The culture of education

This study draws on sensemaking theory to explore how teachers explain growth and fixed mindsets. Teachers' prior beliefs about learning and learners influence how they engage with these mindsets. Teachers express support for the growth mindset initiative and feel it is something they already do. Teachers sometimes oversimply these concepts into simply positive and undesirable traits. Some teachers misinterpret fixed mindset as a characteristic of low-performing, low-income, or immigrant students.

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Teaching and Teacher Education

The most recent decade has seen a major growth in interest in teacher leadership, but there is limited research on the extent to which early career teachers can take on teacher leadership roles. In this article we explore this question by looking at teachers prepared through the alternative certification programme Teach First (TF), which aims to have its teachers take on leadership roles. We used a mixed methods approach, employing a range of quantitative and qualitative methods including surveys of TF teachers and headteachers, and 16 case studies, which included interview of TF teachers, heads, middle managers and non-TF teachers. We found that the TF teachers were keen and able to exercise leadership. This was most strongly the case for informal leadership roles like leading initiatives in the school. School support was important; senior management needs to be committed to distributed leadership, and practical hands-on support is required at the departmental level. A context that is stable and employs ...

Can Early Careers Teachers Be Teacher Leaders? A Study of Second-Year Trainees in the Teach First Alternative Certification Programme.

This paper discusses factors that enhance induction experiences for beginning teachers. It reports the findings from case studies that explore the impact of new entrants to the teaching profession in Scotland. The data suggest that the most supportive induction processes mix both formal and informal elements, but that the informal elements such as collegiality, good communication and a welcoming workplace environment should not be underestimated. The study also highlights the potential benefits of a more collegiate environment for teachers across the career phases. Experienced teachers and new entrants had a range of experience to offer each other, thus creating more cohesive professional working which was supportive of early career teachers while encouraging reflection on practice among the more experienced professionals.

/pdf/the-importance-of-collegiality-and-reciprocal-learning-in-evo9nkruuj.pdf

The importance of collegiality and reciprocal learning in the professional development of beginning teachers

The need in many countries not merely to recruit but – critically – to retain effective teachers has been a key factor in shaping induction policies. Past reviews of teacher induction have highlighted two important sources of difficulty: novices’ own unrealistic expectations of teaching and of students, and others’ unrealistic expectations of the novices. This article, which examines the relationship between teachers’ expectations of the first year of teaching and the realities that they encounter, explores the ways in which two policies in England – school-based initial teacher education partnerships (established since the early 1990s) and formal induction arrangements (re-introduced in 2000) have impacted on beginning teachers’ experience of the transition. Drawing on data from a three-year longitudinal study it focuses specifically on how the teachers’ reflections on their experience of their first year in teaching are related to the accounts that they give of their learning over the same period.

Surprising but not shocking: the reality of the first year of teaching

This article is based on a Norwegian study. The focus is two‐fold, including the views of both new teachers and leaders on the issue of leadership and professionalism. First, the focus is on the way newly qualified teachers describe how they function in the school and kindergarten organizations. The discussion explores how new teachers’ meetings with these organizations influence their daily life as teachers, and thereby their progress toward proficiency. Secondly, the focus shifts from the perspective of the new teachers to that of the organization leaders, who emphasize that professional competence is complex. In their view, it includes important aspects of the teacher’s role such as authority, leadership and how to act as teachers—important elements in the development of professionalism in this field the first years as teachers.

The newly qualified teacher: a leader and a professional? A Norwegian study

The lesson study (LS) model, which originated in Japan, has become popular all over the world. This article will highlight some of the challenges encountered when the LS model was picked up and int...

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1478210315612649

Lesson study model: The challenge of transforming a global idea into local practice:

Den første tiden i yrket

In the fields of school reform and teacher development, certain ‘globally travelling ideas’ have become significant. This article reports on a study of a small sample of Norwegian teachers trying out the Lesson Study (LS) idea that aimed to explore what happens when globally travelling reform ideas are enacted in local contexts. Specifically, the study considered the groups’ analyses of their jointly planned and videotaped research lessons. Our research question is: What do the teachers talk about when they are asked to collaborate in their analysis of their jointly planned research lesson; and what does this reveal about the pre-existing norms of collaboration? The themes the teachers are discussing, are: (I) pupils’ task completion, (II) pupils’ behaviour, (III) teachers’ performance and (IV) the pupils and they themselves as professionals. In this study, it became evident that the participants’ lack of experience in collaboration or in using the LS had an impact on the analysis of their research lessons. The results are viewed in the light of the mediating role that local cultures of schooling and professionalism cast on the enactment of travelling ideas; specifically on the forms of collaboration among teachers.

When travelling ideas meet local contexts : Norwegian teachers trying out 'lesson study'

This article is concerned with presenting a qualitative study of teachers dealing with undemocratic attitudes in secondary school. The research question was: how do teachers teach when the aim is t...

Gerd Grimsæth

Papers

The newly qualified teacher: a leader and a professional? A Norwegian study

Lesson study model: The challenge of transforming a global idea into local practice:

Den første tiden i yrket

When travelling ideas meet local contexts : Norwegian teachers trying out 'lesson study'

How do teachers deal with undemocratic attitudes in secondary school? ‘Evidence’ from Norway: