The key aims of this case study are to understand the notion of teacher leadership and identify factors that impact the professional development of teacher leaders in a foreign language institute. As little empirical research exists on how EFL teacher leaders acquire leadership skills and learn about leadership roles, this study explores factors contributing to the professional learning and growth of EFL teacher leaders in the Saudi EFL context. The study is an interpretive one, using semi-structured interviews as the primary data collection instrument complemented by an open-ended questionnaire. The detailed accounts of 12 EFL teacher leaders indicate that ‘teacher leadership’ is a novel construct at the ELI where teacher leadership roles are positioned in the middle of the organisational hierarchy. EFL teachers in these middle-level leadership roles have titles such as head of professional development unit (PDU), head of academic coordination unit (ACU) and head of curriculum unit (CU). In spite of being a new concept at the ELI, leadership roles and responsibilities to a great extent share similarities with teacher leadership in western school contexts. However, teacher leaders encounter various challenges which are mainly due to the bureaucratic structures at the ELI. The data reveal lack of autonomy, inadequate professional support from the top management, and ineffectiveness of the existing professional development courses at the ELI. This study provides insights into factors which support EFL teacher leader professional development. There are five main elements: a) previous experiential learning, both formal and informal; b) leadership knowledge, skills and abilities which are brought to their current roles and further improved through collaborative practices; c) intrinsic motivation and personal urge to do more learning and leading; d) learning from being in leadership roles; and e) reflective practices at individual and group levels. Despite the concurrent difficulties and uncooperative workplace environment, the EFL teacher leaders managed to acquire role-related leadership skills while learning on the job. This thesis concludes by offering suggestions tailored to the professional development needs of teacher leaders in the EFL context, namely that top leadership should adopt flexible leadership approaches and that trainers should conduct more context-specific professional development courses on a regular basis. These supportive strategies should ensure sustainable professional development and raise the degree of professionalism among EFL teacher leaders at the ELI.

The major purpose of the study was to describe the perceptions of teachers toward a teacher evaluation process used in the Silver Lake Regional Schools. Specific topics investigated were the importance of pre and post conferences, the effectiveness of teacher evaluation in improving instruction and the difference of opinion concerning teacher evaluation between teachers with more than ten years experience and those with less than ten years experience. Respondents were the thirty-one (31) English and Reading teachers employed by the Silver Lake Regional Schools during the 1989-1990 school year. Two survey questionnaires containing a total of eighty-one (81) statements were completed by each teacher. A statistical analysis of the survey questionnaires was completed. Frequency distributions were calculated to describe the responses of the teachers toward each statement. The chi-square test was used to determine if there was a significant difference in response between the two groups of teachers. The study also included two in-depth private interviews with nine teachers. The results of the interviews were used to complement and supplement data obtained from the survey questionnaires. The findings revealed that teachers are in favor of teacher evaluation and believe that it can help to improve instruction. They have positive feelings regarding the importance of pre and post conferences and are receptive to specific suggestions from the evaluator to improve instruction. The majority of teachers feel that the new method of teacher evaluation used at Silver Lake is far superior to the previous checklist approach and that it is an effective approach to teacher evaluation. The findings also revealed that, on the major issues concerning teacher evaluation, there was no significant difference of opinion between the veteran and the newer teachers. Teachers feel that evaluation is a necessary process which provides for teacher growth, improvement and accountability. They are of the opinion that teaching can be improved by effective evaluation and regard the evaluator's skill and attitude as critical to the process. The new process and instrument for teacher evaluation at Silver Lake has had a positive effect on the attitude and on the instructional effectiveness of teachers.

