The use of video recording in professional development of teachers and teacher educators in Indonesia

Design-based research has gained currency in educational research over the past decade due to its strength to bridge the divide between theoretical research and educational practice in naturalistic settings. Design based approaches involve a process of designing mathematical tasks, observing the enacted design in classrooms and reflecting on the process from analysing the classroom artifacts. Video plays a central role in supporting teachers and teacher educators to study and reflect on students’ mathematical thinking and in capturing the dynamic of classroom teaching and learning process.

This chapter will examine and analyse practitioner’s lenses in capturing the dynamic and complexity of classroom mathematical learning using video segments, and classroom artifacts including digital photos of classroom moments and students’ work. Practitioners’ lenses are taken as a window to capture key teaching and learning moments from the lessons. Analysis of this selection of these video segments along with other classroom artifacts based on practitioners’ lenses provide insights into practitioners’ views on key teaching and learning moments in mathematics lessons.

The teaching contest as a professional development activity to promote classroom instruction excellence in China

Teaching contests might be alien to many readers outside of China mainland, but as one of professional development activities, it is well known by most of Chinese school teachers. This chapter, based on the data collected by mail surveys to the contest organizers, evaluation panel members, contest winners, and ordinary participating teachers, and detailed notes taken from various meetings of the evaluation committee, as well as a lesson video of one of the three contest winners, we aimed to the 2011 national high school teachers' teaching contests carefully, to examine the aims and processes of teaching contests, their possible merits or weaknesses for teachers’ professional development, and features of exemplary lessons demonstrated during the national teaching contest. It was found that the aim of the teaching contest was totally not the competition per se., to promote curriculum development and teachers' professional development, to provide a big platform for those teachers who pursue excellence in teaching to display, discuss, explore, and share with others about mathematics instruction were real intentions of the organizers.

Re-thinking continuing professional development through changing metaphors and location in professional practices

Many professions have requirements for professional development activities to ensure continuing registration or membership. These commonly focus on participation in a limited range of activities. This paper questions the assumptions behind such approaches and what alternatives might be considered. It explores the suitability of metaphors used for continuing professional education and suggests that continuing professional development might be better conceptualised within practice theory. It identifies what a practice theory view of continuing professional development might involve and discusses the implications, particularly the notion of locating development within the practices of work.

The Use of Videos and Classroom Artefacts in Professional Development of Teachers and Teacher Educators in Indonesia

This study is grounded on adaptations of Realistic Mathematics Education, Lesson Study and design-based research in Indonesian classroom contexts. Design-based research has gained currency in educational research over the past decade due to its strength to bridge the divide between theoretical research and educational practice in naturalistic settings. Design-based approaches involve a process of designing mathematical tasks, observing the enacted design in classrooms and reflecting on the process from analysing the classroom artefacts. Video plays a central role in supporting teachers and teacher educators to study and reflect on students’ mathematical thinking and in capturing the dynamic of classroom teaching and learning process. This chapter will examine and analyse practitioners’ lenses in capturing the dynamic and complexity of classroom mathematical learning using video vignettes and classroom artefacts including digital photos of classroom moments and students’ work. Practitioners’ lenses are taken as a window to capture key teaching and learning moments from the lessons. Analysis of this selection of these video vignettes along with other classroom artefacts based on practitioners’lenses provides insights into practitioners’ views on key teaching and learning moments in mathematics lessons.

Paths of professional development in music therapy: training, professional identity and practice

Music therapy is listed as a profession in the EU Regulated Professions Database. This has assisted the next steps towards recognition in relevant countries and regions. The author’s experience as an academic leader in music therapy training over more than two decades is used to reflect on the profession of music therapy within Europe through interrogation of concepts underpinning professional identity, training, and professional practice. Potential tensions between recognition and regulation of healthcare professions are presented and discussed. As all practice takes place in context, balancing training needs between techniques and skills, systemic national and regional policy, and institutional knowledge is crucial. Achieving this balance is not easy but is key to successful growth of practitioner knowledge, seeding student’s curiosity about context and systems from the dawn of training.

Managerialist vis-à-vis learning and development goals for EAL teachers: A case study of an in-service professional development provider

Under current Western neoliberal philosophy, promotion of efficiency and resolution of issues are typically expected to result from effective management. The education sector, too, has responded well to these expectations. Amongst such expectations, engagement in professional development activities (PDAs) by teachers of English as an additional language (EAL) is widely encouraged, considered to be essential, and usually conducted with a view to facilitate effective and effortless administration. As such, institutional offerings of PDAs driven by managerialist agendas generally tend to be ad hoc attempts to facilitate administrative decisions rather than opportunities for teachers’ lifelong learning and development. Under such circumstances, providers of in-service PDAs are faced with a conflicting dilemma – that of facilitating an effortless flow of administration and, at the same time, promoting teacher learning and development. We foreground one case of such dilemma surrounding the offering of PDAs derived as interview data from an experienced provider of in-service PDAs for EAL teachers.

Inclusive pedagogy in Australian universities: a review of current policies and professional development activities

This article reports on activities undertaken by Australian universities to support academic staff to provide inclusive teaching. The findings of two lines of inquiry are reported - a desktop audit of the presence of inclusive teaching or universal design for learning (UDL) in publically available policies and procedures documents, and a survey of the methods adopted to build staff capacity to provide inclusive teaching and learning. Just over a third (34.21%) of Australian universities referred to inclusive teaching or UDL in their policies and procedures. A wide range of current practices in professional development for inclusive teaching was reported, with the most frequent being one-off workshops focussing on accommodating specific groups of students. Improved institutional support through policies, procedures and professional development would enable Australian higher education teachers to provide quality inclusive teaching to all students.

EAL teacher-agency: implications for participation in professional development

Teachers construct their practice, education and professionaldevelopment within two domains of professionalism: sponsored andindependent. The association between these two domains, however,is complex; it is overlapping, inseparable and sometimes uneasy. Thecomplexity is further exacerbated by the codependent nature ofassociation between the teacher and employment context in whichteachers’ and institutions’ trajectories for professional developmentmay vary. This situation calls into question the discrete treatmentgiven to and received by sponsored and independent professionalismin conceptualisations of teacher professional development. We arguethat, in both domains, teachers’ agency as learners is crucial for theirprofessional development and institutional efficacies. We critique theostensible disconnect and tensions that exist between the domains ofsponsored and independent professionalism in relation to teachingEnglish as an additional language and discuss how principles ofsponsored and independent professional development initiativescan be harnessed for optimal teacher learning.discuss how principles ofsponsored and independent professional development initiativescan be harnessed for optimal teacher learning.

Policies and practices of professional development in China : what do early childhood teachers think?

This paper focuses on early childhood teachers’ professional development in China. It reports a study which aims to elicit twelve in-service early childhood teachers’ perspectives of the values and issues of professional development policies and the learning opportunities they experienced. Two themes arising from the study are addressed, namely the teachers’ positive responses to the government aspirations for enhancing teaching in early childhood education, and the complexities of the organizational and role structures of the early childhood community in ChangChun where the study took place. An important aspect of the teachers’ perspectives of their professional development, which connects up to the early childhood environment in ChangChun, is the view that professional development was oriented to their own employment continuity. Teachers’ learning was perceived as a useful means to offset the insecurity of their careers, but not closely related to children’s learning.