Teacher agency has been explored in many studies in different contexts, however research on supporting agency is somewhat limited. In this study, we aimed to support teacher agency in a collaborative inquiry-based in-service course developed based on the ecological model of teacher agency and earlier empirical studies. We conducted a study among…

The purpose of this study was to investigate teachers' ethical sensitivity in Finland (N = 255) and Estonia (N = 412). The survey included the quantitative "Ethical Sensitivity Scale Questionnaire" and a qualitative open-ended question about successful teaching. In order to capture its essential characteristics, ethical sensitivity was…

A full academic career encompasses both successes and failures. The purpose of this study was to delve into academic successes and failures, going beyond the conventional focus on objective measures, such as performance, rankings, and funding. Through semi-structured interviews with twelve senior academics from seven countries, we explored…

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between professional development and teacher self-efficacy, exploring the extent to which various types, either job-embedded or traditional professional development activities, predict teachers' perceived self-efficacy while controlling for several teacher characteristics and school…

Significant and effective implementation of inclusive education (IE) has been a major challenge in many countries during the last decades. Although teachers' knowledge and skills are considered a key factor for successful inclusive practice, the whole school staff commitment and contribution to implementing IE policies are equally important.…

Teachers' general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) has been emphasized as an important factor in pupils' learning, although a gap appears when describing this concept in the context of school practices. The aim of this study is to identify how teachers define and use GPK in their everyday teaching. Data were collected using video stimulated recall…

Living Book--Augmenting Reading for Life, a three-year EU-funded Erasmus + project (September 2016-August 2019), exploited the affordances of augmented reality (AR) and other emerging technologies in order to address the underachievement of European youth in reading skills. The program developed an innovative approach that empowers teachers from…

School-home communication is a growing research field in social sciences, particularly in education sciences and communication studies. While previous studies have paid much attention to the importance of school-home interaction in supporting primary academic socialisation and progress of elementary school pupils, the role of teacher-parent…

Educational data use practices have a positive impact on evidence-driven school development. Although schools have an abundance of data available to make evidence-driven decisions, it might not be used to its full potential. This paper aimed to explore Estonian teachers' perceptions of data use that support evidence-driven school development. In…

The unprecedented shift to remote schooling introduced in many countries in the spring of 2020 as one of the preventive measures to stop the spread of COVID-19 gave us the opportunity not only to analyse the strengths and weaknesses of remote schooling, but also to reflect on how education is being provided in general. We interviewed in total…

Among the variety of communication possibilities between home and school, face-to-face conferences. The present study focuses on a sub-genre that can be defined as a "students developmental conference": a meeting involving the students, family representatives, and where the main goal is to support students' development and self-analysis.…

The study investigated teachers' knowledge of reading comprehension processes and reading comprehension instruction. The study was carried out among teachers (N = 65) in Estonia. The content analysis classified qualitative data from semi-structured interviews as quantitative data. The results showed that teachers' content knowledge about reading…

Societal, structural, value-based or economic changes and changes related to technological developments necessitate a continuous development process in the field of education. In responding to the changes, teacher agency becomes a key factor. This study explores when the context of reform provides the basis for the growth of agency and when it…

Despite the growing number of international professional development programs, there is very little published research regarding the structures and effectiveness of these programs. This paper shares the design and development of the technology component of an international professional development (PD) program designed for secondary English as…

This paper presents the findings of a study into the application process of the professional standards (PS) qualification in Estonia, which is a standard used to identify the level of professionalism of a teacher. The study collected the views of active teachers who have applied for the PS and those of the assessors to understand the shortcomings…