Published Article / Literature reveals the crucial influence of school leadership on the creation and maintenance of successful schools. In searching for new foundations to understand leadership, Raelin's leaderful practice model serves as an authentic model to describe a successful South African leadership practice. A qualitative study was used to interpret school leadership in primary schools through the lens of the leaderful practice model. The following observations emerged from the study: "It is passion that makes people succeed in life"; "It isn't my school, it's our school"; and "Development has to be an integral part of education". By sharing the leadership experiences of the principal, this study could serve as a valuable resource and promote the creation of other leaderful practices in South African schools.

Inadequate student-teacher interactions in undergraduate courses have been linked to poor student performance. Researchers have noted that students' perceptions of student-teacher relationships may be an important factor related to student performance. The administration of a Mid-Atlantic community college prioritized increasing undergraduate biology student performance. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the relationship between students' biology achievement and their perceptions of interpersonal teaching behaviors and student-teacher interactions in introductory biology courses. Leary's theory on interpersonal communication and the systems communication theory of Watzlawick, Beavin, and Jackson served as the theoretical foundation. The Wubbel's Likert-scale questionnaire on student-teacher interactions was administered to 318 undergraduate biology students. Non-parametric Spearman's rank correlations revealed a significant direct correlation between students' grades and their perceptions of teachers' interpersonal teaching behaviors. The relationship between student achievement and students' perceptions of student-teacher interactions prompted the recommendation for additional study on the importance of student-teacher interactions in undergraduate programs. A recommendation for local practice included faculty development on strategies for improving student-teacher interactions. The study's implications for positive social change include increased understanding for administrators and instructors on the importance of teacher-student interactions at the community college level.

Inactive lifestyles and poor eating habits are the main culprits of the present increase in childhood obesity, diabetes, heart problems, and cancer. In order to counterbalance this deterioration of children's health, it is imperative that children are educated about good nutritional practices. Unfortunately, parents are not always well-informed about nutrition themselves, leaving teachers to be the necessary link between children and good nutrition.This study investigates what teachers understand about nutrition concepts, as this knowledge would be the necessary precursor to aiding students toward better health. Due to the limited research on nutrition education in the elementary classroom, this study was preceded by three pilot studies that lent themselves to the advancement of the researcher's understanding of nutrition and its place in the elementary school setting. Initially three preservice teachers were interviewed in order to examine the preparation of elementary teachers for teaching nutrition.In order to assess what teachers understand about nutrition it was necessary to create an instrument that would assess teachers' nutritional knowledge. Through several trials a nutrition content survey was created and modified. The final version was administered to three hundred and seventeen teachers. While creating the nutrition content survey, the researcher also compiled a proposed list for the "big ideas" in nutrition. These statements describe the nutritional concepts that elementary students should understand. The "big ideas" were used to create lesson plans that were taught to forty-four fifth graders. These students provided insight into the content of the lessons through pre-post assessments and gave interest feedback using anonymous questionnaires.While the nature of this study was exploratory and descriptive in nature, its quantitative and qualitative data provided insight into teachers' understanding of nutritional concepts. Along with these findings were some preliminary examinations into how preservice teachers are prepared for teaching nutrition, what elementary age students understand about nutrition and what interests them, and how teachers feel about teaching nutrition. This study provides many possible avenues for future research in the area of nutrition education.

This study explores an EFL practitioner’s teaching life story, with a focus on the development of personal and professional identities, and on the rationale for teaching principles and practices within a Japanese socio-educational context. The study is grounded firmly in the belief that “in understanding something so intensely personal as teaching, it is critical we know about the person the teacher is” (Goodson, 1992, p. 234). As a single participant study this thesis places particular emphasis on the importance of subjective and interpretive insights and understandings as opposed to the generalizability and objectivity of knowledge claims embodied in more traditional approaches to research in the field of TESOL. To elicit the participant’s teaching life story I used a taped monologue technique, whereby the speaker, without the presence of an interviewer, is in complete control of topic selection and has the freedom to determine the temporal and sequential course of their narrative. The resulting two-hour monologue is the primary data for the study, and working within a narrative research framework I analyzed the story for critical incidents and teaching perspectives that can be interpreted as having informed the participant’s practicing professional identity, which can be defined as a set of values, principles and practices which guide an individual’s present teaching philosophy and future directions. Through the lens of the Japanese socio-educational context I focus on the unifying themes of teacher development and education, critical cultural knowledge, humanism, and second language (L2) only classroom policy. Furthermore, I explore the narrative thread that runs through the participant’s story, connecting past and present experiences with future teaching life directions and goals as the narrator takes the opportunity to articulate the rationale behind her main principles and practices, and in so doing underscores her practicing professional identity in a way that demonstrates a strong sense of the narrator’s purpose, values, efficacy and self-worth. As such, this process engages the narrator not only in a meaningful and coherent narrative account of professional development, but also in the process itself of professional development as it demonstrates potentialities for self-revelation, affirmation, and even transformation. This thesis offers a distinctive contribution to the field of TESOL educational research in three particular ways. First, in exploring the sources of a teacher’s beliefs and practicing professional identity, it offers an exemplar of how to undertake interpretive research as reflective practice and professional development. Secondly, it widens our understanding of conducting single participant case studies in TESOL education. This thesis also points the way forward to possible research using an innovative taped monologue technique with other individual teacher case studies that can then contribute to building a body of knowledge in the field.

