Studies on the work of educators and facilitators

Effective teacher professional development: new theory and a meta-analytic test (2023). Review of Educational Research (United States, Q1)
Multiple meta-analyses have now documented small positive effects of teacher professional development (PD) on student test scores. However, the field lacks a validated explanatory account of what distinguishes it from less effective in-service training. As a result, researchers have little advice for those tasked with designing or implementing better PD. We set out to remedy this by developing a new theory of effective PD based on combinations of causally active components aimed at developing teachers' ideas, motivating change, developing teaching techniques, and then incorporating these changes into teaching practice. We tested two important implications of the theory using data identified through a systematic review and meta-analysis of 104 randomized controlled trials, finding qualified empirical support for the theory. The main contribution of the article is to provide a testable theory of what makes PD more effective, which can be used to guide future empirical research on this topic.

Demotivation among physical education teachers: an approach based on their perception of pressures and their vocation (2024). Educación XX1 (Spain, Q2
The growing personal unease experienced by teachers in their work has been receiving a great deal of attention over the last decade. The pressures they perceive in their work environment and their vocational interest have been identified as factors that could influence both their well-being and their teaching practice. Following self-determination theory, the aim of this study was to verify the existence of profiles among physical education (PE) teachers according to perceived pressures and vocation, as well as to analyze the frustration of basic psychological needs and demotivation in these profiles. A total of 245 PE teachers (129 men and 116 women) participated, with an average age of 39.04 years (SD = 10.12) and 13.70 years of experience (SD = 9.74). Cluster analysis revealed the existence of three different profiles: a group of teachers who perceived high pressures and had high vocation, another group who perceived low pressures and had low vocation, and a final group who perceived low pressures and showed high vocation. These profiles were characterized by significant differences in the motivational variables analyzed, with the group of teachers who showed low levels of perceived pressure and high vocation being identified with the most adaptive motivational patterns. The findings highlight the need for educational institutions to pay attention to vocational interests and suggest that perceived pressures influence teacher demotivation, which can negatively affect their teaching practice.

Educational research as an area of teacher development (2023). Pedagogical studies (Chile, Q3)
One of the difficulties faced at the academic level is the early dissociation that occurs between the teaching role and the development of educational research. The origin does not necessarily lie in a problem with research training: most teacher training programs include periods of practice combined with periods of research, often in the same practice space, with the intention of generating situated knowledge (Grenier, 2018; Vanegas Ortega & Fuentealba Jara, 2019). However, for reasons that are not causally explained, most teachers leave research once they enter the academic career and do not return to it until they resume some academic process (such as postgraduate training) (Sánchez, 2003).

Teachers in Chile during the COVID pandemic: a quantitative study of their emotions, well-being, and professional burnout (2023). Pedagogical Studies (Chile, Q3)
The pandemic has impacted people's lives, especially at school. However, there are no studies in Chile that have examined the implications of this new context for teachers. The study characterizes the well-being of Chilean teachers based on different variables that are key to teaching and learning, such as job burnout, teacher well-being, positive and negative emotions, and perceived social support. For these purposes, a sample of 635 teachers was used, with an average age of 40.66, mostly women (92.3%). The results showed that younger teachers experience more negative emotions and burnout, women experience greater psychological burnout than men, and teachers in subsidized private schools have lower well-being indices. The implications of these results for interventions and the importance of creating support mechanisms for the exercise of their profession are discussed.

Narrative inquiry in the classroom: stories from practice for teacher learning and professional development (2023). Pedagogical Studies (Chile, Q3)
Although the existing literature shows a favorable trend toward incorporating narrative perspectives in research and teaching practice, there are few reports on the impact of these perspectives on professional learning among teachers. We report on an exploration of the professional learning of a group of four teachers who developed a narrative inquiry of their classrooms. Through a multiple case study, we analyzed in-depth interviews to examine the meanings attributed to professional learning. The results point first to professional learning among these teachers in developing reflective processes, both from their individual relationship with the production of practice stories and from sharing and co-editing the stories in community, broadening their view of education and reducing their sense of isolation. Second, they learned to collaboratively inquire into practice, impacting other aspects of teaching professionalism, such as their relationships with other teachers and their classroom practices. We discuss the results in terms of the classroom narrative inquiry framework and teacher training and professional development.

