An Examination of Professional Development Practices for Secondary Teachers Through the Lens of Adult Learning Theory

An Examination of Professional Development Practices for Secondary Teachers Through the Lens of Adult Learning Theory PDF Author: Cheryl S. Reichert
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 142

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Book Description
This qualitative case study investigated the professional development for teachers in one Missouri school district from the perspective of principals and teachers to determine whether Knowles (1990) adult learning theory assumptions are applied in the planning and implementation of professional development. The definition of professional development utilized in the study was “building capacity of teachers to help students learn” (DiPaola & Hoy, 2014, p. 101). Professional development has been the mode to improve instruction through teacher training ultimately to produce higher student achievement (Miller, Garciduenas, Green, Shatola, & Enumba, 2008). Creating change with teachers required study into how teachers learn (Gregson & Sturko, 2007). Caruth (2014) defined adult learning theory as the study of how adults learn. The study focused on the perceptions of principals and teachers in regards to professional development and its planning and implementation through the lens of the six adult learning theory assumptions: self-directed, need to know, life experiences, readiness to learn, internal motivation, and orientation to learning. A qualitative case study approach allowed the researcher to examine the six assumptions of adult learning theory within one school district. A qualitative case student approach provided opportunities for in-depth answers and richer feedback (Mertens, 2005). For this research, the case study consisted of one school district and two high schools. Semi-structured questions, encouraging open ended answers, were asked to the two building principals and a focus group (containing 5-6 participants) from each building. Through data analysis, the six assumptions of adult learning theory were examined. These themes provided insight as to the perceptions of principals and teachers about the professional development offered within their buildings.

An Examination of Professional Development Practices for Secondary Teachers Through the Lens of Adult Learning Theory

An Examination of Professional Development Practices for Secondary Teachers Through the Lens of Adult Learning Theory PDF Author: Cheryl S. Reichert
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 142

Get Book Here

Book Description
This qualitative case study investigated the professional development for teachers in one Missouri school district from the perspective of principals and teachers to determine whether Knowles (1990) adult learning theory assumptions are applied in the planning and implementation of professional development. The definition of professional development utilized in the study was “building capacity of teachers to help students learn” (DiPaola & Hoy, 2014, p. 101). Professional development has been the mode to improve instruction through teacher training ultimately to produce higher student achievement (Miller, Garciduenas, Green, Shatola, & Enumba, 2008). Creating change with teachers required study into how teachers learn (Gregson & Sturko, 2007). Caruth (2014) defined adult learning theory as the study of how adults learn. The study focused on the perceptions of principals and teachers in regards to professional development and its planning and implementation through the lens of the six adult learning theory assumptions: self-directed, need to know, life experiences, readiness to learn, internal motivation, and orientation to learning. A qualitative case study approach allowed the researcher to examine the six assumptions of adult learning theory within one school district. A qualitative case student approach provided opportunities for in-depth answers and richer feedback (Mertens, 2005). For this research, the case study consisted of one school district and two high schools. Semi-structured questions, encouraging open ended answers, were asked to the two building principals and a focus group (containing 5-6 participants) from each building. Through data analysis, the six assumptions of adult learning theory were examined. These themes provided insight as to the perceptions of principals and teachers about the professional development offered within their buildings.

Practice-Based Professional Development in Education

Practice-Based Professional Development in Education PDF Author: Loose, Crystal
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799846237
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Teachers, as life-long learners, engage in professional development to deepen their understanding of content and instructional methods. Teacher professional development is a form of adult education, and adults learn best if they are actively involved in their own learning and see it relative to their own needs. Grounding professional development in actual classroom practice is a highly powerful means of fostering effective teachers. Research has shown that, for professional development to be effective, several components of instruction should be considered: reflection on practice, problems arising in practice, subject matter content, and principles of adult learning. Practice-Based Professional Development in Education is a cutting-edge research publication that explores both effective and ineffective professional development practices and presents arguments for why adult learning theory should be considered when designing a professional development session. Highlighting a range of topics including social media, education reform, and teacher learning, this book is essential for teachers, academicians, education professionals, policymakers, curriculum designers, researchers, and students.

The Adult Learner

The Adult Learner PDF Author: Malcolm S. Knowles
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000072894
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
How do you tailor education to the learning needs of adults? Do they learn differently from children? How does their life experience inform their learning processes? These were the questions at the heart of Malcolm Knowles’ pioneering theory of andragogy which transformed education theory in the 1970s. The resulting principles of a self-directed, experiential, problem-centred approach to learning have been hugely influential and are still the basis of the learning practices we use today. Understanding these principles is the cornerstone of increasing motivation and enabling adult learners to achieve. The 9th edition of The Adult Learner has been revised to include: Updates to the book to reflect the very latest advancements in the field. The addition of two new chapters on diversity and inclusion in adult learning, and andragogy and the online adult learner. An updated supporting website. This website for the 9th edition of The Adult Learner will provide basic instructor aids including a PowerPoint presentation for each chapter. Revisions throughout to make it more readable and relevant to your practices. If you are a researcher, practitioner, or student in education, an adult learning practitioner, training manager, or involved in human resource development, this is the definitive book in adult learning you should not be without.

