Chinese students' outstanding performance in several rounds of PISA tests has attracted extensive attention on Chinese teacher professional development practices and system. The school-based teaching research system has evolved for many years in China and became a mature and systematical model for improving teaching quality. However, this system…

The relationship between research and practice in education, especially in adult education (AE), has generally been tenuous with most educational research focused on K-12 contexts and structured classroom environments that do not directly translate to adult learning contexts. However, the ever-increasing pace of change in the instructional…

This case study examined teacher professional learning in the context of the Abu Dhabi New School Model educational reform initiative. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews that were conducted with teachers and school leaders. The study's findings reveal a serious disconnect between formal policy, practice, and implementation as…

This article examined six theory- and practice-based elements of instructional learning design in online teacher professional development (oTPD), how these elements were implemented into Edinger's PACKaGE model of gifted education oTPD, and how teachers evaluated each element. Elements were based on Berge's (1995) instructor roles model theory and…

Supervision is a critical component of initial training and continuing professional development for applied psychology practitioners, and effective supervision is significantly related to the quality of the relationship between supervisor and supervisee. The core task of supervision is to engage in a relational process that provides containing and…

In recent years considerable advances in both theoretical formulation and in methodologies have appeared in the Educational effectiveness research field. Yet there is a significant lack of studies that are focused on the effectiveness of learning tasks. Structured content analysis of learning tasks can provide information about learning…

The purpose of this article is to provide an educational, theoretical, and methodological framework for using a special kind of action research, namely PALAR (participatory action learning and action research). This integrated methodology of lifelong action learning (AL) and participatory action research (PAR) has been developed over the past…

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…

Most worthwhile improvements in teaching practice are not simple, and the change process is complicated. It can also take a long time if it involves breaking long-established habits and modifying belief systems. Not only is adoption at scale difficult, but transfer into practice "at all" is often tricky, even with the best professional…

With a continuing disconnect between structural changes to the work of teaching and the work of teachers engaged with students in classrooms, this paper addresses a growing need to attend to the way teacher professional development (TPD) is enacted in today's schools. Specifically, drawing from theories of teacher learning and numerous models of…

This article reflects on my 2005 article in this journal, entitled "Models of Continuing Professional Development: a framework for analysis". Having been invited to reflect on the original article as part of Professional Development in Education's 40th anniversary celebrations, I have taken the opportunity not only to reflect on the…

New Leaders is an educational leadership organization and the mission is to ensure high academic achievement for all children, underscored by the commitment to racial equity, social justice, and an unwavering belief in the potential of every student. The rigorous and evidence-based approach to professional learning has been proven to work, with…

The need for a reliable strategic planning framework for distance educators and their institutions has never been greater than it is now. Increased government regulations, accreditation standards, and competition are converging with decreased funding from federal, state, and private sources, and administrators require better strategic planning. A…

Baume and Popovic describe three complementary and connected approaches to being scholarly in higher education--reflecting critically on practice, using the literature and contributing to the literature. Subsequent work reported here applies and tests the model in three settings--a meeting of the Southern Africa Universities Learning and Teaching…

Teachers in the 21st century are facing new challenges as a result of the expanding possibilities of ICT integration in every aspect of the school milieu. Studies have shown the potential of teacher professional development (TPD) that is tailored to local conditions as well as global components and takes advantage of mutual support among teachers,…