Critical Professional Development Research Articles

Investigating TESOL Teachers' Awareness of Critical Pedagogy at Higher Education Institutions in Oman: Implications for Critical Professional Development

Critical Pedagogy (CP) has been proposed as an alternative pedagogy capable of meeting the complex demands of teaching English within a particular sociopolitical context. Despite the fact that CP has been present in education since the 1960s, much of the research on CP has been conducted recently in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) contexts. There is a growing but as yet small amount of research that addresses the usage of CP in TESOL contexts, to which this study hopes to make a useful contribution. Therefore, this study investigates the extent to which TESOL teachers from four higher education institutions in the Sultanate of Oman are aware of CP. In order to achieve this, a questionnaire is administered to 178 English Language Teachers. The main findings reveal a widespread lack of awareness of the concept of CP among TESOL teachers. Nonetheless, minorities of teachers are aware of CP and implement it in a limited fashion in their classes. On the other hand, there are teachers who, whilst being aware of CP, do not implement it. The implications of these findings are discussed.

It’s Heart Work: Critical Case Studies, Critical Professional Development, and Fostering Hope Among Social Justice–Oriented Teacher Educators

As social justice–oriented teachers and teacher educators, it can seem as if we are fighting a losing battle against neoliberal education policies designed to disrupt and dismantle our field. In this article we draw upon traditions of critical race theory, counterstorying, and critical hope to examine the complex realities of contemporary teacher education and envision an alternate reality in which our profession develops and thrives. To do so, we first present a series of autoethnographic critical case studies that highlight dilemmas of practice. We then invite readers to examine each case through multiple lenses, as they grapple with the complexities of a visionary path forward. In so doing, we offer tools for critical professional development that articulate, deconstruct, and reimagine social justice–oriented teacher education and activism in this changing landscape. We close with recommendations to increase our collective capacity as social justice teacher educators, placing a central emphasis on the need for community, critical professional development, and hope.

Cultivating sacred spaces: a racial affinity group approach to support critical educators of color

ABSTRACTDespite repeated pleas for diversifying the U.S. teacher force, teachers of color who are committed to social justice are often unsupported and even pushed out via structural, interpersonal, and pedagogical obstacles within the profession. In response to neoliberal, colorblind, and apolitical approaches to teacher development and support, educators and organizers have reclaimed and reframed their pedagogies through critical professional development and grassroots activism to center healing from the impacts of oppression in its myriad forms . The ethnographic case study in this article examines how, over the course of three years, a grassroots racial affinity group became an important space for learning and healing for its members. I explain how the group explicitly centered twelve members’ voices, needs, and collective knowledge, and in so doing: (a) collectively cultivated a critical, humanizing, and healing space for their sustainability; and (b) navigated various positions within socially toxic education institutions and organizations. I conclude by discussing how and why critical racial affinity spaces for educators of color are necessary in order to support their personal, political, relational, and pedagogical growth, which has implications on their retention and leadership within the field.

Abstract C25: Bridging the gap through a targeted research fellowship: Introduction and recruitment of under-represented minority students to the cancer research physician scientist pipeline

