Learning In Professional Education Research Articles

Beliefs in Online Professional Learning in Early Mathematics Teaching and Their Effects on Course Engagement

This study focused on the effects of an early math online professional learning course offered to preschool teachers. The course was designed to inform participants' knowledge of developmental progressions and promote daily mathematics instruction that encouraged students to view their world through a mathematical lens. A survey of preschool teachers' beliefs was administered to participants of the course to determine if participants' beliefs changed significantly and how their pre-course beliefs influenced their engagement in the course. Findings indicate that the course impacted preschool teachers regardless of their area of responsibility, education level, or experience level. The teachers' comfort with teaching math to young children and perspectives about age appropriateness of mathematics were both positively influenced by the course. The teachers with the most positive initial beliefs had a higher rate of course completion. Implications for the field of preschool teacher education and online professional learning environments are discussed.

Editorial

This issue of RERM includes four papers that boldly attempt to propose ways in which educational research practices, traditions and methods might be enacted differently. They take seemingly foundational research methods (reviewing literature, ethnographic observation, walking methodologies) and transform them in to something less familiar that invite our readers to stutter and reappraise how else research might be done and with what outcomes. Firstly, researching from Danish inner cities, Staunæs and Vertelyte draw on affect theory and a concern with moods and felt pedagogies in education to explore how hopes and anxieties are woven through school objects and architecture. Through minor interventions the authors propose that there are abundant possibilities to improve the inclusion of racialized students in the inbetween, and often pathologised spaces of school. This holds the potential to radically shift perceptions, prejudices and behaviours that are not always identifiable but that can be sensed through the minor gesture. The authors attend to the significance of language and what happens through translation and diffractive readings. They stress that concepts that travel require careful consideration when transposed into alternative geopolitical contexts. They take Ahmed’s ‘happy objects’ as a case in point to make visible the specificities of local context and what that means for advancing theory that can pay closer attention to time and space. The next two papers address ways in which literature reviews – a staple element to any research project – can be up-ended and reimagined when post-foundational theories and practices are put to work. Naomi Pears-Scown makes use of Baradian theoretical concepts to think-with literature rather than merely review what is already known and organize a corpus of knowledge into useful categories. Through literature cartographies, Pears-Scown develops a mapping strategy that makes visible her affective engagement with literature through the crafting of found-poems which tell stories of the ways in which place shapes approaches to arts therapy in various geopolitical contexts. This novel approach to engaging with and encountering literature disrupts received wisdom about how literature should be reviewed and instead invites the reader to sit with the discomforts of expanding how literature stories can be told. In resonance with Pears-Scown, the next paper written by co-authors Boks-Vlemmix and Aspfors, offers a similar challenge to orthodoxies surrounding what a literature review is and how it should be undertaken. In their experimental piece the authors offer glimpses into what gets generated when the emphasis concerns processes and practices of doing a literature review rather than what it represents. Like the previous paper, the authors are inspired by a cartographic approach that holds the potential to map the processes involved in becoming deeply immersed and affect with a body of literature. They take literature on Teacher Educator Professional Learning as a case in point to explore how mapping and tracing entangled concepts can generate unanticipated insights and present new lines of thought. Finally, Louisa Allen explores the potential of smell, with all the senses and beyond the human, for educational research. She takes the reader on ‘smellwalks’ which presented themselves as an unlikely research method during pandemic lockdown. Allen provides detailed accounts of the ways in which smellwalks came into being in a small coastal town in Aotearoa-New Zealand and enabled a deep exploration of pandemic-transformed life at a daily and local level. The paper offers a theoretical examination of smellwalk methodology as a means to consider smell through multisensory conceptualisations where human senses are understood as distinct but overlapping. Further, the paper theorises the act of smelling as unbounded and ultimately, always more-than-human. A series of research moments are examined to demonstrate how smelling involves a multisensory experience that emerges with/through the material landscape. Together these papers offer important ways to reappraise approaches to research methodology in education that have become so deeply embedded that they unwittingly shape conventional expectations of how research should be done, has always be done. Each of these papers offer exciting invitations to interrupt this routine way of thinking. Respond to the invitation to pause, to ask, must we do it that way? The way it has always been done? What happens if we question and dare to experiment with alternative approaches? When theory is mobilized through research that seeks to pursue alternative lines of inquiry, what then? When theoretical concepts are taken up in/to ‘foreign’ spaces what happens to them? How do they travel? What do they agitate? What do they make possible? Aligned with the aims of this journal, these papers individually and collectively, invite a pause to business-as-usual in educational research. Jayne Osgood Camilla Andersen Mona-Lisa Angell Ann Merete Otterstad Editors

