As a part of the United States Department of Education Teacher Quality Enhancement Grants (TQE) program, a professional development project was conducted to support selected urban teachers from a Professional Development School to think reflectively about their teaching and learning. The 24 survey items were developed based on the three domains of…

Assessment as integral to good teaching and learning has come to be accepted as a core principle underlying curricula in many educational systems around the world. Indeed, the evidence that high quality assessment can make a big difference to pupil achievement, especially the low achievers, is mounting up and provides a strong justification for…

The present study explores the ways in which participating in a study group helped five US middle school teachers alter their construction of knowledge. The members came together to improve their knowledge on assessment for learning in response to school-level and district-level pressures. The analysis was a recursive review of teacher statements…

Teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) in England is a controversial area, and there is arguably little evidence of a "coherent" framework around which consistently high-quality CPD has been developed, provided and accessed despite the establishment of the General Teaching Council in 2000, the publication of the CPD Strategy…

Changing from being a student to being a professional teacher means considerable adjustment. Novice teachers face unpredictable situations, particularly as they are likely to be regularly judged and evaluated. Lack of knowledge and tools to handle the complexity of teachers' work mean that new teachers often feel insecure about their chosen…

Scottish universities, with schools of education or equivalent, have gained a significant role in all other areas of the emerging national Framework for Continuing Professional Development, with the exception of the new one-year Teacher Induction Scheme. However, in the light of renewed political calls for local authorities and universities to act…

This paper discusses the compulsory professional development (CPD) needs of mentors within post-compulsory Initial Teacher Training (ITT) provision in England. The discussion applies the ideas of Weber, Foucault, Habermas and Bourdieu in interpreting the implications for post-compulsory ITT mentor CPD training. The paper's primary and secondary…

This article is based on a Norwegian study. The focus is two-fold, including the views of both new teachers and leaders on the issue of leadership and professionalism. First, the focus is on the way newly qualified teachers describe how they function in the school and kindergarten organizations. The discussion explores how new teachers' meetings…

After years of neglect, the New Labour government has identified the further education (FE) sector in England as being the crucial means to achieve two policies at the centre of their project: social justice through widening participation in education and enhancing the skills of the nation's workforce to compete in a globalised economy. This has…

This paper is based on findings from an exploratory study carried out during 2004/05 among members of the London Providers Mentoring Group. Qualitative data from nine teacher education partnerships working with a significant proportion of the schools in London was subjected to interpretative analysis. The paper explores how the London Providers…

This article provides a model of online professional development that is consistent with recommendations from the fields of teacher education, technology staff development and online learning. A graduate mathematics education course designed and implemented using the model is presented to exemplify the model's core components and interactions. The…

This paper is based on a survey of teachers following the Chartered Teacher programme in two Scottish universities. The aim of the study was to gain a better understanding of the teachers' reasons for joining the programme, their impressions of the impact on themselves and their professional contexts, and their views about the role of a chartered…

Teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) is being given increasing importance in countries throughout the world. In Scotland, the changing professional and political context has resulted in unprecedented investment in CPD. However, analysis and evaluation of CPD policies, practice and impact is complex. In seeking to understand some of…

Teacher education and continuing professional development have become key areas of controversy in England since the period of school-sector restructuring following the 1988 Education Reform Act. More recently, teacher training and professional development have often been used to promote and reinforce a narrow focus on the government's…

This paper is an experience-based reflection. Its aim is two-fold. The first is to critique the technocratic model of developing teacher educators. The second is to speak in favour of the potential values of critical practitioner inquiry (CPI). I do this by presenting how I, together with a group of my colleagues, benefited from the project. Our…