Content Of Professional Development Research Articles

Reaching teachers of early multilingual learners through professional development: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT This systematic literature review synthesises 49 studies exploring teacher professional development (PD) focused on the education of multilingual learners (MLs). Specifically, we examined PD design for in-service mainstream classroom teachers serving MLs in early elementary grades. We followed the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines for transparent reporting in systematic reviews, including the four phases of identification, screening, eligibility, and inclusion. Findings show that although the content of PD has covered foundational literacy areas, such as vocabulary and comprehension, more attention is needed on integration of culture and MLs’ linguistic repertoires. Results also show that PD with positive outcomes is ongoing, collaborative, and includes multiple stakeholders. However, there is room for the inclusion of family and teacher voice. We conclude by arguing that future research on PD within the context of ML education should explore long-term impact of interventions on teachers and students and focus on leadership roles to expand instructional capacity for MLs.

Speech-language pathology clinical educators’ perspectives on the benefits and drawbacks of telesupervision: a qualitative analysis

ABSTRACT This qualitative study, conducted during the 1st year of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzed speech-language pathology (SLP) clinical educators’ perspectives on the benefits and drawbacks of using telesupervision to achieve clinical effectiveness during a telepractice visit. Findings suggest that the context of telesupervision was perceived to impact clinical education, both by enhancing increased supervised practice opportunities but also restricting it to specific populations and service types. The supervisory relationship was perceived to be enhanced by telesupervision in the simplicity of meeting with students while also being reduced due to a loss of interpersonal connection between supervisor and student. The impact of telesupervision on the clinical learning environment, clinical education, and supervisory relationship was reported more frequently than the impact of technology on telesupervision. Telesupervision has both merits and challenges that must be considered when developing professional development content.

CONTEXTUAL TEACHING AND LEARNING FOR HR MANAGERS’ PSYCHOLOGICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL COMPETENCE DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF CORPORATE TRAINING

The article is devoted to highlighting the problem of the use of contextual teaching and learning for HR managers’ psychological and pedagogical competence development in within corporate training. The aim of the article is as follows: to substantiate the contextual teaching and learning as pedagogical condition for HR managers’ psychological and pedagogical competence development within the framework of corporate training. The role and significance of psychological and pedagogical competence in the professional activity of HR managers is substantiated. An analysis of the scientific literature on the research problem, highlighting various aspects of contextual teaching and learning usage was carried out. It is justified that for HR managers’ psychological and pedagogical competence development in the framework of corporate training, it is important to master knowledge, develop skills, professional values and attitudes that totality can be characterized as the HR manager’s ability to reach acme and realize one’s own competence in the conditions of a fast‐developing business environment consisting of typical, atypical, problematic, creative and innovative situations and tasks. It is proved that to gain experience in the implementation of the psychological and pedagogical competence of HR managers, it is important to harmonize the content of training, which reflects the specifics of their professional activity, with organizational forms and methods that have proven their effectiveness in the framework of corporate training. The content of professional development should be practice‐oriented, based on the experience of HR managers and provide for its further use in practice. The features and content of contextual teaching and learning for the acquisition of experience in the implementation of the psychological and pedagogical competence of HR managers are presented (the content, tasks, the organizational forms of learning and methods, the peculiarities of participants’ activity, the expected results, the indicators of development). The examples of training organization using the potential of a seminar, role‐playing and business games, team building and teamwork, etc. are provided. On the basis of the conducted research, the conclusion was formulated that the development of HR managers’ psychological and pedagogical competence in the framework of corporate training is possible, if its theoretical foundations are substantiated, and the specifics of the implementation of this pedagogical condition is clearly defined, as well as the appropriate organizational forms of learning and teaching methods are chosen.

Incentivizing e-learning agribusiness professional development content for Tennessee secondary teachers

Teacher professional development is seen by many as a cornerstone for initiating educational change. Yet, there are many challenges to participating, such as family commitments, high workloads, poor-quality content, high program costs, and frequent travel. Financial incentives can be an effective tool to overcome these challenges. However, setting up incentives to motivate participation can be difficult, since several factors can influence the optimal payment level. This study investigates how content, time commitment, and stipend payment influences willingness to participate in an agricultural professional development program. Data were collected by surveying participants. Most of the participants joined the program based on the content and stipend, indicating both were influential for involvement. The $500 stipend offered to teachers exceeded the compensation for which they were willing to participate, and they indicated they were willing to dedicate additional hours to professional development. Based on the results of this study, we recommend stipends for professional development be at rates comparable or higher than local instructional rates to maximize participation and persistence.