Laying Foundations for Islamic Teacher Education

Increasingly, educators committed to the vision of Islamic schooling are expressing sentiments of moral dissonance. On the one hand, they choose Islamic schools because they aspire to affect hearts, nurture whole human beings, and grow spiritually while impacting their learners’ sense of higher purpose. On the other hand, they are up against an era of globalised educational reform, characterised by neoliberal-engendered market forces and neoliberal policy logic that promote performativity and efficiency. This narrows what counts as learning, technicises the art of teaching, and assumes all learning that counts is visible and measurable. The teacher education and ongoing professional learning that educators working in Islamic schools have access to remains bifurcated. It is unable to address how an educator committed to tarbiya as “soul-making” ought to navigate aspirations with realities. This paper serves as the introduction to a special issue (SI) dedicated to conceptualising why Islamically grounded teacher education is needed and what it may entail. This SI will also offer empirical studies related to existing Islamic teacher education and professional learning programmes that capture essential reflections for a burgeoning subfield of Islamic Education Studies. In this introduction specifically, the co-editors and a co-author colleague make three big moves to lay the foundations for Islamic teacher education, including (1) establishing urgency for why Islamic teacher education is needed, (2) conceptualising what makes teacher education “Islamic”, and (3) providing an example of one Islamic teacher education programme’s attempt to advance a coherent professional learning journey for Islamic school educators. Together, these three moves serve as an attempt to redress bifurcation and advance a contextually relevant in-road to teacher education that is rooted in an Islamic paradigm and worldview while conversant with contemporary debates in education.

Novice nurse educator professional learning and teaching at a transnational nursing campus: A case study

AimThis study aimed to explore how novice nurse educators are supported in cultivating an understanding of teaching and learning as they become educators in higher education, how they understand their roles as nursing educators and to identify the opportunities and challenges in developing pedagogical content knowledge experienced at one transnational nursing campus is Qatar. BackgroundNovice nurse educators are frequently employed to begin educator roles because of their specialised clinical backgrounds and experiences. Yet, they often have little or no formal education regarding educational pedagogy and current teaching practices. These professional learning needs can be difficult to navigate and contribute to a challenging new role. Novice nurse educators often describe a need for more confidence in their teaching practices and understanding of their limitations and knowledge gaps regarding teaching and learning. Although research and policy emphasise the need for well-trained nurse educators with the appropriate education and knowledge to teach in post-secondary academic settings, nursing education still struggles with inconsistent approaches to recruitment and inadequate support for professional development, raising ongoing concerns. DesignA qualitative case study was used for this study. MethodsFour methods were used to collect data: teaching artifact collection, individual guided reflective questions, one-on-one interviews and observational notes. Seven novice nurse educators participated in this study. Data analysis was done using cycle coding to identify themes. ResultsThree themes related to novice nurse educators' professional development include 1) initial and ongoing preparation, 2) professional learning and support needed during transitions into educator roles and 3) barriers to novice nurse educator professional learning. ConclusionsNovice nurse educators may have significant professional learning needs as they begin new roles. It is essential to ensure that thoughtful and well-designed onboarding processes includes an early introduction to professional development while offering ongoing professional learning opportunities. Novice nurse educators will draw on various supports as they start their new roles. Developing well-rounded teaching practices and pedagogical content knowledge is difficult while navigating a full teaching load. Therefore, workload adjustments early in novice nurse educators' careers will allow time for professional development.

Action research as professional learning in and through practice

ABSTRACT It is widely accepted that professional learning is a crucial aspect of the ongoing professional practice of educators. But how should this professional learning take place, and what arrangements enable and constrain practices associated with educator learning? In this article, we explore two case studies of action research projects: one undertaken with Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) teachers, and the other undertaken with Swedish principals. Using the theory of practice architectures and the Professional Learning Framework (see text), we consider what action research team members identified that they learnt through the action research projects, and what enabled and constrained that learning. The findings highlight five key themes that enabled and constrained educator professional learning and supported educators in making positive changes in their professional practice: power and solidarity, trust, recognition, agency and time. Further, reflection and collaboration were also highlighted as important factors in supporting educator professional learning. We conclude that action research can enable educator professional learning, can support the contextualised understanding of what works, how it works and for whom it works, and can enable educators to make positive changes in their professional practices.

