Individual and Social Influences on Professional Learning

Individual and Social Influences on Professional Learning
Author: Hans Gruber
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2018-11-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319970410

This book examines professional learning and relates it to the acquisition of expertise, and the influence of individuals. Professional learning, as discussed in the book, comprises all kinds of occupational domains because employment and paid work usually follow the achievement principle, i.e. workers are expected to perform efficiently. The book suggests that the perspective of expertise research is an appropriate lens to use for gaining insight in how individuals can be prepared and enabled to autonomously master the requirements of daily working life. Expertise is understood as the capacity to reliably perform on an extraordinary level, and the basic assumption is that experts are best prepared to successfully cope with future challenges at workplaces. The book comprehensively discusses issues of expertise research and explores the nature of a successful individual and an impeded individual. It proposes an integrated model of individual and social components of expertise development, the i-PPP model. The model provides insight in and an understanding of how individuals can be enabled to develop and maintain professional expertise in the context of daily work. Across all paradigms, researchers, policy-makers, employers and trade unionists agree that working conditions undergo permanent change through economic, societal, and technological developments. Recently, the digitalisation of (working) life became a hot topic of scientific and societal discourses. Workplaces, thus, provide challenges for individuals who have to be able to cope with workplace changes. Accordingly, new challenges emerge for an adequate understanding of learning for work as well as learning during work.

Transformational Professional Learning

Transformational Professional Learning
Author: Deborah M. Netolicky
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 156
Release: 2019-08-09
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000556549

Emerging from an education world that sees professional learning as a tool to positively shape teaching practice in order to improve student learning, Transformational Professional Learning elucidates professional learning that is transformational for teachers, school leaders, and schools. Written from the unique ‘pracademic’ perspective of an author who is herself a practising teacher, school leader, and researcher, this book articulates the why and the what of professional learning. It acts as a bridge between research and practice by weaving scholarly literature together with the lived experience of the author and with the voices of those working in schools. It covers topics from conferences, coaching, and collaboration, to teacher standards and leadership of professional learning. This book questions the ways in which professional learning is often wielded in educational settings and shows where teachers, school leaders, system leaders, and researchers can best invest their time and resources in order to support and develop the individuals, teams, and cultures in schools. It will be of great interest to teachers, leaders within schools, staff responsible for professional learning in school contexts, professional learning consultants, professional learning providers, and education researchers.

Flip the System Australia

Flip the System Australia
Author: Deborah M. Netolicky
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 283
Release: 2018-12-07
Genre: Education
ISBN: 0429770502

This is a book by educators, for educators. It grapples with the complexities, the humanity and the possibilities in education. In a climate of competing accountabilities and measurement mechanisms; corporate solutions to education ‘problems’; and narratives of ‘failing’ schools, ‘underperforming’ teachers and ‘disengaged’ students; this book asks ‘What matters?’ or ‘What should matter?’ in education. Based in the unique Australian context, this book situates Australian education policy, research and practice within the international education narrative. It argues that professionals within schools should be supported, empowered and welcomed into policy discourse, not dictated to by top-down bureaucracy. It advocates for a flipping, flattening and democratising of the education system, in Australia and around the world. Flip the System Australia: What matters in education brings together the voices of teachers, school leaders and scholars in order to offer diverse perspectives, important challenges and hopeful alternatives to the current education system.

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8

Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 587
Release: 2015-07-23
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309324882

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

Theories of Professional Learning

Theories of Professional Learning
Author: Carey Philpott
Publisher: Critical Publishing
Total Pages: 98
Release: 2014-11-04
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1909682365

An essential guide to a number of important theories of professional learning, of particular value both to those taking on new responsibilities in relation to initial teacher education (ITE) and those interested in developing new ways of working in partnership. Each chapter provides a concise and critical overview of a key theory and then considers how it might impact on the processes and organisation of teacher education, drawing on key pieces of literature throughout. The book responds to the growth of interest and research in professional and work-based learning including ideas such as communities of practice, activity theory and socio-cultural theory alongside already established models such as those of Schön, Eraut and Shulman. In addition changing models of teacher education mean there are new ways of understanding professional learning as practices, roles and identities are re-established.

Insights into Autonomy and Technology in Language Teaching

Insights into Autonomy and Technology in Language Teaching
Author: Chun Lai
Publisher: Castledown Publishers
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2023-03-08
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1914291115

Drawing on the literature and research findings from relevant research fields, including educational technology, educational psychology, adult and workplace learning, and language education, this book gives an overview of the relationship of learner and teacher autonomy and technology in language teaching. It discusses how technology both benefits and constrains autonomy, and how a positive interaction between the two could be fostered. It underscores a critical perspective in understanding their relationships and a holistic approach to boosting a positive reciprocal relationship between the two.

