Lärande gemenskaper i en organisation kan bidra till utveckling. Specialpedagogens uppdrag inom skolutveckling med fokus på lärande gemenskaper har identifierats som ett outforskat område nationellt. Studiens syfte är därför att bidra med kunskap om specialpedagogens roll i arbetet med lärande gemenskaper i en lärande organisation. Studiens metod är kvalitativ och undersöker specialpedagogens arbete med lärande gemenskaper på tre grundskolor genom semistrukturerade intervjuer. Respondenterna i studien är fyra specialpedagoger och tre rektorer. Utifrån Ahrenfelts tolkning av systemteorin med begrepp som helhet, gränsyta och informativitet tolkas och analyseras empirin. Resultatet visar att specialpedagogen verkar genom att skapa relationer och möjliggöra samarbete i organisationen, och använder sin kunskap och förmåga inom pedagogisk handledning som ett verktyg för att främja lärande gemenskaper. Vidare visar resultatet att specialpedagogen kan vara den som identifierar nästa steg i utvecklingsarbetet genom sitt arbete såväl inom systemet som omvärlden. Hen använder även sin förmåga till analys i sovrandet av information. För att specialpedagogen ska kunna använda sin färdighet och förmåga erhållen via universitetsexamen på avancerad nivå, behöver rektorn vara den som sätter ramar och beslutar om prioritet. Rektors roll är även att hålla utvecklingsarbetets mål levande för medarbetare via exempelvis medarbetarsamtal, vilket i sin tur faciliterar specialpedagogens arbete vilken ofta är den som håller i olika fortbildnings- och utbildningsinsatser. Rektorerna i studien framhäver vikten av att ha specialpedagogen med i till exempel utvecklingsgrupper så att hen sedan kan verka på de olika nivåerna utifrån prioriterade mål. Sammantaget visar vårt resultat att om samarbetet och ramarna sätts av rektor kan specialpedagogen bidra med sin kompetens för att möjliggöra lärande gemenskaper. / Learning communities within an organization can contribute to development and growth. The role of the special educational needs coordinator (SENCO), a contributor to school development through the establishment of learning communities, was identified as an area on which little research has been done nationally. Therefore, the aim of this study is to contribute further knowledge about the role of SENCOs in the development of learning communities in educational organizations. The method used is qualitative and investigates the work of SENCO and principals in three elementary schools through semi-structured interviews. The interviewees are four SENCOs and three principals. The empirical data is analyzed using Ahrenfelt’s interpretation of systems theory and terms such as the whole, interface, and informativeness. The conclusions drawn are that SENCOs operate by promoting relations and enabling cooperation within the organization, as well as by using their knowledge and competency in pedagogical guidance as a tool for establishing learning communities. Furthermore, the results show that SENCOs are capable of identifying the next step in the process of development through their work both within the system as well as the surrounding environment. SENCOs also use their analytical skills when sifting through information. For SENCOs to be able to fully utilize the skill set received through advanced university study, the conclusion is that it is the principal who is required to prioritize and establish the framework for the creation of a learning organization. The principal needs to remind the staff of the developmental process, for example through yearly staff interviews. This in turn facilitates the work of the SENCO, who is often the one responsible for administering various forms of vocational training. The principals view the participation of SENCOs in the school’s development groups as important. This enables SENCOs to act on the goals prioritized within the organization. Overall, the conclusion is that provided that principals establish the framework, SENCOs are capable of contributing with their area of competency in the development of learning communities.

The field of professional learning in education has been studied and added to extensively in the last few decades. Because the importance of learning in authentic contexts through professional dialogue has become so important, high quality, school-based professional learning is vital to building capacity at the school level. Unfortunately, the literature on professional development (PD) does not provide much guidance on how to bridge theory and practice at the school level, creating a gap. With the goal of PD ultimately being to improve teacher performance and student learning, the problem with this gap is that school-level professional development is arbitrarily planned, resulting in variable outcomes. I propose the reason for this is schools lack a comprehensive framework or tool that guides the design of a quality professional learning plan. This problem was identified in Orange County Public School and this dissertation in practice aims at developing a solution that accounts for the district*s specific contextual needs. My proposed solution is the design of an integrative tool that school leaders can use to guide them through the professional development planning process. The School-based Professional Learning Design Tool incorporates the professional development standards in planning, learning, implementing, and evaluating outlined in the Florida Professional Development System Evaluation Protocol. It also guides leaders in taking an inventory of the culture and context of their school in order to plan PD that will be viable given those considerations. The components of the Tool guide teams through assessing school teacher performance and student achievement data to help identify focus groups; determining gaps in learning through root cause analysis; creating goals aligned to gaps in performance; and selecting strategies for professional learning, follow-up support, and evaluation. The development of the Tool was informed by the extant literature on professional development, organizational theory, state and national standards for professional development, and principles of design. The Tool is to be completed in four phases. Phases one and two, the focus of this paper, include the literature review, organizational assessment, design specifications, and the first iteration of the Tool. In the next phases, the goals are to solicit feedback from an expert panel review, create a complete version of the Tool, and pilot it in elementary schools. Although the development of the Tool through its final phases will refine it considerably, there are limitations that will transcend all iterations. While the Tool incorporates best practices in professional development, the lack of empirical evidence on the effectiveness of specific PD elements in the literature renders this Tool only a best guess in helping schools plan effective professional development. Another limitation is that the Tool is not prescriptive and cannot use school data to make decisions for what strategies to implement. Taking these limitations into consideration, the use of this Tool can significantly impact the quality and effectiveness of professional development in schools.

