Leading staff development for school improvement

The effects of a technology-aided learning environment on the improvement of a primary special education school

“…It could be claimed that the project positively affected the teachers' teaching ways and professional practices, the students' personal development and academic performances, the school effectiveness and infrastructure and parents' attitudes towards their children education and schools, improving the school as a whole. This might mean that, the project ALİS not only developed teachers' teaching skills but also created a learning envireonment and culture for the teachers and students in relation to school improvement, as Bubb and Earley (2009) argued. The participants were aware of the fact that the teachers' skill development and the students' personel development, learning and motivation were being gradually developed during the duration of the project.…”

Views of Primary School Administrators on Change in Schools and Change Management Practices

“…Nevertheless, the development of teachers should be given importance; their developing themselves should be followed and evaluated. For the continuity of the development and change, learning and development should be shared; the individual who has developed himself should be encouraged (Bubb & Earley, 2009). School administrators generally use the persuasion technique (applying pressure) to solve the problem of resistance to change in schools.…”

Teacher fabrication as an impediment to professional learning and development: the external mentor antidote

“…These include: the degree of autonomy teachers have in selecting the CPD activities they engage with (Sandholtz, 2002;Kwakman, 2003); the allocation by schools of sufficient resource to CPD provision, and the extent to which teachers have (or can create) sufficient time to properly engage with CPD opportunities (Bubb et al, 2009;Earley, 2010); the expertise of those facilitating CPD activities (Cordingley et al, 2005), including, for example, their ability to effectively model the teaching strategies they are promoting ; the nature and quality of interpersonal relationships, including the degree of trust, between those engaging in CPD activities (Kennedy, 2005;McIntyre et al, 2009); the extent to which the schools of participating teachers are characterised by collegial and learning cultures (Kwakman, 2003;Bubb et al, 2009); and the individual characteristics and dispositions of the teachers themselves, such as their commitment to their PLD , and their openness to change and preparedness to operate outside of their comfort zone (Veenman et al, 2001). …”

“…Critics of this state of affairs point in particular to the following impediments to effective CPD: (1) resourcing by schools and/or government is insufficient (Leaton Gray, 2005;Bubb et al, 2009); (2) teachers have insufficient time and space to take up or properly engage with opportunities for PLD, often because of heavy workloads (Bubb et al, 2009;Webb et al, 2009); (3) much CPD activity is decontexualised, involves the provision of information through passive means such as lectures, and/or lacks applicability to classroom practice (Leaton Gray, 2005;; (4) much CPD provision is not sufficiently tailored to individual teachers' needs, often focused instead on whole school initiatives and concerns (Hustler et al, 2003), which are frequently linked to government objectives and priorities (Webb et al, 2009); (5) teachers have insufficient opportunity to access CPD designed to enhance their subject content knowledge and subject pedagogy (MacBeath & Galton, 2004;Luft, 2007).…”