This qualitative descriptive study explored how progressive teachers navigate the tensions between their beliefs and teaching practices while teaching in high-stakes accountability in the U.S. The target population was progressive education teachers currently working in progressive programs in America. The theoretical foundation was Fransson and…

Student engagement is an important component in the classroom to enhance student outcomes. Student engagement helps a teacher not only with classroom management, but with the understanding of content by the student. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore teachers' experiences of student-centered classrooms. Data were collected…

Should teachers have complete autonomy over teaching methods and practices, or should some aspects of their practice be determined by school or government policy? We address this question using repeated (value-added) maths test scores linked to rich survey data from the TALIS video study. With the possible exception of inexperienced teachers, we…

Despite the divisions within Northern Ireland's education system along religious and academic lines, it has managed to maintain relative stability, or at least a functional inertia, over the past four decades. The full potential, however, of this system and in particular, the Northern Ireland Curriculum (NIC), has yet to be realised. This paper…

This publication examines the influence of learning outcomes on teaching practices in vocational education and training (VET) through data from case studies across 10 countries: Bulgaria, Ireland, France, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia and Finland. The research reveals that, while national policies across the…

Introduction: The number of two-to three-year-old children using mobile phones was 10% in 2013 compared to 40% in 2017 (Konok, Bunford, & Miklósi, 2020). Several theoretical and empirical studies deal with the didactics of using modern technology in the classroom. Most studies highlight the neutral (Zsolnai, 2017) or positive impact of using…

The aim of this paper is to tease out the caveats in the much vogue exercise of drawing lessons from foreign systems of education -- the theme of this book, with the final objective that this will point to the parameters appropriate for the discourse and for the reader when reflecting on the topics touched upon in this book. The paper commences…

Politically neutral pedagogy is often the subject of both praise and condemnation. But treating political neutrality as a principle to be either embraced or rejected confuses the issue, because the permissibility of neutrality actually varies across educational contexts. Educational practice should not be evaluated on the basis of whether or not…

Large-scale assessments have become a basic national policy for educational improvement encouraging standards, decentralisation and school accountability. The current study focuses on the pedagogical dimension of large-scale assessments, examining its uses as a policy instrument for effecting pedagogical change. The paper presents and discusses…

While previous research of maker spaces has primarily been focused on public and community spaces, this dissertation looked at maker education in independent schools. Maker education often challenges traditional approaches to teaching and learning, positioning teachers more as facilitators who support students to make meaningful decisions as they…

There is growing momentum in teacher education to organize the preparation of teachers around "core practices." Advocates call for identifying discipline-oriented, research-based teaching moves associated with student learning and then shifting teacher education pedagogies and programs toward preparing beginning teachers to implement…

Project-Based Learning (PjBL) curricula offer unique opportunities for student engagement, yet they do not guarantee an engaging classroom. Furthermore, there has been little scholarly work on PjBL pedagogy that supports student engagement. This qualitative research study explores enactment of a PjBL Advanced Placement Physics 1 curriculum and the…

Teachers' commitments, or what is often called fidelity in teaching, are of obvious importance in early childhood settings. Nonetheless, fidelity in teaching young children remains an undertheorized concept. Instead of appreciating the philosophical and socio-political complexities of practice, examinations of fidelity in teaching young children…

This qualitative study examined the narrative of community college educators during their journey to embrace a playful teaching practice. Data collection included the narratives produced within a Community of Practice, focus groups with both students and educators, and document analysis. Data analysis revealed six themes. The first theme, origins…

The purpose of this instrumental case study was to investigate band teacher agency in a high-stakes performance environment. Research questions were: (1) What experiences and professional relationships were most salient in the past (iterative), present (practical-evaluative), and future (projective) dimensions of band teacher agency in a…