacher-educators. The article suggests a conceptual model for recognising risk within professional learning opportunities and skills for…

Research on teacher professional development is extensive but there are fewer studies about the practitioners who facilitate professional development. Here we report on a pilot programme for professional development facilitators rooted in a cycle of action research. Informed by a categorisation of professional knowledge and skills of facilitators,…

This article reports on a two-year study of a self-study research group facilitation. The research group was designed as a professional development project in which six experienced teacher educators investigated their practices using a self-study approach. The pedagogical rationale of the facilitation was based on four broadly shared theoretical…

In contemporary school settings, leaders seeking to support professional development are faced with many challenges. These challenges call for educators who can undertake professional learning that is continuous and adaptive to change. As a term, continuous professional development (CPD) reflects many different forms of professional development in…

Inclusion Support Facilitators support Early Childhood Education and Care centres in Australia to provide an inclusive environment for the children they serve. To date no research has examined the causes of job stress faced by these professionals. Similarly, no research has explored how interventions aimed at supporting Inclusion Support…

In schools the participation of students, parents and paraprofessionals is important because it increases ownership and improves performance. Here the focus is on students' and paraprofessionals' learning and a sense of community when leaders try to develop a professional learning community in a new school in Iceland. An action research project…

Despite the profound impact of action research coaches on teachers' experiences of the inquiry process, little research exists in the field regarding the coach's role. In this exploratory study, two groups of action research coaches--one novice and one experienced--share their experiences of coaching inquiry during the 2009/10 school year. Out of…