The political and social rationale for the establishment of a national system of education in nineteenth-century Ireland has been the focus of considerable attention by scholars. Less attention has, however, been paid to teacher quality and school effectiveness within that system. Various efforts were made over the course of the century to address…

This article explores the learning arising from a pilot inter-school visits programme in Stevenage, Hertfordshire. Teachers from two schools undertook a series of visits with the aim of developing learning and teaching in their schools. The pilot sought to understand ways in which such a collaborative visits programme could be used to build…

In this article I investigate the process of an in-service programme for English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in Argentina started in 2007. Teachers began to feel uneasy about the EFL curriculum for secondary education at the time, feeling that something should be done to develop a participatory curriculum to be implemented in the future.…

In recent years, increasing numbers of professional development programs have dealt with assessment literacy for teachers and/or administrators. Is assessment literacy merely a fashionable focus for today's professional developers or, in contrast, should it be regarded as a significant area of professional development interest for many years to…

This exploratory study is an attempt to shed light on the internal dynamics of secondary teachers' and academics' professional learning, its context and its occasions, in a course of a university-provided in-service professional development programme in Greece, using the experiences and perceptions of its participants. In investigating the above,…

This paper reviews the themes emerging from Bangladeshi teachers' experiences of taking part in the initial research and the development stage of a professional development programme they were involved with. The Secondary Teaching and Learning Programme is an information and communications technologies-enhanced supported open distance learning…

Nearly two decades of research has taught some powerful lessons about how to design and implement meaningful and effective professional development for teachers. This newsletter examines the characteristics of high-quality professional development and offers some suggestions for improving its impact and effectiveness. For reform efforts centered…

Early career special educators must be engaged in conversations with developers of preservice teacher preparation programs to co-construct initial teacher education programs which meet their needs. The process of listening to the teachers themselves could serve to ensure that teachers are an explicit element of program design. This article…

The Single Skill Training (SST) Courses were developed to meet staff development needs by providing short, concentrated training modules in the areas of mainstreaming handicapped students, providing individualized instruction, and implementing a Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). The program was set up to offer staff development courses to public…

The document describes Project TREK (Training Regular Educators with Exceptional Kids) which provides services to seven school districts within the Portland, Oregon area. Chapter 1 offers an overview of the project's purpose and philosophy, target population, organization and staffing, delivery of services, and staff support and interaction.…

A task force report on education for gifted and talented pupils in Alberta, Canada, provides information on the need and status of such programs. Three main sources of information were tapped: written and oral submissions, the research literature, and the knowledge and experience of task force members. Findings are reported in six general areas:…

Summarizes the characteristics and collaborative development of an inservice teacher education program for an urban high school and reports the findings of the program evaluation. Concludes that success relates, among other factors, to teacher involvement, appropriate instructional techniques, and locally relevant materials. (DC)

An intensive weekend workshop for teachers focusing on foundations of health education, drug education, emotional health, and human sexuality demonstrated that a well-planned and implemented in-service training program can effectively improve teachers' competency in health education. (JD)

This paper explores gifted education and plans for inservice teacher education in gifted education programs in Iowa. A survey was conducted of 238 Iowa public school districts having programs for gifted students. Initial analysis of the data involved a frequency count for each of 13 survey items which rated program emphasis on major provisions of…

Evaluated a critical-thinking skills-training program for inservice training of classroom teachers in Georgia using responses from 700 questionnaires. Modeling of the strategy being taught, knowledge and enthusiasm of the trainers, and material relevance contributed to the high quality of training. More follow-up to the training would be extremely…