Ethical and Social Issues in Professional Education

Ethical and Social Issues in Professional Education
Author: Celeste M. Brody
Publisher: SUNY Press
Total Pages: 302
Release: 1994-01-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9780791419151

This book reflects and extends the great debates that schools, colleges, and universities are having in response to the profound moral conflicts and personal questions facing professionals today: What should we teach our students? What values should we communicate and nurture? What should be the role of the traditional liberal arts in professional education? How should schools and colleges respond to the demands of women and minorities for a more inclusive curriculum? The authors explore ongoing theoretical and practical considerations of graduate professional education through the ethical and social issues facing professionals in public service. Administrators, teachers, counselors, nurses, or lawyers are recognizing that they face similar questions about their personal and professional lives: Is it possible to sustain a set of fully human values as a practicing professional? As a member of a public organization, how does one deal with dilemmas involving conflicting priorities and ambiguous goals? The authors responses to these questions are presented as themes, describing connections between curriculum and pedagogy. They have designed an approach to ethical and social questions respectful of the contributions of adult learners and the need to provide diverse perspectives.

Leading Professional Learning

Leading Professional Learning
Author: Fiona Ell
Publisher: Acer Press
Total Pages: 136
Release: 2020-05
Genre:
ISBN: 9781742865393

Today's school leaders are faced with the increasingly daunting task of leading their schools to improve, to innovate and to become ever more responsive to change. There are many resources to help schools to engage with improvement frameworks, but few that directly address the complexity of the challenges that inevitably arise along the way. Based on extensive research in the field, including the outcomes of a five-year project on school improvement and professional learning in Australia and New Zealand, Leading Professional Learning: Practical strategies for impact in schools identifies the challenges that school leaders face when leading professional learning and development in their schools as part of an improvement agenda. Renowned professional development expert, Helen Timperley, has collaborated with a team of prominent authors, including Fiona Ell, Deidre Le Fevre and Kaye Twyford, to uncover the reasons underpinning these challenges and to provide practical strategies on how to address them. Case studies, excerpts from real teachers' experiences and step-by-step examples of useful strategies, including the spiral of inquiry, give school leaders the tools they need to tackle complex challenges in teaching, learning, curriculum delivery and pedagogical practice in both primary and secondary settings. Leading Professional Learning: Practical strategies for impact in schools is a hands-on resource for school leaders to identify specific professional learning and development issues that accompany the learning and change process and to overcome them in their schools.

Agency at Work

Agency at Work
Author: Michael Goller
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 485
Release: 2017-09-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 3319609432

The present book collects, integrates, and discusses the range of perspectives and discourses on agency at work. In addition, the book compiles the empirical research that has been generated by various perspectives. The chapters deal with the relationship between (a) agency at work, and (b) professional learning and development. They encompass a wide variety of working life domains and/or contexts, and are based on a broad range of epistemological and theoretical standpoints. This volume is not only thought to bring together current research, but also to foster the contemporary discourse on workplace agency a few steps further. Although the book strongly focuses on research originating in the field of workplace learning, its contents may be of interest to researchers from other scientific domains, such as socio-cognitive and development psychology, organisational behaviour, leadership, economics, life-course research, and philosophy.

Transforming Professional Development into Student Results

Transforming Professional Development into Student Results
Author: Douglas B. Reeves
Publisher: ASCD
Total Pages: 171
Release: 2012-05-29
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1416612440

How can we create and sustain professional learning programs that actually lead to improved student achievement? In this thoughtful and informative guide for teachers, administrators, and policymakers, Douglas B. Reeves provides answers. First he casts a critical eye on professional learning that is inconsistent, unfocused, and ultimately ineffective, and explains why elaborate planning documents and "brand-name" programs are not enough to achieve desired outcomes. Then he outlines how educators at all levels can improve this situation by * Taking specific steps to move from vision to implementation; * Focusing on four essentials: teaching, curriculum, assessment, and leadership; * Making action research work; * Moving beyond the "train the trainer" model; and * Using performance assessment systems for teachers and administrators. If you're tired of professional development that takes up too much time and delivers too little, read Transforming Professional Development into Student Results and discover how to move toward a system that gives educators the learning experiences they need to make a measurable difference for their schools and their students.