Abstract Introduction: The Chicago Cancer Health Equity Collaborative (ChicagoCHEC) is a National Cancer Institute comprehensive cancer partnership led by the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Northeastern Illinois University, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. The mission of ChicagoCHEC is to advance cancer health equity through meaningful scientific discovery, education, training, and community engagement. The current number of individuals in research and cancer health equity-related careers does not mirror the nation's demographics. While there are several gains in health status among racial and ethnic minority groups, disparities in health status have widened for certain indicators. At the culmination of the eight weeks, Research Fellows learned fundamental research practices and methodologies, pertinent research content topics (e.g., cancer inequity and recruitment of underserved minorities in clinical trials), social contexts for health inequity across the cancer continuum, and critical professional development practices and networks. Methods: Eligible participants were all undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students without graduate education from Northwestern University, Northeastern Illinois University, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and City Colleges of Chicago. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected and entered into RedCap via responses to module evaluations and a baseline survey with questions on self-efficacy in cancer disparity research. We applied modules around overarching core competencies envisioned by the ChicagoCHEC Research Education Core: (1) research practices, (2) research content, (3) social context/ interaction and personal development, and (4) professionalization. We recruited an intentional selected sample of underrepresented minorities to achieve representation across various definitions of “underrepresented” not limited to race/ethnicity, citizenship status, gender identification, sexual orientation, first-generation college student, and more. To achieve a high number of competitive candidates, the Research Education Core, one of four cores of the overarching U54 ChicagoCHEC, utilized existing cross-institutional inventories of student programs and groups, and corresponding recruitment strategies. This included Research Education Core staff collaborative presentations at career fairs, with student organizations, and in classes. The program leveraged the expertise of leading scholars and cancer researchers, health professionals, institutional leadership, and community leaders across Chicago taking part as guest lecturers, project mentors, and site visit hosts. The program served as an opportunity to move the needle on health by expanding opportunities to the next generation in a way that also changes the architecture of collaboration, community engagement, and the culture of research education to address health inequities. Core components of the intervention include individual and personal reflection, group exercises, didactic lecture, and classroom-based, and immersion and hands on experiences. These learning vehicles aimed to advance core values and competencies. Core values include teamwork, mentorship, critical thinking, value alignment, professionalism, intellectual curiosity, social justice, and reflective dialogue. Citation Format: Shaneah Taylor, Melinda Monge. Bridging the gap through a targeted research fellowship: Introduction and recruitment of under-represented minority students to the cancer research physician scientist pipeline [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Tenth AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2017 Sep 25-28; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2018;27(7 Suppl):Abstract nr C25.

Lessons for Teacher Education: The Role of Critical Professional Development in Teacher of Color Retention

With disproportionately high attrition rates for teachers of Color, there are many lessons to be learned from veteran teacher leaders that can inform how we train teachers. In this article, I share analysis of interviews with 11 women of Color veteran teachers who serve in formal or informal leadership roles within social justice education. Their reflections reveal how teacher education programs—justice oriented or not—fell short in preparing them for the hostile racial climate of schools, thus putting them at increased risk of being pushed out of teaching. This article also points to collectivized teacher-led spaces of racial literacy development—framed as critical professional development (CPD)—that have helped to sustain them in the field. These teachers’ narratives offer significant insights for teacher education to better prepare teachers of Color for long, effective, and transformative careers.

International Approaches to Professional Development for Mathematics Teachers

This book provides a rich description of the experiences and innovative approaches established in various countries to support the professional development of practising mathematics teachers. Many of these approaches are based on classroom context and considered the practitioners’ viewpoints. The analyses in various chapters help elucidate how the approaches articulate with practice, the contributions of teachers and teacher educators/researchers, and the fundamental theoretical framework directing the researchers. The chapters cover various aspects, including the main trends and issues in the education of practising mathematics teachers, the changes in their role during their careers, the learning that occur between teachers and teacher educators/researchers, and the hidden power relations in the collaboration between the two groups. There are indications that the formal and informal experiences of mathematics teachers, all through their careers, can contribute to their professional development and that the viewpoints of teachers and their practical knowledge must be genuinely considered in order to construct critical professional development experiences. In essence, the book offers new ways of creating continuous professional development that would help bridge the gap between research and practice.

Exploring practice – research networks for critical professional learning

This paper discusses the contribution that practice-research networks can make to support critical professional development in the Learning and Skills sector in England. By practice-research networks we mean groups or networks which maintain a connection between research and professional practice. These networks stem from the philosophy of practitioner and action research in education. We use two examples both from higher and further education in England where continuing professional development has become a mandatory requirement for teachers in the Further Education (FE) sector. Our examples suggest that critical professional development can occur and although we are able to begin to identify some of the ways that these networks operate it is less clear which appropriate theories should support our work. The second part of the paper therefore explores some theoretical perspectives that focus on networks operating as systems. We discuss Actor Network Theory and Activity Theory which show how networks are populated by individuals with agency and suggest that a helpful way to contextualise the benefits of networks is provided by the concept of expansive learning providing a different understanding of how professional learning and development take place.

A Beautiful Friendship

This article presents three case studies that explore a very popular trend in art museum adult education in the last decade—partnerships with medical schools to offer critical professional development in visual observation. Each case study describes a critical perspective in the development and implementation of this programming trend: that of the art museum educator, the medical school faculty, and the collaborative vision of the museum and medical school together. The article concludes with a brief explanation of evaluation and assessment research to date on the impact of these programs.