This study documents the origins of community service learning (CSL) and describes educational literature that relates to how CSL can become a learning experience in the educational process in middle schools. The case study examines how one interdisciplinary team of teachers in an urban middle school integrated CSL as an instructional strategy or culminating activity into curriculum, or used CSL as an extra-curricular experience for students. Four methods of data gathering were used: interviews, observation, a student questionnaire and review of documents. During 1990-1991 school year, the researcher observed the teachers and community partners planning and working with the students to implement the various service experiences. At the end of the school year, the principal, four teachers and three community partners participated in individual and group interviews. The researcher also conducted a group interview with students as a follow-up to the student questionnaire completed by some forty students. The questionnaire was designed with open-ended questions for the students to provide explanations for their answers. The organization of the data provided information to shape the case study and show the history and development of CSL, the delivery and design, and the student reaction to the experiences. The following conclusions were drawn: (1) The principal's vision and leadership affected the way the service experiences evolved. (2) Teachers found the service experiences to be useful as a pedagogy throughout the curriculum disciplines. (3) Service experiences enhanced the understanding of CSL as a process and an instructional strategy with teachers allowing for flexibility and the serendipitous to occur. (4) The integration of service experiences affected how teaching takes place and as an instructional strategy to enhance educational reform. (5) Teacher and students found that service experiences affected their relationships in a positive way which enhanced teaching and learning. (6) Service experiences gave students an opportunity to develop a sense of community by experiencing community within their classrooms, school, neighborhood and city-wide community. (7) Service experiences affected how students learned academically, socially and personally. (8) The process for successful implementation of service experiences needs to be better understood by both teachers and community partners. The principal of Chestnut Middle School and the Gold House teachers and students demonstrated how CSL can be designed and delivered in middle school education. By involving all curriculum areas, they built a model and process for implementation which can be adapted throughout a school district to demonstrate how to build learning experiences for students around a common purpose. The analysis and description of their work has implications beyond Chestnut and can help others understand how to build community, create change and integrate service experiences into education.

Action research has become a widely accepted and popular form of teacher professional development/learning, within the UK and internationally, and forms part of the professional actions of the Scottish Chartered Teacher. Whilst action research may be a valuable form of professional development supported through awardbearing courses (such as the Scottish Chartered Teacher programmes), funded projects or partnerships with university colleagues, it is questionable to what extent this is continued or even valued by teachers beyond the parameters of CPD courses. If Chartered Teachers are to engage meaningfully in action research then it is vital we understand how they perceive the nature and purpose of such activities and explore the opportunities and limitations they may face. This is not just an issue for Chartered Teachers in Scotland but one that may concern any teacher attempting to engage in action research as part of their practice. To explore teachers’ lived experience of engaging in post-award non-funded action research a case-study approach was adopted. The case study comprised six qualified Chartered Teachers with this thesis focusing on the stories from three of the teachers. In-depth loosely structured interviews were held with participants at three intervals over the course of a year to discuss their current and ongoing action research work. In addition visual data was created by participants to explore, share, (re)present and negotiate their understandings of action research. Documentary data was also collected. A broadly inductive approach to the analysis was taken, coding both within and across cases. A thematic narrative analysis of the individuals’ stories was also undertaken because I believe teachers’ individual stories are critically important and was keen not to reduce these to ‘codes’ and ‘categories’. Emerging from the data are three significant themes - the importance of understanding the nature and purpose of action research; the teachers’ evolving identities as Chartered Teachers/action researchers; and the need to develop and promote a Third Space – creating a conceptually different way of being a teacher. The data shows that traditional notions of research are influencing these teachers’ understanding of action research and this limits their action research work. How teachers understand the nature and purpose of action research is deeply interrelated with their identity as a teacher/Chartered Teacher/action researcher. Their identity(ies), I suggest, is/are a site of struggle, contestation and negotiation and Chartered Teachers are, arguably, in an in-between space: they are simultaneously teacher and researcher, yet they are neither one nor the other. It is possible, then, to understand Chartered Teacher as a hybrid identity and I draw upon Third Space theory as a heuristic to understand Chartered Teacher as a distinctly different way of being a teacher. I argue that a more complex view is needed that promotes the dynamic and fluid nature of action research. The insights drawn from this study offer some understandings that may help us to (re)consider and (re)frame the way in which we understand the teacher as researcher.

