Cascading training down into the classroom: The need for parallel planning

Cascade models of in-service training are widely considered to be a cost effective means of introducing educational change to large numbers of teachers. Data from 511 teachers completing a cascade training programme that introduced current ideas about and procedures for teaching English to young learners, suggests that provision of training alone is no guarantee that cascade training aims will actually be applied in classrooms. The paper considers implications for cascade projects, suggesting that planning needs to be a parallel process if an adequate return on outlay, in the sense of teachers applying skills introduced in training in their classrooms, is to be achieved

Part II: Professional Development Activities and Professional Learning Community in the Mid-America Region of the Association of Christian Schools International

Current trends in the education literature currently point to school leadership as responsible for the professional growth of the faculty (Fullan, 2010; Reeves, 2006) leading to the desired academic growth of the students. The Christian school community, however, has limited resources compared to those in the public sector. Unfortunately, the literature rarely includes the 400,000 teachers or the school leaders who have chosen to work in private education and their influence on the lives of over 5 million children (Broughman & Swaim, 2006). By examining effective professional development and its relationship to the development of professional learning communities specifically for Christian schools, this study’s findings provide much needed research for leadership in the private school community. Because participating in professional development is important to continued teacher growth and quality as well as student achievement (Darling-Hammond, 2004; Haycock, 1998; National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future, 1996), it is hoped this study will lead to improved teacher and student performance under the guidance of school leadership. While Headley’s (2003) work surveyed 60 ACSI schools, providing an overview of professional activities most commonly provided for teachers in those schools, additional knowledge is needed about which activities are of most value to professional learning community development, leading to teacher growth and student success

The integration of computer use in education

There is an increasing awareness that disappointing experiences with the introduction of computers in education are a consequence of insufficiently taking into account factors that are crucial when introducing change in educational settings. Many of the problems in the literature show great similarity with the kind of problems often experienced in curriculum implementation. In this context the endeavors to make computer use an integrated part of classroom activities are analyzed. Emphasis will be laid on the interaction between teachers and courseware; elements for a more effective strategy for the integration of computer use in educational practice will be presented, with special attention to the design of support materials as an essential part of courseware

Managing innovation in English language education, state of the art review.

Innovation in English language education (ELE) has become a major ‘growth area’ in recent years. At the same time, an ELE innovation management literature has also developed, based on insights from innovation theory and their application, both from outside and within ELE, and concerned with attempting to critically evaluate and inform ELE innovation practice. Thus, using a well-established three-part framework for distinguishing the main stages involved in innovation project management, this review describes and discusses the main features of this body of work. After defining terms and clarifying its scope, it considers what is said about the innovation ‘initiation’ phase, in terms of innovation causes, characteristics and contexts. It then examines conceptualisations of the innovation ‘implementation’ stage, by distinguishing main overall approaches, frameworks for identifying and configuring roles, underlying psychological processes, and the use of evaluation techniques. Lastly, the literature relating to innovation ‘institutionalisation’ stage is analysed. The article concludes by identifying overall trends and areas for further development. In particular, it is argued that ELE innovation work needs to become more informed by many of the concepts and procedures which the ELE innovation management literature contains

Analysing projects of professionalizing education: The challenge of quality

This work intends to describe the theoretical-conceptual design of an investigation whose main aim is to analyse and interpret an ongoing process of reconstruction of a teacher education curricular project (1st to the 4th grade teaching) as well as its bases. We use several theoretical frameworks that form three dimensions of analysis: curricular, organisational and personal / interpersonal. We are seeking to identify points and levels of intersection of these analysis dimensions, in search of a "pluralist" synthesis of several theoretical frameworks, that will provide conceptual consistency to the interpretations of the phenomenon under scrutiny

The Cost of Conformity: Education Reform, Information, and Ethical Leadership

Like Janus, conformity has two faces. On one face, conformity allows social cohesion to accomplish mission-specific activities. On the other face, conformity in educational leadership can entail a three-part cost against human development. First, education leaders may lose the capacity to ground ethics in objectively valuable sources. This is an effect of formal and informal institutional incentive structures and pressures leaders of virtue to become managers of demand. Second, conformity signals to institutional actors that authentic reform might be too costly to one’s professional career. Third, conformity signals that bureaucracies are not merely locations of special interests, but they are also locations of information dissipation in decision-making. All of these combine to show that the institution of education suffers a significant loss of creativity and innovation, making leadership a difficult occupation. A discussion of reliable remedies for practice follows

Analysing pedagogical change: Physics teachers' responses to a new curriculum.

This paper describes teachers' attempts to implement the 1994 New Zealand physics curriculum in the first year of its introduction to secondary schools in 1998. Analysis of interviews with 10 physics teachers and the three curriculum writers led to the identification of a number of barriers to changes in pedagogical practices. The barriers identified aligned with factors that had been identified by other researchers as important influences on teachers undergoing change. It is argued that a sociocultural perspective suggests that there were three main reasons why significant pedagogical change was not occasioned by the curriculum document. Firstly, there was very limited knowledge about why changes were being implemented. Secondly, there was little social and system support for the curriculum change. Finally, teachers had no time to focus on and reflect on the change