Early Professional Development Research Articles

The use of questions in early years science: a case study in Argentine preschools

ABSTRACTThe use of effective questions is an essential attribute of successful early years science teaching. In this case study, we analyse the questions and dialogues generated by four preschool teachers from two schools in Buenos Aires, Argentina, of contrasting socioeconomic contexts (one privileged and one underprivileged). We looked at the implementation of two identical enquiry-based science curricular units after a two-month professional development programme. We found that teachers at the more privileged school asked an average of 22% more productive questions, i.e. those aligned with lesson goals (Martens, M. L. 1999. “Productive questions: Tools for supporting constructivist learning.” Science and Children 36 (8): 24–53. http://search.proquest.com/openview/0fbd77105695538253f998eae1d38ff4/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=41736). There were also significant differences between the types of questions asked, with teachers from the lower socioeconomic status school asking more ‘attention-focussing’ and fewer ‘evaluation’ questions. Qualitative analysis of the teacher-student dialogues showed that students from the privileged school were exposed to higher-quality learning experiences, despite teachers apparently performing the same activities with the same materials. Our findings highlight the importance of focussing early years science professional development efforts on questioning practices, especially for those teachers working in underprivileged settings, to foster meaningful learning opportunities for all children.

Novice Teachers’ Concerns, Early Professional Experiences and Development: Implications for Theory and Practice

Abstract Quality teaching, being a key factor in shaping students’ academic and personal growth, has been at the centre of scientific debate for many years. Sustainable professional development of novice teachers has recently been recognized worldwide as one of the key areas for improving the quality of teaching and learning in schools. Given that the initial years on the job are generally characterised by novice teachers as the most challenging and intense in their career, the following questions typically arise: What can be done to sustain and facilitate teaching at the early developmental stages in teachers’ career? What are the contextual factors and the prerequisites leading to the quality of teaching and learning? The article presents the findings from a two-year longitudinal qualitative study aimed to contribute to the research base for understanding this crucial stage. More specifically, the purpose of this study was to provide deeper understanding and insights into key factors influencing and shaping novice teachers’ early professional development and learning, as well as their capacities to effectively adapt to their new roles and operate in complex and dynamically changing open-ended school environment. The research is framed as a cross-case analysis of 4 cases of novice teachers working in public secondary schools. The data were collected through multiple sources (i.e. semi-structured in-depth interviews, questionnaire, and focus groups) over a two-year period spanning the participants’ first and second full-time teaching years. Substantial differences in experiences and beliefs among the novice teachers, with varying levels of job satisfaction and professional support received, were identified in the study. The authors have also identified numerous patterns of novice teachers’ teaching practice closely associated with teachers’concerns and early professional experience interpretations, which might result in substantial fluctuation in teaching quality and teacher’s career paths. Implications for teacher education programs, mentoring, supervision, teachers’ professional development, and future research are discussed.

Emerging pedagogies for effective adult learning: From andragogy to heutagogy

Understanding the way the student learns effectively is important for teachers so that they can then more effectively design their learning experiences. As the student in the health profession education progress across the long period and phases of learning from being an advanced beginner in a wider range of competencies during Undergraduate (UG) to becoming proficiently competent in areas of their specialization during their Postgraduate (PG) period and then after professional specialization while engaging in learning for expertise on-the-job during early professional development, they transition from a low learner maturity phase to full learner autonomy where they determine what and how to learn. Whereas pedagogy with high degree of teacher control matches low learner maturity, as the learners become more autonomous, teachers face the dilemma about how much they need to let go of their power and control to transition from “sage-on-stage” to “guide-on-the-side”. This article examines some of these dilemmas and attempts to suggest use of effective pedagogies (teaching methods) that match the transition of the adult learner engaged in the art and science of healing and progressing through the professional course's stages of competence progression from being a novice to a competent professional and after their formal professional qualification to help them reach expertise and improve quality of care by engaging in continuing professional development (CPD). This knowledge about learner maturity and adult learning principles will also help diagnose and address learner's problems and obstacles to effective learning that is happening at the institutional level.

Association of professional identity, gender, team understanding, anxiety and workplace learning alignment with burnout in junior doctors: a longitudinal cohort study

ObjectivesTo examine how burnout across medical student to junior doctor transition relates to: measures of professional identity, team understanding, anxiety, gender, age and workplace learning (assistantship) alignment to first post.DesignA...