Educational Leadership and Professional Learning in Teacher Education : A Indian Perspective

Educational Leadership and Professional Learning in Teacher Education : A Indian Perspective

Professional Learning Supporting Multilingual Children’s Social and Emotional Development in Diverse Australian Early Childhood Education and Care Settings

AbstractThis research examined the conditions under which codesigned approaches to educator professional learning in multilingual, birth to five settings were accessible and supportive of children’s social and emotional development across diverse types of Australian early childhood services. The research sites, in the suburbs of a capital city, comprised a long day childcare center, two short term informal community creches for birth to 5-year-old children of migrants and refugees attending English classes, and a family hub short term informal community creche for children of Afghan refugees. Professional learning mentors visited the participating sites eight times for 2 h every 2 weeks for 16 Weeks in 2021, demonstrating resources and strategies to assist young children to identify their own and others’ emotions and engage with social settings. Over 20 weeks, 97 participants provided data, commencing before and extending after the professional learning program. Participants included professional learning mentors, staff and volunteers, parents, and children via observation. Using Reggio Emilia principles, the research identified that professional learning, flexibly delivered over time, enabled educators and volunteers to build their social and emotional development knowledge, and to try resources and strategies with children in their care. Recruiting educators who shared children’s home or community languages, in addition to professional learning, supported multilingual children to engage with emotional literacy resources, while still developing spoken English. The research affirmed that educators, volunteers, parents, and children benefitted from a sustained focus on children’s social and emotional development in the early childhood education and care settings.

Education networks for deeper learning

PurposeThis study focuses on a regional education network in the Mid-Atlantic that aims to facilitate equitable learning practices by providing ongoing teacher/leader support, cross-sector collaboration and professional learning for educators. The authors probe networks as providing core support for systems level change and serving as precursors to the community engagement that is essential for deeper learning. Specifically, this study is driven by the hypotheses that (1) deeper learning may be supported by pathways for students and educators to meaningfully engage with the local community; (2) deeper learning is more likely to happen when educators connect to communities beyond their own school or organization and (3) education networks can help facilitate those functions.Design/methodology/approachThe authors aimed to understand how participation in an education network influenced members (which include school leaders, teachers and leaders of youth programs) and how experiences might differ by level of participation. The authors conducted interviews with individuals across three groups of adults (n = 111 total): core members (n = 16), members with mid-level engagement (n = 30) and peripheral members (n = 65).FindingsEducators who participated most intensely and deeply described the network as a vehicle for learning about and advancing equity through specific practices including individualized learning, increasing access and resource redistribution. Mid-level participants emphasized the professional network building function of the network. For peripheral or new participants, the most salient function of the network was celebration of education and educators. These findings suggest that education networks have a role in strengthening the structures that support leaders to make deeper learning happen.Research limitations/implicationsMore research is needed on how participants move from the periphery to more core involvement in education networks, where they may gain the full benefits of participation. Further research is also needed to explore the link between education network engagement among school leaders and the deeper learning environments in schools.Originality/valueResearch on education networks is limited. To the authors' knowledge, the present study is one of the largest collections and analyses of interviews with education network members to date. The authors present education network engagement as a precursor for community embedded deeper learning in schools.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Differentiation Following a Math Curriculum Implementation Study

By utilizing targeted professional learning and predifferentiated, tiered, and enriched mathematics curriculum, teachers gained an understanding of differentiation of content and the value of differentiating content for their students. They also reported a stronger understanding of how to differentiate content in the classroom. However, several barriers to differentiation were also reported, which may provide educational researchers and professional learning coordinators further information about what hinders teachers’ application of differentiated strategies, despite increased understanding and existing positive perceptions.

Colloborative Learning in Professional Education: Role of National Education Policy-2020

Colloborative Learning in Professional Education: Role of National Education Policy-2020

Investment in Teacher-Education Versus Teacher-Educational Research for Effective Teacher-Professional Learning

Purpose: This systematic research paper provides a comprehensive review of studies and literature on three terms i.e., teacher education, teacher professional learning and teacher education research more specifically in the context of the Tanzania education system. One of the most important aspects identified in teacher education in recent years is teacher educational research despite being yet overlooked. Teacher educational research creates a better juncture through which a gap between teacher education and teacher professional learning is bridged and the two present well with one another.
 Methodology: The analysis used 45 articles related to the three aspects, published in ten years between 2012 and 2022. The findings indicate that through teacher education, teacher professional learning is up-to-date and kept on track by equipping and updating teachers with contemporary knowledge and teaching practices.
 Findings: In Tanzania, teacher professional learning is mostly done in form of workshops and seminars that few teachers from various educational institutions are allowed to attend. In addition, the integration of teacher education research content in teacher education is considered one of the approaches to facilitate teachers’ (both pre-service and in-service) capacity to draw on a wide knowledge base through teacher professional learning.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Policy And Practice: Generally, the main focus of teacher education research should be to understand how teachers develop and acquire knowledge, and investigate the diversity of experiences in learning to teach, thus contributing to teacher professional learning program design.