Research suggests that teachers´ professional development and learning is a key to develop teacher practice and improve students´ learning. The aim of this study is to contribute knowledge of teachers´ opinions on Läslyftet, a competence development program in reading and language enhancement, and it´s matter for competence development. Thereby possible explanations to the outcome of Läslyftet. Through Illeris theory of learning and Program Theory the study is conducted as a quantitative survey. Result suggests significant statistic correlations between all three of Illeris dimensions of learning and teachers´competence development. Findings are that Läslyftet has created good opportunities for learning, but at the same time teatchers´ competence development outcome differs. Despite the competence development program was a professional learning community, Illeris´dimensions functionality and sensitivity seem to have greater impact on competence development than integration (the dimension that focuses interaction). / I forskning finns stöd för att lärares professionella utveckling och lärande är nyckeln för att utveckla undervisningens kvalitet och därmed i förlängningen höja elevers resultat. Syftet med denna studie är att utifrån lärares uppfattningar om en kompetensutvecklingsinsats inom Läslyftet bidra med kunskap om lärares lärande och utveckling av kompetens genom Läslyftet, samt tänkbara förklaringar till resultatet i den studerade kompetensutvecklingsinsatsen. Utifrån Illeris teori om lärande och programteori genomfördes studien med en kvantitativ ansats och enkät. Resultatet pekar på statistiskt säkerställda samband mellan samtliga av de tre undersökta dimensioner av lärande och utveckling av lärares kompetens. Slutsatser från studien är bland annat att Läslyftet skapat goda förutsättningar för lärare, samtidigt som det i olika grad lett till lärares utveckling av kompetens. Trots att insatsen genomförts som kollegialt lärande verkar innehållet och drivkrafter för lärande spelat större roll för i vilken grad lärare utvecklar sin kompetens och sedan använder sina kunskaper.

The purpose of this dissertation was to study how teachers and school leaders perceived a specific set of classroom math innovations, and how those innovations impacted instruction in relation to the Georgia Vision Project (GVP) standards and recommendations. This was a qualitative study conducted in two GVP districts. The participants in the study were five elementary teachers, two school administrators, and two district leaders. The participants were interviewed to gain an understanding of their perceptions of recent math innovations. The innovations included (a) math instruction using manipulatives (such as counting objects and puzzles) that utilize the Concrete Representational Abstract (CRA) model, which engages students to conceive from the concrete to the abstract; (b) differentiation through flexible student grouping; (c) information about how different subgroups of students learn mathematics; and (d) math professional learning. Previous research had focused on these innovations separately. However, no research study had grouped these innovations together to see how teachers perceived them within the context of a math classroom, and how teachers implemented them in their classrooms in order to increase student achievement. This qualitative case study included schoolteacher and educational leader interviews, observations, and artifacts. The two districts in the study were high performing in the area of mathematics. The results indicated that schoolteachers and educational leaders could not directly relate the math innovations to student success and, moreover, to the GVP standards and recommendations. During the study all GVP standards were analyzed at varying levels. The study primarily focused on the teaching and learning standard, which was a significant initiative for both districts. Both districts had varying levels of implementation concerning the innovations in the study: (a) use of manipulatives, (b) differentiation in classrooms, and (c) professional learning. All participants referenced the innovations as a part of their instruction, but could not directly relate the innovations beneficial to the success of the students.

