Teaching standards have increasingly been used to identify and categorise the work of teachers across educational systems for the purpose of certification and licencing, as performance indicators and, in some cases, to map out professional development. Accordingly, in both England and Scotland, teaching standards have been a central tenet in attempts to regulate the work of teachers. Most recently in England this has resulted in the Teachers’ Standards (DfE, 2012b), and in Scotland the Professional Standards for Teachers comprising of The Standards for Registration (GTCS, 2012h), The Standard for Career-Long Professional Learning (GTCS, 2012f), and The Standards for Leadership and Management (GTCS, 2012g). This research provides a comparative analysis of the recontextualising principle and pedagogic discourse (Bernstein, 2000), the rules and regulations, which led to the production of these most recent sets of standards in England and Scotland. A mixed qualitative approach was taken to the research questions composing documentary analysis and interviews with those involved with the reviews. The analysis of text drew on Basil Bernstein’s Pedagogic Device (Bernstein, 2000) combined with Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) (Fairclough, 2003) to provide a single theoretical lens. CDA was ‘put to work’ (Chouliaraki & Fairclough, 1999, p.2) within the Pedagogic Device to tease out the discursive practices of the reviews of teaching standards through the examinations of the documentary and interview data. The Professional Standards for Teachers in Scotland look to Hoyle’s (1974) ‘extended professionality’ and Sachs’ ‘activism’ (2003a) as the model for teacher professionalism, whereas the Teachers’ Standards in England, developed in the controlled environment of the Department of Education (DfE), represent a more passive teacher at the restricted end of Hoyle’s continuum. In regards to the development of teaching standards, the DfE approaches the review process as a ‘classic bureaucracy’ (Dimmock, 2007) in tightly regulating the drafting of the Teachers’ Standards. The General Teaching Council for Scotland adopts two identities to the development of the Professional Standards for Teachers. First, it integrates, through an interlocking committee structure, with the Scottish Government and their associated institutions. Second, it adopts an ‘informal’ organisational approach to writing the standards.

Research suggests that teachers are amongst the most vulnerable occupational groups to work related psychological difficulties. Extant literature predominantly focuses on the structural dimensions of teachers’ wellbeing and is commonly associated with stress, burnout and staff retention. The first chapter critically reviews existing research using cognitive-behavioural therapy to support teachers’ wellbeing. Three conclusions were drawn from the systematic review: teacher wellbeing is a problematically defined concept; interventions based on cognitive-behavioural therapy were not effective in supporting teachers’ wellbeing and little emphasis was placed upon the impact of teachers’ environment. The conclusions of the systematic review informed three research questions addressed in the empirical paper using a qualitative methodology, in order to explore teachers’ experience of the phenomena under investigation. Subsequently, the transcripts of five semi-structured interviews with five primary school teachers were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis to explore their wellbeing. Two superordinate themes were produced that encapsulate the teachers’ described experience related to their wellbeing. Due to the research design, this research offers novel findings about the nature of teachers’ wellbeing. It also offers a phenomenological model of teachers’ wellbeing and proposes that organisational and systemic change is required to support the social and emotional needs of school communities and their workforce.

These are challenging times for England’s education community. Set against a backdrop of teacher stress, burnout and attrition, this thesis explores the concept of teacher resilience. Across a systematic literature review and an empirical research project (joined by a bridging document), it asks how we may better support our teachers in the face of on-going challenges, and in doing so help them maintain their motivation and commitment to the role. The systematic literature review addresses the question: How can teacher resilience be protected and promoted? Seven recent, qualitative papers are identified, analysed and synthesised using meta-ethnography. Based on interpretations of key themes, a new model of teacher resilience is constructed. It is suggested that teacher resilience can be characterised as a collection of dynamic interactions between thoughts, relationships, actions and challenges. Teachers’ relationships with key others and the actions they take (e.g. problem-solving) may operate – often in combination – as a buffer, which protects their beliefs about themselves and/or their role from external challenges. It is concluded that, given the right support, teacher resilience can be protected and promoted. Based on the proposed model of teacher resilience, it is suggested peer group supervision (PGS) may offer one way of harnessing several protective factors – support from colleagues, problem solving and reflection & reframing. A collaborative action research project is therefore conducted that addresses the question: What can be learned, and what can be gained, by introducing primary school teachers to the process of peer group supervision? Across two half terms, PGS is piloted with seven teachers from in a single primary school, with a trainee Educational Psychologist (EP) acting as facilitator. The project is then evaluated via semi-structured focus groups. Data is coded and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Findings suggest engaging in PGS can be a ‘double-edged sword’ for teachers but that the benefits outweigh the costs. They also suggest there is a range of largely controllable factors that mediate the relative success/failure of the process. Specific benefits, costs, facilitators and barriers are discussed. It is concluded that schools would do well to establish PGS as part of wider efforts to protect and promote teacher resilience, and argued that EPs are well placed to facilitate this process.

