Action learning sets are used by Lancaster University Management School's Institute for Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development to provide business support to owner managers of small to medium sized enterprises (SMEs). This paper compares the experiences of participants and facilitator of two programmes: one part of a wider programme of…

Teaching national history in school generates significant public anxiety and political debate--as the various "history wars" around the world reveal. For many school students, however, studying their nation's past is dull and repetitive. Such lack of interest has been confirmed by surveys and research reports that reveal alarmingly low…

This article will map the process of collaborative professional enquiry in an attempt to make sense of the structural elements evident in creating a "Community of Collaborative Professional Enquiry" (CCPE). At the heart of each CCPE examined was a collaborative, improvement-focused intervention that was designed and implemented by…

In order to stay current within their field, many professionals regularly attend conferences and training events in distant locales. Travel to these conferences costs professionals, and their sponsor organizations, both time and money. In the past the benefits afforded by these conferences, and the lack of comparable alternatives, have provided…

The development, publication, and distribution of the "Standards for the 21st-Century Learner" once again demonstrate the vision of the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) in pointing the way with new literacies (textual, media, digital, technology) for students. These standards include critical self-assessment strategies that will…

Objective: Assessing professionalism in medical education poses many challenges. The authors discuss common themes and principles in managing professionalism in medical education. Methods: The authors review the development of standards of professionalism in medical education. They define educational goals for professionalism and also discuss the…

The purpose of this study was to examine how an experienced teacher learned to mentor as she attended ongoing professional development and worked with first- and second-year teachers across one school year as part of a university/district pilot induction partnership program. The mentoring component emphasized mentoring that was both responsive to…

This paper argues that school professionals' attitudes to continuing professional development (CPD) fall into identifiable types, which influence their involvement with CPD. In order to consider appropriate support for staff to take up relevant CPD, this paper aims to identify what these attitudes are. To this end, a model developed as an outcome…

This article centers on a professional development project with a group of high school mathematics teachers in Barcelona. The eight participating teachers taught in low-income schools with a high percentage of immigrant students. Our model of professional development is based on the involvement of the teachers as co-researchers of their local…

This paper features a case study of one US K-8 school district pioneering the use of "lesson study," a teacher professional development approach adapted from Japan. The case explores events that occurred in the district over more than 4 years (Spring 2000-Fall 2004) as lesson study spread nationally and within the district. We document four…

This article presents a study conducted by the author about teaching artists. Ninety-three working teaching artists were surveyed about their working conditions as well as their overall experience of being a teaching artist. In addition to the survey, ten teaching artists were drawn from the surveyed sample and were interviewed at length. Both…

Beginning teachers are confronted with many issues as they begin their teaching careers, issues, such as classroom management, individual differences, behaviour problems, dealing with parents, and so on. Many beginning teachers take professional development seminars in an attempt to deal with these and other issues. Professional development…

Those who work in schools understand the demands placed on teachers in the face of mounting pressures from parents, administrators, and standardized tests. It would be foolish to assume these demands do not overshadow aspirations to remain current in educational technology trends and tools. That is why it is more important than ever for ed tech…

The professional development "system" for teachers is, by all accounts, broken. Despite evidence that specific programs can improve teacher knowledge and practice and student outcomes, these programs seldom reach real teachers on a large scale. Typically, reformers address such perceptions of failure by discovering and celebrating new formats and…

This article describes how a long-term commitment to job-embedded professional development creates a culture of continuous learning in one Michigan district. In Holt Public Schools, every Wednesday is time for teachers' professional development, and that means the students' day is shorter by two hours to allow it. Through two decades and three…