Learning communities (LCs) have increasingly been incorporated into undergraduate medical education at a number of medical schools in the United States over the past decade. In an Association of Medical Colleges survey of 140 medical schools, 102 schools indicated that they had LC (described as colleges or mentorship groups; https://www.aamc.org/initiatives/cir/425510/19a.html). LCs share an overarching principle of establishing longitudinal relationships with students and faculty, but differ in the emphasis on specific components that may include curriculum delivery, advising/mentoring, student wellness, and community. The creation of LCs requires institutional commitment to reorganize educational processes to become more student centered. LCs are beginning to show positive outcomes for students including benefits related to clinical skills development, advising, and student wellness, in addition to positive outcomes for LC faculty.

This study explores English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ experiences of Professional Development (PD) programmes in Egypt. The current study investigates the sample’s experience as learners, instructors, and as individuals in relation to different contexts that include the classroom, school, and PD. In addition, it identifies the views of other PD stakeholders, including parents, school principals, PD designers, and training providers. The study has four main aims:(1) to identify teachers’ needs, concerns, problems, challenges, and frustrations with their PD; (2) to provide insight into the English Language Teaching (ELT) class context and any hindering factors that contribute to unsatisfactory PD; (3) to identify contextual factors in the school environment that hinder EFL teachers’ PD; and (4) to investigate the views of PD stakeholders towards EFL teachers’ experiences of PD. The participants of this study are in-service EFL teachers who have attended, or are currently attending, at least one of four PD programmes in the Cairo and Giza governorates. The sample, representing Greater Cairo, was selected to include a mix of gender, academic backgrounds, varied years of experience, and a variety of governmental school districts. PD stakeholders were selected according to the nature of their work which is closely connected to PD and school as well as parents. The methodology adopted by the researcher broadly follows mixed methods methodology that uses a sequential mixed-methods approach. The data generation process combines Questionnaire, Journal Writing, Focus Groups and Individual Semi-Structured Interviews. Data is analyzed quantitatively using Statistical Package of Social Sciences (SPSS) software and qualitatively using exploratory content analysis. The study’s most significant finding was the impact the following have on PD: teachers’ classroom practice and pedagogy, their workloads and time pressures, the role of private tuition, separation between PD and class pedagogy, curriculum innovations, PD and quality standards, the size of classes and teachers’ relationships with students. The school context is a vital finding of the study; context includes the influences of school principals, supervisory practices, collegiality within the school, the influence of parents, and school libraries on the effectiveness of PD. A significant finding that emerged from the data analysis illustrates a major concern with EFL PD, particularly, the management of teachers’ PD. This emerging theme sheds light on PD and the Ministry of Education’s decisions, its centralization, bureaucracy, issues of favouritism, co-ordination between the different parties of schools, universities, training schools, and personnel, employment, or job-related issues. The findings of the current study have been discussed into five different categories with regard to EFL teachers’ PD: cultural, social, academic, affective and institutional domains. The study concludes with a number of potential fruitful implications and suggestions for further research.

