Changing teacher professional learning : transitioning from train - the trainer to participatory action research

Diffusion-adoption professional learning models which position teachers ascompliant technicians of policy and practices are limited in their long term effects on teacher professionalism. In contrast, co-researching models of professional learning hold the potential to engage teachers and researchers in explorations of mutual concern which impact on professionalism and contribute to development of both theory and practice.

This article describes professional learning within the context of an Australian state department of education during a period of reform. The contextual influences and design of a collaborative, film-driven participatory action research design which explored teacher learning and application of multiliteracies theory are explored. A spiral of cycles of action research incorporated engagentent with multiliteracies theory and collaborative planning; filming of teacher classroom 'action' and reflective interviews; collaborative observation of and reflection on the resultant filmic artefacts.

The filmic artefacts offered rich multimodal examples of teaching practices,
incorporatíng visual, audio, gestural and spatial classroom information, far beyond the purely linguistic recounts and descriptions which characterise many professional development workshops. Incorporation of collaborative filmic research techniques enabled multimodal observation of teaching practices across a number of sites, with observation unrestricted by temporal or physical parameters.

I haven't changed bigots but … : reflections on the impact of teacher professional learning in sexuality education

This paper reports on aspects of an Australian study into the factors and conditions that make it possible for secondary school health education teachers to include and affirm gender and sexual diversity in their teaching. The study examined the impact of a two-day intervention designed to prepare teachers to use a major new government-funded teaching and learning resource called Talking Sexual Health. The study found that whilst there was a range of personal and structural barriers inhibiting change, professional development and access to teaching and learning resources could indeed impact positively on teachers' willingness and ability to include and affirm diverse sexualities in their health education programs.

The national mapping of teacher professional learning project : a multi-dimensional space?

This essay focuses on the National Mapping of Teacher Professional Learning (2008), a report that we co-authored along with a number of other researchers on the basis of extensive surveys and interviews relating to the policies and practices of teacher professional learning in Australia. The report is an update of an earlier survey conducted by David McRae and others, entitled PD 2000, and it registers significant changes in attitudes and practices relating to professional learning across Australia in the intervening period. Perhaps the most significant development is the way professional learning is now recognized as an important vehicle for education reform by systems, schools and by teachers themselves, most notably the standards-based reforms that have such a decisive effect on the policy landscape here in Australia and in other countries. The work of the AATE in developing the Standards for Teachers of English Language and Literacy (STELLA) is mentioned in the report. It was acknowledged that STELLA provides a generative framework for professional learning, sometimes in contradiction to more managerial approaches. The question remains, however, of how English teachers as a professional community might locate themselves within the policy landscape described in this report. This essay is an attempt to promote this kind of discussion and to argue the distinctive nature of the standpoint that English teachers might bring to thinking about and planning for professional learning and practitioner inquiry.

Teacher professional learning in early childhood education: insights from a mentoring program

In Australia, as is the case in other countries around the world, the Early Childhood workforce is in the process of ‘skilling up’ to meet government demands related to quality service provision. This paper sets out to identify what constitutes effective teacher professional learning through mentoring. Guided by critical realism and social practice as theoretical perspectives, the paper uses data drawn from the State-wide Professional Mentoring Program for Early Childhood Teachers (2011–2014), Victoria, Australia. The findings identify four C’s essential to effective professional learning – Context: the association between individual aspirations and systemic requirements; Collegiality: the positioning and importance of collegial relationships; Criticality: critical deliberation in ‘safe’ learning environments; and Change: recognition that teacher learning takes place in the domains of professional dispositions, pedagogical knowledge and social capital. These findings point to the need to consider teachers’ contexts of practice in the design of professional development programs such as mentoring, and to conceptualise learning as a socially situated practice rather than a detached pedagogic event.

Complexities of teaching — features of teacher education programs and professional learning practices to support their development

This publication is the editorial for Vol 15.2 of MTED which summarises and synthesises the articles published in the issue. The extent to which those whose learning is the focus controlled the learning situations in which they participated is the key concept discussed and the factors contributing to the extent of control are elucidated.

