A group is a learning community when members share a common vision that learning is the primary purpose for their association and the ultimate value to preserve in their workplace and that learning outcomes are the primary criteria for evaluating the success of their work. Some attributes of a learning community include modeling, continual sharing…

Education reformers have increasingly invested in developing collaborative communities within schools as a central strategy for improving teaching and student learning. This strategy comes in various guises, including small schools, small learning communities, and teacher teams. Several assumptions about how these communities will enhance…

This article draws on evidence from a small-scale study carried out in two early years classrooms. The study investigated an approach that appeared to enable very young children to construct and to write an argument. Multi-disciplinary theoretical perspectives are utilized for an explanation of the findings, with the work of Kress (1989) and…

Over the last decade, Malta has been moving away from a highly centralized and bureaucratic system to one that encourages broader involvement in policy-making and more collaboration among stakeholders. As a result, educators and schools have greater responsibilities to determine the way forward and to develop schools as learning communities.…

A growing body of literature suggests that when schools become professional communities there are expected benefits in terms of teacher learning, school improvement and student achievement. In this article the concept of professional communities is examined for certain subject departments in Dutch secondary schools. The authors report on research…

Seven experienced university teachers who already required reflective journal writing from their students undertook an innovative experiment in which they made the same demand of themselves, with their own continuing professional development (CPD) in mind. Six of them received and considered confidential facilitative comments upon each journal…

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of programs offering support, guidance, and orientation for beginning teachers during the transition into their first teaching job. This study examines whether such programs--collectively known as induction--have a positive effect on the retention of beginning teachers. The data used in the…

This paper describes two teacher educators' practice of incorporating "jugyoun kenkyuu"--the Japanese lesson study approach--in teacher preparation programs. To ascertain the effectiveness of using this approach in undergraduate and graduate education programs, the authors conducted a research study among 17 undergraduate students and 51 graduate…

"Quality teaching", "curriculum change" and "innovative practice" are just a few of the common phrases used by university academics as a basis for defining and justifying their actions as educators and policy-makers. Yet our analysis of 25 interviews with academics revealed differences in their conceptions of these terms. While the impact of such…

In this article, the authors describe an innovative composition pedagogy they collaborated called "Showdown in Superior!". In order to simulate a current public controversy over a proposed mine in Superior, Arizona, three writing classes assumed roles as competing interests and composed researched and reasoned arguments that supported…

This study examined the factors perceived by in-service teachers as either facilitating or impeding successful completion of online group work in a virtual graduate school of education program. Based on a quantified qualitative data analysis of open-ended questions, five facilitative factors were identified as (a) individual accountability, (b)…

Ask just about any teacher what the most challenging aspect of their job is and, most likely, one of the first answers one will get is "student behaviors!" To date, very little current research has examined the impact of specific challenging behaviors on teachers' job satisfaction. In other words, terms such as "challenging behavior" and…

When examining what beginning teachers learn in teacher preparation programs, it can be beneficial to have conversations with successful veteran teachers. Beginning teachers face a myriad of challenges that are not always fully conceptualized while working through teacher education programs. Gaining the respect of colleagues, trying to connect…

Hierarchical educational structures employ a standards-driven decision-making atmosphere that challenges teachers' autonomy. This situation represents a critical issue for teacher educators who must consider how they will teach candidates to respond to these settings. We argue that teacher empowerment represents a moral issue that teacher…

This paper describes and analyses an innovative experience carried out by a group of lecturers from the Psychopedagogy Faculty of the University of Alcala, involved in an action research process with the purpose of reflecting about our own practice and constructing alternative teaching strategies to facilitate students' reflective, autonomous and…