The Nazi seizure of the International Education Review: a dark episode in the early professional development of comparative education

ABSTRACTIt was not until the 1930s that comparative education, with the initiation of dedicated courses and programmes at universities in various countries, that the field became internationally recognised in its own right. And, it was not until the 1930s that the first internationally recognised journal in the field, the International Education Review, was founded by Friedrich Schneider of Germany. The journal's launch happened to be concurrent with the rise of Hitler. Once Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he initiated his purge of Jews and liberal democratic elements in the universities, and this action was felt soon afterwards by the IER. After overcoming early financial difficulties, the IER developed promisingly until 1934, when the Nazi ideologue, Alfred Bäumler, replaced Schneider shortly before Schneider was dismissed from his positions at the Academy of Pedagogics in Bonn and the University of Cologne. Bäumler’s philosophy was one of virulent anti-Semitism and focused on the critical role to be played by the Aryan race in the Nazi master plan. This article is an account of how, in the mid-1930s, this same Nazi racist took charge of the International Education Review, which at that time was the most important international forum in comparative education.

Reflections on becoming a psychologist: Professional development experiences of students in a South African psychology graduate program

This study sought to describe student psychologists’ experiences of their professional preparation activities in which they used reflective journals. The students (n =7; female = 71%, black = 86%) were enrolled in a masters training program in the clinical and the counselling psychology programmes at a reputable University in South Africa. Over a period of the ten months of their first academic year, they completed reflective journals on aspects of their professional practice preparation. The reflective journals were thematically analysed to depict how the students framed their experiences. Findings yielded four themes that defined the students’ emerging professional identities: positive feelings about the profession, commitment to high standards of practice, concerns about high work loading, and a sense of learning community. Reflective practice capabilities appear important for early professional identity development from pre-service psychology practice education.

Call for Papers - Innovative Professional Learning in Early Childhood Education and Care: Inspiring Hope and Action

Call for Papers - Innovative Professional Learning in Early Childhood Education and Care: Inspiring Hope and Action

Building and construction students’ skills development for employability – reframing assessment for learning in discipline-specific contexts

ABSTRACTThe international debate on student skills development for employability has advanced institutional initiatives for teaching and learning, but to date lacks detailed research studies mapping disciplinary implementation linked to student learning feedback. This paper reports on a five year higher education research study from Australia framed by a reflective practice-based methodology. Students in the undergraduate discipline of building and construction management monitored the development of their academic attributes and skills for employability. This work contributes new knowledge on constructive alignment and implementation of assessment for learning and early professional skills development. Research findings indicate that student skills for employability are facilitated through: (1) Discipline-based curriculum design linking university and industry skills expectations. (2) Clear interweaving of learning contexts and assessments for students to experience and identify academic and professional learning dimensions (metacognition). (3) Constructive alignment for skills development through scaffolded assessment learning. (4) A ‘constructive, explicit and reflective’ teaching approach engaging students in their own generic and professional skills development.

Mentoring Reflected through the Eyes of Ph.D. Students: Motivations and the Features of Mentoring

This article presents the results of a grounded theory study of mentoring experiences of domestic Ph.D. students in programs recognized by the National Research Council (2010) as being among the top Ph.D. programs at the public comprehensive doctoral-granting land grant research university where the research was conducted. A typology of Ph.D. student motivations for pursuing higher education that is connected in patterned ways to those features of mentoring students emphasized as important is described. The four ideal types that emerged from the data are: academic, careerist, creative, and credentialist. The research provides a view of what is important for differently motivated Ph.D. students in mentoring, from their perspectives, and concludes that one important way to support students in developing as engaged mentees is to provide early career professional development that fosters self-reflection designed to empower them to negotiate mentoring relationships that support their progressive development.

