Professional learning may be the most significant when the teacher feels fundamentally challenged and questioned about their practices, beliefs, or identities. In this paper, the elements that cause such fundamental challenges and questions -- disruptions -- are called 'disruptive hooks'. In the process of addressing such disruptive hooks,…

Appraisal processes are a requirement for professionals working in the education sector. Often appraisal processes do not focus on strengths, rather, it becomes a process of meeting pre-determined requirements. This article takes a strength-based approach to appraisal and discusses a study which pilots the use of an Appreciative Growth Cycle…

Motherscholaring is an essential mode of intellectual and spiritual travel, a type of soulwork, epistemologically rooted in love, occuring at the intersections of personal and professional theories, research, and practices that move toward justice. In this conceptual paper, we creatively and collectively explore meanings of motherscholaring found…

Background: Issues of social justice require the understanding and intervention of teachers across all subject areas. Teachers must be positioned to uphold fairness for all individuals in their classes while considering the disparities of wealth, opportunities, and social privileges that may impact the student experience. This paper explores the…

Teachers seek and require meaningful professional development opportunities to truly grow in the profession. Teacher inquiry, or teacher research, is one way to accomplish professional development goals. Teacher inquiry is thought of as individualized, personalized, and meaningful professional development (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999). In this…

This study examines how elementary preservice teachers (PSTs) develop the capacity to design inquiry-based lessons in social studies and how this capacity changes over time. Using convergent parallel mixed methods, the findings indicate that PSTs had inherent and varied content design approaches fitting their perception of lesson design as they…

Although writing is often used for personal reflection in teacher education, it is less commonly leveraged to imagine educational futures (Gilligan, 2020)--particularly those centered on collective liberation. Amid intersecting social crises, however, imagining futures is critically important (Ladson-Billings, 2021), and writing is a crucial step…

In this article, I explore the impact of receiving mentorship into research and theory of the field that was guided by a social constructivist learning lens. I reflect on the ways that my conception of research and research agenda were framed subconsciously by early experiences investigating my secondary mathematics teaching practice under the…

Uncertainty is a key feature of philosophising with children. It is central to the theory and methodology of philosophical inquiry and the educational assumptions underlying it. Uncertainty also presents a specific challenge for pupils and teachers undertaking philosophical inquiry in the classroom, because mainstream education is mostly based on…

Practitioner inquiry has become part of the research tradition in many teacher professional development programmes across the world and allows teachers to conduct research into their own practices by engaging in systematic inquiry into their personal classroom practices. In this paper, we explore the inquiry reflections of two teachers that…

Nearly forty years ago, Stenhouse argued that the function of the curriculum was to stimulate teachers' everyday reflection about and learning from practice. This suggestion, alongside his support for teachers as researchers, aligns with the Welsh Government's commitment to build an evidence-informed profession as part of ongoing major education…

This article describes a reflective process, influenced by collaborative autoethnography and poetic inquiry, and provides an opportunity for replication at other sites. The process illuminated a workgroup's power to enhance professional lives in support of students, seeking to harness collective power to make space for critical discussions as well…

This article draws on the research findings of a case study at Greerton Early Learning Centre in Aotearoa, New Zealand, utilising data from the teachers' research inquiries into their professional practice. Teachers' inquiries included Learning Stories -- a research-based sociocultural narrative assessment approach -- written for children and…

Teachers in professional development (PD) programs need time to adopt, enact and reflect on what they are learning in the PD within their own situations. To encourage reflective implementation and adaptation of ideas and practices promoted in the PD studied in this article, participants were asked to engage in several small action research…

The professional learning experiences of K-12 educators are a critical and complex part of continuously improving teaching and learning within a school. This case study brings to light the experiences of three teams of middle school teachers participating in a professional learning model called instructional rounds. The purpose of this research is…