Paradigm For Professional Development Research Articles

DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCY AT THE UPGRADED MIDDLE EDUCATION UNIT LEVEL IN SOUTHEAST SULAWESI

The concept of development in a teacher is placed in the concept of learning at work (workplace learning). The shift of the professional development paradigm to professional learning and finally achieving continuous authentic professional learning must transform into a teacher. This research focuses on studying teacher professional development skills after obtaining professional teaching allowances through the teacher certification program. The research results show that in the domain of social competence and personality, it provides a reasonably good response, but in terms of pedagogic and professional competencies, it has not given optimal results. Some indicators that need to be intervened are the context of mapping competency standards and essential competencies in order to identify learning material that is considered difficult, learning that contains appropriate and up-to-date information, carrying out specific self-evaluation, and Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Critical Factors that Enhance the Effectiveness of Online Communities of Practice: EFL Coordinators’ Patterns of Involvement - The Greek EL Teachers Cops Professional Development Paradigm

The paper examines Greek EFL Coordinators’ involvement in online Communities of Practice (CoPs) in terms of its impact on participating teachers’ professional development. The study focuses on four online CoPs hosting 49 Greek EFL teachers as participants and four Greek EFL Coordinators, using an online platform named 2gather developed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in the context of a national in-service professional development project in Greece. The study involves investigating the Coordinators’ patterns of involvement and their trainees’ response using a mixed-methods approach which combines quantitative and qualitative research as collective case studies of the four groups. Differentiations between the four Coordinators’ reported patterns of involvement and teachers’ reported effectiveness of their CoP training experience enables us to identify critical factors that contribute to the enhancement of effectiveness. A comparison of the Coordinators’ and their trainees’ responses per online CoP highlights the factors that have supported teachers’ reported reconstruction of knowledge and practices and the reported effectiveness of the CoP training experience regarding their everyday teaching practice. The findings contribute to furthering our understanding of effective online CoPs implementation in the context of continuing professional development.

Training early childhood leaders: developing a new paradigm for professional development using a practice to theory approach

ABSTRACT Given the predictive nature of high-quality early childhood programs on children’s social and learning outcomes, effective leadership is critical to facilitate program improvement. Recognizing the need for cohesive conceptual frameworks that undergird research-based practice, a 5-year training institute for early childhood program directors was evaluated to assess training effectiveness. Moreover, we developed a model of early childhood leadership professional development grounded in our iterative analysis of data from this study and guided by theory-building methods. The findings show positive impacts on leaders’ self-reported facilitation and implementation of developmentally appropriate strategies in positive discipline and prosocial skills in early care and education settings. The practice-to-theory training model developed provides a theoretically cohesive framework to guide the professional development of early childhood program leaders that repositions the theory/practice binary by helping leaders problematize issues of practice and infuse theory as necessary tools and pragmatic anchors for solving real-world problems.

Я.Дашкевич та І.Калинець: парадигма духовного діалогу як архетип формування аксіологічних засад культурологічної компетентності сучасних студентів

Дослідження пов’язане із пошуком інноваційних педагогічних засобів системного формування аксіологічних засад у парадигмі становлення особистості сучасного студента як важливий компонент культурологічної компетентності. У статті подано наукове обґрунтування вивчення дискурсу творчого діалогу Ірини Калинець та Ярослава Дашкевича та їх роль у формуванні загальнокультурної компетентності як парадигми професійного становлення сучасного фахівця. Досліджуються особливості шляхів впровадження культурологічної підготовки у навчально-виховний процес закладів вищої освіти. Частково обгрунтовано варіативні технології забезпечення основ культурологічної підготовки майбутніх професіоналів-фахівців.На прикладі вивчення творчого діалогу Ірини Калинець та Ярослава Дашкевича розглядається проблема аксіологічної складової у системі професійної освіти студентів. Досліджуються концептуальні аксіологічні засади творчого діалогу Ірини Калинець та Ярослава Дашкевича на новітньому рівні розвитку інноваційних педагогічних засад, що дозволяє по-новому осмислити проблему співвіднесення розвитку людської індивідуальності і світу. Розглядається роль аксіологічних засад, які сприяють формуванню якісно нового фахівця; становленню взаєморозуміння між людськими індивідуальностями.Досліджується стратегія виховання молоді в дусі збереження, примноження культурологічного спадку, пізнання й усвідомлення й залучення до загальнолюдських цінностей, що вимагає від педагогів високого рівня ерудиції, загальної культури, здатності до самоосвіти, самовиховання та педагогічного хисту, фахової компетентності осо-бистості, яка є носієм і транслятором вартостей духовної культури. Дані концептуальні принципи дозволяють витворювати відповідний навчально-виховний культурологічний феномен сучасної освіти. Досліджуються аксіологічні засади культурології як фактор забезпечення соціальної стійкості системи відносин людини і суспільства, людини й інших людей, що ефективно впливає на формування свідомості, самосвідомості, соціально-професійних якостей особистості.

