The purpose of this study is to understand the opportunities for professional learning teachers encounter over the span of their careers. I conduct two qualitative case studies of mid-career teachers from Ontario, Canada to obtain insights into their teacher development experiences over their first eight years in the teaching profession. The analysis of interviews conducted during this period led me to identify four learning opportunities that were significant for the participants: mentoring at the beginning of the career, learning from and with colleagues, mandated collaborative learning, and part-time graduate studies. The teachers highlight the limits and possibilities of these opportunities considering their professional needs and contexts. Drawing on these findings, some practical recommendations for the design and implementation of teacher development programs are suggested.

A variety of policies originating from Ontario’s Ministry of Education make it clear that education reform requires that teachers reflect on their practice. Despite this, there is little evidence of a common understanding of just what reflection would look like in teacher practice.This means that Initial Teacher Education programs face ambiguous challenges both in producing teachers who can reflect on practice in order to participate in school reform and in matching program goals regarding reflection to admissions requirements. This study investigated the understanding and evaluation of reflection in an Initial Teacher Education program through interviews with 15 instructors and field partners who had evaluated applicants’ written evidence of reflection. Differences among participants were evident in the understanding of reflection;however, the overriding theme of conscious attention to and engagement with experience as a vehicle for change was consistent with current literature. Differences in the evaluation of profiles were based on perceptions of how well applicants met the criterion of specificity, which was emphasized in the rubric; what role their judgement should take in evaluation decisions and the knowledge base on which those decisions were made. Participants described an organizational context in their Initial Teacher Education Program in which reflection was encouraged but not formalized or defined in any consistent way, and described opportunities for reflection that resembled informal communities of practice. They articulated some significant dilemmas in the fair evaluation of reflection that were similar to the challenges of school administrators evaluating the reflection required of teachers. The results of the study have implications for admissions policies as well as for creating a culture of reflection and inquiry in an Initial Teacher Education Program or school.

No description available.

In a European-wide effort to improve the professional development of teachers, the 2AgePro project was conducted from November 2008 to October 2010. One of its goals was to develop and test different forms of intergenerational teacher collaboration among junior and senior teachers in primary and secondary schools. Another aim was to utilise the results from these pilots, which were conducted in the Czech Republic, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden, to create a model for intergenerational collaboration that could be used in any national or cultural setting. This article reports on the national pilots and proposes a European model for intergenerational collaboration for teachers. / 2AgePro

The intent of this professional doctorate study was to clarify theory and develop knowledge that could benefit the researcher's workplace. It achieved two aims. The first was the useful knowledge gained by the insider-researcher about how to effect teacher learning in a reform context. The second was the improved understanding of the uniqueness of contextual conditions that affected teacher learning in one school. A case study of a single school site was the means of examining the problem of what issues confronted teachers in learning new knowledge mandated by curriculum reform, along with why those issues existed and how teachers dealt with them. A genealogical approach to the literature investigation determined where, why and how teacher learning should be effected in a learning community, in what reflected an "outside in" approach to the problem. However, the intent of the study was that this should be balanced by the "inside out" approach evident in the consideration of what teachers in a school had to say about the realities of teacher learning. Interviews with teachers considered good informants resulted in quality data that facilitated the construction of explanatory theory. A comparison of this theory constructed from data grounded in the realities of teachers' experiences with the theory derived from the literature constituted the final stage of clarifying the problem. Results from the study, therefore, represented both useful knowledge and understanding of the problem. These were of benefit to the specific school, while contributing to the professional efficacy of the researcher-insider, responsible for delivering curriculum reform that was dependent on teacher learning.