Professional learning, commonly referred to in policy and practice as continuing professional development, is presented to teachers as both a requirement and an entitlement in current education policy (Gewirtz, 2002; Ball, 2003). This work explores the ways in which professional learning is experienced by three teachers, and the meanings they attribute to those experiences. The study adopts a narrative approach to these accounts (Clandinin, 2013; Clandinin and Connelly, 1996; 1998; 2004) and is underpinned by the recognition of the complexity in the interplay between the individual teacher and their social context specifically focusing on “the relationship between the state, the ideologies of professionalism, and lived interiority” (Hey and Bradford, 2004: 693). The methodology was developed to overcome the problem of policy and aspects of practice that fail to focus on the effective involvement and engagement of teachers in professional learning: the teachers have become “missing persons” (Evans, 1999: i). The research process placed the meaning made by the teachers of their past experiences, and the way they understood them in the present, at the centre of the research (Kelchtermans, 2009; MacLure, 1993). Data were collected as part of a collaborative process with teachers who shared and analysed their narratives of professional learning through a series of research conversations. The teachers gave accounts of the people and incidents that they understood to be significant in influencing their professional learning, in relation to their expectations of themselves and of professionals and people more generally. In doing so they drew on both professional and personal contexts (Makopoulou and Armour, 2011). There were significant challenges in relation to ethics, analysis and re-presentation. This study illustrates the complexity and contingency of teachers’ professional learning through their understanding of themselves and their interaction with, and response to, significant people and incidents (Kelchtermans and Vandenberghe, 1994). Their “stories to live by” (Clandinin and Connelly, 1998: 149) illuminate the ways in which teachers explain the complexities and contingencies underpinning their experiences of professional learning. The data illustrate the crucial role that context plays in understanding professional learning (Clandinin and Connelly, 2000: 27) and the challenges teachers face in balancing their roles as policy subjects and policy actors (Ball, Maguire, Braun and Hoskins, 2011a and b). This work makes a unique contribution to the field of professional learning by using the detailed individual cases of each teacher to illustrate general concerns for the development of effective policy and practice. It also contributes to the methodological debates around the use of narratives as a means of understanding the “human condition” (Arendt, 1958). The data challenge us to consider the possibilities that narrative accounts and analyses offer for the generation of knowledge in this area with implications for both teachers and other professionals, and policy and practice.

Commonly, teacher evaluations function as summative appraisal mechanisms of teacher performance and effectiveness, as accountability measures and assurances of quality instruction to educational stakeholders. Recently, greater interest in the potential for evaluations to contribute to improvements in teaching and learning has emerged. The use of professional teaching standards and evaluation rubrics represents a significant advance in the design of evaluation tools and procedures. Continuing implementation challenges however, means the potential for evaluations to notably enhance teachers’ professional development is far from realized within many educational contexts. The traditional focus on the individual within evaluations also fails to recognize the collaborative work of teaching teams and to capitalize on the potential of teachers to support improvement in each other’s practice. This inquiry explored the circumstances under which evaluations might promote professional development at the individual level and within teaching teams. The study is located within an international school, which utilizes the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program curriculum. The research question driving the inquiry was; how can teachers and principals within IB PYP schools achieve a focus on professional development and systematic learning within teacher evaluation? An Instructional Rounds protocol was employed to promote a focus on professional development within this qualitative case study. Fullan’s Change Theory guided the implementation and analysis of change in the form and function of evaluations within the school. Findings suggest viable and valuable professional learning can be incorporated into and supported during evaluations. A structured process, incorporating greater frequency of feedback, check-ins, dialogue and collaborative work between supervisors and teachers is needed to produce the monitoring mechanism and sustained gentle pressure necessary to support on-going professional learning. Redefining and broadening concepts of improvement, of involved leadership and professional development is important. Limited focus on specific goals and connecting peers with similar goals encourages commitment to improvement efforts.

The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of a staff development program designed through the cascade-training model by the MoNE on primary school English teachers and their actual classroom practices. In line with this, it aimed to establish a connection between aspects of planning, implementation, and evaluation of staff development and their impact on teachers and students. A qualitative case study was employed and data were collected from 10 teachers, eight teacher trainers, and three faculty members through semi-structured interviews. Moreover, 23-hour seminar and 50-hour classroom observations were conducted, and the documents related to the seminar and actual classroom practices of the teachers were analyzed to complement the interview findings. The results indicated that the effective practices (e.g., use of participant-centered approaches, English as the medium of instruction, practical ideas and suggestions and course book based activities) and ineffective practices (e.g., lack of needs assessment, traditional way of session delivery, and lack of follow-up) employed in the planning, implementation and evaluation phases of staff development had an impact on teachers&#039 / (1) pedagogical beliefs, (2) pedagogical content knowledge, (3) actual classroom practices, (4) personal and professional growth, and (5) students. The findings further revealed that these five levels of impact interacted with each other based on the characteristics of the teachers (teaching experience and gender), their motivation, self-concepts, and the teacher education programs they attended.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2008. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 60-62). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:MR51532