Food Safety Inservice Educational Needs of Agriculture Teachers

The purpose of this census study was to determine the food safety inservice educational needs of agriculture teachers in Iowa. The population for this study was all of the 211 agriculture teachers in the state out of which 161 were accessible. The response rate was 54.03% of the accessible population and 41.23% of the total population. Eleven food safety topics were identified with input from experts in agricultural education, food science and human nutrition, and animal science, as well as some input from the agriculture teachers themselves. The teachers were asked to rate the extent of their perceived need for inservice education on each topic on a six–point Likert–type scale. The findings indicated that these teachers needed more inservice education on all of these topics. Teachers indicated a greater need for inservice education focusing on foodborne illnesses, food safety, bacterial contamination, food irradiation, food processing, and pesticide pollution. Hence, these topics were identified as the critical professional development areas in food safety. It was recommended that all of the topics be included in the food safety inservice programs for agriculture teachers, with priority given to the identified critical professional development areas.

APS Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship program: exposing undergraduates to physiology research leads to a research‐focused career

The APS Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship (UGSRF) program seeks to excite and encourage undergraduate (UG) students worldwide to pursue a career as a basic research scientist. The program has 5 objectives: develop a research project, collect/analyze data, write up results; give a presentation on results at a scientific meeting; attend a national meeting; commit to a research career; and enroll in a graduate/professional program in basic biomedical research.Since the UGRSF program began in 2000, 109 undergraduates have participated. Most students (92%) attended EB meeting and made 99 presentations, with some students having more than one abstract or presentation. Over 35% of the students published a paper on their APS‐funded research.From surveys 2 years post‐Fellowship, 85% of the UGSRFs had graduated. Of these, 46% applied to graduate school (PhD or Master's programs) and 74% were accepted. As well, 58% applied to a science‐related professional school (MD, etc.) and 75% were accepted. At the time of the survey, most (78%) were already enrolled in a graduate or professional degree program.In 2007 and 2008, the program added an online interactive component where UGSRFs discussed professional networking, structure of research studies, and career options in biomedicine. Results indicated the online interaction provided a powerful tool for UG students to explore critical professional development topics.

“It’s Just Like Being a Student”: Making Space for Teachers to Think

This paper looks at creating legitimate thinking spaces for teachers to explore their pedagogical beliefs and practices through collaborative writing. Based upon a project from a post compulsory Initial Teacher Training programme in the UK it will describe the process of working with teacher educators towards writing as part of a critical professional development process. Writing collaborativley for publication, a companion to a student research journal, has become significant not just for producing a useful resource but as a highly valued space for thinking and discussing teaching and learning. Teacher educators teach others to reflect, to be critical and to value their professional independence, yet there is little space for them to do this themselves. One participant in a recent writing day exclaimed it was the first space he had to think for years, whilst another said it was a vital space to reconnect with educational beliefs and pedagogical practices with others. This paper will explore using writing as a framework to support critical thinking, reflection and collaboration for professional development. It provides a case study to explore if using this method supports relevant, contextual and authentic professionial developmnent both for self development and and as a site for resistance to the overwork and deprofessionalised culture in post-compulsory teaching.

Changes in Students' Use of Lifelong Learning Skills During a Problem-based Learning Project

ABSTRACT In a climate of continual change and innovation, lifelong learning is a critical professional development objective which has a direct impact on organizations' effectiveness and ability to compete and innovate. To help learners continually upgrade their skills and knowledge so they can effectively address emerging organizational and professional needs and opportunities, educators must prepare learners for their professions using teaching methodologies that develop learners' capacity for and disposition toward lifelong learning. Problem-based learning (PBL) is one such method. PBL uses professional problems of practice as a starting point, stimulus, and focus for student activity, and one of PBL's stated educational outcomes is students' use of lifelong learning skills. This study examined the changes in students' use of lifelong learning skills while participating in a PBL project. Twenty-six undergraduate university computer science students completed a 15-week C++ programming course. Using guided reflective journal responses as process data, students were observed to increase their application of lifelong learning skills during their PBL experience. Design and research recommendations are shared.