Thesis advisor: Marilyn Cochran-Smith / Professional development is widely viewed as a key lever for school change. Each year, federal and state governments pour billions of dollars into developing teachers, while researchers seek to identify which professional development programs are most effective. However, even as consensus has been growing in the research and policy communities about what constitutes high-quality professional development, teachers continue to vary greatly in what and how much they learn through such programs. There is no theory of teacher learning that explains this variation. In this dissertation—a comparative case study of two teachers from the same school who were participating in the same professional development initiative —I used complexity theory as a lens to understand teacher learning as a complex system. The intention was to develop causal explanations of teacher learning that accounted for the interactions between a particular teacher, a particular school, and a particular professional development. Data analysis revealed that whether, what, and how the teachers learned through professional development was contingent upon learning conditions that resulted from three intersecting systems: the teacher, the school, and the professional development. Although they were colleagues, the two teacher participants experienced professional development under different learning conditions, resulting in different learning outcomes; one teacher changed little, while the other ultimately transformed some of her beliefs and classroom practices. I found seven structural elements, across the three system levels, that shaped the system of teacher learning. Based on my analysis, I propose an analytic framework that can be used to analyze the conditions within and the interactions between the three systems. By offering a new means to analyze professional development through a complexity lens, this study contributes to a broader understanding of teacher learning. There are also important implications for designing and selecting professional development that will meet the needs of individual teachers in specific school contexts. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2018. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

Internationally, governments have recognized the significance of continuing teacher professional development in their attempts to reform their educational systems. However, not many have the resources and capacity to support teachers in this endeavor (Nelson & Slavit, 2008). Teachers‟ initiatives at their own professional development therefore become important steps towards realizing the goal of continuing teacher professional development and reforming the education sector. Using a case study approach, the study aimed to explore the use of cluster teaching as a form of teacher professional development in one cluster in Mpumalanga. It focuses on teachers‟ experiences of cluster teaching. Interviews and observations provided most of the data for this case study and analysis was ongoing during the data collection process. The views of participants and what I observed is presented before the analysis and interpretation is done. The argument developed in this study is that every form of teacher professional development is best suited for a particular purpose with particular kinds of teachers and hence, the need for as many forms as possible to meet the different purposes that PD has. Cluster teaching as a form of PD serves the purposes of helping teachers improve on their subject content and pedagogical knowledge and to have a positive impact on their attitudes and culture while at the same time helping to improve the performance of learners. When teacher-initiated, it acts as an effective form of teacher professional development and accountability and covers up for the lack of district support and poor resources in some schools. Such cluster teaching therefore becomes a productive way of improving teachers‟ professional practices in their own contexts.

Thesis advisor: Lillie Albert / Enrollment in a Catholic elementary school has been shown to have a negative impact on student achievement in mathematics (Elder & Jepsen, 2013; Lubienski & Lubienski, 2006; Reardon et al., 2009). A child's mathematics achievement in early elementary school affects on her academic future beyond mathematics alone (CBMS, 2012). The importance of young students' experiences coupled with evidence of a negative impact of Catholic school enrollment on mathematics achievement indicates a need for changes in the mathematical instruction provided in Catholic elementary schools. Professional development can provoke change in mathematical instruction (National Mathematics Advisory Panel, 2008). This study examined the use of the Student Participation in Meaning-Making and Reasoning (SPMMR) domain of the Mathematical Quality of Instruction (MQI) tool as an analysis framework in a video-based professional development for teachers of grades K-3 in an urban Catholic school. First, I designed and delivered a professional development program featuring the MQI SPMMR domain and facilitating connections between the professional learning environment and the elementary classroom. Second, I investigated the experience of teachers in the PD program, as well as its impact on their lesson planning and reflection practices. Findings showed that participants incorporated elements of the SPMMR domain into their work in the classroom with evidence of an increased attention to elements of SPMMR in lesson planning, instruction, and reflective practices. This can be helpful for professional development providers and Catholic school leaders as they plan professional learning opportunities for teachers. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

<p>Numerous studies have shown multiple benefits gained through professional development for teachers, which address increasing pedagogical content knowledge, increasing student achievement and increasing teacher job satisfaction (Banks, 2008; Colbert, Brown, Choi &Thomas, 2008; Dash, de Kramer, O’Dwyer, Masters & Russell, 2012). However, barriers to professional development, including cost, time and access, make face-to-face professional development sessions difficult to meet teacher needs (Carr, 2016). Online professional development can help to address these barriers, while meeting the needs of teachers. Employing best practices established through both online learning pedagogy and professional development techniques, teachers can increase their pedagogical content knowledge and opportunities for collaboration using online platforms. This study demonstrated, using a blend of qualitative and quantitative assessments that online professional development was comparable in effectiveness to face-to-face professional development in preparation for teaching an introductory logistics course and the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council Certified Logistics Associate certification exam. </p>