Critical Factors that Enhance the Effectiveness of Online Communities of Practice: EFL Coordinators’ Patterns of Involvement - The Greek EL Teachers Cops Professional Development Paradigm

The paper examines Greek EFL Coordinators’ involvement in online Communities of Practice (CoPs) in terms of its impact on participating teachers’ professional development. The study focuses on four online CoPs hosting 49 Greek EFL teachers as participants and four Greek EFL Coordinators, using an online platform named 2gather developed by the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens in the context of a national in-service professional development project in Greece. The study involves investigating the Coordinators’ patterns of involvement and their trainees’ response using a mixed-methods approach which combines quantitative and qualitative research as collective case studies of the four groups. Differentiations between the four Coordinators’ reported patterns of involvement and teachers’ reported effectiveness of their CoP training experience enables us to identify critical factors that contribute to the enhancement of effectiveness. A comparison of the Coordinators’ and their trainees’ responses per online CoP highlights the factors that have supported teachers’ reported reconstruction of knowledge and practices and the reported effectiveness of the CoP training experience regarding their everyday teaching practice. The findings contribute to furthering our understanding of effective online CoPs implementation in the context of continuing professional development.

Model refleksivne prakse – učinkovit način stručnoga usavršavanja u području upravljanja razredom

Promjena paradigme profesionalnoga razvoja učitelja, posebno reorganiziranje stručnoga usavršavanja, predstavlja važan preduvjet uvođenju pozitivnih promjena u školsku praksu. Refleksivna se praksa smatra učinkovitim načinom stručnoga usavršavanja. Upravljanje razredom i ostvarivanje discipline područje je odgojno-obrazovnoga rada u nastavi koje se tradicionalno smatra najvećim izazovom, a u stručnom je usavršavanju učitelja prilično zanemareno. Cilj je istraživanja bio utvrditi postoji li razlika u samoprocjeni ponašanja i zadovoljstvu poslom učitelja u upravljanju razredom i disciplinom s obzirom na oblik njihova stručnoga usavršavanja: tradicionalni oblik nasuprot modelu refleksivne prakse. Istraživanje je obuhvaćalo neprobabilistički uzorak od ukupno 218 učitelja u RH podijeljen na eksperimentalnu i kontrolnu skupinu. Dobivene su značajne razlike: primjena refleksivne prakse (eksperimentalna skupina) utječe na pozitivniju samoprocjenu ponašanja i veće zadovoljstvo poslom u upravljanju razredom i disciplinom nego sama edukacija (kontrolna skupina). Rezultati impliciraju da se primjenom modela refleksivne prakse može učinkovito reorganizirati stručno usavršavanje i mijenjati paradigma profesionalnoga razvoja.

Sustainability of Professional Development to Enhance Student Achievement: A Shift in the Professional Development Paradigm

The purpose of this study was to describe the sustainability of professional development, specifically the teacher utilization of the Science-in-CTE pedagogical model and science-enhanced agricultural education lessons in curricula one year following the Science-in-CTE pilot study. This quasi- experimental study included 41 teachers (15 treatment agricultural education, 14 control agricultural education, and 12 science) who participated in seven days of professional development in the pilot study in 2009-2010. This study was a partial replication of the Math-in-CTE follow-up study and data were collected using a mixed methods approach. Quantitative data were obtained from online questionnaires and qualitative data were collected from personal and telephone interviews. Researchers found that a majority of the treatment agricultural education and science teachers voluntarily incorporated portions of the seven-element pedagogical model and 15 science-enhanced lessons into their curricula one year later. However, less than 30% of the control agricultural education teachers incorporated the method or materials from the pilot study into their curricula. Findings suggest that collaborative, extended professional development is sustainable and an effective method of integrating science content into agricultural education curricula to enhance student course achievement without reducing the intent of the agricultural education program.