Community of Practice or Practice Communities: Online Teacher Development

This paper draws on research from a larger project that concerned new teachers studying the Master of Teaching (MTeach). The research was interested in how teacher’s participation in the online discussions (ODs) contributed to feelings of community and how this helped them develop and understand better their practice. It was apparent that participants felt that elements of community developed during the MTeach and that the ODs helped facilitate and sustain this community. This is something that sometimes contrasted with their experiences in school or was an additional support network for them. The value of these communities manifested itself in participants feeling less isolated, feeling safe, being able to honestly share and compare experiences in a nonjudgmental way, feeling trust and being empowered and more confident about their teaching strategies. The ODs enabled a practitioner focus where participants could share information and experiences and seek advice. This centered on what was happening at school, in their department, in their classroom, with groups and with individual students. Often this involved discussing relatively short term issues and ideas but there was clear evidence of longer term strategies starting to develop and be considered important. These practical issues were not only about their classes and teaching but also about wider early professional development (EPD) matters such as support and power relations. Findings are that the ODs provided a sense of community, with an underlying practitioner focus that developed their criticality. That these gains were the result of careful pedagogic design that underpinned the ODs.

Teacher engagement in core components of an effective, early childhood professional development course: Links to changes in teacher–child interactions

ABSTRACT This study built on prior research regarding the effectiveness of the National Center for Research in Early Childhood Education (NCRECE) course by exploring the individual course components. Core aspects of course engagement and performance were described and examined in relation to improvements in the observed quality of teacher–child interactions. Teacher characteristics were also examined as predictors of course engagement and performance. A sample of 150 preschool teachers participated in a semester-long, credit-bearing, college course designed to improve the quality of their emotional, organizational, and instructional interactions with children. Teachers’ participation and performance in the course were high on average. Teachers’ skill level in accurately and specifically explaining other teachers’ instances of effective teacher–child interactions was related to improvements in their own observed teacher–child interactions. Finally, teachers with an early childhood major and those endorsing child-centered beliefs displayed better skills in detecting other teachers’ high-quality interactions with children. Results are discussed in relation to designing more effective early childhood professional development programs.

Call for Papers - Innovative Professional Learning in Early Childhood Education and Care: Inspiring Hope and Action

Call for Papers - Innovative Professional Learning in Early Childhood Education and Care: Inspiring Hope and Action

Conceptions of and early childhood educators’ experiences in early childhood professional development programs: A qualitative metasynthesis

ABSTRACTPolicy makers and early childhood stakeholders across the United States continue to seek policy solutions that improve early educators’ instruction of young children. A primary vehicle for attaining this goal is professional development. This has led to an influx of empirical studies that seek to develop a set of best practices for professional development. While this deductive work is important and informative, it provides limited insight into how professional development is being conceptualized, and how teachers experience, respond to, or learn from these programs. This article begins to address these issues by presenting findings from a qualitative metasynthesis of published peer-reviewed qualitative studies of professional development programs for in-service early educators in the United States. By analyzing, synthesizing, and interpreting these studies, it appears that while such programs may have a positive impact on teachers’ conceptions of practice, there is a need to expand the research literature beyond identifying what works so that it includes studies examining teachers using such practices with children and investigations into teachers’ knowledge of their local teaching and learning communities. This study ends by offering an interpretation of the relationship between these findings and the field of teacher education.

Teacher Professional Development in Outdoor and Open Learning Environments: A Research Based Model

The trend of utilising open learning environments and informal learning sources has a clear link to outdoor education, which bridges the gap between formal education and informal learning. According to the findings related to informal learning and its relevance to early professional development, the crucial era seems to be the first 3 years as an inexperienced teacher. Despite the long history, outdoor education needs new research methods. In Finland, the new National Curriculum 2016 underlines teaching of this “phenomenon” besides the traditional subject orientated teaching. This challenges teacher professional development at all its levels. In this study, an outdoor education course for teachers and teacher trainees in Finland is evaluated using the theory and research tool of New Educational Models or Paradigms (NEMP). The main research question is to test this new research model: is it suitable when evaluating outdoor education?

Early Years Educators at Play: A Research-based Early Childhood Professional Development Program

Every culture has developed some version of performance art. Children especially appreciate performance; their innate openness, forgiveness, and self-love make them delightful performers and audience members. Every time they engage with performance art, children are learning about storytelling, history, sociability, artistry, and physicality. Through performance, children learn skills related to organization, collaboration, emotional competence, compassion, and literacy. Children learn best when their lessons include rich, multi-faceted and participatory elements; drama and theater can help augment learning by involving physical movement and child participation to aid in comprehension and memory. In this article, the authors discuss a professional development program designed to support teachers in employing drama strategies for literacy instruction with 3- to 5-year-old children.

Maturational effect on Functional Movement Screen™ score in adolescent soccer players.