Research into academic identities has predominantly identified how social structures influence and constrain the agency of those involved in academic work (McLean, 2012). This reflects the predominantly sociological underpinnings of this research area (Clegg,200S). This study introduces psychological theory on identity formation to offer a complementary focus on individual agency and personal meaning making. This longitudinal case study investigates how five novice social science graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) formed identities as academic teachers during their first two years inservice. These tutors participated in the London School of Economics' Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education (PGCertHE) during these two years. Changing identity positioning over time (Wetherell, 2001) was captured in tutors' writing using discourse analysis developed in the Discursive Psychological tradition (Edley, 2001). The findings of this study offer insight into academic identity formation. However, this study also contributes to research into the impact that participation on developmental courses, such as the LSE PGCertHE, can have on aspiring faculty as academic teachers. Impact has been assessed through pre- and post-testing (Gibbs & Coffey, 2004; Hanbury, Prosser, & Rickinson, 2008; Postareff, Lindblom-Ylanne, & Nevgi, 2007) and case studies (Butcher & Stoncel, 2012; Ho, Watkins, & Kelly, 2001). These studies have found impacts in terms of increased student focus and self-efficacy (Stes, Min-Leliveld, Gijbels, & Van Petegem, 2010). This study presents complementary findings. However, the longitudinal design offers an account of how the change identified in the larger, survey-ba~ed studies can come about. This shifting positioning is presented here in terms of initial 'idealism' becoming 'realism' with experience, but then leading to 'independence' as tutors developed 'pedagogic content knowledge' (Shulman, 1987).

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) educational enhancement is one of the primary goals being targeted. This is exemplified by the Tatweer project, initiated and guided by the late King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz's initiative. Educational enhancement is not a single activity; it contains many approaches, one of which is the evaluation of the professional practises of teachers. Teachers are the providers of educational opportunities, and consequently there should be quality evaluation for teachers to ensure continuation of good professional development. Currently, teachers in Saudi Arabia are evaluated by their principals based on predefined assessment standards, set by the Ministry of Education. These standards are outdated and, for instance are not set within a framework for teaching. The need for enhancing educational output in Saudi Arabia's schools, by providing formative evaluation methods and standards for teachers, is the professional motivation for undertaking this research study. A review of the existing literature did not identify the implementation of any framework for teaching or use of electronic portfolios (e-portfolios) in the KSA, in the context of teacher evaluation. This study uses Danielson's Framework For Teaching as a mechanism through which to evaluate the professional actives of the sample of teachers. It investigates teachers' concerns and attitudes about using a 'showcasing' tool - (e-portfolio) and identifies the affordances and constraints of adopting and using the tool, to begin the process of moving from summative assessment to formative evaluation. The research consisted of three phases, first the investigation phase, which used the Concerns Based Adoption Model's Stages of Concern questionnaire (SoCQ). The second, the operational phase, engaged the sample of teacher with the e-portfolio system and a second distribution of the SoCQ. The final and most significant stage is the evaluation phase, which used observation of the teachers' online activity and interview with the participating study sample teachers, who engaged with the e-portfolio system experience. The findings identified a number of affordances and constraints associated with the teachers use of e-portfolio to evidence their professional achievements within a framework for teaching. Related to these findings The analysis of the collected qualitative, rich data produced valid findings. A number of recommendations are made for policy makers in the KSA, as well as strategies that can be adopted within schools to support teachers' professional development, consequently assisting the Kingdom to advance its educational settings and practices.

Researchers assumed naturally occurring mentoring (also called informal mentoring) to be non-existent among Indian school teachers. Therefore, in order to promote mentoring among them development of a program by organisations, which is called formal mentoring, has been suggested. However, the success of formal mentoring is related to collegiality and equality which is common in the West than in Asia. The hierarchical Asian culture was found to affect its outcome in previous research. Also, it is important to understand the concept of informal mentoring first, which is vague and highly contextual, if one wishes to promote formal mentoring. Therefore, this research scrutinises the context among Indian teachers for the (1) existence and concept of ‘informal mentoring’, (2) familiarisation with the term ‘mentoring’, (3) demographic factors which may affect the extent of informal mentoring received, (4) level of satisfaction with the present continuous professional development (CPD) practices, and (5) perceived preferences for informal mentoring, formal mentoring and supervision (i.e., the traditional analogous practice). A mixed-methods approach using questionnaires (N=171), semi-structured interviews (N=16) and documents (N=2) has been applied with six schools and an educational expert. The results confirm the existence of ‘informal mentoring’ among teachers and reveal its concept. The findings also illustrate that only few teachers are familiar with the term ‘mentoring’. However, the situation varies between government and private schools. The demographic variables impact negligibly on the extent of informal mentoring received. Teachers are satisfied with the present CPD practices but there is a statistical significant difference between the participating schools. 98% of the participating teachers preferred mentoring to supervision. Interestingly, private and government schools differ in their preference to informal or formal mentoring. The adoption of ‘formal mentoring’ has been argued where ‘informal mentoring’ is embraced and can be promoted without intensive modifications. However, careful planning is suggested where teachers prefer formal mentoring.

