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Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is an indispensable part of the educational system that sustains significant responsibilities in creating sophisticated, high-skilled, and application-oriented talents and their comprehensive moral development. TVET metal cutting and welding teachers' learning in the workplace is a practice-based, complex cross-integration process of teachers' knowledge growth, competence acquisition, and professional development that links actual work processes and on-the-job activities. Workplace learning is undergoing a shift from a focus on teacher knowledge, expertise, and teaching methods, to an increasing focus on promoting instructional improvements centred on “student learning” (Imants & Van Veen, 2010). This research uses qualitative research methods to explore teachers' real and complex learning and development conditions, enrich the existing theoretical system of teachers' professional learning in the field of TVET metal cutting and welding based on actual work situations, and further deepen these teachers' professional development awareness. This study, which employs reflection level theory (Hartmann, 2005), situated learning theory (Lave & Wenger, 1991), action learning theory (Revans, 1982; 1998), and constructivism (Brooks & Brooks, 1999; Vygotsky & Cole, 1978; Piaget, 1970) as theoretical underpinnings, is guided by the following research questions: • What learning activities do TVET metal cutting and welding teachers utilize to learn in the workplace? • What factors (e.g., personal characteristics, working conditions) positively influence or restrict the involvement of TVET metal cutting and welding teachers in workplace learning? • What learning outcomes do TVET metal cutting and welding teachers perceive as professional development? Fourteen Chinese TVET instructors in the field of metal cutting and welding participated in this study. Semi-structured interviews, observations, and documentary material were chosen as the main strategies for collecting data. Hartmann's (2005) “the theory and methods of reflection levels” and Creswell's (2012) “six interrelated steps” (p.261) are utilized to guide the process of organizing, transforming, modelling, and interpreting data collected from these 14 teachers. Research Findings encompass three parts: Research Findings - Part I Based on qualitative data, the research findings (Part I) indicate that the main workplace learning activities of TVET metal cutting and welding teachers include four dimensions: learning by doing, learning through work-related interactions with others, reflection, and learning from media. The dimension of 'learning by doing' covers practical enterprise activities, participating in the staff group's skill competition, self-directed learning activities during lesson planning, the training and practice, using cloud-based teaching platforms, writing teaching journal/teaching logs, learning by teaching and experimentation, participation in the development and evaluation of curriculum implementation standards, involvement in school-based curriculum development. The dimension of 'learning through work-related interactions with others' encompasses lesson observation, collaborative group study, learning from experts, colleagues, trainees, etc. The dimension of 'reflection' involves teaching experience reflection and feedback reflection. The dimension of 'learning from media' encompasses viewing industrial documentaries, reading industry news, watching TV programs related to the teaching subjects, etc. Research Findings - Part II The research findings (Part II) show that the main factors influencing the workplace learning of TVET metal cutting and welding teachers include facilitating and constraining factors. The facilitating factors encompass career advancement, adequate learning resources, harmonious interpersonal relationships, occupational identity or professional self-identity, cooperative learning environments, and intrinsic motivation for the learning. The constraining factors cover teachers' heavy workloads, lack of time, insufficient school support, and the shortage of school facilities and equipment. Research Findings - Part III The research findings (part III) indicate that the outcomes of TVET metal cutting and welding teachers' workplace learning include three dimensions: accumulation of knowledge, competence enhancement, and emotional or attitudinal changes. The 'accumulation of knowledge' dimension covers educational theory, subject knowledge, teaching methods, and student psychology. The 'emotional or attitudinal change' dimension encompasses items like a greater love for the teaching profession and being more open-minded. The dimension of 'competence enhancement' involves class management, instructional design and overall teaching skills, practical operation ability, collaborative communication skills, teaching evaluation skills, reflection skills, analytical competence, lifelong learning ability, resource integration capability, etc.

