Professional development is ubiquitous in education, with over 90% of teachers engaging in professional development activities, yet often with limited perceived impact on their practice. This dissertation situates itself at the critical juncture of professional development quality and teacher self-efficacy, investigating the transformative influence of the Academy of Blended Learning professional development program on educators’ self-efficacy and pedagogical practices. Despite widespread participation in professional development nationally, the prevalent sentiment among teachers points to a disconnect, with many sessions deemed ineffectual (Wei et al., 2009). Conversely, professional development perceived as high-quality correlates with improved teacher skills and classroom practices (Desimone et al., 2002; Garet et al., 2001a), underscoring the need for meaningful PD delivery. Blended learning represents a significant advancement in the evolving education landscape, blending traditional and digital instruction methods. This dissertation examines the impact of the Academy of Blended Learning experiential professional development program on teacher self-efficacy. Through qualitative analysis and evaluation, this study employs a framework by Smith and Robinson (2020) that intertwines Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory (1977), Bruner’s Constructivist Theory (1960), and Knowles’ Adult Learning Theory (andragogy) (1978), offering a comprehensive lens to examine the efficacy of professional development for educators. These theoretical underpinnings serve as the foundation for understanding how professional development influences teachers as adult learners, ultimately affecting their self-efficacy. Participants in the Academy of Blended Learning professional development program reported substantial gains in skills and a marked increase in self-efficacy, attributing these advancements to the comprehensive and experiential nature of the program. It goes beyond mere tool provision; it reshapes educators’ self-concepts, fueling their enthusiasm and intentionality in teaching. This transformative experience has empowered teachers and enhanced their ability to meet their students’ diverse needs, leading to a positive shift in their professional practice and trajectory. The study underscores the necessity of placing teacher self-efficacy at the forefront of professional development initiatives, particularly within blended learning. The findings advocate for educational leaders to recognize and support quality professional development that cultivates the attitudes and competencies necessary for teachers to thrive. The compelling evidence of professional growth and increased self-efficacy among participants signals the essential role of tailored professional development programs like the Academy of Blended Learning in shaping the future of education.

According to the Institute for Research and Policy on Acceleration, training in gifted education is inaccessible by teacher candidates in colleges of education in the United States. This study involved the use of questionnaires with 100 teacher candidates enrolled on an introductory course on diversity in education in a Florida university. Teacher candidates responded to a series of items to identify beliefs about giftedness within and outside the context of education as well as the value of training in gifted education for educators. Of the 100 respondents, 79% agreed or strongly agreed with the need for specialized training for educators working with gifted students. 60.6% of respondents agreed or strongly agreed with outcomes with gifted students being positively influenced by research of and experiences with gifted students. The data showed a statistically significant, positive correlation between attitudes towards giftedness within education and agreement with outcomes with gifted students being positively influenced by research of and experiences with gifted students. Results suggest teacher candidates recognize a value in training in gifted education but do not see themselves as gifted educators and are unaware of how to be trained in gifted education.

This thesis documents my exploration of professional development of four experienced English language teachers of diverse background taking the MA TESOL programme at the University of Manchester. Having considered professional development to be about change construed broadly to professional identity and teacher beliefs, I explored it through a series of individual in-depth interviews held throughout the programme. The majority of the interviews focused on the teachers' ongoing life and development and allowed the teachers space to make meaning of what they were going through and how they were developing as they engaged in the programme. On the basis of the interviews, stories about the teachers and their year were constructed. Within the stories, I synthesized what I had learned about the teachers' experience and highlighted the changes that I could see had happened to their professional identity and teacher beliefs. The stories provide a vivid example of professional development of experienced English language teachers through a master's degree. They also bring to the fore the significance of future-directed thoughts for how teachers develop professionally, which is rarely acknowledged in the existing literature. I further use the stories as a ground to conceptualize professional development of the four teachers to account for the important role their thoughts about the future played in it. Using the concepts of imagined identity and antenarrative, which I borrow from the literature, I describe it as an iterative pursuit of an ever-evolving imagined identity, or identities, and antenarrative, or antenarratives. Finally, I examine the cases using the conceptualization as a lens and offer some further insights about professional development in TESOL.

ABSTRACT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF PRESERVICE BIOLOGY TEACHERS THROUGH REFLECTIVE THINKING Savran Gencer, AySe Ph.D., Department of Secondary Science and Mathematics Education Supervisor : Assoc. Prof. Dr. Jale &Ccedil / akiroglu Co-Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ceren Tekkaya January 2008, 230 pages The study aims to explore preservice biology teachers&rsquo / reflective thinking content and levels by examining the use of a reflective framework integrated into one semester Practice Teaching course. More specifically, this study focused on the development of reflective thinking skills of preservice teachers and their metaphorical images about learning and teaching process. Data were collected through both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The written documents and audiotaped debriefings taken during the activities of reflective autobiography and journal writing, metaphor using, peer coaching, microteaching, and problem discussion along with the summative interview were the main data sources of the qualitative data. The written and transcribed data collected through these sources were then utilized through the selected three case studies in order to reach a deep understanding on their reflective thinking skills and content. The quantitative data were collected through the instruments of Reflective Thinking to evaluate the development of the preservice biology tecahers&rsquo / reflectivity and Metaphorical Images to explore their beliefs about learning and teaching process. Results indicated that the reflective activities offered opportunities preservice biology teachers to reflect on their experiences and strive for a conscious awareness of their professional development through experience, collaboration, guidance, and modeling. All of the participants were able to reflect mostly at the technical level, followed by contextual and dialectical levels of reflective thinking among the content categories of teacher characteristics, instructional processes, classroom management, students, and teaching profession. Results of reflective thinking instrument indicated that all participants individually perceived a developmental reflective thinking skill. Keywords: Reflective Thinking, Reflective Journal, Peer Coaching, Professional Development, Preservice Biology Teacher