Social-managerial mechanisms for the implementation of the teacher’s professional standard: Features and prospects

The quality of education directly depends on the level of the teachers’ professional training. There are many measures to improve the quality of education and teachers’ professionalism, and a significant part of them, including programs of the Russian national project “Education”, aim at providing a system for the professional development of the pedagogical community. One of the means in the trajectory of the personal-professional development of teachers is a professional standard. It has been implemented over the past ten years; however, there are still difficulties and limitations in its implementation, the elimination of which implies a systematic approach and special social-managerial mechanisms based on the following methodology: theory of social fields by P. Bourdieu, concept of a personified social-cultural management model by A.V. Tikhonov, and the dispositional theory of personality by V.A. Yadov. To identify the specifics of social-managerial mechanisms for the implementation of the teacher’s professional standard, the authors conducted a survey of pedagogical workers of educational organizations in the Orel Region. The respondents of the expert survey were heads of educational organizations and specialists of municipal structures in charge of the education system. The survey focused on teachers’ awareness of the content of professional development, their attitudes to the state education policy and expectations from the teacher’s development system and the national project “Education”. The survey showed a rather optimistic perception of the education system modernization by teachers, despite the ambiguous assessment of its specific measures. The need in developing personal-professional competencies of teachers by means of the additional professional education is obvious: a complex of such competencies is a condition for the perception of innovative and managerial processes. Social-administrative mechanisms should be based on the increasing subjectivity of teachers, their intentional and active readiness to participate in modernization of the education system. The study of the state policy measures in the field of the teachers’ professional development allowed the authors to identify four groups of mechanisms: motivational, control-evaluation, organizational and adaptive. Each group has specific features, but they are interconnected. The authors argue that we need to understand and take into account the tasks and regulatory, resource and procedural features of the identified mechanisms in order to minimize the risks of social conflicts and maintain social order in the education system.

Integrating Media Literacy Across the Content Areas

AbstractTeachers must first acquire the necessary media literacy skills, strategies, dispositions, and pedagogy to impactfully integrate media literacy into their instruction. Furthermore, previous studies have suggested designing curricular resources as an effective form of media literacy professional learning. This case study examined how high school teachers of different content areas integrate media literacy into their instruction while participating in an online professional development course and how high school teachers applied the content from a media literacy online professional development course to design media literacy instruction. Findings indicated teachers made minor changes to their previous instructional practice, which indicated that participating in the online course led them to think about media literacy integration in new ways. Additionally, teachers applied the online professional development content by using media to build background knowledge, offering explicit media literacy strategy instruction and support, promoting independent practice at the intersection of content curricula and media literacy, and assigning media production to demonstrate content knowledge. Recommendations include equipping teachers with media literacy background knowledge, examining instruction stemming from media literacy professional development, and empowering teachers to design media literacy instruction through critical lenses.

Science teachers’ collaborative innovative activities: the role of professional development and professional experience

Despite the significant research interest in teachers’ innovative activities, the role of work experience and professional development (PD) as predictors of science teachers’ innovative work behaviour has rarely been studied. By using the TIMSS 2015 data of three countries with different levels of student achievements in science (Japan, Lithuania and South Africa), this article focuses on revealing how PD content, duration and teaching experience predict science teachers’ two collaborative innovative activities: working together to try out new ideas and sharing new ideas. According to Rogers’ diffusion theory, these two activities correspond to the fourth and fifth stages of innovation: implementation and sharing. The results of an ordinal regression analysis revealed that PD duration could not predict the collaborative innovative activity of science teachers and that teaching experience was a significant predictor of collaborative innovative activity only among Japanese teachers. The study showed that in Lithuanian and South African samples, PD focusing on pedagogical content knowledge, such as science curriculum, students’ critical thinking and enquiry skills and addressing individual students’ needs, positively predicted teachers’ innovative activities. The study invites future research and discussion about the role of PD duration in the collaborative innovative activity of science teachers.

Predictors for Augmentative and Alternative Communication Clinical Service Provision: Closing the Gap.

