The article explores how space for professional agency is structured and used by teachers in collaborative professional development. Taking an ecological perspective on teacher agency and using a case study of with multiple data sets, the analysis identifies two patterns of agentic orientations. The conclusions discuss limitations associated with…

Schools play a key role in the lives of young refugees and asylum seekers, yet it is unclear to what extent educators are prepared to effectively teach this population. In this study, we examined how educators acquire knowledge relevant to teaching refugee pupils through a survey (n = 295) and nestled case studies of 17 teachers at two schools in…

Progressivist approaches to teaching and learning are rare in the Italian school system. Equality of inputs, whole class teaching and curriculum transmission are preferred. However, the case of a vocational education and training (VET) programme, run by a private State-recognised school, shows a way forward to introduce personalised approaches in…

In this conceptual article, we draw on a graded theory concept as well as two exemplary cases to discuss the role of professional theorizing in teachers' practice. We present a model that can illustrate how a non-dichotomous, graded and processual understanding of theory may help overcome a split between theory, on the one hand, and practice, on…

Deeply integrating digital technologies in pedagogy and learning is associated with changes in classroom roles, relationships and actions that can challenge established teacher routines. This paper presents the findings of an eight-month case study of teachers transforming pedagogy to enact their design for personalised digital learning.…

Teacher change involves the transformation of beliefs, knowledge and practices. While research has highlighted significant facilitative conditions as well as barriers to these changes, insufficient attention has been devoted to examining influences derived from existing practices perpetuated by institutional factors and teachers' personal…

Past research has clearly indicated that teachers' metaphors can serve as a framework that moves our understanding of teaching forward by making more explicit the intuitive knowledge teachers hold about themselves, their classrooms, and their practice. Making explicit how metaphors uncover the understandings that guide the practices of in-service…

A commitment to long-standing child-centred ideologies and recent emphases on academic outcomes have both perpetuated narrow interpretations of play-based pedagogy in early childhood education. Instead, teachers might proactively and spontaneously deepen children's thinking and understandings related to children's own interests and motivations…

Approached as an epistemology, implementing a constructivist workshop approach to literacy can challenge the traditional paradigm of teacher-focused instruction and transform to one where students construct knowledge together and learn through active engagement in authentic reading and writing. This study illustrated how two third-grade teachers…

This study focuses on mathematics student teachers' epistemological beliefs in mathematics and education. The study aimed at gaining insight into the challenges that students experience in the consolidation of knowledge in the two disciplines. The case study with three mathematics pre-service teachers utilised mathematical and pedagogical…

Research has shown that adequate support from the school environment is necessary to help beginning teachers in applying differentiated instruction (DI), but how schools can aid in this process remains unclear. This qualitative study explores how professional learning communities (PLCs), an indicator of a supportive school environment, can enhance…

Studies of teachers' lives and careers rarely include a precise focus on subject teaching. This appears a limitation given the often strong connections there are between subject teaching and professional identity. With the intention of understanding the connections between the two better, the research adopted a case study methodology to describe…

This study examines best practices in teaching mathematics to minority students through two case studies conducted at high-minority junior high schools in the USA and Japan. Observations, interviews, and conversations with the teachers in both countries focused on the research question: how do teachers successfully teach mathematics to minority…

This study focuses on how two teachers working in reduced-size secondary classes of the same grade adapted their pedagogy as a result of a brokered dialogue between myself as researcher and 43 grade 10 students from the teachers' classes. Research was carried out over the course of one academic year. First, students' perspectives on studying in a…

Though it is well known that pre-service teachers' field experiences are recognized as key to enhancing teaching practice, Taiwanese pre-service teachers who take "Teaching Methods and Materials" in elementary school's seven areas often complain that they lack field experience. They do not have the opportunity to experience teaching…