V. Darleen Opfer

Conceptualizing Teacher Professional Learning

This article adopts a complexity theory framework to review the literature on teachers’ professional development practices, the generative systems of these practices, and the impact that learning experiences have on their knowledge and changes in classroom practices. The review brings together multiple strands of literature on teacher professional development, teaching and learning, teacher change, and organizational learning. In doing so, it illustrates that process–product logic has dominated the literature on teacher professional learning and that this has limited explanatory ability. The review demonstrates the ways the elements of three subsystems (the teacher, the school, and the learning activity) interact and combine in different ways and with varying intensities to influence teacher learning. The limitations of studies focusing on specific elements or subsystems are highlighted. The article concludes that to understand teacher learning scholars must adopt methodological practices that focus on explanatory causality and the reciprocal influences of all three subsystems.

Are we realising the full potential of teachers’ professional learning in schools in England? Policy issues and recommendations from a national study

The purpose of this article is to bring together findings developed from the Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England – State of the Nation Study. This large-scale national study, commissioned by the Training and Development Agency for Schools, investigated the range and kinds of continuing professional development (CPD) activities in which teachers at primary and secondary schools in England participate and the kinds of support provided by schools. Teachers’ professional learning practices and perspectives were researched in relation to three main themes: the benefits, status and effectiveness of CPD; the planning and organization of CPD; and access to CPD. The research was based on a review of the UK literature related to teachers’ CPD for the period 2004–2007, qualitative research (school snapshots) at nine primary and three secondary schools, and a survey of a national representative sample of teachers. Our analysis concludes that teachers’ professional learning in England is generally ineffective and lacks school-level systems and supports. As such, the potential of teachers’ professional learning for enhancing the quality of classroom teaching and learning in schools remains largely untapped.

The influence of school orientation to learning on teachers' professional learning change

This article presents a theoretical argument for assuming that schools have an orientation to learning that influences both whether teachers learn and also whether they change professionally as a result of the learning. This school-level orientation to learning is hypothesized to consist of beliefs and practices about learning. Results from a structural equation modeling process of 1,126 teacher survey responses in England show that schools have an orientation to learning that includes beliefs about learning, systems and supports for learning, and collective capacity for learning. The practices constituting the school-level orientation to learning have a strong to moderate influence, via path analysis, on teacher learning change defined as a composite outcome of change in beliefs, practices, and students. The beliefs that constitute a school-level orientation have a weak, but still significant, influence on teacher learning change.

Professional Learning Orientations: Patterns of Dissonance and Alignment between Teachers' Values and Practices.

Through its positive influence on teachers’ classroom practices and their students’ learning, effective professional learning of teachers is an important condition for school improvement. However, the Teaching and Learning International Survey reports that teachers’ professional development in most countries falls short of meeting the needs of teachers. This paper reports analysis of survey data collected for a national study of teachers’ professional development in England, although the issues it raises have international relevance. Through factor analysis four underlying dimensions of teachers’ learning orientations were identified and used as the basis for developing profiles of teachers’ professional learning values and practices through cluster analysis. Based on these profiles, five distinctive groupings of teachers were identified: ‘engaged learners’, ‘moderate learners’, ‘infrequent learners’, individual explorers’ and ‘solitary classroom learners’. The concept of dissonance between values and practice is a strong theme in the findings and for policy development. The main findings are that only a minority of teachers are ‘engaged’ learners. There is a prevailing individualist approach to learning among the majority of teachers. And there are important between and within school differences in the mix of teachers’ learning orientations. This leads to recommendations for more differentiated forms of support for promoting effective professional learning in schools.

'Schools and Continuing Professional Development in England - State of the Nation' research study: policy context, aims and design

This article introduces the Schools and Continuing Professional Development State of the Nation study (SoNS). Discussion of English policy together with an account of the studys aims and research design provide a context for the other articles included in this special issue. A key assumption behind the research, and the prevailing CPD policy context in England, is that organisational conditions in schools are highly influential in the development of sustained and effective classroom-based, collaborative, inquiry-oriented CPD. Therefore, the aims of the study investigated the range and kinds of support that schools in England provide as well as the range and kinds of CPD activities in which teachers were able to participate. Teachers’ professional learning practices and perspectives were researched in relation to three main themes: (a) the benefits, status and effectiveness of CPD; (b) the planning and organisation of CPD; and (c) access to CPD. These questions were explored through a mixed methods design consisting of three strands: (a) literature review; (b) qualitative research (school snapshots); and (c) a national survey of primary and secondary teachers in England. Discussion of processes and procedures of data analysis is followed by a summary of our conceptual model of schools and teachers’ CPD.