At the core of the clinical services provided by a speech-language pathologist (SLP) is upholding the human right to communicate. Augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) modalities support communication across environments by offering temporary or permanent solutions. Barriers to AAC service provision include translation of knowledge into clinical practice, which remains problematic despite changes to AAC preservice training addressing the knowledge barrier. This study aims to understand the importance of factors impacting the provision of AAC clinical services. From the survey data of SLPs (N = 530) regarding current AAC service delivery practices, barriers, and professional development preferences in the United States, a hierarchical multiple regression identified the importance between individual and clinical practice variables of knowledge and current use of AAC modalities. A binomial logistic regression predicted the probability of one or more independent variables for barriers to AAC service delivery and learning preferences for AAC-related professional development. The factors impacting SLPs' knowledge and barriers to practice are related to clinical practicum experiences. Engagement in AAC-related continuing education (CE) is the primary contributor to the use of AAC service provision. Predictors for barriers to AAC clinical provision are associated with clinical practicum experiences, the average number of patients seen weekly, and geographic region. Preference for CE topics and frequency depend on the work setting. Hands-on clinical practicum experience addresses opportunity barriers in AAC service provision, contributing explicitly to the value of collaboration in AAC service delivery and highlights the importance of evidence-based professional development content. The findings from this study are reassuring in that clinicians are using AAC and suggest that high-quality professional development is an effective means to address the gap between knowledge generation and translation in the field. https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.23202170.

Does the duration of professional development programs influence effects on instruction? An analysis of 174 lessons during a national-scale program

ABSTRACT We examine the effects of a year-long national-scale professional development (PD) program on mathematics instructional quality. In contrast to previous studies examining the effects of this program on instruction by comparing before and after participation or participants and non-participants, we examine whether instructional quality changed during the program. More specifically, we conduct an analysis of 174 video-recorded mathematics lessons given by 52 teachers during their year of participation. Contrary to previous studies, the results demonstrate that the instructional quality did not improve over the course of the PD. We suggest that the explanations for the diverging results concern how, when, and to what extent instructional quality changes in PD programs. Specifically, we discuss how the explanations may illuminate the significance of PD duration for PD effects, and how these effects may be mediated by features concerning the PD content and the scale at which the program is implemented.

Teachers’ practices of integrating challenging demands of inclusive mathematics education in a professional development program

When implementing educational innovations, teachers’ approaches to integrating new teaching demands are a crucial factor in their professional development. This becomes especially important in inclusive mathematics education, where teachers are demanded to integrate two jobs: (a) create joint learning experiences for all students and (b) provide focused learning opportunities for individuals. These jobs and the orientations in which they are pursued are perceived as conflicting demands by some teachers, while others do not. Within the model of content-related teacher expertise, this qualitative study investigates teachers’ practices for integrating these demands by disentangling the interplay between teachers’ self-reported practices and their underlying orientations about inclusive education. The analysis reveals that only some teachers explicate conflicts between inclusive teaching demands. It also shows that teachers command a variety of different practices for dealing with the new teaching demands and that some complex practices can indeed integrate different demands simultaneously. Implications include the insight that professional development programs on inclusive education should pay careful attention to teachers’ articulated jobs and orientations in order to promote the integration of teaching demands. Beyond this specific professional development content, the search for practices for integrating demands arising from an interplay of jobs and orientations might be a promising professional development research approach for increasing the scope of professional development.

Five principles for high-quality mathematics teaching: Combining normative, epistemological, empirical, and pragmatic perspectives for specifying the content of professional development

The academic search for principles of high-quality subject-matter teaching has been informed by different perspectives, in particular normative, epistemological, empirical, and pragmatic perspectives. While these perspectives have sometimes been treated as competing, we emphasize the need of their integration to identify sets of principles that can inform professional development programs for quality development. This paper starts from characterizing the four perspectives, and then shows how they are iteratively intertwined in providing a research base for specifying high-quality principles for teaching, in our case exemplified for the school subject mathematics. For this goal, we present the set of five principles that we have deemed as core principles for a new nationwide, ten-year professional development program in Germany: Conceptual Focus, Cognitive Demand, Student Focus and Adaptivity, Longitudinal Coherence, and Enhanced Communication. We will discuss these five principles against their backgrounds stemming from combing normative, epistemological, empirical, and pragmatic perspectives. This set of principles serves as an exemplary case to substantiate our general argumentation that contemporary educational research and professional development activities should not choose between perspectives but strive for combining them.

