Search results for "Professional development"
showing 10 items of 258 documents
A Finnish viewpoint on professionalism in early childhood education
2008
ABSTRACT This article discusses professionalism in early childhood education through the analytical tool of a research‐based multi‐level perspective that sees this as a cultural, communal, organisational, and individual phenomenon. Starting from an understanding of professionalism derived from a model of professional expertise, the article discusses the Finnish day‐care context at the social and cultural level, followed by a discussion of field‐specific knowledge as a tool for building professionalism. Professionalism is further examined as it plays out in the employees’ working environment, the day‐care centre and its working culture and from the perspective of the professionals themselves…
Applying a Mixed Method Design to Evaluate Training Seminars Within an Early Childhood Education Project
2008
Abstract The body of research relating to assessment in education suggests that professional developers and seminar administrators have generally paid little attention to evaluation procedures. Scholars have also been critical of evaluations which use a single data source and have favoured the use of a multiple method design to generate a complete picture of the effectiveness of procedures under evaluation. The purpose of the current study was to evaluate two training seminars using a mixed method design. The evaluation procedure was specifically designed to utilise triangulation of sources and to follow Killion's eight-step process. The seminars were part of the ‘Early Steps’ project, a Eu…
Possibilities and challenges in sustained capacity-building in early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions: ECEC leaders’ perspectives
2020
This paper investigates early childhood education and care (ECEC) institutions’ opportunities to build a learning organization and master future innovations by focusing on core components, implementation drivers, leadership, and collective collaborative systems. The paper is based on results from semi-structured interviews with ten ECEC leaders from three different municipalities in Norway that had taken part in the Being Together (BT) innovation five years earlier. Three areas were identified as crucial for the continuation of ECEC teachers’ capacity building: (1) a strong focus on implementation processes and sustainability; (2) transformational leadership; and (3) developing professional…
Creating teacher capacity in Early Childhood Education and Care institutions implementing an authoritative adult style
2017
The being together intervention intends to raise teacher capacity in Norwegian Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) institutions and promote social and emotional development in preschoolers by implementing an authoritative (warm and predictable) adult style in the institution. An authoritative adult balances between building up high quality interactions with children, while at the same time having a predictable structure with clear norms and social expectations in the learning environment. The purpose of this study was to investigate what helped the ECEC institutions to successfully implement the program principles and core components, and what were the challenges. The staff groups of …
Teacher development through language-related innovation in a decentralised educational system
2021
This study explores how early childhood education and basic education teachers develop and develop innovations within the decentralised educational system of Finland. The comprehensive dataset of 20 field interviews provides a range of insights into teachers’ goals, principles, inspirations and experiences when working with a variety of language-based innovations across Finland. The ecological perspective employed in the study highlights the complex relationships between the different ecosystems of education. With the particular focus on the educator-exosystem relationship, the findings indicate how Finnish teachers respond to the expectation to continuously develop and innovate as key chan…
CHANGING SCHOOL AFTER THE GLOBAL RECESSION : THE CASE OF LATVIA
2015
Latvia demonstrates common trends with the majority of the countries affected by the recession, as well as some peculiarities in overcoming the impact of the global economic and financial recession on education mainly due to an unbelievable austerity. Education in this country has suffered greatly, and its damage is adequate to the 67% of the budget cuts between 2008 and 2011 (IZM, 2011). The article deals with the school improvement after the recession, recent implementation of innovations to cover the damages and catch up with the ideas of the Next Generation learning, to supply schools with the appropriate curricula and meeting the learners needs for their individual development and abil…
Studying and improving Mathematics instruction in secondary schools in Spain study group (grupo de estudio SiMiS1 )
2021
El objetivo de este artículo es presentar y justificar el diseño de POEMat.ES, una pauta de observación de acciones del profesor de matemáticas en clase. POEMat.ES ha sido desarrollado por un grupo de investigadores con perfiles diversos en cuanto a experiencia docente e investigadora, a fin de sistematizar la observación de la práctica de enseñanza para entender e interpretar con precisión el proceso de enseñanza de matemáticas en educación secundaria en el contexto español. El diseño de POEMat.ES se ha basado en modelos específicos del conocimiento del profesor de matemáticas. La construcción del instrumento se aborda desde dos aproximaciones complementarias: se proponen categorías de obs…
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK FOR TEACHERS SELF- ASSESSMENT TO TEACH 21ST CENTURY SKILLS
2021
The context of educational reforms taking place in many countries gives special relevance, as the curriculum enters the 21st century skills or so-called transversal skills. It is necessary to ascertain how successful the teaching of these skills is already so that the school management together with teachers develop evidence-based or data-driven professional development solutions. The aim of the research is to create a theoretical framework and corresponding self-assessment tools, how the teacher can assess for himself to what extent he has succeeded in achieving the competence to teach students in the 21st century skills required to achieve the goals set by the school in the context of the…
Seeking New Perspectives on the Development of Teacher Education – A Study of the Finnish Context
2013
Studies show that changes in teacher education around the world occur slowly and are difficult to implement. This study aims to contribute to the discussion on the major resources for and obstacles to developing teacher education and finding novel solutions to overcome the obstacles. Resources and obstacles were investigated in the context of academic and university-based teacher education in Finland. Findings revealed three major challenges: (a) obstacles in renegotiating professional identity, (b) internal competition between subject-matter groups within the department, and (c) discrepancies between individual agency and organizational development. Based on the findings, this study argues…
Continuing professional development among social‐ and health‐care educators
2020
Future social- and health-care educators will be required to have versatile competence in educating professionals that reflects both the constantly changing health-care environment and delivery of high-quality patient care. Continuing professional development can be defined as a process that aims to increase educators' competence and well-being, along with the effectiveness of an organisation. This study aimed to describe educators' continuing professional development and clarify the contribution of continuing education. The research applied a qualitative approach as only limited information about social- and health-care educators' professional development currently exists.' Data were colle…