Digital literacy among secondary school teachers in Uruguay (2024). Educational profiles (Mexico, Q3)
This paper is part of a research project that investigated the levels of digital literacy among secondary school teachers in public high schools in Uruguay during the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods, from the perspective of professional teacher development. The study seeks to understand the myriad factors that act as brakes and drivers for the development of powerful virtual teaching processes. These questions are explored using data from teacher censuses conducted in 2007 and 2018, a survey conducted during the first year of the pandemic in Uruguay, and a systematic review of ordinances and communications from education authorities during the period. The findings reinforce the importance of considering teachers' professional trajectories, the teaching context, and the gap between access to technology and its pedagogical use.

Activities, evaluation, and proposals for improvement in the initial training of early childhood, primary, and secondary school teachers in relation to their oral language competence (2024). Educational profiles (Mexico, Q3)
A large number of university teachers recognize that oral language competence (OLC) is not sufficiently included in teaching plans and feel that they are not competent enough to support their students in this area. The objectives of this study are: to explore the activities that university teachers of initial teacher training propose to their students in relation to ORC; to find out how they assess this competence; to explore students' perceptions of ORC; and to find out what teachers propose to improve the ORC of future teachers. Seventeen university teachers from four Spanish universities were interviewed. The results indicate that few activities are carried out to contribute to the development of students' CLO, that students have few linguistic resources, and that teachers agree on the need to participate in training processes to contribute more effectively to the development of this competence.

Sex education as part of the initial teacher training (2023). International Journal of Education for Social Justice (Spain, Q1)
This article presents an exploratory, descriptive, and comparative study to determine the current status of sex education in official teacher training and education programs at 45 Spanish public universities. A total of 843 teaching guides included in the curricula of 189 degree programs in Early Childhood and Primary Education, Pedagogy, and Postgraduate Teacher Training were analyzed. The current training possibilities in these studies were reviewed based on the curricula of the official degrees and the teaching guides for the subjects taught in the 2018-2019 academic year. A set of keywords related to sexuality and gender perspective at a global, cross-cutting, and specific level were selected, checking for the presence or absence of these terms and conducting a content analysis of the official documents. The results show that sex education is a “pending issue” in initial teacher training in Spain, with little presence in official university degrees. It is clear that initial training in sex education is not guaranteed or explicitly included in official curricula, which contradicts the recommendations of international organizations.

Active methodologies for sustainable development in teacher training. Bibliometric analysis (2023). International Journal of Education for Social Justice (Spain, Q1)
One of the current challenges facing university education is sustainability and social justice. According to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), achieving these goals means taking into account the socio-economic and cultural challenges we face today. In this sense, university teacher training must play a key role between these two variables. To this end, we must commit to the use of active teaching methodologies that consider the sustainability of the curriculum and reflect social justice. The objective of this research is to conduct a bibliometric study of scientific production related to the immersion of sustainability in the curriculum and the use of active methodologies in the initial teacher training process through a descriptive and cross-sectional-retrospective study that would examine scientific production in this field. One of the most important results reveals a growing productivity of research in recent years, which allows us to visualize the relevance given to these issues among the scientific community, with Spain being the most prolific country in this field. This situation has generated renewed momentum in research on this topic, as evidenced by a significant and increasing number of publications in recent years.

Teacher mentoring in the service of teaching learning: Conceptual foundations, characteristics, and challenges for teacher education reform (2020). Journal of Teacher Education (United States, Q1)
Around the world, initial teacher education programs are increasingly becoming field-based programs in which student teachers are the culminating experience of teacher learning in the program. As a result, mentor teachers in practice schools are being given new and unique roles to support the teaching learning of teachers in training, which requires new conceptualizations of approaches to teacher mentoring. This article critically examines the theoretical foundations of four existing approaches to teacher mentoring during the practicum period, analyzes the approaches and practices associated with each approach, and identifies the main challenges each approach faces in guiding teacher candidates to learn to teach as expected from field-based teacher education reforms. Finally, it proposes an integrated approach to teacher mentoring for in-service teacher training that transcends the four existing approaches to teacher mentoring.

Supporting each other through difficult topics: Communities of inquiry as professional learning for teachers in turbulent times (2024). Journal of Teacher Education (United States, Q1)
Although teachers make frequent decisions about whether to address difficult topics and how to do so, they typically do so with minimal support. This article presents a case study of a community of inquiry of 20 educators who participated in professional inquiry as professional learning to address difficult topics they teach in their curricula or encounter in their professional practices. Through an inductive thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 12 community participants, the article's authors identified four themes that characterize how the inquiry community helped teachers lean into the difficult topics they believed they needed to address. The community helped teachers define their inquiry about difficult topics and connected them with divergent political and professional perspectives. The community helped teachers address difficult topics through purposefully structured inquiry conversation and prompted them to (re)conceptualize the teaching of difficult topics as inquiry. The article demonstrates the potential of communities of inquiry on difficult topics as such as professional learning in turbulent times.

