Stephen Rowland explores the relationship between the turor (or facilitator) and the professional worker on post-experience professional courses. His emphasis in on the processes of reflection and enquiry in professional learning and is not content specific. Drawing upon his experience as a course tutor and the perspectives of students, he suggests an approach to professional learing which is firmly rooted in the experience and interests of the student.

This book, by closely recording and reflecting upon the work and play of a group of 9 to 11 year-old children in a primary classroom, develops an approach to teaching and learning which is based upon the ways in which children are able to exercise a controlling influence over their own learning activity. It also suggests the sharing and analysis of classroom experience should be part of a teacher’s day-to-day life. The material for the book was gathered during a year of classroom enquiry in which the author combined the roles of teacher and researcher, working alongside the normal class teacher in a primary school. Samples of the children’s work are carefully described and analysed in an attempt to get behind the overt behaviour of the children and reveal the purposes, concerns and thinking that underlies their activity.

This book addresses professionals across multi-disciplinary fields and provides an insight into the way in which students and teachers interrelate. An interpretive approach to teaching and learning is explored in this volume. It gives rise to a series of dilemmas for the tutor of professional people; dilemmas which arise from attempts to apply educational values in a social context- shaped by previous expectations of learning and institutional pressures. Such dilemmas are explored by interweaving accounts of teaching, the author's reflective fieldnotes as a course tutor, students' evaluative commentaries, and fictional accounts, in order to uncover how teaching and learning are experienced in these settings. They give rise to an understanding of the relationship between tutor and student which emphasises the control which the professional people are able to exercise over the development of their own understanding and practice. Following an outline account of an interpretive approach to teaching and learning, the chapters consider the stages of learning from negotiating the learning context, encountering the unknown, reflecting upon experience, developing new understanding, course evaluation and a reconsideration, professional competences which such courses might serve.

′Wow, this book has some inspiring ideas... It comes at a perfect time as schools try to mesh school improvement with performance management, new standards for various career stages and staff development... Well written, with an attractive layout and a consistently clear voice, it draws on wide and up-to-date research and writing from all parts of the United Kingdom... There are no easy answers in this book, but plenty of powerful ideas that might help us ask useful questions about how CPD encourages a commitment to professional and personal growth, and increases self-confidence, job satisfaction and enthusiasm for working with children and colleagues. This is what being a professional is all about′ - Times Educational Supplement, Book of the Week Teaching professionals need to be able to successfully respond to change, and when necessary drive change within schools. To accomplish this, teachers need to be secure in their understanding of their place within the profession and their teaching identity. The focus of this book is upon enabling teachers to explore new ways of working with children, with colleagues and with communities. This book provides teachers working towards Advanced Skills Teacher or Chartered Teacher status, and those on other Continuing Professional Development courses, with an essential text to assist in this process of personal and professional reflection and development planning. The authors focus upon the social, cultural and political aspects of professional development, and explore issues of professional identity.

This book has been written specifically for postgraduate students carrying out small-scale research projects in and around their work environments and for those undertaking research projects as part of their higher education courses. The book will also be useful to teachers, tutors, lecturers and trainers who want to use the concept of practitioner-based enquiry to enquire into their own institutional practices, and produce reports which can be submitted for academic credits leading to the award of certificates and degrees from universities and other professional bodies.

First Published in 1988. Throughout this book 'enquiring teachers' is taken to mean those who are students on courses, successful completion of which depends in part on their undertaking one or more enquiries into their own practice or that of their colleagues. This Introduction presents some definitions and then discusses the implications for teachers who become students on enquiry-based courses, for the schools and colleges in which they teach and for the colleges, polytechnics, universities and teachers' centres which mount and teach the courses.

This accessible guide will be an invaluable resource for early years practitioners looking to make a positive difference in their settings by using action research or teacher enquiry. Guiding readers through the practical steps, issues, and potentials of conducting research in a variety of early childhood settings, the book will increase practitioners’ confidence, enabling them to bridge the gap between recognising room for improvements and instigating necessary changes. Divided into easy-to-follow sections, A Practical Guide to Action Research and Teacher Enquiry: Making a Difference in the Early Years offers clear definitions and explanations of action research along with explanations of how it can be applied in early years settings to effectively and efficiently improve outcomes for children. Chapters outline a clear rationale for engaging in action research, highlight purposes and potentials of various approaches, and provide a helpful step-by-step discussion of the different stages of enquiry. Ten examples of practice are used to clearly illustrate the action research cycle in a variety of settings, and in relation to a range of topics and ages, thereby providing readers with a wealth of tried-and-tested ideas for application in their own settings and projects. These are supported by a range of downloadable resources which can be used as tools to support the planning, reflecting, and evaluation of practitioners’ research activities. Informative, inspiring, and highly relevant to practice, A Practical Guide to Action Research and Teacher Enquiry will support and scaffold the research activities of early years practitioners, managers, and students.

Reflects some of the major transition points in becoming a teacher and focuses explicitly on how issues of self and identity bear on these different points.

Current Issues in Second/Foreign Language Teaching and Teacher Development: Research and Practice represents a collection of selected papers from the 17th World Congress of the International Association of Applied Linguistics (AILA), which was held in August 2014 in Brisbane, Australia. The volume comprises 18 chapters presenting current research projects and discussing issues related to second language acquisition, teaching and teacher education in a variety of contexts from around the world. This collection of research papers will be of use to both new and seasoned researchers in the field of applied linguistics. Teacher educators, language teachers and language policy makers will find this volume equally useful as the papers address current issues in language education.