Teachers play a key role in realizing successful changes in education. Among them are real "change agents" at both classroom and school level. To obtain insights into what characterizes these teachers, an exploratory study has been conducted by interviewing external experts, principals, and teachers (n = 20). An analysis of data resulted…

Increased efforts are needed to meet the demand for high quality mathematics in early years classrooms. Despite the foundational role of geometry and spatial reasoning for later mathematics success, the strand receives inadequate instructional time and is limited to concepts of static geometry. Moreover, early years teachers typically lack both…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the discourse patterns characterizing individual special education teachers as they participated in a collaborative professional development (PD) group, and how these individual discourse patterns influenced other group members' opportunities to learn about reading instruction for upper elementary…

In content-based instruction (CBI) programmes, students learn content subjects through a second language (L2), so that they can incidentally learn the language. To further facilitate students' L2 development, the collaboration between L2 and content subject teachers has been strongly advocated. Previous research on such kind of collaboration…

This article draws on qualitative classroom observation and interview data from a case study of one native-English speaker teacher (NEST) teaching in a Hong Kong kindergarten. Features of the NEST's teaching are identified, namely their professional limitations, their part-time involvement in teaching, and their limited collaboration with the…

The teacher empowerment process emphasizes professional development and participation (i.e., increasing professional status, skills, knowledge and providing the opportunity to participate in decision-making); however, whether these efforts eventually lead to the realization of teacher power remains a critical concern, especially considering that…

For decades, researchers have studied teacher efficacy. In the past decade or so, however, collective teacher efficacy has been at the forefront of educational research as an extension of teacher self-efficacy. Educational researchers have been studying this construct to determine its impact on student achievement, teacher quality, and school…

Teacher learning can be modeled in a variety of different ways. In this study, an analysis of teacher social capital was used to describe the effects of a school-wide professional development program. Social capital refers to the resources that teachers can access through peer collaboration to support their ongoing learning. Findings indicate that…

Andy Hargreaves is internationally renowned for his work on many topics related to educational change. His work on how educational change shapes teachers' work, particularly with respect to teacher collaboration, is well exemplified in his award-winning 1994 volume, "Changing Teachers, Changing Times: Teachers' Work and Culture in the Postmodern…

Emerging from Bandura's Social Learning Theory, this study of in-service elementary school teachers examined the effects of sustained Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) on self-efficacy in science teaching. Based on mixed research methods, and a non-equivalent control group experimental design, the investigation explored changes in…

Rachel Malchow Lloyd describes the wonderful and quite natural potential for a team of teachers, through their professional conversations and routine planning, to model for less experienced teachers how to prepare for instruction, how to assess its effect, and how to assume a professional stance consistently in the daily execution of…

This article explores, through a review of a body of literature, whether it is possible to create a new understanding of what it means to be a professional in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in England. It reviews some competing views of the nature of professionalism and then explores the distinctive attributes and qualities required by…

Despite the belief that schools tend to be resistant to change, it is possible to find secondary schools in the UK which are investing in the design of an innovative curriculum for their Year 7 (11-year-old students). This article focuses on four of these schools and discusses some of the challenges they face in planning and implementing their…

This study presents the results of a self-study of interdisciplinary work that has generated profound changes in our teaching practices. The research grew out of an interest in exploring the nature of our work and the practices that contribute to its success. Our self-study revealed that our work process consists of five stages and is the product…

Education has come to be a key focus of the humanitarian response of international agencies in countries affected by conflict, but disabled children tend to be excluded from these education initiatives. Yet the reconstruction process can provide governments with a unique opportunity to reassess the way they educate disabled children, and consider…