Positive Education equips students with the skills and mindset to lead fulfilling lives, navigate challenges, and contribute positively to society. Geelong Grammar School (GGS), the largest co-educational boarding school in Australia, is dedicated to fostering student wellbeing through Positive Education. With four campuses and a vibrant community…

In the South African context, children with severe to profound intellectual disabilities are not accommodated in the compulsory education system, although steps are being taken in this direction in acknowledgement of their right to education. Critical to this development is the training of educators and caregivers. There is a paucity of studies…

This study presents the Observatory of Childhood Culture -- OBECI -- a professional development community in the making. It describes its origins, constitution and functioning. It reports some of its achievements at the level of promoting participatory pedagogies for children's learning and professionals' development. To make the transformation…

The need for in-service education of teachers cannot be underestimated. It is a necessity in enhancing work performance and motivation of teachers in the field. Absence of in-service training of teachers will retard professional growth of teachers as well as "missing gaps" between demands and actual achievement levels. Inservice…

This paper presents the findings of a study that examined the preparation and teaching practice of ten teachers of grades 7-12 from the Shandong province in China. This study revealed that a multi-dimensional training system has been developed to help the teachers gradually build up their knowledge base for teaching. The findings of this study…

The United Nations has placed a high priority on human rights education. Building on the foundation laid by the UN Decade for Human Rights Education (1995-2004), the UN General Assembly launched the World Programme for Human Rights Education in December 2004 "as a global initiative, structured in consecutive phases, to advance the…

This article aims to review the historical development of continuing professional development programmes (CPDPs) for teachers, as well as the policies and objectives of such programmes in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) from the inception of these programmes until now. Styles of CPDPs that the Education Training Centres (ETCs) offer are…

The issue of teacher effectiveness has risen rapidly to the top of the education policy agenda, and the federal government and states are considering bold steps to improve teacher and leader effectiveness. One place to look for ideas is the experiences of high-performing education systems around the world. Finland, Ontario, and Singapore all have…

This collaborative self-study explores the co-construction of professional teacher education knowledge through mentoring, framed within the notion of working in an interpretive zone. The study is set in a learning community established in a college of education where Ilana was the head of the elementary department and Edith served as a new…

Drawing on studies of teachers, accountants and pharmacists conducted in Canada, this essay examines models for assessing professional learning that currently enjoy widespread use in continuing education. These models include professional growth plans, self-administered tests and learning logs, and they are often used for regulatory as well as…

Federal, State and school-based professional development has become a multi-million dollar educational enterprise in Australia. Yet there are no published models for the making of systems-level professional development policy. Reviewing the literature on the characteristics of effective professional development programs, this paper proposes a…

Research shows that professional learning can have a powerful effect on teacher skills and knowledge, and on how well students learn. To be effective, however, professional learning for teachers needs to be conducted in the ways that it is in many high achieving countries--continuously, collaboratively, and with a focus on teaching specific…

"Tsalani Bwino" in the Chichewa language is a farewell term which translates as "I am going, you are staying--go well in peace." This article reviews the author's working relationship with Hope One World and SOS Children's Village, Malawi during the period 1999-2004, where she conducted workshops in educational drama methods.…

Despite common moves in a number of countries to raise the quality and visibility of early childhood services (for example, through the introduction of curricular frameworks), both professionalisation policies and understandings of the professional role remain distinctly variegated across Europe and beyond. Whereas early childhood systems with…

The Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) program has become a valuable resource in the implementation of the Puerto Rico Department of Education's educational reform process. To support the process, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico granted computerized equipment, reading and mathematics software and training designed for schools. This included reading…