The aim of the research reported in this thesis is to examine the factors that Irish post-primary teachers report as influencing their decision making regarding engagement in continuing professional development (CPD) and to present a conceptualisation of what I call engagement. The study examines the current research and theorising about CPD and from this develops an analysis and argument about how there is a need, within the context of CPD, to examine the relationship between the agency of the professional and the structuring context in which they are located. The study offers, through case study work with teachers in six post-primary schools in Ireland, new understandings of teachers' personal views, opinions and reflections with regard to the factors that influence their decision making regarding engagement in CPD. The analysis of the data leads to a number of outcomes, firstly, it offers a conceptualisation of these factors as a contribution towards a refinement of understanding of a model of engagement in CPD, secondly, consideration is given to what engagement means for professionalism and professionality and the implications that arise for both the policy makers and for post-primary teachers in Ireland. In pursuit of these aims the following research questions are addressed:1. What are the factors that influence teacher decision making regarding engagement in CPD?2. What does this mean for CPD and professional practice?The findings presented in this study are twofold. Firstly, in general, Irish post-primary teachers recognise the need for, and appreciate the potential value and benefit of professional learning in developing their understanding of the learning processes and its potential to improve the student experience and learning outcomes. Secondly, within the current Irish context individual teachers’ decision making with regard to engagement in CPD is influenced by a variety of factors but none more so than that of the impact of their decision to engage on their own personal lives. Consequently, it shows that there are emerging tensions between teachers and the Government in light of recent Government policy to locate more and more CPD events in an after school-time elective context. These issues combine to an examination of how teachers are being positioned and are positioning themselves for the reform process and what this means for the professionalism and professionality of Irish post-primary teachers.

When international graduate students and their families participate in study abroad experiences, there are many challenges and opportunities that accompany these experiences. Depending on the context of the study abroad experience, some might be characterized as both opportunities and challenges. International graduate students and their families experience cultural and linguistic challenges/opportunities while also facing conscious (and unconscious) decisions of assimilation and acculturation. Education opportunities are rarely neutral and may be accompanied by uncertainty, discontinuities, and result in identities that shift and change in the course of crossing boundaries that are geographic, educational, emotional and metaphoric in nature. The ways in which international graduate students and members of their family take advantage of opportunities and address the challenges is the focus of my research. In this study, I draw on Akkerman and Bakker's theories of learning in the context of boundary crossers and boundary objects to document and describe my family's journeys between Indonesia and the United States while in pursuit of educational goals. Data sources for this qualitative study involve stories documented in field notes and recorded in email exchanges between family members. These stories illuminate tensions and dilemmas we faced as a transnational family as each of us dealt with issues of acculturation, assimilation, linguistic and cultural differences in the context of international moves from 2001 until 2012. I use narrative analysis in order to understand the deeper meanings of family experiences captured in stories we told, recorded in writing, and shared with each other. These stories reveal our transitions and interactions as boundary crossers. Central to my study is the use of books as boundary objects to address the dilemmas and tensions my family faced in the midst of our transnational journeys. Books, in the form of children's literature, often served as the means to create figured or "as if" worlds and provided the means for prompting dialogues among members of my family so that we could explore and discuss the cultural tensions and dilemmas that face many transnational families. In particular, one book served as a critical moment in my family's transnational experience. In order to better understand the value of this book as a boundary object, I made use of content analysis to understand the larger themes and document the role of the book, in family discussions as we anticipated our return to Indonesia. The methods of my study as well as the findings I describe may serve to benefit other international students who explore educational opportunities abroad while accompanied by their family. I document the ways in which identities of my family are dynamic and changing in the context of our transnational journeys. The use of books as boundary objects situated at the intersection of geographic, cultural, and emotional boundary crossings may provide transnational families with dialogues to explore dilemmas and tensions. Finally, the process of recording family stories may serve international students and families as they become cultural and linguistic boundary crossers themselves.