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Thesis advisor: David Scanlon / Despite the often-claimed purpose of equity, inclusive education has been defined and interpreted in different ways that paradoxically marginalize students. Teachers play a primary role in enacting inclusion, their concept of inclusion is, therefore, critical to inclusive practices and outcomes. This qualitative case study explored the impact of dialogue on preservice teachers’ understanding of inclusive education, using three major research questions: a) How do five preservice teachers conceptualize inclusive education before and after participating in a series of group dialogue? b) How do preservice teachers negotiate meanings of, perspectives on, and beliefs toward inclusion during the group dialogues when they face challenges around the concept and practice?, and c) How do facilitations—content/topics, guiding/follow-up questions, and supplementary materials and activities—mediate those negotiations?The participants were five female under-/graduate students in a teacher education program at a private Catholic University in the Northeastern United States, who were completing practicum at the time of the study. Data were collected from multiple sources, including surveys, follow-up conversations, pre/post-dialogue journal entries, individual semi-structured interviews, six group discussion sessions and accompanying artifacts (mind-maps and self-reflections), and field notes. For the first research question, qualitative content analysis and pre/post comparisons of individual participants’ journals and interviews were examined, to identify how the pre-service teachers changed their conceptualizations of inclusive education through their participation in the dialogue series. The commonalities and variations in their conceptualizations following the dialogue series were synthesized through cross-case analysis. For the second and third research questions, discussion segments and post-dialogue interviews were analyzed via constructivist grounded theory along with review of the supplementary artifacts. The findings suggested that group dialogues provided a learning space for the preservice teachers to deepen their understandings of inclusive education. A synthesis of the five single case studies revealed that, after the dialogue series, the preservice teachers conceptualized inclusion as a) a channel to prepare students for transition from the classroom/school to society, and b) a means to empower marginalized students under the rhetoric “for all,” as well as c) viewed teachers as a mechanism of inclusive action/enactment. Five themes emerged, revealing the ways in which the preservice teachers negotiated meanings of, perspectives on, and beliefs toward inclusion as they addressed challenges around the concept and practice through interactions, as well as the ways in which the facilitation mediated their negotiations. The five themes included: a) Convergence, b) Expansion Through Convergence, c) Divergence, d) Inconclusiveness, and e) Multiple Patterns. Further, the facilitation set the context where the preservice teachers could think through concrete examples in practice, provoked them to develop new ideas and perspectives and to (re)think about the issues critically enriching the discussions, and fostered their collective and individual sense-making. This study adds to knowledge on inclusive education and teacher dialogue as a learning tool, providing in-depth descriptions of how pre-service teachers developed a deeper understanding of inclusive education through facilitated group discussions that problematized taken-for-granted notions and practices of inclusion. It also provides a new instructional method of research that elucidates preservice teachers’ negotiation processes in dialogues. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2022. / Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education. / Discipline: Teacher Education, Special Education, Curriculum and Instruction.

This study focuses on teachers' experiences of participating in collaborative professional development. Learning study is a systematic model where teachers collaborate around specific content areas (an object of learning) trying to find out what the students need to discern, and how that can be taught, using variation theory as a framework for lesson design and analysis.  The aim of the study is to find out what the perceived consequences are for teachers and their teaching when participating in a learning study. It also examines how the teachers perceive the collaborative work in a learning study. The study draws on data collected through qualitative semi-structured interviews with ten teachers with experience of participating in learning studies. The interviews were coded and categorized using a qualitative content analysis approach. The results indicate that the collaborative work in a learning study is perceived as both collaborative and collective learning. Learning study is also seen as a systematic model which enables collective and individual reflection on teaching.  Furthermore, the consequences of participation in learning study are perceived in terms of instructional changes, where teachers take greater use of students understanding as they plan and implement teaching and focus on the content. Variation theory emerges as an important tool in this change. The theory also seems to contribute to reflection and knowledge about teaching and students learning.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-27T14:48:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Thais Regina Cunha Ventura Fernandes Fontenele.pdf: 753292 bytes, checksum: 00c9ceb7bf89ce691aa1505d4bac426e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-03-09 / The objective of this work is to investigate the meaning of a new pedagogical project experience for the teachers of two Guarulhos municipal Schools, specially with regard to changes in their teaching practice. The specific objectives focuses on the identification of changes in teaching practices achieved through the new pedagogical project. Analyzing their collective work and teacher studies understandings by the aspects that made these changes possible. Another objective was to identify the research sources and the teacher study modes used throughout the project. What justifies this research is the significance of teacher s professional development study for the teaching practices development and students learning progress. The context schools started the implementation of a new pedagogical project two years ago. Both projects aim the students acting role in democratic management perspective from two different fronts: the promotion of situations where the students have active voice on their learning process and on the school routine, and also the knowledges reorganization and school times and spaces according to the demand of students interests. This work has a qualitative methodological