Teacher professional learning and development

The International Academy of Education (IAE) is a not-for-profit scientific association that promotes educational research, and its dissemination and implementation. Founded in 1986, the Academy is dedicated to strengthening the contributions of research, solving critical educational problems throughout the world, and providing better communication among policy makers, researchers, and practitioners. The general aim of the IAE is to foster scholarly excellence in all fields of education. Towards this end, the Academy provides timely syntheses of research-based evidence of international importance. The Academy also provides critiques of research and of its evidentiary basis and its application to policy. This booklet about teacher professional learning and development has been prepared for inclusion in the Educational Practices Series developed by the International Academy of Education and distributed by the International Bureau of Education and the Academy. As part of its mission, the Academy provides timely syntheses of research on educational topics of international importance. This is the eighteenth in a series of booklets on educational practices that generally improve learning. This particular booklet is based on a synthesis of research evidence produced for the New Zealand Ministry of Education's Iterative Best Evidence Synthesis (BES) Programme, which is designed to be a catalyst for systemic improvement and sustainable development in education. This synthesis, and others in the series, are available electronically at www.educationcounts.govt.nz/themes/BES. All BESs are written using a collaborative approach that involves the writers, teacher unions, principal groups, teacher educators, academics, researchers, policy advisers, and other interested parties. To ensure its rigour and usefulness, each BES follows national guidelines developed by the Ministry of Education. Professor Helen Timperley was lead writer for the Teacher Professional Learning and Development: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES], assisted by teacher educators Aaron Wilson and Heather Barrar and research assistant Irene Fung, all of the University of Auckland. The BES is an analysis of 97 studies of professional development that led to improved outcomes for the students of the participating teachers. Most of these studies came from the United States, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Canada, and Israel. Dr Lorna Earl provided formative quality assurance for the synthesis; Professor John Hattie and Dr Gavin Brown oversaw the analysis of effect sizes. Helen Timperley is Professor of Education at the University of Auckland. The primary focus of her research is promotion of professional and organizational learning in schools for the purpose of improving student learning. She has …