Following up on the educational reform initiatives of the 1990s and early 2000s, which are centered on the notion of accountability, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan's Race to the Top initiative strives to bring such accountability down to the level of the individual teacher through the use of advanced statistical parsing of student achievement data. Through the calculation of "teacher value-added," a given teacher's "effectiveness" can be measured and ranked, hence assigned a value. Duncan's rhetoric around the issue, and the assumptions visible in the studies of teacher quality and effectiveness that he and other reformers cite, suggest that at long last we as a society will be able to know and to communicate just who our best and our worst teachers are. Such an ability will allow us as a polity, on this view, to direct public funding much more efficiently than has heretofore been possible: armed with this new knowledge, we can reward the best teachers to ensure that they do not abandon the profession for higher-paying employment, and cull the worst teachers so that they may be replaced with more effective personnel. The newfound ability to distinguish between good and bad teachers also has transformative implications for teacher training programs. By analyzing the practice of the highest-quality teachers, one might discover "what works" in classrooms, the specific behaviors, skills, or mental states involved in highly effective teaching. Once discovered, these behaviors, skills, or mental states might then be given to pre-service teachers, which would dispense with what Duncan considers to be the overly theoretical and largely abstract curricula of current teacher education programs. The problem outlined above is obviously philosophical in nature. The method of investigation involves a conceptual analysis of Race to the Top's teacher-quality and achievement-data initiatives, comparing the policies to the Secretary of Education's public rhetoric employed to market the policies to the public. Taking the public rhetoric as an expressing the various needs to which the policies will be responsive, this thesis tests the coherence of the underlying assumptions about teaching and learning, and assesses the conceptual fit between the needs visible in the rhetoric and the outcomes sought and measured according to the proposed policies. The thesis finds that Duncan's public rhetoric expresses largely unproblematic needs, fears, or disquietudes around questions of teacher quality, but that the policies intended to answer those needs are wholly insufficient to the task. At issue is a misconception of teaching as a skillful endeavor, a mistaken idea about what teaching is. This thesis concludes that the needs and desires expressed in Duncan's rhetoric do necessitate a response, but that any adequate response will require a different view of teaching and learning entirely. The thesis offers the fundamental requirements of a different notion of teaching and learning, one better suited to the needs of the public, as the Secretary of Education expresses them.

Although studies have addressed high school English language arts (ELA) instruction, little is known about the decision-making process of ELA teachers. How do teachers decide between the resources and instructional strategies at their disposal? This study focused on two monolingual teachers who were in different schools and grades. They were teaching mainstream students or English Language Learners. Both employed an approach to writing instruction that emphasized cultural mediation. Two questions guided this study: How does the enactment of culturally mediated writing instruction (CMWI) in a mainstream classroom compare to the enactment in an ESL classroom? What is the nature of teacher decision-making in these high school classrooms during English language arts instruction? Data were collected and analyzed using qualitative methodologies. The findings suggest that one teacher, who was familiar with CMWI’s principles and practices and saw students as partners, focused her decisions on engagement and participation. The other teacher deliberately embedded CMWI as an instructional stance. Her decisions focused on empathy, caring and meaningful connections. These teachers enacted CMWI in different ways to meet their students’ needs. They embraced the students’ cultural resources, used and built on their linguistic knowledge, expanded thinking strategies to make difficult information comprehensible, provided authentic learning opportunities, used formative assessments as instructional guides, and delivered just-in-time academic and non-academic support.

