This explanatory correlational study examined nuanced relationships between teacher collaboration and teacher job satisfaction in two school districts in Illinois. A total of N=231 K-12 teachers responded to established measures of teacher job satisfaction and teacher collaboration from the 2018 Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS).…

A mosaic approach to leading practices leverages collaboration and makes it possible to renew the social fabric of a school. In this article, the authors use the notion of a 'mosaic of leading "practices'" to unsettle top-down, hierarchical, positional conceptions of leader"ship" that focus on "participants." The…

Empathy is a form of perception in which individuals access the perspectives of others about the world in order to build knowledge about it. It is also a source of self-knowledge because, as a con- sequence of learning how others see us, we can regulate and refine how we see ourselves. Empathy is, therefore, an important capacity through which…

Recalling Freire's lessons on education and teacher development, this study embraces the transformative power of dialogue. In the context of Brazilian public schools, where education faces challenges such as rigid curriculum prescriptions, the researchers implemented a Lesson Study cycle as a dialogic teacher development intervention. Despite…

STEAM education puts professional learning communities on the agenda by requiring teacher collaboration along with disciplinary integrity. In this study, a professional learning community in STEAM education was investigated by observing 49 teachers from different disciplines working in different districts during 16 weeks of interdisciplinary…

Materials development is increasingly recognized as a valuable venue for narrowing the research-practice gap. This qualitative case study explores how four middle school teachers and three university researchers collaborated in a community of practice (CoP) to write textbooks by highlighting the interplay between their collaborative relationships…

This qualitative case study investigates how faculty members in a Title I middle school engage in collaborative practices to enhance professional growth without formal professional learning. Framed within a descriptive lens (Merriam, 1998) and informed by Brown and Duguid's Community of Practice (CoP) framework (1991), the study addresses two…

Purpose: Lesson studies, a methodology originally developed in Japan, has been used in an increasing number of contexts, both in relation to initial teacher training and in the context of ongoing professional development. However, the research reported on the use of lesson studies in the training of physical education teachers is very limited. The…

Purpose: This paper focuses on prospective teachers' (PTs) participation in a lesson study (LS) that prompted them to research their own practice. We seek to describe the dimensions of PTs' knowledge of student learning developed during the process and the LS features fostering it. Design/methodology/approach: The participants were two PTs, a…

Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) provide the best setting for building collective teacher efficacy (CTE). CTE has been identified as having the highest positive effect on student achievement. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore perceptions of teachers and administrators regarding the effectiveness of PLCs for building…

This qualitative case study investigates how Professional Learning Communities (PLCs) influence teacher self-efficacy and collaboration in a rural school district. Using a qualitative case study approach, researchers will collect qualitative data through focus groups and interviews. Themes drawn from this study include trust and relationships as…

This qualitative dissertation explores the use of an original table-top role-playing game as a framework for community-building among independent community educators who lack a central geographic nexus. The study utilized an action research approach, involving the creation and development of the game in collaboration with participants for a period…

Curricula are planned and written by curriculum developers; they serve as instructional guides for educators. Educators make adaptations to written curricula to meet learners' needs and achieve intended learning outcomes. The efficacy of curriculum adaptations is enhanced when educators have a high pedagogical design capacity, which can be…

Purpose: Lesson study (LS) is a collaborative form of action research. Collaboration is central to LS methodology, therefore exploring and expanding the understanding of the collaborative features that occur in LS is a priority. This paper explores the features of collaboration in existing publications on LS to consider if, as Quaresma (2020)…

The concept of professional learning communities (PLCs) has received considerable attention in research as well as in school practice since the late 1990s. PLCs have been positively associated with a variety of outcomes for both teachers and students, but differences in the way the concept is operationalised, and the fact that most of the research…