A Scoping Review on the Use of Experiential Learning in Professional Education on Intimate Partner Violence.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) involves any form of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse including controlling behaviors by an intimate partner. Front line service workers such as social workers, nurses, lawyers, and physicians are often the first professionals to come into contact with individuals experiencing IPV but are often inadequately prepared to respond appropriately as IPV education is highly variable. Experiential learning (EL), also known as learning by doing, has gained much attention from educators; however, the extent and type of EL strategies used to teach IPV competencies has not yet been explored. Our aim was to extract what is known from the literature about the use of EL strategies to teach IPV competencies to front line service providers. We conducted a search from May 2021 through November 2021. Reviewers independently screened citations in duplicate using pre-determined eligibility criteria. Data collected included study demographics (publication year, country, etc.), study participants, and information about the IPV EL. Of 5216 identified studies, 61 were included. Medicine and nursing represented the majority of learners in the included literature. Graduate students were the targeted learners in 48% of articles. Low fidelity EL was used most frequently in 48% of the articles; and role play was the EL mode most frequently utilized (39%) overall. This scoping review provides a comprehensive overview of the limited literature on how EL is used to teach IPV competencies and identifies significant gaps related to the lack of intersectional analysis within educational interventions. The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10896-023-00552-4.

Recognition of prior learning in professional education from an organisational perspective

ABSTRACT Recognition of prior learning (RPL) is often said to facilitate lifelong learning and occurs when already-acquired learning outcomes are officially valued. The education system is a central arena of RPL, allowing facilitated access to or shortening of study programmes. This study explores RPL practices in Switzerland. We ask the following research question: How do professional education institutions regulate, practice, and justify RPL? We start from the premise that RPL practices in higher education institutions are shaped by national RPL policies, professional bodies, and the nature of the respective labour markets. However, within these framework conditions, higher education institutions also create their own organisational policies, thereby promoting or hindering RPL. In addition, the study programme’s knowledge domain and the responsible persons’ pedagogic agency, shaped by their pedagogic concepts and individual attitudes, are also guiding factors. To answer our research question, we conducted qualitative comparative case studies and compared the RPL practices of professional education institutions that offer study programmes for hospitality management and social education. Our results show that organisations offering the same professional study programmes regulate, practice, and justify RPL differently, indicating the importance of organisational gatekeepers’ pedagogic agency.

A qualitative metasynthesis of teacher educator self-studies on social justice: Articulating a social justice pedagogy

Teacher preparation programs are vital to facilitating the development of teacher candidates who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that align with a social justice approach to teaching. However, enacting teacher preparation for social justice will necessitate teacher educators with sophisticated expertise. To gain insight into this enactment, we engaged in a qualitative metasynthesis of teacher educator self-studies about teacher preparation for social justice. Teacher educator self-studies serve as a context for teacher educators to study and problematize their practice while also contributing to the larger teacher education literature base. The qualitative metasynthesis examined 65 teacher educator self-studies from 1992 to 2021 across journal articles, books, and conference proceedings. The analysis and synthesis of the teacher educator self-studies resulted in naming three components necessary for facilitating teacher candidate social justice learning within the context of teacher preparation: 1) Centralizing the Lens of Identity, 2) Classroom Environment Conducive to Social Justice Learning, and 3) Pedagogical Practices to Promote Critical Consciousness and Praxis. Within each of these components are high-leverage practices and routines of practice that can be utilized to enact that component. Taken together, the findings result in a framework for a pedagogy of teacher education for social justice rather than focusing solely on what teacher candidates need to know and be able to do. The findings have implications for teacher educator professional learning, program design, and future approaches to research.

Discerning (Dis)information: Teacher perceptions of critical media literacy

Critical media literacy (CML) is vital for students to navigate the current proliferation of misinformation and disinformation. Despite what is known about the influence of teacher beliefs on classroom practice, little research to date has looked at what teachers perceive about the importance of CML. The researchers administered a survey to teachers throughout the U.S. (N = 362) on their perceptions of the importance of teaching CML as part of their instruction. Using quantitative methods, the researchers found CML as the primary factor underlying the survey data and a strong awareness of the importance of teaching CML to students. While years of teaching experience, subject areas, being a primary, elementary, or middle school teacher, geographic area, and being politically conservative or progressive were not significant predictors of CML factor scores, three covariates showed significant differences  gender, educational level, and being a high school teacher. Implications for teacher education programs and professional learning initiatives and other suggestions for improvement are included in the discussion.

