The articles contained in this issue of the Journal have been carefully selected to provide as much variety as possible. As such, the issue as a whole presents a powerful illustration of the increasing diversity that is apparent in the field of professional learning and development in education, which is also indicative of its global significance – a veritable cornucopia of theory, research, and practice indeed. The editorial has been written with two intentions. First, to arouse readers’ curiosity by introducing them to the main topics of the articles, and secondly to provide, metaphorically speaking, a ball of thread to help the reader navigate the route through the labyrinth created by the diversity and richness of the articles’ content. In doing so, it is hoped that new insights, understandings, and meanings relating to the highly complex territory of professional development in education will be derived.
The two opening articles of this issue both relate to the health professions. First, Tim Clement, Gerard Ingham and Katrina Anderson turn their attention to the Australian General Practice Training (AGPT) programme in which registrars, in other words qualified doctors, undertake advanced training in accredited training posts to become General Practitioners. More specifically, the article reports on the efficacy of a quality improvement focused intervention that was undertaken in response to perceived shortcomings of customary arrangements for General Practice Training. This intervention engendered professional development facilitated in the workplace that was based on the clinical educator’s self-identified concerns. According to the authors, the outcomes of the action research process that was conducted lend credence to the value of the workplace-based intervention and the professional development that it entails.
Also, located in the realm of health professionals’ work is the second article contributed by Katherine Andrea Dinamarca-Aravena. This commentary is premised on the assertion that little is known about the professional training of those healthcare professionals incorporated into schools to support teachers. Accordingly, the article examines the perspectives of speech therapists, psychologists, physical therapists, and occupational therapists about the professional training they receive for preparing them to work within Chilean schools with School Integration Programmes. It is purported that the outcomes of the mixed methods study reported have important implications for Educational Support Professionals (ESP), higher education institutions, and political actors for enhancing the work of ESPs in schools as much as possible.
Mention of higher education institutions provides a convenient transition to the following three articles which consider aspects of professional learning and development within a university context. First, Spanish researchers Lucia Sanchez-Tarazaga and colleagues examine the actions and programmes relating to the professional learning of new academics at university institutions. For this purpose, a systematic review of the international literature was conducted based on 262 papers extrapolated from three international databases, of which a total of 18 were analysed in depth. This rigorous review generated a number of insights, which have the potential, in particular, to inform the future design and content of university induction programmes.
Also focussing on professional learning in the context of a university is the article contributed by Youmen Chaaban, Hessa Al-Thani and Xiangyun Du. In this commentary, an evaluation is reported of the Faculty Pedagogical Development Programme that is offered at one university in Qatar. The authors concede that the ‘generalisability’ of the evaluation may be limited because of the specific context in which it was undertaken. It is also argued, however, that its outcomes have potential to be more generally applicable to Higher Education systems, especially in regard to those factors that tend to support or hinder faculty professional learning. Additionally, factors are illuminated that need to be taken into account when designing and implementing professional development programmes in the university context for making them as effective as possible.
A more specific consideration pertaining to the higher education context is the writing of a thesis, which is the focus of the article contributed by Kamakshi Rajagopal and colleagues from Belgium and the Netherlands. These authors argue that although the thesis is integral to many university courses, the supervision process is often quite arcane. The article, therefore, examines the efficacy of so-called ‘thesis circles’, or small collaborative groups in which students, together with one or more supervisors, conduct research on the same subject or theme. Based on a literature review and interviews, the boundaries and design characteristics of a thesis circle are identified enabling the conceptualisation of a typology of thesis circles that can support supervisors in the design of their collaborative groups.
The disparate content of this issue continues with the next article contributed by Mette Liljenberg, Daniel Nordholm, and Helene Arlestig who examine the role of education infrastructures in Sweden at the central municipal level for superintendents’ and deputy superintendents’ professional development and analyse the kind of professional development these infrastructures tend to promote. It could be argued that given the implications for school leadership, this article’s focus on middle-tier structures, and especially their contribution to superintendents’ professional development is most warranted. Indeed, the authors conclude that it would be desirable for infrastructure design, at various levels of the school system, to embrace different approaches to professional development than are customary to accommodate the complexity of superintendents’ work as comprehensively as possible.