approach and the research data obtaining tool was semi-structured interviews with the principals and three teachers of each school. Two documents served as support: the Political Pedagogical Project and two editions of the Municipal Secretary of Education newsletter that describes the projects. The research is based on national and international literature to discuss the adult teacher learning process (Placco e Souza, 2006; Reali e Reyes, 2009; Garcia, 2005), the reflexive teacher (Pimenta, 2002; Alarcão, 2010) and the educational change (Gómez, 2001; Contreas, 2002; Fullan e Hargreaves, 2000). The obtained results from the interviews reveals that the participation on the new project allowed the teachers to change some practices, like: student conception, interpersonal relations, planning, classes continuity, evaluation and methodologies. It was also found that trust in teaching work, enable autonomy for teachers, establish horizontal relationship and a collaborative culture are favorable factors to teaching practices changes / O presente trabalho tem como contexto de estudo duas escolas municipais de Guarulhos e tem o objetivo de investigar o significado da experiência de um novo projeto pedagógico na escola para os professores nele envolvidos, especialmente com relação às alterações da sua prática docente. Os objetivos específicos voltam-se para a identificação de mudanças na prática das professoras, que foram possibilitadas pela vivência do novo projeto, analisando suas compreensões a respeito do trabalho coletivo e do estudo do professor, conhecendo e analisando os aspectos que possibilitaram tais mudanças. Um outro objetivo é identificar as fontes de pesquisa e os modos de estudo docente utilizados e vividos no projeto. A pesquisa é justificada pela importância do estudo do desenvolvimento profissional dos docentes para o aperfeiçoamento das práticas de ensino e para os avanços nas aprendizagens dos alunos. As duas escolas que serviram de contexto iniciaram a implementação de um novo projeto pedagógico há dois anos. Os dois projetos visam o protagonismo dos alunos na perspectiva da gestão democrática, sendo que as duas equipes desenvolvem seus projetos em duas frentes: a promoção de situações em que os educandos têm voz ativa na própria aprendizagem e no cotidiano da escola e a reorganização dos saberes, tempos e espaços escolares de acordo com a demanda de interesse dos alunos. A abordagem metodológica é qualitativa e o instrumento utilizado para a obtenção dos dados de pesquisa foi a entrevista semiestruturada, em que foram entrevistadas as diretoras e três professores de cada escola. Para contextualizar os projetos, dois documentos serviram como suporte: o Projeto Político Pedagógico e duas edições do boletim informativo da rede municipal em questão, que descrevem os projetos. A pesquisa fundamenta-se na literatura nacional e internacional para discutir a aprendizagem do professor adulto (Placco e Souza, 2006; Reali e Reyes, 2009; Garcia, 2005), o professor reflexivo (Pimenta, 2002; Alarcão, 2010) e a mudança educativa (Gómez, 2001; Contreas, 2002; Fullan e Hargreaves, 2000). Alguns dos resultados obtidos por meio das entrevistas revelaram que a participação no novo projeto possibilitou algumas mudanças na prática das professoras, como: a concepção de educando, as relações interpessoais, o planejamento, a continuidade das aulas, a avaliação e as metodologias. Foi constatado também que confiar no trabalho docente, possibilitar autonomia para as professoras, estabelecer relações horizontais e uma cultura colaborativa são fatores favoráveis às mudanças da prática

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.

Given the teacher-as-technician view and the instrumentalist values that pervade professional schools, practices, and policy decisions (Kinsella & Pitman, 2012a; Zeichner, 2012) with regard to teacher qualification, evidence-based practices, and scripted curricula, there is growing concern that something of fundamental importance and moral significance is missing from the vision of what it means to be a professional, particularly in the field of education. In order to articulate teacher practical knowledge in a way that reflects the complexities of practice, a framework that captures the complexity of teaching practice and helps to define the type of knowledge beyond content and technique, which enables teachers to make practically wise decisions is needed. The purpose of this study was to explore and describe the practical reasoning of highly competent teachers as it is revealed through meaning making about their experiences of pedagogical reasoning. The aim of this study was to provide an interpretive description of teacher pedagogical reasoning, then utilize the construct of professional phronesis as a framework for understanding the dimension of teacher knowledge involved in judgment (Coulter & Wiens, 2002; Kinsella, 2012). In order to develop a detailed, multi-perspectival account of the constructs of pedagogical reasoning and professional phronesis, I employed an interpretive phenomenological case study design (Smith et al. 2009) to examine the experiences of three participants. Analysis of the data revealed the pedagogical reasoning of the participants as a knowledge that continuously develops over time through a corpus of instructional experiences including: purposeful professional development, problem solving and reflection. The pedagogical reasoning of the participants was also found to operate as an instructional decision-making process that occurs in two modes: in deliberate planning and preparation for instruction, and spontaneously as they engage in instruction. Finally, the pedagogical reasoning of the participants was characterized by an orientation towards achieving multiple goals at once. All participants acknowledged the content of her discipline as an established goal; however, they described their decision-making in terms of goals for both themselves as practitioners regarding their role in student learning, as well as goals for student outcomes that extended beyond the development of student content knowledge. Professional/personal and instructional goals are tied to the identities of the individual participants and reflect how the unique dispositions of the participants influences the factors they consider in making instructional decisions, regardless of operational mode. Finally, all participants discussed a personal paradigmatic shift in focus from an early-career focus on content delivery to a focus on the needs of individual students and the necessity of developing relationships with students in order to achieve their personal/professional goals and goals for student growth. These themes regarding the experience of pedagogical reasoning reflected the six features of professional phronesis outlined by Kinsella and Pitman (2012b), which suggests that phronesis is a viable construct within the practice knowledge of highly competent teachers.