Teacher Educators’ Conceptualisation of Technology in Malawi: A Critical Perspective

This study took a critical perspective to explore teacher educators’ conceptualisation of instructional technology in Malawi. Participants included teacher educators from three different public teacher education institutions, and staff members of a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) that trains teachers and student teachers in the use of digital education technology. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews and document analysis. The findings showed prominence of the media view of instructional technology, especially digital technologies. These conceptualisations appear to be shaped by the teacher educators’ prior training, experience in teaching an instructional technology course, and organisational structures that facilitate the use of instructional technology at the institutions under study. These findings might be useful for teacher educators’ technology professional development content and activities. The findings can also provide insights into extending conversations on the applicability of Teacher Educator Technology Competencies (TETCs) in contexts beyond the USA, where they were primarily developed.

Designing professional development for special education teachers: Effects on assistive technology competency in developing inquiry-based student experiences

The Professional Development (PD) intervention in this study introduced special education teachers to inquiry-driven practices utilizing assistive technology (AT) to support student diverse learning needs. The study followed multiple case study research design to examine changes in AT competency and mindset of three special education teachers participating in PD. Findings showed that the structure and content of PD supported development of special education teachers’ competency in designing AT-infused inquiry-based experience for students with disabilities. It also affected changes in teachers’ mindset from thinking about their students as incapable individuals to recognizing their academic abilities as they engaged in inquiry-based learning experiences.

Establishing a Nurse Champion Education Program for Perinatal Home Health Nurses.

Professional development is essential for the ongoing professional growth of nurses and ensures employers and patients that staff have current knowledge in the field. But what happens when there's no budget for professional development? This quality improvement project describes the use of a nurse champion intervention for a professional development program for perinatal home health nurses at a nonprofit health organization. A nurse champion mentors and advocates for nurse colleagues during a change project. In this case, the nurse champion partnered with nurse educators from the supporting hospital and instituted a program to provide regular professional development content to perinatal home health nurses. Results showed their level of confidence in providing prenatal, labor and delivery, and early pediatric education improved. Level of confidence in providing postpartum education stayed the same, and level of confidence in providing neonatal intensive care unit education decreased. The Nurse Champion Education Program was a budget-friendly solution that fostered professional nursing development. Although this intervention was applied to a specific population, all home health nurses could benefit from a nurse champion education model in their professional setting.

The Implementation of Cognitively Challenging Tasks: The Role of Science Teachers’ Professional Development and Teaching Experience

This study deals with the implementation of cognitively challenging tasks for students in science education following professional development interventions for teachers based on the theory of change. These tasks require non-routine behaviors and encourage students to work beyond instructions and accept a high level of responsibility. This study explores how the content of professional development, the duration of professional development, and the extent of the teaching experience of science teachers are associated with the implementation of cognitively challenging science tasks in science education. A secondary data analysis of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2019 data from three countries (Singapore, Lithuania, and South Africa) was conducted. Ordinal logistic regression (OLR) was used to predict an ordinal dependent variable (the implementation of cognitively challenging science tasks) according to the independent variables (the content of professional development, the duration of professional development, and the extent of the teaching experience of science teachers). The results of the OLR confirmed that the implementation of cognitively challenging tasks is associated with professional development content (improving students’ critical thinking or inquiry skills and science content) and the extent of the teaching experience of science teachers from the selected countries.

Exogenous Shocks and Teachers’ Motivation to Learn: Pandemic and Professional Development in the United States

Abstract In this article, we examine how the COVID-19 pandemic, an exogenous shock to the United States education system, shaped teachers’ readiness and willingness to engage in professional development (PD). We borrow the concept of exogenous shocks from economics and sociology to illustrate how education practice can be driven as much by factors outside the field (e.g., viral outbreaks) as by those within it (e.g., policy and scholarship). Using the four substantive domains in Appova and Arbaugh’s (2018) framework on teachers' motivation to learn in PD—teacher education and PD, educational psychology, andragogy and adult learning, and policy and accountability—we argue that teacher motivation, rather than mere PD structure or content, is the true linchpin of teacher learning. In that light, we describe some of the pandemic’s demotivational effects on teachers’ learning in the U.S. and offer a roadmap for scholars to center motivation in future PD research. We outline several pathways of inquiry, including a renewed focus on links between teacher motivation and PD effectiveness, the generation and application of new measures and models of teachers’ motivation to learn, and the use of PD as an instrument for teacher resilience and efficacy after an exogenous shock. Keywords: professional development, teacher learning, teacher motivation, COVID-19, pandemic