This study draws upon a methodological approach based on the use of objects to explore the experiences of a group of teachers undertaking a Masters-level Continuing Professional Development programme. Eight Respondents were invited to bring three objects to their interview that represented significant aspects of their practice in relation to the course. These objects afforded an exploration of respondents’ views, experiences and consideration of the impact of the programme on their professional identities. In order to engage analytically with the data the work draws upon notions of spatiality as well as the later work of Foucault on truth and subject formation. The thesis considers the role of professional learning as shaped by the current policy process and, how professional learning is, in turn, shaped by the teachers undertaking the course. Such a consideration allows for a methodological take on the CPD process as one whereby people, as well as objects, such as ‘standards’, play equally important roles. In drawing upon the later work of Foucault (1984a, 1984b) analysis of the data considered the ways in which the practices of the course that the teachers engaged with (Askēsis) lead to a desire to speak their mind and express ideals of truth about educational practice (Parrhēsia). This means that in thinking about their practice through the activities and processes of the programme encourages the development of the ethical work of the teacher. In the light of such problematisation, this study encourages a rethinking of both policy and practice and argues for a change in the discourse of education from the concept of professional development to that of professional learning within a relational and ethical framing.

A variety of policies originating from Ontario’s Ministry of Education make it clear that education reform requires that teachers reflect on their practice. Despite this, there is little evidence of a common understanding of just what reflection would look like in teacher practice.This means that Initial Teacher Education programs face ambiguous challenges both in producing teachers who can reflect on practice in order to participate in school reform and in matching program goals regarding reflection to admissions requirements. This study investigated the understanding and evaluation of reflection in an Initial Teacher Education program through interviews with 15 instructors and field partners who had evaluated applicants’ written evidence of reflection. Differences among participants were evident in the understanding of reflection;however, the overriding theme of conscious attention to and engagement with experience as a vehicle for change was consistent with current literature. Differences in the evaluation of profiles were based on perceptions of how well applicants met the criterion of specificity, which was emphasized in the rubric; what role their judgement should take in evaluation decisions and the knowledge base on which those decisions were made. Participants described an organizational context in their Initial Teacher Education Program in which reflection was encouraged but not formalized or defined in any consistent way, and described opportunities for reflection that resembled informal communities of practice. They articulated some significant dilemmas in the fair evaluation of reflection that were similar to the challenges of school administrators evaluating the reflection required of teachers. The results of the study have implications for admissions policies as well as for creating a culture of reflection and inquiry in an Initial Teacher Education Program or school.

Internships are an increasingly popular activity for university students wishing to learn about the world of work, and the term can encompass many types of opportunities for learning about industries, occupations, or simply the experience of a professional workplace. The present study examines students following full-time degree courses across a range of subjects, in internships that are not integrated into course requirements. Internships of this kind are often located within the ‘employability agenda’ for higher education, developing students’ transferable skills to enable them to make smooth transitions to knowledge work outside the university. University careers advisors therefore encourage these internships as a form of experiential learning, and the notion of student employability is implicitly accepted by policymakers and universities. Yet, little is known about how or what students learn in internships. This study, which took place over three summers, examines how six students from one university made sense of their ten-week summer internships in an investment bank. The students were interviewed prior to their internships, three times during the banking internship, and again on return to the university. Using conceptual tools from sociocultural theory, the study starts from an understanding of movement between university and workplace as a matter of transition, rather than transfer and application, of knowledge and skills from university to the workplace. Adopting the idea of the ‘figured world’ (Holland et al., 1998) permits examination of how the students engaged with the cultural world of the workplace setting, interpreting and engaging with the practices there, and experiencing identity struggles that were of significance to them. The findings reveal the lack of support for the students’ engagement both before and during their placements, and have implications for the careers advising given to students undertaking internships. The study therefore concludes with a presentation of the principles that underpin student experience of internships. Universities can assist this by providing more resources for guidance to students undertaking internships, by assisting them with developing an awareness of the motives that are inherent in the workplace, as well as their own motives and those of employers providing internships.

Effective teacher development is significant for any educational system to remain competitive in the global arena (Bayar, 2014). However, science teachers’ professional development activities have often been found to be ineffective (Opfer & Pedder, 2011). Science teachers also minimally participate in such activities due to their ineffective experiences (Chval, Abell, Pareja, Musikul & Ritzka, 2007). Understanding how science teachers’ experiences are constructed is also crucial to create programs to meet their needs (Schneider & Plasman, 2011). It is essential in the construction of professional development experiences to recognize who is being served in professional development (Saka, 2013). But rigorous methods are required to understand the outcomes of professional development (Koomen, Blair, Young-Isebrand & Oberhauser, 2014). The purpose of this phenomenological case study was to study how secondary school science teachers describe their lived experiences of professional development in Punjab (Pakistan). How do these teachers understand, make sense, and use of those intended goals of professional development opportunities and change their practices through the implementation of learned knowledge of professional development? This study used purposive sampling to collect the qualitative data from fifteen secondary school science teachers of Punjab (Pakistan). The data collection was done through conducting semi-structured in-depth phenomenological interviews with these science teachers (Seidman, 2013). The data were analyzed using three-stage coding methods, and thematic analysis. Three main themes emerged from the analysis of data. The first theme of sense making is about their understanding and description of intended meaning of professional development activities. The second theme of meaningful experiences captured the participants perceived benefits from the PD activities. The third theme of contextual and cultural factors is focused on the understanding the impact of these factors in imparting of professional development experiences. The findings of the study communicate the significance of science teachers’ role in professional development activities. Science teachers’ voices, needs and active involvement must be taken into consideration in the designing and implementation of such activities.