Teacher well-being: A systematic review of the research literature from 2000 to 2019 (2021). Educational Research Review (United Kingdom, Q1)
In recent years, teacher well-being has received increasing attention, leading to a plethora of empirical studies from various disciplines. The aim of this paper is to contribute to the clarification of the construct of teacher well-being, add knowledge about the prevalence of teacher well-being, and systematize predictors and outcomes of teacher well-being. A systematic review was conducted following the PRISMA statement on peer-reviewed articles published between 2000 and 2019, and a total of 98 studies were included in the final analysis. The heterogeneous approaches could be classified into five different theoretical frameworks. Empirical evidence did not confirm that teacher well-being is at risk. Among the variety of correlates and predictors of teacher well-being that could be classified into general or work-related categories at the individual or contextual level, social relationships appear to play a key role. Although empirical evidence on its outcomes is scarce, the results suggest that teacher well-being influences the quality of teaching.

Teacher attention: A systematic review of the literature on conceptualizations, research designs, and findings on learning to notice (2022). Educational Research Review (United Kingdom, Q1)
Teacher perception has become an important concept in research on teacher training and professional development. However, the current state of research is quite diverse, with different theoretical foundations and a variety of research designs. The study described in this article provides a systematic review of the literature on teacher perception published in the last two decades. Based on a full-text analysis of 182 articles published in reputable databases and peer-reviewed English academic journals, the study reveals the predominance of a cognitive-psychological perspective on teacher perception, especially in combination with qualitative studies. Although many previous articles described teacher perception as a holistic concept, more recent studies from the last decade tend to differentiate teacher perception into different facets. In general, qualitative studies with small samples predominate, allowing for detailed analysis but limiting the generalizability of the results. This study highlights the limitations of the current debate, such as the prevalence of teacher observation mainly in the field of mathematics education and the underrepresentation of work from parts of the world other than North America and Europe. In addition, the studies considered in this literature review are examined in depth based on their conclusions about improving teachers' awareness through interventions and comparisons between experts and beginners, allowing for discussion of the implications of learning awareness for teacher training and professional development.

Yes, I can! A systematic review and meta-analysis of intervention studies promoting teacher self-efficacy (2024). Review of Educational Research (United States, Q1)
A high level of teacher self-efficacy is considered important for a successful and healthy teaching career. This pre-registered meta-analysis focuses on whether interventions can promote teacher self-efficacy and to what extent. In our meta-analysis, we included 115 studies representing 11,284 teachers in training and in service. The interventions had a positive and significant effect on promoting teachers' self-efficacy ( g = 0.47, RVE SE = 0.04, 95% CI = [0.40, 0.54]) with no significant differences between teachers in training and in service. Detailed coding and systematic review of specific sources of self-efficacy according to Bandura's social cognitive theory revealed that general interventions that included mastery experiences did not differ significantly from those that did not. However, interventions targeting mastery experiences alone were most successful for pre-service teachers ( g = 0.62, RVE SE = 0.11, CI = [0.35, 0.88]). Based on additional analyses of moderators, we recommend interventions to integrate reflective elements. Finally, future research should apply more rigorous study designs and more detailed intervention descriptions.

Challenging notions of teaching work: critiques, proposals, and bilingualism from the teacher organization (2023). Pedagogical Studies (Chile, Q3)
Accountability policies and incentives to improve teaching have increased internationally. The Teacher Professional Development System (SDPD) established performance-based pay in Chile and was approved despite resistance from teacher organizations, such as the Campaign for a New Education: Dignify the Teaching Profession! This study analyzes the conception of teaching work underlying the campaign's criticisms and proposals, as well as its persuasive strategies, using interpretive framework analysis of dissemination documents. The results identify the repositioning of criticism from the SDPD to previous regulations, the definition of teaching as collective, reflective, and affective work, and the bilingualism of the campaign, establishing criticism from within and outside the logic of New Public Management and using academic and social movement discourses. This study contributes to expanding knowledge about teachers' discourses of resistance to accountability policies.