The Initiation-Response-Feedback (I-R-F) questioning sequence is perhaps the most common pedagogical discursive interaction, not just in classrooms, but in virtually every learning context; the educator asks a question, the learner responds and the educator gives feedback about that response. Children are introduced to these sequences from a very early age - usually through their formative communications with parents or adults - and continue to participate in them throughout their academic careers. In a whole-class school setting, these exchanges are notoriously teacher-dominated and tightly-controlled, characteristically offering students little time and opportunity to construct and develop their own ideas and thinking. Despite the myriad of changes in education over the last 20 years, it seems somewhat paradoxical that the stereo-typical I-R-F questioning sequence has exhibited such durability in its current form. The main aim of this research study was to investigate the degree to which the epistemological foundations of the whole-class I-R-F questioning sequence could be relocated from a traditionally behaviourist perspective towards a position more concomitant with social constructivism. Underpinning this philosophy is the belief that students should be given a much greater degree of interactional autonomy. The chosen methodology was based on an action research model with a multi-method approach for data collection. A framework of ‘best questioning practice’ was constructed in order to support teachers in improving their Interactional Questioning Competence (IQC) over the course of three action research cycles. In addition to this, three facilitators of change were employed as catalytic devices for enhancing teacher performance during the research; self-evaluation, focus group interviews and specialist coaching. The results show that although progress was made in many areas, other features of IQC were more resistant to change, largely as a result of the pedagogical goals of the teacher, the institutional motives of the school establishment and the political aspirations of current educational policy.

Teachers' poor performance is estimated to prevail among 5-10 percent of the teaching force. Despite its damage to pupils and to schools' reputation it has been rarely studied. Two major empirical works (Bridges, 1986,1992 Wragg et al., 1999) described its antecedents and administrators' response. The current study examines, within the Israeli context, who are the poor perforating (referred as 'challenging') teachers How principals cope with their shortcomings and what is the hidden emotional dynamics within that dyad The theoretical framework follows the three-component model of attitude (Rosenberg & Ho viand, 1960 Eagly & Chaiken, 1998), which analyzes the findings according to its cognitive, behavior and affective components. The sample includes all the principals and 131 teachers who were working in 40 elementary schools in northern Israel In addition to a semi-structured interview with each principal, they also completed two questionnaires, one about a challenging teacher and one about an outstanding teacher. Having those two teachers and two additional teachers (marginal + outstanding) who filled similar questionnaires triangulated that information. Over seven percent of the teachers were identified as challenging, mostly these were veteran teachers who manifested either insensitiveness toward pupils or had low motivation- Relatively more of these teachers taught in deprived schools with inexperienced principals. The reasons for their difficulties were generally poor fit between personal characteristics and job demands. Half faced major life event changes, which deteriorated their performance. The principals of these teachers presented highly nurturing management style with little demanding of individual teachers. They evaluated the challenging teachers as performing below average they were emotionally ambivalent toward them and reduced support and increased their demands, in comparison to the outstanding teachers. Principals tended not to plan in advance, and coped with teachers' shortcomings more by overlooking and using soft measures than taking organizational measures and sanctions. Escalating the conflict damaged the principals-teacher relations and prevented finding a solution, while a planned and focused intervention, which included colleague teachers' assistance proved to be highly effective.

The purpose of this study is two-fold: to examine how new teachers, first and second career teachers in Singapore, are socialised into teaching; and to determine if there is any difference in the impact of the socialisation process on their self-efficacy. The selection of participants for the study is based on purposive sampling. It comprises seven new teachers from one neighbourhood school in Singapore. The data are collected primarily through interviews with new teachers, mentors, reporting officers, cooperating teachers, school staff developer and principal. It is supplemented by nonparticipant observations of new teachers' lessons and informal observations of their interactions with their colleagues. Documents are also referred to. To determine whether there is any difference in the impact of the socialisation process on self-efficacy between those for whom teaching is a first career and those for whom teaching is a second career, the new teachers are also asked to plot their self efficacy. The analysis of the data is performed using thematic analysis. The findings suggest that new teachers contribute to their own socialisation, and students appear to play a significant role in their socialisation regardless whether they are first or second career new teachers. The findings also suggest that school culture plays a part in their decision to help and support other new teachers. In terms of impact of the socialisation process on their self-efficacy, the findings suggest there is a difference not only between those for whom teaching is a first career and those for whom it is a second career, there is also a difference within those for whom teaching is a first career and those for whom it is a second career.

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