Research shows that schools are largely a professional solo cultures (Blossing 2014), which impede teachers' professional development as learning takes place in social interaction and through living-practice dilemmas (Wenger 1998/2004). Changing cultures is difficult, not least in the world of education that on the whole has been a solo culture since the establishment of convent schools.The purpose of this study is to investigate whether teachers believe that through professional collaboration in the form of Teacher Learning Community (TLC) has contributed their knowledge and compentence in the field of embedding formative assessment. TLC is a sort of community of practice for improve teaching. The study works according to the hypothesis that “Teachers believe that professional collaboration in the form of Teacher Learning Community (TLC) has contributed to their knowledge and expertise in the field of embedding formative assessment”. The study was conducted at a large secondary school in central Sweden which organized its collegial learning according to TLC and exclusively worked to develop and modify instruction regarding embedding formative assessment during five years before the study. The theoretical approach applied is based on the tradition of "school improvement" with a human relational and group dynamic organizational based on social-constructivism) (Schein, 1994; Giddens, 1984; Wenger 1998/2004; Schmuck & Runkel, 1994; Blossing 2008; Scherp 1998). The study is quantitative and was conducted using a questionnaire, processed through a factor analysis, that is, a multivariate analysis. The analysis was conducted in four stages: stage 1: factor analysis to reduce factors exceeding the value of 1; step 2: categorization of all questions related to the component; step 3: measurement of the homogeneity of issues with Cronbach's Alpha; step 4: hypothesis testing in Person. The correlation was 0,686 (p<0,001). This is a so called census survey and the high response rate gave the study high validity. The study concluded that it is possible to change a school's historic solo culture to a collaborative team culture through systematic collegial cooperation in the form of TLC, and as a result to change the current teaching patterns.

abstract: One of the critical imperatives for the development of inclusive school systems is the capacity to nurture and develop teachers who have the skills, critical sensibilities, and the contextual awareness to provide quality educational access, participation, and outcomes for all students; however, research on teacher learning for inclusive education has not yet generated a robust body of knowledge to understand how teachers become inclusive teachers in institutions where exclusion is historical and ubiquitous. Drawing from socio-cultural theory, this study aimed to fill this gap through an examination of teacher learning for inclusive education in an urban professional learning school. In particular, I aimed to answer the following two questions: (a) What social discourses are present in a professional learning school for inclusive education?, and (b) How do teachers appropriate these social discourses in situated practice? I used analytical tools from Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and Grounded Theory to analyze entry and exit interviews with teacher residents, principals, site professors, and video-stimulated interviews with teacher residents, observations of classroom practices and thesis seminars, and school documents. I found two social discourses that I called discourses of professionalism, as they offered teachers a particular combination of tools, aiming to universalize certain tools for doing and thinking that signaled what it meant to be a professional teacher in the participating schools. These were the Total Quality Management like discourse (TQM-like) and the Inclusive Education-like discourse. The former was dominant in the schools, whereas the latter was dominant in the university Master's program. These discourses overlapped in teachers' classrooms practices, creating tensions. To understand how these tensions were resolved, this study introduced the concept of curating, a kind of heuristic development that pertains particularly to the work achieved in boundary practices in which individuals must claim multiple memberships by appropriating the discourses and their particular tool kits of more than one community of practice. This study provides recommendations for future research and the engineering of professional development efforts for inclusive education. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Special Education 2011

