This paper describes how a cluster of nine secondary science teachers and lecturers from five schools and colleges in the United Kingdom designed and undertook small-scale action research projects as an approach to their own continuing professional development. The participating teachers identified a range of topics for investigation such as:…

Arising from the visit by several cohorts of leading Malaysian secondary headteachers to the United Kingdom, this article examines the potential values and obstacles surrounding such international continuing professional development. The constraints of differences in language and context are considered, as well as issues of visiting heads as…

This article concerns the way that research into Professional Memory (PM) in English teaching might re-connect the school subject with constituencies--the individuals, communities and social values--it once served. By PM I mean the collective memories of a generation of English teachers which, when brought into conjunction with existing histories,…

This short discussion article outlines a range of theoretical issues underpinning the formation of subject knowledge for teaching. It suggests a number of practical needs that secondary school teachers of English may be seeking to address in the way of subject knowledge development and how this may relate to the provision made within the United…

Background: Professional commitment from teachers requires more than contractual compliance as personal and professional values are integral to teaching practice. Secondary school teachers are expected to act as role models and demonstrate positive attributes and attitudes in an evolving educational context. Little is known about how they…

This paper gives an account of a project undertaken by a multidisciplinary team, which included an educational psychologist, advisory teacher and behaviour consultant, to help revise and improve a school's behaviour policy and practice. At the onset, the team spent a great deal of time consulting with the teachers, parents but, above all, the…

"The Media Teacher's Handbook" is an indispensible guide for all teachers, both specialist and non-specialist, delivering Media Studies and media education in secondary schools and colleges. It is the first text to draw together the three key elements of secondary sector teaching in relation to media study--the "theoretical",…

This article draws on and develops the outcomes of previous research which concluded that school subject departments provide the setting for influential professional development and that experienced teachers strongly influence their newly qualified colleagues. The findings of two subsequent research projects, which used this as a starting point,…

This paper begins by considering some of the performative dilemmas associated with the enactment of children's rights by adults. In particular, it is argued that the mobilisation of children's rights often tends to involve multiple forms of "complexity reduction" (Osberg and Biesta, 2010), the net effect of which is to limit children's…

This article explores the implications for teacher education and continuous professional development (CPD) of enquiry-based learning, by drawing specifically on data collected during a four-year curriculum development and research project, Enquiring Minds (2005-9). Within the partnership approach to curriculum design endorsed by the project,…

This paper presents a comprehensive usability study conducted within the context of a Europe-wide project. The design of the evaluated e-learning platform is based on an innovative approach to the education of young Europeans by integrating into the curricula of a Europe-wide network of 14 schools different state-of-the-art technologies in…

A comparative review of the research literature regarding the effectiveness of continuing professional development (CPD) demonstrates that a range of different factors needs to be present if it is to have impact in the classroom and that short CPD episodes are unlikely to be effective. The Earth Science Education Unit approach to CPD had to be…

In November 2007 a joint ATM/MA team began working together to consider how ICT can be used to support the teaching and learning of topics that are considered to be "hard to teach" in secondary mathematics, within a project that complements that of the Secondary National Strategy. In the best subject association spirit, it was decided to…

The "MustLearnIT" European-funded research project with partners in Greece, Poland, Cyprus, Finland and the UK aimed to investigate ways of teaching and learning modern foreign languages (MFL) to early learners in small/remote primary schools where there were no specialist MFL teachers. This was to be carried out through new technologies…

The link between formal education and the formation of national attachment is widely acknowledged. Yet, research on teachers' national attachment is still relatively rare. Based on a comparative analysis of survey data obtained from 281 Berlin and London state secondary school head teachers, this paper proposes a multivariate model in which…