Thoughtfully planned professional development (PD) that fosters teacher agency has the potential to impact student agency in the literacy classroom. Drawing on a body of research with 82 teachers across multiple schools and clinical settings, this article first presents findings from a variety of PD contexts that are synthesized to highlight four…

This paper considers how empowering teachers to reach for success in partnership with a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the North West of England can affect learning in the classroom. Evidence based research is the focus of this study which focuses on working with teachers engaging in their own research beyond initial teacher education. The…

Educational reformers have considered teacher empowerment as one of the panaceas for school success. The concept of teacher empowerment has emerged as an important approach in promoting positive work behaviors with many researchers observing the link between the levels of teachers' psychological empowerment and the extent to which they feel…

This autoethnography chronicles an Afro-Polynesian femme scholar's struggle to secure funding for research due to bureaucratic violence and the strategic potential of Lordean counterstorying to write a way free for Black and Brown scholar-activists and community-based projects. Extending the work of previous scholars who discuss counterstory and…

This article presents the case for a progressive education that embraces notions of democratic values in the classroom, and an education for democratic citizenship. Informed by John Dewey's and Martin Buber's philosophies of education, and Homi Bhabha's concept of 'third space' work, the article examines the problematic and contested issues of…

As K-12 education undergoes rapid evolution to meet the demands of a changing world, educational leaders must navigate complex challenges to drive meaningful transformation. This article delves into the imperative for change in educational systems globally and explores tailored strategies for fostering a culture of change within K-12 schools.…

Since the mid 1990s, teacher burnout has become a crucial phenomenon in the Hong Kong education system, as increasing numbers of Hong Kong teachers have been reported as stressed, exhausted, and depersonalized in their teaching. In the Hong Kong community, including the academic circle, many people have applied the psychological theory of burnout…

This paper discusses the aims, rationale and aspects of a new Action Research (AR) module developed for level 6, Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) students. The aims of the module are three-fold: First, to support learners in developing the research and academic skills needed to investigate their own practices, generate knowledge and…

One of the most controversial and significant of contemporary education reforms has been the teacher accountability movement. From this perspective, low-quality teachers and teaching are a major factor behind inadequate school performance, and a lack of accountability and control in schools is a major factor behind the problem of low-quality…

In response to school environments in which teachers and students feel disconnected from the learning process, we developed a three-part curriculum feedback system with the goal of creating a school-wide culture of engagement through participatory feedback processes. Here we describe the barriers to participation and ownership that are addressed…

Government agencies and civil society organisations in nation-states and areas affected by conflict strive to develop citizenship education programmes to empower children as agents of change. However, the pedagogical culture within these contexts demands that children memorise information provided by higher authorities and avoid sensitive and…

In a time of cultural pluralism and legitimation crisis (Habermas), there is an increasing uncertainty among teachers in Sweden about with what right they are fostering other people's children. What does it mean to teach "common values" to the coming generation? How do teachers find legitimacy and authority for this endeavour, not as…

To positively affect teacher quality, instructional leaders must engage teachers in ways that support improved practice and seek to empower teachers as creative and knowledgeable risk takers. A collaborative, strengths-based approach that promotes teacher growth, rather than one that conditions teachers to await administrator directive or…

Over the last two decades, online learning adoption happened gradually in K-12 schools, mostly among innovators and early adopters. Then in 2020, the onset of COVID-19 ignited widespread adoption of emergency online learning, practically overnight. Online learning moved swiftly from the periphery to the core of K-12 education since it offered the…

In the United States, almost one-quarter of all youth are children of immigrants and it is projected that by 2040 over a third of all children will be growing up in immigrant households (Suarez-Orozco & Suarez-Orozco, 2010). This shift in demographics has the potential to compound the inability that many school districts demonstrate to…