Online Adjunct Faculty Perceptions of Professional Development to Support Personal and Professional Academic Growth During COVID-19

Objective: The purpose of this study was to understand what online adjunct faculty value as support services, specifically professional development opportunities, provided by their respective higher education institutions. Method: This qualitative narrative inquiry study centered on exploring perceptions and experiences of online adjunct faculty members from higher education institutions and their experiences and expectations of professional development (PD), prior to and during COVID-19. Results: The study resulted in the identification of possible improvements and enhancements to existing PD content that would further support faculty personal development, mental health, wellbeing, and academic growth. Conclusions: This study reminds us that there are numerous variables, including unforeseen crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that need to be considered when developing, implementing, and presenting PD for online adjunct faculty professional and personal growth. Because faculty want to be listened to and heard, the PD development and implementation process needs to be interactive to support online adjunct faculty, regardless of whether the university is for-profit or not-for-profit. Implication for Practice: The results based on online adjunct faculty experiences could lead to updating professional development opportunities employed in different higher education institutions to promote faculty self-actualization and ultimately, student success.

Valences and sense of personal autonomy with regard to professional development in Dutch primary teachers: Do decision contexts and age make a difference?

In this study on motivations concerning professional development (PD) we interviewed 95 primary school teachers in the Netherlands. We coded these data using the Unified Model of Task-specific Motivation (de Brabander & Martens, 2014) in different decision contexts concerning who decides about teacher participation in PD: school board, teacher teams, or individual teachers. We analysed the valences that teachers associated with PD activities, their experiences of autonomy, and whether and how these variables were affected by decision context and teacher age. Results show that decision contexts relate differently to valences and autonomy experiences. Positive autonomy and positive valences increased going from schoolboard to team to individual decision contexts. Whereas the literature on effective teacher PD stresses the importance of PD design features, our study is the first to empirically demonstrate the crucial influence of decision contexts. Among older teachers, teaching experience informed the selection of PD content to transfer to their classrooms. Younger teachers tended to first explore whether PD worked in their classrooms before deciding about adoption. Direct applicability emerged as a dominant criterion for evaluating PD. Decision context and autonomy regarding PD programmes play important roles in ensuring applicability. Our research revealed that the dominance of the direct applicability criterion was not motivated by student benefits alone. It was also based in an attitude of efficiency among primary teachers, reflecting growing work pressures and a general prioritisation of classroom teaching above all other tasks, including PD.

Examining online video-based professional development for music teachers

ABSTRACT This paper reports a qualitative study that investigates how five different video-based online prototypes impacted in-service music teachers’ professional knowledge and their learning experiences. Through an examination of participants’ posts and interviews, the findings showed that video-based professional development (PD) could impact teacher’s pedagogical content knowledge as they afforded reflections that could change participants’ thinking and provided a vicarious experience for music teaching. Situated in a forum, the video-based PD sessions allowed for co-construction of knowledge amongst participants. The findings also revealed challenges in participants’ active and sustained participation. The findings are discussed with extant research on effective PD and video-based PD, and take cognisance of heutagogy. We discuss considerations for online video-based PD in terms of PD content design in presenting and exploiting the video material, how we could include the diverse and flexible ways of participation, and the role of the facilitator in providing a safe environment and encouraging multiple perspectives.

Collaboration on Art Educators’ Perceptions of Required Professional Learning

In this action research study, we investigate the impact that social collaborative professional learning activities have on art educators’ perceptions of required professional development on art assessment. The study was conducted in the context of a district-wide professional development program and evaluated through a performance-based assessment professional learning activity, which was done in both a collaborative and one-on-one format. The findings indicate that participant-led professional learning supports visual arts teachers’ engagement in and understanding of professional development content. Reflective dialogue, networking opportunities, and collaborative cultures were key factors contributing to the outcomes of this study. In addition to outlining the study, we discuss other considerations for future research and implications for professional development for art teachers.