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…

This paper investigates how professional learning of teachers might be improved by two key factors: distributed leadership and teacher agency. Designed as a cross-sectional survey, this study used data from a total of 283 teachers working in a mix of public primary, secondary, and high schools across nine provinces in the eastern, central, and…

This article utilises complexity thinking to further develop a heuristic model for teacher professional growth as a continuous, recursive and adaptive process. Conversations with six case teachers are drawn upon in a phenomenographic study, seeking variation in ways of experiencing learning and development, together comprising professional growth.…

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…

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'…

A considerable body of literature has shown the benefits of lesson study, but little attention has been paid to the determinants of lesson study involvement. This study examines how teachers' participation in lesson study is affected by their attitudes towards lesson study as well as their perceived competence. A multilevel logistic regression…

Understanding factors that influence teacher use of professional development learning is critical if we are to maximise the educational and financial investment in teacher development. This study used a multi-case mixed methodology to investigate the factors that influence teacher adoption, adaption, and abandonment of teacher-directed learning.…

This article explores which tensions teachers experience during one year of participation in a professional learning community (PLC). Tensions are more or less temporal negative feelings of stress, loss of self-efficacy or anxiety caused by conflicting personal features and workplace affordances. A qualitative study including two semi-structured…

Through a discourse analysis of the qualitative data collected in an ethnographic approach, this study investigates learning emerging in an English teachers' professional learning community (PLC) at a Chinese secondary school in Shanghai. It explores the discourse features of situated interactions in two types of typical events occurring regularly…

In the literature, communities of practice (CoPs) are recognised as having potential to promote teachers' professional development. However, the study of the dynamics of CoPs with teachers and researchers, and their impact on teachers' professional development, is still scarce. Contributing to fill this gap, this paper presents a single case study…

Well-designed face-to-face and virtual communities of practice provide opportunities for teachers to learn, grow as professionals and make changes to their practice with the support of peers. However, as more K-12 teachers become Connected Educators and act as conduits between online spaces and communities in their schools, the boundaries between…

This study examines how participation in a US Department of Education policy fellowship influenced the career pathways of teacher leaders. This sample of teacher leaders is illustrative of teacher leadership development beyond the classroom and demonstrates challenges and opportunities. Notably, 64% of participants reported changing their…

"Unconferences" are a non-traditional form of professional activity defined by the absence of many conventional conference structures. One example of the unconference model is the "Edcamp," a voluntary, participant-driven form of grassroots educator professional learning. More than 600 of these events have been held worldwide…

This article examines changes in teachers' beliefs and practices over the course of a professional development (PD) program concerned with the implementation of a constructivist-oriented pedagogy in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classrooms. Grounded in situative theories of learning and development, the School-based Support Program places…