The influence of teaching experience and professional development on Greek teachers’ attitudes towards inclusion

On the assumption that the successful implementation of any inclusive policy is largely dependent on educators being positive about it, a survey was undertaken into the attitudes of Greek teachers to inclusion. The 155 respondents were general education primary teachers drawn from one region of Northern Greece, with a proportion deliberately selected from schools identified as actively implementing inclusive programmes. The analysis revealed positive attitudes towards the general concept of inclusion but variable views on the difficulty of accommodating different types of disabilities in mainstream classrooms. Teachers who had been actively involved in teaching pupils with SEN held significantly more positive attitudes than their counterparts with little or no such experience. The analysis also demonstrated the importance of substantive long‐term training in the formation of positive teacher attitudes towards inclusion. The paper concludes with recommendations for developing critical professional development courses that can result in attitudinal change and the formulation of genuinely inclusive practices.

Decolonizing methodologies and indigenous knowledge: The role of culture, place and personal experience in professional development

AbstractThis study reports findings from a 10‐day professional development institute on curricular trends involving 19 secondary mathematics and science teachers and administrators from Japan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Korea, Philippines, the United States, and People's Republic of China. Participants explored the roles of culture, place, and personal experience in science education through writings and group discussions. Initially, Asian participants tended to view indigenous knowledge and practices more negatively than U.S. peers. After a presentation on indigenous Hawaiian practices related to place and sustainability, they evaluated indigenous practices more positively and critiqued the absence of locally relevant science and indigenous knowledge in their national curricula. They identified local issues of traffic, air, and water quality they would like to address, and developed lessons addressing prior knowledge, place, and to a lesser extent, culture. These findings suggested critical professional development employing decolonizing methodologies articulated by indigenous researchers Abbott and Smith has the potential to raise teachers' awareness of the connections among personal and place‐based experiences, cultural practices and values, and teaching and learning. An implication was the development of a framework for professional development able to shift science instruction toward meaningful, culture, place, and problem‐based learning relevant to environmental literacy and sustainability. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 44: 1247–1268, 2007

Toward Teacher Development for the Urban in Urban Teaching

This article examines the potential of critical teacher inquiry groups to promote urban teacher retention, professional support and development. While much has been written in recent years about teacher inquiry, generally, little attention has been paid to professional development programs that highlight a critical analysis of urban schooling. Drawing on analysis of videos of group meetings, Email conversations with participants and informal interviews, this article concerns itself with a group of seven South Central Los Angeles elementary teachers that use critical inquiry to support each other in tackling multiple forms of inequality and oppression manifest in their classrooms, school and community. Brought together by a commitment to social justice, these teachers engage a set of shared readings in social and educational theory as the foundation for bi‐monthly meetings. The article concludes with recommendations for on‐going critical professional development models that support teachers as they confront the challenges of urban schools.

Introduction

Clinical supervision represents a critical professional development opportunity for mental health professionals. However, the practice of clinical supervision is seemingly overlooked in public schools. In point of fact, few school psychologists or school counselors actually receive clinical supervision. Still, with changes transforming school-based mental health practice, yesterday's practice is rapidly becoming today's malpractice. This article provides a fundamental look at the challenges facing school-based practitioners, highlights the need for clinical supervision in the schools, reviews key definitions, and underscores the necessity of school psychologists and school counselors becoming active participants in clinical supervision as a critical component to continuing education and professional development.

Physics teaching, professional development and a socially critical ideology

The marginalization of school physics as a socially dynamic educational experience for students is a cause for concern. It is one which needs to be addressed by providers of professional development courses for physics teachers. In this paper we explore some of the issues concerning the professional development of physics teachers, taking a direction which runs counter to the traditionally accepted values inherent in the teaching of the subject. The ideology of science teaching is explored in order to provide a rationale for a socially critical professional development programme for physics teachers. A programme designed to provide a challenge to traditional teaching ideology is described; this programme has an action research component coupled with an investigation into key issues involved in a socially critical physics education.

THE OIL AND GAS LABOUR MARKET — AN OVERVIEW

Over the past four years the Australian Oil and Gas Exploration Industry has moved from a period of high exploration and development, skill shortages and overseas recruitment, through to a period of declining levels of exploration activity and expenditure, low world prices and significant retrenchments.A number of manpower and training aspects of industry development and decline over the period 1980 through to 1987 are discussed.The paper reviews and examines aspects of the Australian oil and gas work force and labour market. It brings into sharp focus a number of critical training and professional development issues facing the industry today. It proposes a review and rationalisation of academic programs for geoscientists and planning for future manpower requirements for the industry.