Resumo: 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... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: 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) / Orientador: Alberto Albuquerque Gomes / Coorientador: Maria Suzana De Stéfano Menin / Banca: Yves De La Taille / Banca: Divino José da Silva / Mestre

The research described here was inspired by a national review which concluded that too many children come into our primary schools with unmet speech and language needs (Bercow, 2008). Teachers are in a position to identify language difficulties but many have expressed uncertainty regarding their role in this process. I believed that the LAMP (Linguistic Assessment for Mapped Provision) screen for language and communication which I had developed would help teachers to identify language concerns and would also increase their professional confidence in this complex area. I had developed the LAMP screening instrument and piloted it over a 2 year period prior to this study. It is employed here as a universal screen that is used in a whole school approach in order to enable teachers to identify language need. The use of the LAMP as a universal screen applied to all the children in a school lessened the likelihood of preconceived notions impacting upon teacher’s perceptions of need in the classroom. The LAMP data allowed schools to track the progress of individual children within a class and whole school context. Teachers need to be aware of any pre-conceptions they may have in relation to the performance of children from different socio economic circumstances. The hypothesis that poverty continues to provide the weightiest detrimental effects upon children’s language development was examined and within the parameters of this study was found to be contestable. Study design: A systematic survey was conducted over 4 Primary schools using the LAMP. Rich picture data was accessed from teacher questionnaires and focus groups involving participants from the schools in the study. The repeated measures design provided information on what teachers had learned in the period of reflection between the screenings. The use of a mixed methods repeated measures design helped me to understand what was difficult for teachers and what the teachers felt would help them. The 4 schools in the study were chosen to reflect varied social contexts in order to explore any impacts of SES on the results. Analysis of data: In a repeated measures design, a LAMP screen was completed for every child across the 4 schools by their teachers in February and then June in one school year. Results of screening were analysed and compared on a range of variables using SPSS. Questionnaires were used to collect teacher perceptions before and after using the LAMP screen. Focus groups were held in the schools at the end of the study to add more information on how helpful teachers felt the process had been in raising their awareness, confidence, and skills in the identification of SLCN. Findings: The main trend observed was a decrease in levels of teacher concern related to children’s speech and language needs from the first to second screening survey. Differences were found at a statistically significant level on a range of variables. The expected differences between high and low socio-economic status (SES) schools were not found. Teachers reported increases in their awareness, confidence, and skill in identifying children’s speech language and communication concerns by the end of the study. Some changes to classroom practice were reported. Conclusions: I propose that use of the LAMP screen increased teacher awareness of the nature of language difficulty and that this heightened awareness was a key variable in the observed changes to language concern scores. The LAMP screening process was seen by schools’ staff to have had a positive effect on teacher’s skills and to be relatively easily assimilated into the school system. However some participants identified a number of challenges relating to time constraints and maintaining the use of LAMP as high profile in the context of competing time demands in their schools. It is suggested that EP services would be in a position to support schools to implement and embed the LAMP screening model as part of their Service provision. It is also proposed that economic deprivation or disadvantage did not appear to be the only important factor to consider when making funding decisions intended to support children’s linguistic competency in schools.

The focus of this thesis was to explore educational professionals' everyday experience of English educational policies; narrowing its focus to policy which promotes an inclusion agenda. The findings are presented in three sections with the first two papers prepared in accordance with the author guidelines of the journals proposed for submission. The first paper offers a review of literature which represents teacher relationship (see Braun, Maguire and Ball, 2010; Fullan, 2006; Luttenberg, Imants and van Veen, 2013; Luttenberg, van Veen and Imants, 2013; Wexler, 2002) with English educational policies. Teacher perspectives illustrate how the implementation and practice of policy heavily guides practice, both in terms of pedagogy and content, and detail the difficulties teachers have in establishing professional identity whilst trying to accommodate policy into practice. It is suggested that in order for teachers to adopt new educational policies they need to be able to take some ownership of both the policies themselves and of their own professional development; but most importantly, that they need the space to engage in dialogue around their practice to do this. The first paper provided a frame for the second by offering a description of the current climate teachers find themselves in and by discussing what might be needed to bring about the professional development necessary to embed policy into practice. The second paper then presents a description of a collaborative action research project within an English high school; a group of educational psychology, teaching, support and pastoral professionals worked collaboratively to develop person-centred practice through their engagement in an inquiry group. The inquiry group engaged in dialogue around practice; exploring their own personal and professional values as well as the values embedded within person-centred practice. This paper offers an account of the inquiry group's journey, highlighting key themes as identified by the group: ownership of, and confidence in, the learning process; developing reflective practice; and the challenge of engaging others in the learning process. The findings suggest that an action research approach can facilitate the learning and development necessary to embody collaborative person-centred practice. The third paper then offers a critical appraisal of the role that educational psychology can have in disseminating findings and promoting teacher development; in particular through the facilitation of collaborative action research within the school context.