Handbook of Professional Development in Education

Handbook of Professional Development in Education PDF Author: Linda E. Martin
Publisher: Guilford Publications
ISBN: 1462515215
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 593

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Book Description
"This handbook shares successful models and practices of teacher professional development and learning along with suggestions for sustaining professional development. The handbook is intended to address professional development issues for P-12 educators in all content areas, forges a balance between policy issues and theoretical frameworks, along with presenting recommendations for best practices in professional development. It is divided into four parts: (1) professional development past and present; (2) the complexity of professional development in today's schools; (3) developing solutions for effective professional development; and (4) pulling it all together"--

The Practice of Teachers Professional Development

The Practice of Teachers Professional Development PDF Author: Helen Grimmett
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9462096104
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 213

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Book Description
This book uses Vygotsky’s cultural-historical theory to provide a unique theorisation of teachers’ professional development as a practice. A practice can be described as the socially structured actions set up to produce a product or service aimed at meeting a collective human need. In this case, collaborative, interventionist work with teachers in two different Australian primary schools sought to simultaneously identify, understand and develop the necessary conditions for supporting the teachers’ development as professionals. The in-depth analysis of this practice provides interesting insight into professional development for teachers at all levels of schooling, and provides strong support for educational researchers, administrators and consultants to reconsider many existing forms of professional learning/development programs. This book supports the contemporary view that professional learning must take place with teachers, rather than be delivered to teachers, but provides an important expansion to current work in this area by arguing that a focus on teachers’ learning of new strategies and principles may still fall short of creating long term change in teachers’ professional practice. By taking a cultural-historical approach, the focus moves to supporting teachers’ development of unified concepts (the intertwining of theoretical and practical aspects) and motives to continue their ongoing development as professionals. This emphasis builds teachers’ capacity to examine and disrupt habitual practices and understand, create and implement thoughtful and sustainable transformations in all areas of their professional life. This book therefore builds upon the ongoing conversation about professional learning and development, offering a new framework for researching, understanding and developing this critical practice.

Teacher Quality, Professional Learning and Policy

Teacher Quality, Professional Learning and Policy PDF Author: Christine Forde
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 1137536543
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 293

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Book Description
This book examines the significance of teacher expertise in the drive to improve quality and effectiveness. Scrutinising both key conceptual issues and current policy developments and approaches, the authors analyse educational systems from around the world and question how different cultural contexts and systems can implement measures to improve teacher effectiveness. The book analyses factors such as policy change and teacher evaluation as well as the regulation of the teaching profession to determine how these aspects can influence the expertise of individual teachers. As numerous policy interventions have tried to define and enhance teacher quality to raise pupil achievement, this book calls for an interrogation of this stance and signals a need to consider an alternative approach. This book will appeal to students and scholars of teacher effectiveness and professional learning, as well as researchers and policymakers.

Teachers' Professional Development

Teachers' Professional Development PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9087907419
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 188

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Book Description
Within the central topics of the debate on teachers’ professionalism are the problems of research-based and evidence-based initial and lifelong teacher behavior. Although the statements on professional similarities of teacher actions with those of other (academic) professionals are very plausible, there remains a central task for teacher education programs: How to develop towards such expertise—which is equal to evidence convictions—effectively and efficiently. Which role do scientific research and its results play in this context? How can research results be converted into recommendations for teacher actions?

How Teachers Change

How Teachers Change PDF Author: Cristine A. Smith
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
This book deals with the most important individual, professional development, program, and system factors that influence the type and amount of teacher change. This study was conducted primarily to help professional development decision-makers plan and deliver effective professional development, and to understand the factors that influence how teachers change as a result of professional development. How do practitioners change as a result of participating in one of three different models of professional development, and what are the most important factors that influence (support or hinder) this change?

Exploring Education and Professional Practice

Exploring Education and Professional Practice PDF Author: Kathleen Mahon
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 9811022194
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 292

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Book Description
This book was written to help people understand and transform education and professional practice. It presents and extends the theory of practice architectures, and offers a contemporary account of what practices are composed of and how practices shape and are shaped by the arrangements with which they are enmeshed in sites of practice. Through its empirically-based case chapters, the book demonstrates how the theory of practice architectures can be used as a theoretical, analytical, and transformational resource to generate insights that have important implications for practice, theory, policy, and research in education and professional practice. These insights relate to how practices are shaped by arrangements (and other practices) present in specific sites of practice, including early childhood education settings, schools, adult education, and workplaces. They also relate to how practices create distinctive intersubjective spaces, so that people encounter one another in particular ways (a) in particular semantic spaces, (b) that are realised in particular locations and durations in physical space-time, and (c) in particular social spaces. By applying such insights, readers can work towards changing practices by transforming the practice architectures that make them possible.

Pathways of Adult Learning

Pathways of Adult Learning PDF Author: Colleen Kawalilak
Publisher: Canadian Scholars’ Press
ISBN: 1551306379
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
This book provides educators and facilitators with a comprehensive overview of the historical underpinnings and philosophical orientations of adult education and adult learning while attending to the various roles individuals play both within and beyond the formal constraints of the classroom. Positioning learners' and instructors' educational narratives as central to the theories that inform adult education, Pathways of Adult Learning opens up a dialogue among students, educators, community members, scholars, and working professionals about the many possible avenues toward knowledge sharing. Employing a personal, accessible tone, Janet Groen and Colleen Kawalilak take up a relational approach that encourages readers to reflect upon their own experiences as learners within the broadening context of adult education. Conscious of the power imbalances that can emerge in both institutional and professional work and learning environments, this text explores specific teaching and facilitation strategies that effectively generate ideas and accommodate adult learners of varying gender orientations, socio-economic backgrounds, and ethnicities. Through their collaborative analysis of a diverse collection of first-person narratives, provided by both students and scholars working in the field, the authors construct a multi-faceted portrait of the status of adult learning today. Integrating a critical lens to explore how social, cultural, and economic factors influence and shape individual and collective pathways toward lifelong learning, this text is an indispensible guide for anyone studying or facilitating educational programming for adults in diverse work and learning contexts.