The concept of Reflective Practice has become one of the most influential professional development theories within teacher education over the last 30 years. However, the concept has been seen to be contested and problematical within the literature. The debate surrounding the value of such an individualised approach to professional development…

This study explores how adapted action research could act as a catalyst for change in curriculum development and be used as an instructional strategy in a music teacher education programme to enhance the reflective practice of student-teachers. Two cases of in-service, part-time student-teachers of a music teacher programme who conducted an…

This paper reports on a research case study into a form of mentoring for teachers in higher education in Ireland with 30 academic staff. It begins with an exploration of the concept and practice of mentoring in the world of higher education professional development; focus will be limited to an overview of the concept of teacher mentoring, an…

This study examined the concerns and experiences of Malaysian student teachers during their practicum. The 14 student teachers who volunteered were asked to maintain a reflective journal throughout their practicum to document their teaching concerns and confidence to teach. Eighteen derived concerns were identified and placed into four main…

Accompanying the emergence of blog technology as a dominant online publishing paradigm is a growing interest in its educational benefits and applications. This study sets out to develop an empirically grounded framework for educational blogging in the context of teacher education. A working framework was first proposed that highlights four areas:…

Among the most critical professional characteristics of teacher educators is that of reflectivity. The ability to self-judge our own practice context, capability, and performance against the broader professional contexts of practice by teacher educators has been noted by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). The…

This paper profiles the experiences of seven teacher educators who engaged in a 9-month collaborative self-study focused on exploring the text "Developing a Pedagogy of Teacher Education: Understanding, Teaching and Learning about Teaching" (Loughran, 2006). In this paper we illustrate how we developed shared understandings of our dilemmas as…

This paper engages general debates about the production of knowledge and, within that, more specific debates about the place of the researcher in the research process. There are two main objectives: one is a theoretical interest that involves examining the issue of subjectivity and how intersubjective negotiations take shape in research…

This article provides an inside look at Barbara Knighton's classroom teaching. She uses big ideas to guide her planning and instruction and gives other teachers suggestions for adopting the big idea approach and ways for making the approach easier. This article also represents a "small slice" of a dozen years of collaborative research,…

This paper outlines the connection between qualitative research methods in education and teacher reflective practices as they relate to Valli's ("Reflective teacher education: cases and critiques." State University of New York Press, Albany, 1992; "Peabody J Educ" 72(1): 67-88, 1997) model of reflection. Using the authors' own experiences in…

How can school librarians know about other teachers' professional development experiences? School librarians need time to talk with fellow teachers about the wide range of issues and challenges present in schools. A collaborative mission gives precious time to create learning opportunities for students; but does it give enough time for reflective…

Reflection is an important concept or principle that is fundamental in the interpretation of new information, and is also required if learning is to advance from surface to deep learning. The purpose of this article is to explore the use of blogs as an e-learning journal writing tool for reflection and peer-feedback during Teaching Practice…

This study assessed student attitude towards reformed laboratories featuring a factorial design of inquiry (IN) and explicit/reflective (ER) pedagogy to foster nature of science understanding. Students in thirty-one lab sections responded to pre and post semester assessments of their confidence, perception of usefulness, and effectance motivation…

This paper discusses facilitating student collegiality within diverse student groups. It argues that diverse student groups of international, domestic, mature age and Gen Y students often have similar difficulties and strengths although they may occur for quite different reasons and understanding this is useful when deciding on teaching and…

This dissertation study examined a high school mathematics coach in the context of a three-year project called MAST (Mathematics Achievement Success Today) that provided summer content courses, lesson study, and mathematics coaching for high school teachers. This study focused in particular on the work of the MAST project coach as she interacted…