Another extremely pertinent article has been contributed by Larysa Kolesnyk and Heidi Biseth, against the backdrop of the ‘New Ukrainian School’, an education reform initiative seeking to modernise and improve the country’s education system. In particular, the article focuses on the learning activities provided for 10 experienced teacher educators from six teacher education institutions in Ukraine and employs action research to yield insights into the efficacy of the professional development process. Not surprisingly, perhaps, open-mindedness and readiness for change were identified as prerequisites for professional growth among teacher educators encountering such a significant reform. It is also important to emphasise that this work was related to a broader project seeking to develop democracy education in Ukraine, Norway, and Palestine. As such, the framework of the international project has been influential in the professional growth of teacher educators by encouraging them to interpret professional issues from another angle. Given more recent developments occurring in Ukraine and Palestine, one hopes this vital work has not been abandoned.
Teacher education, albeit from a rather different perspective, is also the theme of the next article from Chile by Jorge Chavez Rojas and Jaime Faure Ninoles. In this commentary, the authors examine the role of experiences in the origin and development of theoretical and practical knowledge during teacher training. On the premise, that theoretical as well as practical knowledge are necessary for the formation of future teachers, it is argued that subjective learning experiences constitute an appropriate starting point for investigating the origin and development of both categories of knowledge.
In similar vein, Gunilla Karlberg-Granlund & Annika Pastuhov report on a study investigating the development of professional learning of nearly qualified teachers, or ‘prospective teachers’, during their subject teacher education at a Finnish university. In particular, this study was concerned with how prospective teachers portray their professional learning by making use of a self-reflective portfolio. It is concluded from the narratives generated by these portfolios that teacher education can support professional learning by ‘supporting prospective teachers to find their own voice, and identify their own strengths and weaknesses, as well as finding hope for the future’. Or, in deference to the title of the article, a trajectory of ‘being, becoming, and sustaining’ as prospective teachers learn professional learning in teacher education.
In keeping with career progression in teaching the next article contributed by K Bret Staudt Willet from the USA considers how and why early-career teachers (ECTs) expand professional learning networks with social media, especially in response to early-career challenges. Outcomes of the research reported suggest that ECTs use social media to locate support for instructional practice and for connecting socially, albeit according to boundaries that are set around their social media use. As the article emphasises, the attrition rate among ECTs is notoriously high in many jurisdictions, which is partly attributable to the challenges they encounter. Social media, however, may have considerable potential for many ECTs because of its capacity to expand the available supports for enhancing teachers’ professional learning.
Julia L van Leeuwen and her colleagues also discuss the professional learning of ECTs, especially regarding their ‘innovative professional potential’ (IPP) which, so it is argued, emerges through the interaction that occurs between ECTs and their school ecology. Analysis of IPP experiences of ECTs in the Netherlands has provided some indication of how it can be facilitated. In particular, it is deemed crucial to consider ECTs as being capable of exercising the full repertoire of teaching activities from the start of their career, and to share responsibilities among professionals in the school during ECTs’ induction.
Finally, Mengran Liu and colleagues from New Zealand report a content analysis of literature aimed at identifying and grouping features of collaborative learning, specifically for early childhood teachers. For this purpose, 81 articles relating to early childhood teachers’ professional learning and development were analysed. The main insights generated from this process reveal ways in which collaboration may be promoted that have the potential to enhance early childhood education teachers’ professional growth.
As indicated in the opening stanza of the editorial, the articles selected for this issue were selected to provide as much diversity as possible. Accordingly, each one of the articles lends a distinctive edge to scholarly debate about professional learning and development in general. Indeed, it is especially encouraging that as the Journal celebrates its fiftieth anniversary there should be such an eloquent portrayal of the distinctiveness, as well as the dynamism, of contemporary work being undertaken in professional learning, which is indicative of the vibrancy of international scholarship in the field. In other words, it illustrates the cornucopia that is alluded to in the title of the editorial. One hopes, of course, that this quest to enrich professional learning and development in education will be sustained for a further fifty years. From this perspective, the words of T.S. Eliot (Citation1944, p.43) are apposite:
Reference
- Eliot, T.S., 1944. Little gidding. In: The Four Quartets. London: Faber and Faber, 43.