Enhancing teacher learning in inclusion is an action research study which researched how two New Zealand classroom teachers were facilitated to enhance their pedagogy and become more inclusive. An examination of the international literature suggested that contextual professional development, classroom action research, and a collaborative relationship with a critical friend would facilitate inclusive pedagogy. However, there were no published studies of New Zealand primary teachers engaged in classroom-centred action research on inclusion involving an educational psychologist. A two phase action research design was used, firstly negotiated and modelled by an outside researcher, second order action research, and secondly by empowering the teachers to become action researchers, first order action research. Some inclusive practices were evident but two major barriers to inclusive practice in New Zealand classrooms were highlighted. These were an independent and autonomous teacher practice and limited use of individual student assessment data to inform teaching for individual learning. Active reflective thinking through reflection journals and teacher action research of teacher chosen classroom learning challenges occurred in two cycles of second order action research. Results established increased teacher focus on individual student learning, collaboration between themselves and the researcher, knowledge and skills of action research and its effectiveness in solving learning challenges within the teaching programme, use of student assessment data to inform subsequent teaching and learning, and critical awareness of the effect of their beliefs, knowledge and actions on student learning. Whilst literature suggests that schoolwide re-culturing is necessary, this research has demonstrated that two teachers engaging in practitioner action research, supported by a small community of practice, reflective thinking and critical dialogue, can improve their pedagogical and inclusive practice.

21st century schools face significant challenges as they move towards providing opportunities for learners which recognize and build on their strengths and abilities. The process of supporting young people to develop the desire and the confidence to recognise personal potential and to manage their ongoing learning is a priority. Communication and collaboration are key to learners becoming informed active participants in their own learning and experiencing successful outcomes in today's society. Our old models of learning where pre packaged parcels of knowledge were delivered to students by teachers will no longer suffice. As we respond to the new meaning of knowledge in the 21st century and begin to view knowledge as an active process, it is clear that many of the top down structures and organisational practices present in New Zealand secondary schools need change. The idea of personalisation in order to support independent learners to reach their potential is a familiar one for many teachers and is one of the ideals which may have brought them into the teaching profession. However, the institutional contexts in which they operate can act not as a driving force for personalised learning but as a barrier to it. In seeking to find one possible way in which secondary school systems can be re shaped around the needs of the learner, this study examines the role of online mentoring with experts outside the school. This small scale qualitative study uses ethnographic methods to gather data from twelve secondary school year thirteen physical education students and their teacher as they engage in an eight week online project with expert sports coaches at Auckland University of Technology. Eleven of the students were boys. In examining the impact which online mentoring might have on this group of learners and their teacher, rich data was collected via web transcripts, observation, image data and interviews. The research findings reveal that students found a high degree of satisfaction with the process and placed value on having the opportunity to pursue personalised goals as they worked with mentors in a collaborative online environment. Teacher behaviour and practice underwent change in the project with the teacher becoming repositioned within the group in the role of learner. In a process where authoritarian approaches were replaced by collaborative group action and inquiry, students reported an enhanced ability to think deeply, to manage their own learning and to relate in highly skilled ways with others. Students' perceptions about the ways in which they were working were analysed using the New Zealand Curriculum Key Competencies. As students focused their inquiry past the level of curriculum goals and onto real world personal goals, several experienced a shift in perception concerning their own learning potential and expressed surprised at their own level of competence. The fact that eleven out of the twelve students were boys makes this shift in personal learning expectation worthy of further investigation in the quest for improving academic outcomes for boys. Finally, this study may have relevance for the ways in which the Key Competencies have meaning in secondary schools. The study demonstrated that the emergence of competencies such as self management and relating to others was assisted by changes in teacher behaviour and action. As authoritarian approaches were replaced by a collaborative model where independent learning with others was supported, learners began to exhibit the personal competencies described by the New Zealand Curriculum (2008). These competencies which include Thinking, Using Language, symbols and texts, Managing self, Relating to others and Participating and contributing occurred as a natural consequence of a learning model which was shaped to fit the learner; a personalised approach to learning with support from online mentors.