The 1980s saw an increase in learning support assistants (LSAs’) in colleges for further education to support post-sixteen learners with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD). LSAs’ were appointed on an ad hoc basis with little or no experience, or relevant qualifications to deliver support in ‘inclusive’ vocational classrooms. The Workforce Development Plan in 2004 acknowledged this phenomenon and advocated that occupational standards be developed. Two years later, in October 2006, the first National Occupational Standards (NOS) for college LSAs was launched but it did not include an official training framework for their professional learning and although there are some training structures in place, this still remains the case today. Learners with LDD are, therefore, still supported by untrained LSAs’ who are not professionally equipped to deal with the particular challenges they present. Educators like myself who work alongside LSAs’ in colleges, must seek to naturalistically explore professional learning opportunities to enhance their knowledge and skills. Such professional learning opportunities should reflect the creative and dynamic contribution college LSAs’ bring to inclusive classrooms and, thereby, not only improve the quality of the support LSAs’ give but the overall integrative, ethical and non-discriminative ethos of a college. With this knowledge, I developed and implemented an Enhanced Learning Support Assistant Programme (ELSAP) for the professional learning of volunteer LSA participants with the aim of improving their knowledge and skills to deliver a more meaningful education for postsixteen learners with LDD. For the acquisition of new knowledge and skills, professional learning for LSAs’ needs to occur systemically over time and be integrated within the multilayered context of a college to allow dynamic and reciprocal influences to make transformative connections. Critically, my action research study strengthens the connection between socio-political theory and practice within the sociology of disability education on moral, ethical and human rights grounds.

This non-experimental, census survey included the elementary, middle, and high school principals at the comprehensive schools within a large, suburban school division in Virginia. The focus of this study was the factors that influence building administrators in using data to make instructional decisions. The purpose was to discover if there is a difference in the perceptions of elementary, middle, and high school principals of data use to make instructional decisions within their buildings. McLeod’s (2006) Statewide Data-Driven Readiness Study: Principal Survey was used to assess the principals’ beliefs about the data-driven readiness of their individual schools. Each principal indicated the degree to which they agreed or disagreed with statements about acting upon data, data support systems, and the data school culture. Twenty-two items aligned with four constructs identified by White (2008) in her study of elementary school principals in Florida. These four constructs or factors were used to determine if there was a significant difference in principal beliefs concerning teacher use of data to improve student achievement, principal beliefs regarding a data-driven culture within their building, the existence of systems for supporting data-driven decision-making, and collaboration among teachers to make data-driven decisions. For each of the survey items a majority of the responses (≥62%) were in agreement with the statements, indicating the principals agreed slightly, agreed moderately, or agreed strongly that data-driven decision-making by teachers to improve student achievement was occurring within the building, a data-driven culture and data supporting systems exists, and teachers are collaborating and using data to make decisions. Multiple analyses of variance showed significant differences in the means. Some of these differences in means were based on the principals’ assignment levels. While both groups responded positively to the statement that collaboration among teachers to make data-driven decisions, the elementary principals agreed more strongly than the high school principals. When mediating variables were examined, significance was found in principals’ beliefs concerning teacher use of data to improve student achievement depending on the years of experience as a principal. Principals with six or more years of experience had a mean response for Construct 1 of 4.84 while those with five or less years of experience had a mean of 4.38, suggesting that on average those principals with more experience had a stronger belief that teachers are using data to improve student achievement. There is significance between the means of principals with three or fewer years versus those with more than three years in their current assignment on two of the constructs – a data-driven culture and collaboration among teachers. Principals with less time in their current position report a slightly higher agreement than their less experienced colleagues with statements about the data-driven culture within their school. Significant difference was also found between principals’ beliefs about teacher collaboration to improve student achievement and their beliefs regarding collaboration among teachers using data-driven decision-making and the school’s AYP status for 2008-2009. Principals assigned to schools that had made AYP for 2008-2009 moderately agreed that teachers were collaborating to make data-driven decisions. In comparison, principals assigned to schools that had not made AYP only slightly agreed that this level of collaboration was occurring in their schools.