This thesis is an exploration of a head teacher's experience of Lesson Study. It aims to consider how Lesson Study develops teacher learning through consideration of collaboration, expertise and professional conflict. The methodology embraces the lived experience of introducing a collaborative method of teacher development, Lesson Study into a primary school and exploring its impact. The research is conducted through an exploratory layered method, considering the Lesson Study teams, the whole school and the head teacher's thoughts and reflections on and about Lesson Study. The exploration in this thesis found that Lesson Study is far from breath-takingly simple (Dudley, 2013) and that there are many complexities and variables within each Lesson Study group that need to be considered carefully in order to enhance any opportunity for teacher learning. This thesis describes how these different elements, collaboration, expertise and professional conflict, interacted in two different Lesson Study teams. These findings, are presented alongside the head teacher's reflections. Building on these reflections the thesis starts to articulate how Lesson Study could offer teacher learning opportunities and which elements of school culture, teacher expertise and understanding would need to be developed, honed and considered in order to create an outcome which results in teacher learning. This research provides an exploration how teacher learning may be generated through Lesson Study work. It extends the current literature on teacher learning in Lesson Study by identifying and exploring professional conflict alongside collaboration and expertise. Teacher learning opportunities are not simply created in the context the research took place. It concludes that while teacher learning can be generated through Lesson Study; the conditions and culture of a setting, alongside the skills, knowledge and expertise of the teachers involved in each team are also crucial.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / A prática da inclusão de pessoas com necessidades educacionais especiais em rede regular de ensino tem assumido uma importante posição nos debates educacionais nacionais e internacionais, embora as experiências no Brasil sejam ainda isoladas e pouco difundidas. A falta de formação sobre as especificidades do processo de ensino e aprendizagem das pessoas com necessidades especiais por parte dos professores tem sido apontado, frequentemente, como um dos principais obstáculos para a efetivação da inclusão escolar. Partindo desse pressuposto, a modalidade de ensino itinerante parece representar uma proposta educativa viável para a inclusão de pessoas com necessidades especiais em rede regular de ensino, principalmente em grandes centros urbanos, quando não há disponibilidade de professores especialistas em todas as necessidades especiais para todas as escolas. Esta dissertação discute o trabalho do professor itinerante em escolas que têm alunos com necessidades educacionais especiais incluídos em rede regular de ensino. Participaram da pesquisa duas professoras itinerantes que atuam em três escolas municipais localizadas na zona oeste do Rio de Janeiro. Para realizar a investigação optou-se pela pesquisa qualitativa com abordagem etnográfica, utilizando como instrumentos de coleta de dados a observação participante, a análise de documentos, a microanálise e as entrevistas aberta e semi-estruturada. Os resultados evidenciaram que o trabalho realizado pelas professoras itinerantes desempenha diversas funções no ambiente escolar, indo além do suporte aos professores regulares e do auxílio aos alunos especiais incluídos. Na prática, atuam como agentes de mediação, sensibilização e mobilização pró-inclusão nas escolas que trabalham. / The proposition of including special needs students in the regular school system, has reached an important position in the national and international educational debates, although the Brazilian inclusion experiences have been isolated and not very well publicized. The lack of appropriate understanding from the part of regular teachers about the teaching-learning process of people with special needs, has been considered, frequently, as one of the main obstacles for the implementation of inclusive education. From this perspective, the modality of itinerant teaching, seems to represent a valid educational alternative for the inclusion of special needs students in the regular school system, especially in the great urban centers, where there is no availability of teachers specialized in all the different areas of handicap in all the schools. This study discusses the work of the itinerant teacher in schools that have special needs students included in regular classroom. Two itinerant teachers who work in three public schools located in the West Zone of the City of Rio de Janeiro were participants in this research. The research methodology chosen was qualitative with an ethnographic approach. For data collecting tools were used participant observation, documental analysis, microanalysis, and open and semi-open interviews. The results have shown that the work done by the itinerant teachers involves many functions in the school setting, going beyond the support to the regular teachers and help to the special needs students included. In reality they act as agents of mediation, sensibility and mobilization pro-inclusion in the schools where they work.

