This article explores the rhetorical work done by discourses of professional development in education. In particular it outlines the ways in which the rhetoric of technical expertise, competence and reflective practice are deployed to mobilise professional practices and identities in particular ways and position certain practices and dispositions…

Ways in which adult educators can bring spirituality into educational practice include engaging in autobiographical reflection, creating an environment for spiritual learning, creating a dialogical space, and fostering an ethic of care. (SK)

The introduction to this paper gives a short overview of the Environment and Schools Initiatives (ENSI) perspective on teaching competences. We argue that as change is one of the key elements of sustainable development, reflection that helps to adapt educational practice to a continuously developing world should be a starting point for every…

"Talking Stones" is an interview technique that is designed to support self advocacy, particularly for groups of disaffected school students whose views may be difficult to elicit. It has been developed and refined to incorporate a view of learners as active agents in their own learning and is compatible with reflective practice and a…

This article presents the author's response to Joseph Reimer's article titled, "Beyond More Jews Doing Jewish: Clarifying the Goals of Informal Jewish Education." The author discusses the "role" of teacher, which includes: engaging students in an academic subject each teacher has mastered, mentoring a particular small group of students about the…

In contemporary times educators must be able to work effectively within contexts of change, paradox and instability. This has implications for programs that prepare teachers. In particular, teacher education programs should seek to develop teachers who can enquire systematically and critically into their educational practices. However, current…

Although many authors claim benefits of teaching portfolios for use in higher education settings, there are few empirical studies that investigate these benefits. This article deals with the question of whether teaching portfolios are used in higher education, and if so, which effects they bring about. Furthermore, the attitude of teachers towards…

This paper focuses on the utilization of reflective teaching and thinking as a tool to engage teachers in the process of observing, examining, analyzing, and evaluating their philosophy of teaching and learning and their effectiveness as teachers. Research has indicated that reflection encourages teachers to assess critically "What am I…

A recent study examined the complex interplay between the evolution of a dialogic community and four elementary teachers' changing beliefs and classroom practices. Teachers' dialog changed from information-sharing and description early in the year to questioning and critique as their involvement in the dialogic community progressed. Reflective…

The growth in the field of self-study of teacher education practices has largely been based on teacher educators' desire to better understand teaching and learning about teaching. This paper reviews research over the last decade that has been important in shaping understandings of self-study and the issues, concerns and agendas that are emerging…

The question what contribution action research can make to the professional development of teachers is not easy to answer. It depends firstly on the context in which action research takes shape and secondly on the conceptual principles on which educators and teachers base their view of what good action research is. In order to be able to use…

This description of a teacher-researchers's experiences of surprise in daily practice suggests that moments of surprise are opportunities to develop and sustain reflective teaching practice. The experience of surprise is in itself an embodied reflection that can awaken pedagogical possibilities. (SLD)

This research is the product of blending two pertinent questions. The first question is: "What are the guidelines and behaviors that define a Constructivist classroom?" There have not been a great number of pedagogical tools that discuss and summarize concrete, observable Constructivist behaviors. The second question is: "Is there a unique form of…

Discusses how teacher educators can critically examine their own conceptual frameworks, teaching methods, strategies, and techniques, and how they can maintain dialog with colleagues to make more thoughtful decisions about their own teaching practices and to more effectively link course content and the learning process. (Author/KB)

This paper explores whether a professional development weblog could support work-based learning in a TAFE Library. The paper includes both a literature review of material dealing with work-based learning in the VET sector, weblogs and their possible use as a professional development tool and an evaluation of a weblog project devised to support…