Environmental Education (EE) has an overall goal of fostering eco-literate citizens who are capable of building a more sustainable planet (North American Association for Environmental Education, 2019). While EE is associated with a plethora of benefits, it is still not widely implemented in the field of education due to the many types of barriers as well as the complexity of EE content knowledge and skills. Professional Development (PD) in EE may be a viable way to increase effective implementation of EE, yet PD in EE is not widely attended or offered. It is, therefore, imperative that PD programs are designed in a way that will maximize the benefits for participants. This mixed methods case study examined the experiences of K-5 educators who attended a one-day, Everglades Literacy Teacher Training Workshop in order to understand the effective components of the workshop, changes in teacher content knowledge and self-efficacy, and experiences of teachers after the implementation of the Everglades literacy curriculum in their classrooms. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2021. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

The claim by the South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (SADTU) that it is investing more of its resources in teacher professional development than in supporting collective bargaining has led to this research. SADTU is the biggest teacher union with more than 230 000 members in South Africa (SA) and is more often than not using strikes and other forms of industrial action to put pressure on the Department of Basic Education to address its demands as a union. It even joins industrial action called by COSATU which has no relation to education matters. The aforementioned statement by SADTU is captured in Nxesi (2005) and SADTU (2002) However, the public media disagrees with what SADTU claims to be doing when it vowed to halt teaching and turn every court case involving its members into a holiday despite the crisis the strike has caused for school children ( Mashaba, et al: 2007: 11). Internationally teachers’ unions like the Israeli Teachers’ Union (ICT), National Education Association (NEA), Nova Scotia Teachers’ Union (NSTU), Botswana Teachers’ Union (BTU), Florida Education Association (FEA) and the New South Wales Teachers’ Federation (NSWTF) have already started with teacher professional development programmes and initiatives in their respective countries and this is captured in NEA (2006), BTU (2005), FEA (2010), NSWTF (2010). SADTU’s initiatives are in line with international trends. The need for SADTU members to be accorded teacher professional development is given more emphasis in that SADTU has established The Curtis Nkondo Teacher Professional Institute. This institute aims to address the challenges of poorly skilled educators in South Africa particularly SADTU members, and is emphasised in SADTU (2013). SADTU’s initiatives are in line with the Continuing Professional Teacher Development (CPTD) initiative which is a performance standard in the Integrated Quality Management System (IQMS) which is emphasized in Department of Education (2006). The finding of this research indicates that SADTU is involved in its members’ professional development. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2014 / Education Management and Policy Studies / unrestricted

The research examined the professional development of principals in their Highveld Ridge East, H/Ridge West, Bethal, Lekwa West circuits. The purpose was to investigate the role of the circuit managers in the professional development of their principals. The main driver of the study was that in the current climate the emphasis is on student performance, and school leaders are held accountable for the quality of teaching and for how much learners learn. Society expects the principals to be accountable for learner performance and the quality of teaching. In the current national and state policy the assumption is that effective principal leadership is central to student achievement and is in fact the most powerful force for improving school effectiveness and for achieving excellence in education. The argument is made that according to the National Education Policy Act of 1996 and the National Policy Framework for Teacher Education, the Department of Education gives guidelines and points out the importance of teacher development. The study then investigates the role of circuit managers in the professional development of principals. The main research question and sub-questions were used to understand the participants’ perceptions and experiences of the phenomenon that is professional development. The methodology adopted in this study is qualitative which seeks to understand how circuit managers execute their responsibilities with regard to the professional development of principals. Data was collected by means of semi-structured interviews which involved three principals and four circuit managers. Literature revealed the need for circuit managers to be more empowered with skills to develop and support their principals. The misunderstanding about professional development leads principals to be unclear of the boundaries between their daily management tasks and professional development. Curriculum assistance and guidance were regarded as professional development. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Education Management and Policy Studies / MEd / Unrestricted

