To deal with the challenge of deprivation and its impact on learning, there is a long history of schools attempting to respond by working beyond the school gates. Despite a wealth of how-to-do-it guides and advocacy texts for this approach, there is little detailed research into how community-oriented schools are understood and enacted by various core educational professionals, particularly those working in primary schools. Given the centrality of educational professionals' practice in this policy arena, this study aimed to respond to such a gap. This study focused on an in-depth analysis and reflection on the ways in which community-oriented schooling was understood by professionals and what has influenced their thinking, as well as their ensuing action in one particular primary school. The overarching research question was: what are professionals' perceptions and practices of a community-oriented approach in the context of a primary school located in a socio-economically disadvantaged community? This required a research design that allowed a sample of eight school staff to be analysed using a case study design. Within this, a suite of research methods was applied, including interviews, observations and analysis of key school documentation to explore multi-level factors that impact on professionals. Finally, a synthesising tool was developed to examine the interrelationships between the factors. The findings state that the way individual professionals respond to the proximal and distal factors is not linear or straightforward to understand. Instead the data suggested a dynamic complexity where a spectrum of factors intersected for individuals in distinct ways. Such findings point to the use of an ecological approach to help explain the various perceptions and practices of community-oriented schooling. This study suggests that policy development and enactment of community-oriented schooling cannot be generalised in any unilateral way but instead needs to be understood within localised settings.

Thesis (MPA.) -- Univesity of Limpopo, 2010 / Refer to document

This paper examines the characteristics of effective professional development (PD). It discusses the change process in a system and how it applies to an educational setting, including teacher practice and student achievement. This study uses a survey, interviews, and student benchmark assessment data to assess the influence of PD on a district. Four main themes surfaced from the research in this study: past experiences mold beliefs and practices, coherence throughout a system clarifies expectations, individualized professional learning leads to authentic change in practice, and professional development influences the entire system.

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Continuous workforce training programs are important for business productivity. Traditional professional development practices (those that make teachers passive consumers of knowledge) may no longer satisfy the need for teachers' professional growth and for student achievement as measured by test scores. The purpose of this quantitative, nonexperimental study was to consider the importance of professional development and collegiality (teacher collaboration) on student achievement. This study was based on Piaget's constructivism. The research question asked whether teachers thought collegial professional development and management's support helped teachers improve student achievement based upon the type of professional development (PD) employed at their schools. The Standards Assessment Inventory (SAI) was used to gather data from a convenience sample of 68 charter school teachers in metropolitan New Jersey. A t test used to analyze SAI differences across groups that either received generic PD delivered by an external service or those who received PD that was internally designed to the specific needs of their schools. Results were used to document that charter school teachers reported frequent use of all 11 SAI criteria at their schools, and the internally designed PD group reported significantly more types, diversity and research-based PD than those receiving generic programs. The recommendation is that administrators allow teachers to practice peer coaching and observe colleagues who implement effective teaching strategies in their classrooms rather than endorsing specific professional development methods. Implications for social change include improving student achievement through the collaborative practice of teachers, and assisting students to realize their full potential.

Professional learning communities (PLCs) are a group of educators working collaboratively to improve student achievement and expand the pedagogy of the individual as well as the group. Studies on PLCs, grounded by the social constructivism theory of Vygotsky, Bandura, and Wenger, have found that collaboration and collegiality foster a positive school climate. This case study explored the perspectives of PLC participants at a suburban high school on the impact of their PLC on the school's culture. Ten teacher participants with at least 2 years of experience at the research site were individually interviewed, and 5 observations of content PLC meetings were conducted. Data were open coded to determine emergent trends. The analysis resulted in thick, rich descriptions of the experiences of the teacher participants. The findings suggested that the school's ineffective use of PLCs negatively affected its culture due to a lack of established norms, collaboration, communication, and accountability. A professional learning opportunity was developed focusing on effective PLC usage and the impact on school culture. The study supports positive social change by providing school leaders and PLC participants at the study site with information to sustain PLCs in a manner that promotes a positive school climate that could lead to a more efficient, consistent learning environment that benefits students.

Professional learning communities (PLCs) were established in a local suburban school district in 2010; however, since their inception, the value of the program has not been determined. In a K-8 school district, a qualitative case study was conducted to determine the influence of PLCs on the 4 domains of teacher responsibilities: preparation, classroom environment, teaching, and professional duties. The conceptual framework was based on Bandura's social learning theory and Danielson's framework for teaching. The research questions focused on how teacher participation and the allotment of time in a PLC, and the structure of a PLC, influence teacher classroom responsibilities. Data collected included interviews, written narratives by teachers, and a review of formative assessment documents. The participants were 5 teachers, selected through a purposeful sampling of teachers from across the grade levels of kindergarten to Grade 8, who had actively participated in a PLC for a minimum of 1 year. The data was analyzed to determine themes. The findings confirmed that PLCs allow for the exploration of ideas within a small group and that professional development is necessary to develop PLCs that influence teacher responsibilities in all 4 domains by Danielson. Based on the findings and supporting literature, a 3-day workshop was developed to provide teachers with an improved understanding of PLCs and how they can support teachers in implementing appropriate instructional practices for all students. This effort may result in a collaborative school culture for teachers and significant improvement in student achievement due to the recurring cycles of collective inquiry.

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In an attempt to describe the nature of recent journal literature revolving around the eleven core values of librarianship, as articulated by the American Library Association, this exploratory study analyzed 114 articles from four peer-reviewed library publications over the past five years (2002-2006): College & Research Libraries, Library Trends, Library Quarterly, and portal: Libraries and the Academy. This content analysis noted the levels of complexity with which the core values were discussed, the frequencies of the eleven core values (access, confidentiality/privacy, democracy, diversity, education and lifelong learning, intellectual freedom, preservation, public good, professionalism, service, and social responsibility), and the types of library environments found in the journal literature. The results are intended as a catalyst for the library profession to examine the way it discusses core values and uses them to guide and inform professional practice.

No description available.