Transformational Leadership Using TED Talks

There is an ongoing debate about the efficacy of professional development with the field of gifted education. While some studies have found a positive relationship between professional development and teachers’ knowledge and attitudes toward gifted students, others found that such training had no effect on teachers’ attitudes toward the gifted or gifted education in general, but the trained teachers were more likely to perceive themselves as gifted than teachers who had no professional development. To address this issue, this article proposes a new professional development paradigm, anchored by TED talks. Educational leaders can become more effective by learning from leaders in other disciplines. The leaders highlighted in the article demonstrate the importance of a shared purpose. Professional development in the gifted education field should focus on a shared purpose that highlights the importance of increasing the expectations and engagement of all, not just gifted, students. TED can offer inspiration on how teachers can take an active role in this purpose and then how they can share the results of their efforts.

Teacher as Researcher: A Paradigm for Professional Development

Teacher as Researcher: A Paradigm for Professional Development

Collaborative Teacher Research: Learning with Students

Abstract: This qualitative case study explores how collaborative teacher research serves as a professional development model for practicing teachers. The purpose of the study is to examine how participation in a collaborative teacher research group affected three French teachers' understandings of one state's foreign language standards, and to look at how those understandings were realized in a collaborative teacher research (CTR) project. This article specifically focuses on the results emanating from how the three French teachers individually and collaboratively interpreted and implemented foreign language standards while participating in CTR. Data were collected from workshops, journal entries, classroom observations, lesson plans and materials, workshop evaluations, the teachers' research, and e-mail conversations. Results show that the teachers learned about the standards primarily from collaborating with their students. Introduction New Visions in Action (NVA), sponsored by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL) and the National Foreign Language Resource Center (NFLRC) in Iowa, is moving forward a national agenda for foreign language education in an effort to meet goals set forth in the national K-12 foreign language standards (Met, 2000). These standards provide a vision of instruction for which teachers need a high level of language proficiency, extensive cultural competence, a repertoire of approaches that are learner centered and focused on communication, and knowledge about implementing strategies for working with diverse learners who have not traditionally enrolled in foreign language classes (Phillips, 1998). Foreign language pedagogy, described in the manner of the National Standards (1999), will not be realized without sustained professional development for practicing teachers. Past professional development programs have been criticized for their one-shot structure, top-down approach, and failure to address the specific needs of foreign language teachers, resulting in little or no effect on classroom instruction. This professional development paradigm is changing. Current literature discussing professional development concurs that it must be long term, collaborative, content specific, job embedded, inquiry based, and focused on the needs of teachers and the goals we are setting for our students (Alien, 2004; Clair, 2000; Diaz-Maggioli, 2003; Klonsky 2002; Kreeft Peyton, 1997; Lewis, 2000; lieberman & Miller, 2000; McCarthy & Riley, 2000). Further, teachers must be actively involved in both its design and implementation (Bartz & Keefe Singer, 1996; Darling Hammond, 1997; Glisan, 1996; Kreeft Peyton, 1997). The Teacher Development Task Force-one working group of the NVA project-is in the process of establishing a national framework that defines effective professional development for foreign language teachers. Part of the work of the task force involves identifying criteria for the creation and evaluation of professional development programs and subsequently identifying and showcasing exemplary program models. Empirical data from studies investigating the effectiveness of professional development programs are needed to inform the group's ongoing work. NVA has, in particular, called for research on the effectiveness of alternative professional development models (Curtain, 2000). Action research offers a viable solution. Although this type of research, from here on referred to as collaborative teacher research (CTR), is recognized for promoting teacher development and change in teaching practice (Anderson, Herr, & Nihlen, 1994; Burns & Hood, 1995; Freeman, 1998; McNiff, 1993), and as an insightful means for contributing to the knowledge base of teaching (Allwright; 1993; Somekh, 1993; Stenhouse, 1981) we are only beginning to know how foreign language teachers carry out this type of research (Burns, 1999). In addition, while collaboration is the critical component of successful teacher research, it has tended to be promoted and conducted in an individualistic way (Burns, 1999). …