This Master's thesis is included in the search line Training, Knowledge and Development Graduate Program Professional, Master of Education, Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM). We have as a general objective of this research to understand the conceptions of academics of the Faculty of Education of UFSM, night and day on reading and children's writing and how these permeate the practices in supervised training. The starting point of the theoretical assumptions that include studies of Nóvoa (2009), Imbernon (2009, 2011) and Vaillant and Marcelo Garcia (1999, 2012), pepper and Lima (2011), Pepper (2010), Smith (1987, 2011a a, b, c, 2012, 2013), and Smith Teberosky (1999), Teberosky (1987), Mitchell (2004, 2005), Mortatti (2004, 2006) among others. The research was carried out from a qualitative approach, socio-cultural nature based on the studies of Minayo (1992, 2009), Freitas (2002), Bolzan (2002), Connelly and Clandinin (1995), Vygotsky (2007). To collect data, we conduct narrative interviews with six academic enrolled in Supervised Internship disciplines of the Pedagogy course, day and night, UFSM, as well as analysis of reports, articles and planning for the stage. The analysis was conducted from recurrences narratives indicated that the two categories of analysis: teacher learning and training processes. Thus, it was possible to recognize the trajectories of students in initial training, identifying the conceptions of learning to be a teacher and the relationship between the experienced situations and theoretical constructs about reading and writing. Thus, we understand that initial training needs to be organized in order to promote training experiences focused on areas of professional activity; no need to make mechanisms that foster awareness of the autoformativa dimension; the teaching learning is characterized by contradictions that allow students to advance in the construction of knowledge; extracurricular formative experiences stood out because they were designed as an opportunity to meet the possible professional performance context and to promote the relationship between theory and practice; the practice on their empties, it is necessary for reflection on practice and practice is incorporated into the teaching routine; and finally, it noted that the conceptions about the construction of reading and children's writing, academic study participants are being prepared. Therefore, we understand that learning to be a teacher in initial training has its basis in the formative processes will constitute the structure of the relations that the academic setting will during its journey and experiences in different spaces. Thus, the views of academics on the reading and writing will be built from a set of life experiences along the formative path. / Esta dissertação de Mestrado se insere na linha de pesquisa Formação, Saberes e Desenvolvimento Profissional do Programa de Pós-graduação, Mestrado em Educação da Universidade Federal de Santa Maria (UFSM). Temos como objetivo geral desta pesquisa compreender as concepções dos acadêmicos do curso de Pedagogia da UFSM, noturno e diurno, sobre a leitura e a escrita infantil e como essas permeiam as práticas no estágio supervisionado. Para tanto, partimos dos pressupostos teóricos que contemplam estudos de Nóvoa (2009), Imbernón (2009, 2011) e Vaillant e Marcelo Garcia (1999, 2012), Pimenta e Lima (2011), Pimenta (2010), Ferreiro (1987, 2011a, b, c, 2012, 2013), Ferreiro e Teberosky (1999), Teberosky (1987), Morais (2004, 2005), Mortatti (2004, 2006) entre outros. A investigação foi realizada a partir de uma abordagem qualitativa, de cunho sociocultural baseando-nos nos estudos de Minayo (1992, 2009), Freitas (2002), Bolzan (2002), Conelly e Clandinin (1995), Vygotski (2007). Para a coleta de dados, realizamos entrevistas narrativas com seis acadêmicas matriculadas nas disciplinas de Estágio Supervisionado do curso de Pedagogia, diurno e noturno, da UFSM, assim como a análise de relatórios, artigos e planejamentos referentes ao estágio. A análise foi realizada a partir de recorrências narrativas que nos indicaram a duas categorias de análise: aprendizagem docente e processos formativos. Deste modo, foi possível reconhecermos as trajetórias das estudantes em formação inicial, identificando as concepções sobre o aprender a ser professor e as relações entre as situações vividas e as construções teóricas sobre a leitura e a escrita. Assim, compreendemos que a formação inicial precisa estar organizada de maneira a promover vivências formativas voltadas a áreas de atuação profissional; há necessidade de efetuar mecanismos que favoreçam a tomada de consciência sobre a dimensão autoformativa; a aprendizagem docente caracteriza-se por contradições que permitem ao estudante avançar na construção do conhecimento; as vivências formativas extracurriculares sobressaíram-se, pois foram concebidas como oportunidade de conhecer o contexto de possível atuação profissional e favorecer a relação entre a teoria e a prática; a prática por si se esvazia, é necessário que a reflexão sobre a prática e na pratica seja incorporada no cotidiano pedagógico; e, por fim, evidenciamos que as concepções sobre a construção da leitura e da escrita infantil, das acadêmicas participantes deste estudo, estão em processo de elaboração. Portanto, entendemos que a aprendizagem de ser professor na formação inicial tem sua base nos processos formativos vão se constituindo na tessitura das relações que o acadêmico vai estabelecendo durante o seu percurso e as vivências em diferentes espaços. Assim, as concepções dos acadêmicos sobre a leitura e a escrita vão se construindo a partir de um conjunto de experiências vivenciadas ao longo da trajetória formativa.