Emphasis on professionalisation of the childcare workforce internationally is associated with evidence that links education and experience of early years practitioners; quality of early education and care; and outcomes for children and families. In England, this has led to a proliferation of vocational undergraduate programmes. This article draws…

Attempts to measure the quality of teaching and learning have resulted in an overreliance on quantitative performance data and the normalisation of a set of reductionist practices in England's further education sector in recent years. Focusing on lesson observation as an illustrative example and drawing on data from a national study, this article…

This article focuses on the processes that come into play as part of a school development project and how these processes contribute to strengthening teacher professionalism. Through processes of consciousness raising and the development of learning cultures where tacit knowledge becomes explicit and shared, and new practices are tested out and…

In a larger study carried out by O'Sullivan "et al." to explore the perceptions and experiences of teachers in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland who were engaged in continuing professional development (CPD), one of the significant findings to emerge was the key role of teacher motivation. The current study therefore focuses on…

At a time of increasing public and government focus on the quality of teacher education, little is known about the professional development needs of those who teach teachers in further education (FE). Yet they are crucial players. Efforts are intensifying across a significant number of countries to promote the professional development of teacher…

This article presents the findings of a pilot professional development programme designed to support police community support officers (PCSOs) to become effective school link officers (SLOs) within urban secondary schools in the English West Midlands. Findings are presented via perceptions of key stakeholders: SLOs themselves; school-based mentors…

This ongoing longitudinal study examined the professional development of physical education teachers in an Irish physical education learning community where all teachers worked in inner-city disadvantaged schools. This research is framed within teacher empowerment. Four years of data collection included in-service seminar/workshop evaluations,…

This paper considers the implications of UK policy approaches to ICT (Information Communication Technology) in education by exploring the views of early years (0-8 years) educators about their ICT CPD (continuing professional development) needs. UK policy approaches to ICT may be visualised as a "house that Jack built." The policies are…

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…

This article examines how the training in and use of Drama in Education (DiE) affects the development of teachers' professional skills. The article draws on data from broader empirical qualitative research about the impact of DiE on personal, social and professional development of Greek secondary school teachers. The research was carried out using…

While studies have shown that mentoring is essential to the development of new teachers, fewer investigations have examined what mentors learn about themselves and about mentoring through this role. In this study, the conversations between 13 mentors and their mentees were analysed, along with mentor self-evaluations and focus group data, over two…

A range of studies has demonstrated that collaborative professional development and learning (PD&L) is effective in implementing curriculum reform. PD&L that is contextualised within a specific setting enables educators to explore new theoretical perspectives, review existing knowledge and beliefs, and examine their current practice. This…

This research investigates aspirations for a master's-level teaching profession in England, providing key stakeholder perceptions in one densely populated region within a multiple case study. Although this intended move to a master's-level profession represented a major shift in teachers' professional development in England, only limited…

Digital technologies are increasingly accepted as a viable aspect of early childhood curriculum. However, teacher uptake of digital technologies in early childhood education and their use with young children in play-based approaches to learning have not been strong. Traditional approaches to the problem of teacher uptake of digital technologies in…

This article explores some of the challenges faced by Teach First teachers during their first year of teaching in a culturally diverse school, and describes some of the strategies they employ to overcome them. Using a variety of methods, both qualitative and quantitative data are collected, focusing on the perspectives of the teachers over the…