The Failure of Rachel H.: Practical Steps to Desegregating Special Education Systems

This practitioner-oriented article uses the vignette of “David,” a disabled Student of Color, to discuss practical steps to desegregate special education systems in the United States. California students seeking inclusion through the courts have had little success under the least restrictive environment test articulated in Rachel H. v. Sacramento City Unified School District (1994). We argue that the Rachel H. test has favored students with the means to unilaterally secure inclusive placements and pursue litigation over those from marginalized communities languishing in restrictive placements. Then, we offer practical steps to reform special education infrastructure in three areas: (a) family and student engagement; (b) evidence-based school and classroom practices; and (c) professional learning for educators.

Supporting educators’ professional learning for equity pedagogy: the promise of open educational practices

PurposeIn the research literature relevant to open educational practices (OEP), the terms “students” or “learners” often refer to individuals engaging in formal study. This study aims to broaden the conception of learners to include those who engage with continuing professional development or professional learning. The study focussed on one intersection of OEP with equity pedagogy for these learners.Design/methodology/approachGuided by transformative approaches to knowledge, the research is qualitative and draws upon nine focus group interviews about multicultural education professional learning needs conducted in November 2019 and July 2020 with 74 early years educators and staff. Data were analysed with theoretical thematic analysis to provide a rich overall description of the data set.FindingsEarly years educators and teachers aim to centre equity pedagogy in their practices but are constrained by a lack of opportunity to engage in professional development, and fragmented approaches to professional learning, issues which may potentially be addressed through OEP.Originality/valueThis paper extends understandings of OEP as a means of helping learners, broadly interpreted, to promote equity pedagogy. Specifically, it highlights the promise of OEP for addressing early years educators’ professional development and learning about reconciliation and multicultural education.

Large-Scale Learning for Local Change: The Challenge of Massive Open Online Courses as Educator Professional Learning

How can large-scale open online learning serve the professional learning needs of educators which are often highly localized? In this mixed-methods study, we examine this question through studying the learning experiences of participants in four massive open online courses (MOOCs) that we developed on educational change leadership (N = 1,712). We observed that educators were able to integrate their learning from the online courses across a variety of educational settings. We argue that a key factor in this process was that the design of online courses was attentive to various levels in which participants processed and applied their learning. We therefore propose the “Content-Collaboration-Context Model” (C-C-C) as a design model for designing and researching open online learning experiences for professional learning settings where participants’ work is highly localized. In analyzing learner experiences in our MOOCs, we apply this model to illustrate how individuals integrated the de-contextualized content of the online courses into their context-specific practices. We conclude with implications for the design and research on open online professional learning experiences.

Instagramming for Justice: The Potentials and Pitfalls of Culturally Relevant Professional Learning on Instagram.

Social media offers potential for educator professional learning, but platforms’ for-profit nature complicates this practice, especially for professional learning around justice-oriented pedagogies. This exploratory study investigated 551 publicly available Instagram posts shared by 11 purposefully sampled, justice-oriented education influencers over an 8-week period as the COVID-19 pandemic and renewed activism for racial justice unfolded in the United States. Qualitative analysis of post content indicated these influencers offered pandemic-related support, while also illustrating, enacting, and engaging culturally relevant and sustaining pedagogies. However, promotional content was abundantly layered within posts and a cohesive message of how to enact culturally sustaining pedagogies was largely absent. Reflecting some of the paradoxes of learning via social media, our findings suggest there is some opportunity for justice-oriented professional learning from social media, however education influencers’ content is limited by platforms’ opaque algorithms and for-profit business models, which govern what influencers post and what followers see.

Leading Trauma-Informed Education Practice as an Instructional Model for Teaching and Learning

Advances in trauma-informed practices have helped both researchers and educators understand how childhood trauma impacts the developmental capacities required for successful learning within school. However, more investigation is required to understand how leaders can implement trauma-informed practices in targeted areas of their schools. This paper is a case study of one school who intentionally implemented a trauma-informed instructional practice approach after undertaking trauma informed positive education professional learning over a period of two and a half years. The research was guided by three questions: how are students supported in their learning and wellbeing; how can teachers be supported to develop consistent trauma-informed practice in their classrooms; and what is the role of leadership in this process? To research the approach, quantitative measures of staff and student perceptions and qualitative strategies centering the voices and experiences of students, teachers, and school leaders, were employed. Implications for school leaders suggest that when implemented as a whole-school approach through multiple and simultaneous mechanisms, trauma-informed positive education instructional practices have the possibilities of yielding enhanced outcomes for wellbeing and enable students to be ready to learn.