Developing a Research Agenda on the Media and Education

Abstract Most researchers who have investigated the relationship between the media and education have asserted that coverage of education has a negative impact on public perceptions of, and support for, public education. Much of this research relies on negative case examples and cross-sectional data to make this claim. This article calls into question the assumptions being made by these researchers. The article identifies a need for more systematic and longitudinal research on the topic. In identifying this need, the article suggests the development of a framework that recognizes the appropriate role of the media in a democratic society. In developing this framework, it is recommended that researchers focus on both media processes and media impacts in assessing the democratic nature of the coverage provided.

Beyond Self-Interest: Educational Interest Groups and Congressional Influence

Most research on interest groups has focused on theoretical perspectives concerning why members join these groups. Missing from this work is any connection between theories of organizational maintenance (i.e., how an organization forms) and research on influence activity (i.e., what an organization does).This article argues that a connection exists between organizational maintenance and the participation of their members in the organizations influence activities. Relying on a two-stage study of educational interest groups and the U.S. Congress, this article maintains that rational choice theories of interest group maintenance cannot account for the presence and perseverance of Washington-based education interest groups. A theory acknowledging levels of ideological commitment may be a more appropriate model for understanding educational interest groups at the national level.

Evaluating equity : A framework for understanding action and inaction on social justice issues

This article relies on a case study of a policy evaluation to illustrate how issues of social justice arise for action or inaction in a political environment. The article uses the case study to show that social justice issue formation is shaped by the personal beliefs of the actors, the prevailing political culture, the evolutionary path of the issue, and the larger context of the social environment. These multiple, overlapping, and sometimes contradictory systems interact in ways that make action on injustice and inequity by political actors more or less likely.

Ideology and Educational Policy: An Analysis of the Religious Right

This article argues that the characterization of the Religious Right as irrational does damage to progressive educational policy because it obscures the Religious Rights effectiveness in influencing educational policy and is counterproductive for resistance practices. The authors discuss briefly the common views of the Religious Right and critique those views on the basis of their own claims. They suggest an alternative conceptualization of the Religious Right, one that rejects the rational/irrational dichotomy of the prevailing views. They argue that the imperatives of the Religious Right are guaranteed by the prevailing ideology of the Christian, liberal state. The authors contend that counteracting the Religious Right requires a recognition of this prevailing ideology and the discursive practices that maintain it.

Introduction: Elections and Education-A Question of Influence

IN RECENT YEARS, the public school has been the backdrop of choice for elections. We have seen presidential candidates perched on small plastic chairs reading to kindergartners, gubernatorial candidates presiding over town hall meetings in high school gymnasiums, and mayoral or school board candidates holding court over pizza in the middle-school cafeteria. It is hard to recall a time in recent history when there were more “education” candidates or when education issues played a more central role in our electoral processes. During the 2000 U.S. presidential campaign, now-president George W. Bush visited more than 100 schools from Newark, New Jersey, to Mission Viejo, California. And although former vice president Al Gore made fewer such visits, he spent a substantial portion of time teaching civics lessons, eating in cafeterias, and sleeping at teachers’ houses. Each of these visits provided the candidates the opportunity to highlight their proposed education policies and claim themselves the next “education president.” As commentator Peter Schrag has stated, “You are not a serious candidate these days without an education policy” (Teacher, November/December 2000, p. 21). In addition to the proliferation of the education candidate, we have seen a record number of school-related citizen initiatives on electoral ballots. Twenty-four states have the citizen initiative, with Arizona, California, Oregon, Colorado, and Washington using it fairly extensively. At least 20 of the more than 70 citizen initiatives on state ballots in the past year targeted educational change. In Oregon, for example, 18 citizen initiatives appeared on the November 2000 ballot. Three initiatives promised to cut taxes and cap spend-