In UK schools, as elsewhere, linguistic diversity is on the rise. Changing patterns of migration and settlement mean that schools in areas where once English was the only language spoken are encountering bilingual pupils for the first time, while schools with a long history of multilingualism are finding that the range of languages spoken by…

The advent of the technological era continues to impact foreign language education in numerous ways. Current and future foreign language educators must learn to effectively and meaningfully merge technology with instructional practices and activities. This responsibility necessitates a thorough and realistic understanding of the various functions,…

This article explores the history of practitioner-based enquiry in education and the degree to which it bridges the gap between leadership research and leadership practice. In doing so it draws on the findings from an evaluation of NCSL's Research Associate Programme. Several key drivers are identified behind the increased interest in…

On April 1, 1983, thirteen "enthusiastic, daring, creative and resourceful" (Landstrom, 1993, p. 113) Canadian distance educators who were attending an international conference on telecourses gathered in a hotel room in Washington DC to socialize. They left that evening with a dream: a Canadian distance education association. Now, after…

In the year 2000, the Texas Education Agency and the Texas A&M University System teamed up to create an initiative called the University Faculty Fellows Program. Spearheaded by Texas A&M International University in Laredo, the program paired up faculty from the university with area Advanced Placement (AP) teachers in a variety of…

There is a growing emphasis in adult basic education on research-based reading instruction. Using Kruidenier's (2002) framework of principles and trends, we describe research-based techniques found during a visit to an adult basic education program. We also describe how the program moved to research-based instruction, and the factors that seem…

This study examines the learning of a diverse team of five professional developers as they led or supported a mathematics initiative. Although teachers are typically the focus of learning in professional development, we contend that the learning of professional developers is important and should not be overlooked. We examined our learning as a…

This study aims at identifying indicators of schoolteachers' professional development by learning teachers' perceptual and thinking capabilities of classroom events as reflected in their comments. The analysis of comments produced by novice and expert teachers on videotaped lesson activities, based mainly on the grounded theory strategy, revealed…

In this article, the author discusses some of the most serious challenges--intellectual, institutional, and political--that he sees for the future of professional learning in education. He states that one common solution to these challenges would be for educators to begin to act more like professionals. One thing is clear about the early stages of…

Evidence of a gap in student understanding has been well documented in chemistry: the typical student holds an abundance of misconceptions. The current expectation is that educational reform will foster greater student achievement via inquiry teaching within classrooms. Using assessments involving both conceptual and algorithmic knowledge of gas…

In this paper we examine the discourses of Primary school numeracy coordinators responsible for auditing, monitoring and supporting their colleagues in relation to the introduction and embedding of the National Numeracy Strategy (NNS) in the UK. Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT) focuses our analysis on the contradictory coupling of…

The purpose of this study was to explore perceived concerns of preservice music education teachers across four different points in professional development. A 45-item Teacher Concerns Checklist (Borich, 2000), based upon Fuller and Bown's (1975) three-stage model of teacher development, identified respondents' levels of self-concerns, task…

This study explored preschool teachers' beliefs about the appropriateness of early literacy and mathematics education. In all, 60 teachers of 4-year-olds, half working with low-socioeconomic status (SES) children at publicly funded preschools and the other half with middle-SES children at private preschools, were randomly assigned to read either…

Background/Context: Recent research has shown the importance of professional development for teacher learning and has documented the qualities that make professional development effective for improved instruction and student achievement. But there is little research to suggest how the policy environment shapes teachers' choices to participate in…

This article reports on a study of Pacific primary school teachers' and university lecturers' reflections on their involvement in the in-service Bachelor of Education degree programme offered at the regional University of the South Pacific (USP) in Fiji. Two rich sets of data have emerged from this study. Firstly, there are a number of critical…