Teacher agency and participation in professional learning for new literacies

The proliferation of digital technologies is influencing the relational as well as the technological and meaning-making aspects of literacy learning. There is a renewed focus on student learning that promotes agency and enables new literacies mindsets. However a lack of clarity persists as to the form and content of effective professional learning for teachers of new literacies. Combining elements from various models of professional learning to foster teacher agency and participation mobilises transformed processes and conditions. This article draws on literature from the areas of new literacies, student agency and teacher professional learning to argue for approaches to teacher professional learning that support new literacy learning. It explores the characteristics of models of professional learning for teachers; describes a professional learning program offered to teachers of literacy; outlines a mixed methods research study in the form of a survey of participants engaged in the professional learning program; and analyses teacher perceptions of their experiences of professional learning and how key characteristics influenced their learning.

Leading professional learning in an Australian secondary school through school-university partnerships

As the limitations of one‐off and disconnected professional learning programs for teachers are recognised, there is widespread interest in building learning communities and professional learning teams within schools. When considering how to build local learning communities, school and university partnerships are seen as offering rich possibilities for transformative professional action. Set in the context of the international agenda of “Education For All” (UNESCO, 2005) a model of sustained on‐going professional learning, developed in one large secondary school in Australia, is analysed. The social practices that generate action and participation for partnership members are then scrutinised for the legitimacy of school‐university partnerships and the contribution to enhancing teacher learning.

Significance of a multimedia resource in the professional learning of preservice teachers

This phenomenological inquiry seeks to understand the complexity of teacher professional learning through analysis of the use of a multimedia curriculum resource in initial teacher education programs. The study follows seven preservice teachers at three points over the course of an eighteen month period to gain understandings of how they are making meaning of their becoming teacher journeys. For the purposes of this paper only one aspect of the doctoral study is reported on due to the limitations of space. Consequently, this paper focuses on the findings of the significance of using a multimedia curriculum resource, known as QuILT, for professional learning. The qualitative study used questionnaires that included open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews with each of the seven preservice teachers at three points over an eighteen month period; as well as artefacts such as their QuILT related assessment. The paper reports on the findings that the multimedia resource and its pedagogical use provide a rich professional learning environment for preservice teachers.

Equivalence and relational thinking: opportunities for professional learning

In this article an argument for the use of collaborative professional learning teams to improve teaching and children's achievement is presented together with an explanation of how this can be done. The case provided in this article concerns children's understanding of equivalence and the way in which teachers together can explore children's conceptions and misconceptions held by children in their classroom. An effective teaching strategy using a number talk about a true/false number sentence is also described.

Scaling-up an efficacious school-based physical activity intervention: study protocol for the 'Internet-based professional learning to help teachers support activity in youth' (iPLAY) cluster randomized controlled trial and scale-up implementation evaluat

BACKGROUND: Despite the health benefits of regular physical activity, most children are insufficiently active. Schools are ideally placed to promote physical activity; however, many do not provide children with sufficient in-school activity or ensure they have the skills and motivation to be active beyond the school setting. The aim of this project is to modify, scale up and evaluate the effectiveness of an intervention previously shown to be efficacious in improving children's physical activity, fundamental movement skills and cardiorespiratory fitness. The 'Internet-based Professional Learning to help teachers support Activity in Youth' (iPLAY) study will focus largely on online delivery to enhance translational capacity.

METHODS/DESIGN: The intervention will be implemented at school and teacher levels, and will include six components: (i) quality physical education and school sport, (ii) classroom movement breaks, (iii) physically active homework, (iv) active playgrounds, (v) community physical activity links and (vi) parent/caregiver engagement. Experienced physical education teachers will deliver professional learning workshops and follow-up, individualized mentoring to primary teachers (i.e., Kindergarten - Year 6). These activities will be supported by online learning and resources. Teachers will then deliver the iPLAY intervention components in their schools. We will evaluate iPLAY in two complementary studies in primary schools across New South Wales (NSW), Australia. A cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT), involving a representative sample of 20 schools within NSW (1:1 allocation at the school level to intervention and attention control conditions), will assess effectiveness and cost-effectiveness at 12 and 24 months. Students' cardiorespiratory fitness will be the primary outcome in this trial. Key secondary outcomes will include students' moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (via accelerometers), fundamental movement skill proficiency, enjoyment of physical education and sport, cognitive control, performance on standardized tests of numeracy and literacy, and cost-effectiveness. A scale-up implementation study guided by the RE-AIM framework will evaluate the reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and maintenance of the intervention when delivered in 160 primary schools in urban and regional areas of NSW.

DISCUSSION: This project will provide the evidence and a framework for government to guide physical activity promotion throughout NSW primary schools and a potential model for adoption in other states and countries.