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:25:58Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2008-11-06Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:53:46Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 zechi_jam_me_prud.pdf: 590897 bytes, checksum: 4dea9e45eaec058058346cd4f8d2be1d (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Este trabalho foi construído no âmbito da Linha de Pesquisa “Políticas Públicas, Organização Escolar e Formação de Professores” e trata dos fenômenos de violência e indisciplina em meio escolar que têm preocupado pais, professores e demais profissionais ligados à Educação. No entanto, a produção de pesquisas na área ainda é bastante incipiente e suas publicações são recentes. Assim, no presente estudo, temos como objetivos avaliar as tendências teóricometodológicas da produção acadêmica com relação aos temas de violência e indisciplina na escola; verificar como essas temáticas têm sido analisadas e explicadas nas diferentes abordagens teóricas e quais metodologias estão sendo utilizadas para seu estudo; analisar as proposições apresentadas com a finalidade de prevenção e contenção da violência e indisciplina escolar e identificar como tem sido abordada a questão da formação inicial e contínua de professores no que diz respeito ao enfrentamento das situações de indisciplina e violência em meio escolar. Para sua realização, fizemos um levantamento bibliográfico do tipo “Estado da Arte” de estudos produzidos em Programas de Pós-graduação em Educação do Estado de São Paulo de 2000 a 2005. Identificamos nesse período vinte e um trabalhos sobre essas temáticas. As pesquisas em Educação analisadas trazem novos elementos para a constituição do tema da violência e indisciplina em meio escolar, capazes de caracterizar a problemática escolar. Na análise metodológica, observamos que os trabalhos selecionados não fazem uma descrição detalhada sobre o tipo de pesquisa realizada... / This paper was made in the Line of Research “Public Politics, School Organization and Teachers’ Development” from the Post-graduation in Education – Masters at “Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia” – UNESP and talks about the violence and indiscipline phenomenon in the school which has worried parents, teachers and the other professionals linked to Education. Although, the production of researches in this area are in the very beginning and their publications are recent. Like this, in the present study, we have as objectives to evaluate the theoretical-methodological tendencies of the academic production related to the school violence and indiscipline themes, verify how those thematic have been analysed and explained in the different theoretical approaches and which methodologies are been used for their study, analyse the presented propositions with the prevention and violence control and scholar indiscipline purposes and identify how the initial and continuous development of the teachers related to facing the indiscipline and violence in the scholar sphere. For its realization, we made a bibliographic research “State of the Art” type of the studies produced in Post-graduation Programmes in Education of São Paulo State from 2000 to 2005. We identified during this period twenty-one papers about this thematic. The researches in Education analysed bring new elements to the violence and indiscipline in the scholar environment theme constitution, able to characterise the scholar problematic... (Complete abstract click electronic access below)

The focus of the thesis is self-education as a part of the professional activity of a primary school teacher. A brief definition of a teacher according to the Education Act and the competencies of a pedagogical staff. The following chapters concern on self- education, self-esteem and self-knowledge, which are the key qualities that are needed in self-knowledge process. The aim of the paper is to demonstrate the important role of continuous self-education as an integral part of the teacher's competencies applied in everyday pedagogical activities. The predominant part of the paper is devoted to the practical part carried out by mixed research, followed by the questionnaire survey aimed at finding out opinions on the area of teacher self-education at the Prague primary school, an analysis of these questionnaires follows. The sample of three teachers was chosen out of the total number of 13 respondents, with whom their motivations, forms, methods, time-consuming self-education, or obstacles preventing, them from self- education were ascertained in the form of in-depth interviews. Furthermore, the analysis compares the attitudes and opinions on the self-education of these teachers. The research shows that the most common motivation of teachers for self-education is the development of themselves, the...