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Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T17:13:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Ieda Oliveira.pdf: 356909 bytes, checksum: 19ce48cbdf722c192977dc2913da6528 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-11 / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-25T17:25:34Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Ieda Oliveira.pdf.jpg: 1943 bytes, checksum: cc73c4c239a4c332d642ba1e7c7a9fb2 (MD5) Ieda Oliveira.pdf: 356909 bytes, checksum: 19ce48cbdf722c192977dc2913da6528 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2005-05-11 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / In this current work of the course of Professional Master of Mathematical Education paper, entitled "Investigations on hypotheses that students formulate about algebraic writings , we emphasize our concern with the teaching and learning of Algebra, which is always very present in our practice and that led us to look for researches developed about this theme and also historical studies on the development of Algebra, whose knowledge is very needed in the formation of a teacher of Mathematics. We present the results of an investigation performed with my fifth-grade students, in which we tried to identify the hypotheses that they formulate about the use of letters. We conclude, by trying to establish a relationship between the performance of this research and our professional development and also emphasizing the relevance of this research, in the scope of the teacher's work, related to the construction of a quotidian attitude in the search for the comprehension of their students' learning and development processes and to the autonomy in the interpretation of reality and the knowledge that constitutes their teaching objects. We also consider fundamental the knowledge by the teacher, of investigation methods used in the development of researches in Mathematical Education with emphasis on those which focus on the knowledge, the experience, the formation and the professional development as a tesacher / No presente trabalho de conclusão do Curso de Mestrado Profissional em Ensino de Matemática, intitulado A pesquisa e a prática docente: investigação sobre hipóteses que os alunos de 5ª série formulam a respeito de escritas algébricas , destacamos nossa preocupação com o ensino e aprendizagem da álgebra, sempre muito presente em nossa prática, que nos levou a procurar conhecer pesquisas desenvolvidas sobre o tema e também estudos históricos sobre o desenvolvimento da álgebra, conhecimentos que fazem muita falta na formação do professor de Matemática. Apresentamos o resultado de uma investigação feita com meus alunos de 5ª série, em que procuramos identificar as hipóteses que eles formulam sobre o uso de letras. Concluímos, procurando estabelecer uma relação entre a realização dessa pesquisa e o nosso desenvolvimento profissional e também destacando a relevância da pesquisa, no âmbito do trabalho do professor, relacionada à construção de uma atitude cotidiana de busca de compreensão dos processos de aprendizagem e de desenvolvimento de seus alunos e à autonomia na interpretação da realidade e dos conhecimentos que constituem seus objetos de ensino. Consideramos também fundamental o conhecimento, por parte do professor, de métodos de investigação utilizados no desenvolvimento de pesquisas em Educação Matemática, com destaque para aquelas que focalizam o conhecimento, a experiência, a formação e o desenvolvimento profissional desse profissional

The aim of this study is to describe two strategies of professional teacher development in Cuba and analyse how they affect the professional growth of the teachers. The strategies investigated are methodological work sessions and further education at the university. Eight upper-secondary school teachers were interviewed and it was analysed how their professional growth was affected by the Cuban professional development strategies. The model utilized was the interconnected model of professional growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002).The results show that, four of the eight interviewed teachers experienced change sequences and growth networks as a consequence of participating in the two investigated strategies. The methodological work sessions promote a collaborative approach among the teachers to developing the education in their school. Further education in the university, on the other hand, encourages the teachers to reflect individually on practical school-related problems. The results indicate that the organization of the work both the professional development strategies provided acted as an incentive for the interviewed teachers’ development. / Målet med den här studien är att beskriva två lärarutvecklingsstrategier i Kuba och analysera hur de påverkar lärarnas professionella utveckling. De undersökta strategierna är metodologiska arbetsmöten och vidareutbildning vid universitet. Åtta gymnasielärare intervjuades och det analyserades hur deras professionella utveckling påverkats av de kubanska lärarutvecklingsstrategierna. Modellen som använts är the interconnected model of professional growth (Clarke & Hollingsworth, 2002).Resultaten visar att de metodologiska arbetsmötena uppmuntrar lärarna att arbeta kollektivt med att utveckla utbildningen i sin skola. Universitetsvidareutbildning, vad andra sidan, främjar individuell reflektion över praktiska skolrelaterade problem. Resultatet indikerar att den organisation av arbetet som båda lärarutvecklingsstrategierna medför stimulerar lärarna att utvecklas.