A qualitative examination of the lived experiences of clinical social workers’ use of self in practice was completed. The current study was designed to examine how LCSWs defined and utilized use of self in practice. Additionally, the study was focused on how LCSWs’ use of self evolved from introduction in graduate education to postgraduate practice. Informed by Mead’s (1934) theory of self, as well as Walters’ (2008) distilled definition of Dewane’s (2006) operational definition of use of self, fifteen semi-structured interviews were conducted from a purposive sample of licensed clinical social workers from a southeastern region of the United States. Using constant comparative analysis to synthesize the findings, two themes emerged. First, participants described individual development of the use of self as clarified by subthemes of educational instruction and application in practice. Second, participants discussed how they integrated the use of self in practice, clarified by personal and professional factors of Dewane’s definition, such as personality traits and skills gained in social work education. With this study, the researcher aimed to contribute to the practice literature by systematically examining the operational definition of the use of self and to suggest implications to inform educational curricula and practice standards for professional development. Study limitations were discussed, in addition to implications for future research. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2020. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Thesis advisor: Katherine L. McNeill / Science education is shifting from a vision of students memorizing facts towards engaging in figuring out the natural world as students build ideas from their own experiences and backgrounds. This shift is hard for teachers. One way to support teachers is curriculum-based professional development, which pairs high-quality instructional materials with professional development to help teachers understand the philosophy of those materials and what that looks like in practice. This three-paper dissertation uses the OpenSciEd middle school field test, a curriculum-based professional development program, as a context to investigate how to support teachers with this shift. The first paper is a quantitative look at teacher surveys taken across the first two years of the OpenSciEd field test. I tracked changes in teachers’ beliefs about science instruction and confidence in implementing OpenSciEd. I used Hierarchical Linear Modeling to identify teacher characteristics associated with differences in those changes. Beliefs and confidence changed initially and leveled out over time, but confidence took longer to change than beliefs. Teachers who had more experience and found the PD more valuable were less likely to hold traditional beliefs and more likely to have higher confidence. The second paper is a conceptual look at practice-based professional development activities focused on one new one: the student hat. Student hat is when teachers engage in science activities while considering ideas and experiences their students might bring to them and sharing those ideas using students’ language. Student hat uniquely helps teachers to consider students’ relationship to the science ideas under discussion and their cognitive and affective responses to reform science instruction. The third paper is a qualitative look at the use of the student hat in one professional development workshop. I engaged in thematic analysis of interviews and video to determine what student hat helped teachers to learn and how. Student hat provided safety for teacher confusion, allowing teachers to learn science ideas. It also helped teachers develop their epistemic empathy for students, helping them to learn about their students and the OpenSciEd instructional approach. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

The professional development of teachers in South Africa needs critical attention, particularly in the area of early grade mathematics. The Integrated Strategic Planning Framework for Teacher Education and Development in South Africa 2011–2025 (ISPFTED) (DBE, 2011) proposes the creation of professional learning communities as a school-based initiative to this end. In a South African context, Japanese lesson study is a relatively undocumented professional development tool. This inquiry is a case study exploring the effect of introducing lesson study in the early grades of a primary school, particularly in the subject of mathematics. Findings suggest that lesson study has a marked and positive effect on the professional development of early grade teachers in a local context. Seven teachers from Grade R to Grade 2 participated in a lesson study programme for a period of four months, meeting weekly to plan and provide feedback on lessons. Key findings of the study reveal that lesson study is a highly effective collaborative tool for improving both the subject content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge of early grade teachers. This was evidenced in a more problem-centred approach to teaching. Furthermore, improvements were noted in teacher creativity, self-confidence and learner-centeredness. Lesson study provoked intergrade collaboration, curriculum development and lesson flow. The findings suggest that learning extends beyond the scope and confines of the actual lesson study sessions to provoke extensive self-reflection and self-analysis. Through lesson study, the professional development process becomes highly contextualised. Findings furthermore suggest that teacher motivation to participate in lesson study remains a multi-faceted problem and the cooperation of school management is critical for making time allowances and working within the school timetable. An inherent fear of demonstrating lessons in front of others, as well as the fear of inadequate input during group sessions are additional personal challenges to the process. This study proposes a model for the effective facilitation of lesson study sessions and navigating the dynamic and interrelated variables of goal-setting, content exploration, activity planning, resource selection and peer feedback. The scientific importance of the study lies in building a knowledge base by gaining an understanding of the outcomes, viability and practical challenges facing schools as they implement this collaborative and contextually-based professional development method. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2021. / Early Childhood Education / PhD / Unrestricted