This case study involved an urban elementary school's implementation of a peer-observation professional learning protocol, collegial visits (CVs). The study sought teachers' perceptions of CVs as a professional learning format, whether CVs aligned with contemporary professional learning expectations, how and in what ways CVs influenced social…

Articulations of effective teacher professional development (PD) consistently foreground a focus on curriculum content and how best to teach it. Consequently, when teachers work together on pedagogy they typically work with colleagues who have similar specialisations, focusing on a specific subject or part of the curriculum. Arguably, however,…

This study explores the processes of collaborative teacher learning in a Lesson Study group at a lower secondary school in Norway. In this context, teacher learning is understood from a sociocultural perspective, as making sense of the world, solving problems and exploring new perspectives through social interaction. Audio-recorded teacher…

A dominant paradigm for research on teacher professional development has centred teacher learning as created in and through practice. Critical scholars argue for the need to grapple productively with the complexities of teaching in the power-laden contexts of schooling. This involves continual reflection on the ways that teaching reinforces…

Excellence in higher education teaching has become a policy priority of governments worldwide in recent years. In the United Kingdom, for example, the introduction of the Teaching Excellence Framework in 2016 heralded an unprecedented focus on the quality of teaching. Set against the backdrop of such policy developments and wider global interest…

Teacher collaboration, and teacher professional development within this context, has become an area of interest in recent years. In particular, teacher education has seen the rise of collaboration as an effective school-based professional development activity, where in-service teachers plan, observe and reflect on lessons together. The most common…

This study was a qualitative comparative case study of two secondary schools (one urban high school and one suburban middle school) where teams of teacher leaders were in the planning stages of implementing an initiative about a peer observation protocol called collegial visits. The primary research question was, 'How does a team of teacher…

There is a growing body of evidence that coaching early childhood educators leads to improved instruction, and influences children's learning outcomes. Despite this, consensus is lacking about how coaching as a form of professional development is defined, what it should involve, and how much should be offered. This paper outlines the findings of a…

Research over the last 15 years has reported that for professional development to be effective, in terms of changing teachers' knowledge and/or instructional strategies, it needs to be conducted taking into consideration the following factors: teachers' existing knowledge, experience and attitudes towards the professional development, school…

This study explored the use of makerspaces as a professional development activity when examined through the analysis of qualitative data reflecting participant experience. The data were gathered in the course of a professional development opportunity at a university during a conference held on campus. The researchers wanted to select an innovative…

Recently there has been growth in researching teacher agency. Some research has considered the relationship between teacher agency and professional learning. Similarly, there has been growing interest in professional learning communities as resources for professional learning. Connections have been made between professional learning communities…

Based in a time of major curriculum reform, this article reports on a qualitative case study of teacher professional development (PD) in the Republic of Ireland (ROI). Five mathematics teachers in an Irish secondary school were introduced to and participated in successive cycles of school-based lesson study (LS) over the course of one academic…

High-quality, evidence-based professional development is essential to ensure that teachers obtain the knowledge, strategies and skills necessary to positively impact student learning. While the primary form of professional development, training has rarely been evaluated for quality beyond the satisfaction of those being trained. The Observation…

Attempts to measure the quality of teaching and learning have resulted in an overreliance on quantitative performance data and the normalisation of a set of reductionist practices in England's further education sector in recent years. Focusing on lesson observation as an illustrative example and drawing on data from a national study, this article…

To provide a shared vision of effective mentoring and language for practice, Schwille developed a temporal framework depicting mentoring practices referred to as "inside" and "outside" the action of teaching. "Inside" mentoring occurs when teachers are working with students (e.g. co-teaching and demonstration…