The effect of maturity on Functional Movement Screen (FMS) scores in elite, adolescent soccer players was examined. A cross-sectional observational study was completed. Participants were 1163 male English Football League soccer players (age 8-18 years). Players were mid-foundation phase (MF) (U9); late foundation phase (LF) (U10 and U11); early youth development phase (EYD) (U12 and U13); mid-youth development (MYD) phase (U14-U15); Late Youth Development Phase (LYD) (U16) and early professional development phase (EPD) (U18). Age from peak height velocity was estimated and players were categorized as pre- or post-peak height velocity (PHV). To analyse where differences in FMStotal score existed we separated the screen into FMSmove (3 movement tests); FMSflex (2 mobility tests) and FMSstab (2 stability tests). FMStotal median score ranged from 11 at MF to 14 for EPD. There was a substantial increase (10%) in those able to achieve a score of ≥14 on FMStotal in those who were post-PHV compared to pre-PHV. This was explained by a substantial increase in those achieving a score of ≥4 on FMSstab (21%). There was a substantial increase in the proportion of players who achieved the FMStotal threshold of ≥14 with an increase of 47.5 (41.4-53.6)% from the MF phase to the EPD phase due to improvements in FMSmove and FMSstab. PHV and maturity have substantial effects on FMS performance. FMS assessment appears to be invalid for very young players. Findings are relevant to those analyzing movement in soccer players.

Early Introduction to Professional and Ethical Dilemmas in a Pharmaceutical Care Laboratory Course

To study the effects of an early professional development series in a pharmaceutical care laboratory (PCL) course on first-year pharmacy students' perceptions of the importance of professional attitudes and action. Three hundred thirty-four first-year students enrolled in a PCL course participated in a new required learning activity centered on development of professional attitudes and behaviors. Students discussed situational dilemmas in pharmacy practice in small groups, highlighting application of the Oath of a Pharmacist and the Pharmacists' Code of Ethics. Students completed an optional questionnaire at the beginning and end of the semester to assess change in their attitudes and behaviors related to professionalism in pharmacy practice. While students entered their training with a strong appreciation for professionalism, they felt more confident in applying the Oath of a Pharmacist and the Pharmacists Code of Ethics to dilemmas in practice following the new learning activity.

Parent–Professional Partnerships in Early Education: Relationships for Effective Inclusion of Students with Disabilities

The increasing enrollment of children with disabilities and developmental delays in inclusive settings requires reconsiderations of the scope and depth of early childhood professional development. In this study, a phenomenological research design was used to gain the perspectives of 13 parents and child care providers about their participation in an in-service training guided by the Partnerships in Early Education: Relationships with Supports (PEERS) model, which was designed to promote inclusive practices in early childhood child care settings. The analysis of collected interview data indicates that the training model has various components that participants found useful for the implementation of inclusive practices. Implications for the development of statewide collaborative in-service trainings on inclusive education for young children with special needs are discussed.

Sustaining care: cultivating mindful practice in early years professional development

The practitioner’s own self is a resource in early childhood education and care (ECEC). It is proposed that an experiential training focusing on the ‘professional self’ helps to raise awareness of how psychological dispositions may impair or enhance quality of provision. A key concept in such training is emotional labour, explored with students through examples of ‘relational pedagogy’ and ‘attunement’ to the needs of children. The argument of this paper, underlying the training, is that the expectation of attunement encapsulates both the best and worst aspects of such labour. The research focuses on the introduction of mindfulness exercises into the training in order to sustain this attunement. It seeks the students’ responses to them and to the experience of the training overall. The paper concludes by recommending that such practices be incorporated into professional development whilst acknowledging that such interventions can only succeed where working conditions reflect a compassionate culture.

Early professional development in the Scottish context: pre-service high school teachers and the management of behaviour in classrooms

This paper gives an account of an exploratory piece of research focused on understanding more fully the nature of pre-service teachers’ developing approaches to classroom behaviour management on a one-year postgraduate teacher education programme in the Scottish context. Drawing on individual and focus group interviews as well as journaling of significant behaviour management moments experienced by student teachers on school placements, key narratives are outlined and the complex tensions and issues arising from the data are discussed. The powerful narratives of control and compliance around young people and the emphasis on social and relational early professional learning as opposed to cognition are explored and discussed.