Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and China

The fragmented provision of training for early childhood educators has highlighted the imperative need for research-informed professional development (PD) programmes to enhance educator professionalism. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a research-informed in-service PD programme—“Leadership...

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Main Authors: Iram Siraj, Runke Huang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Education Sciences
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/12/1299
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author Iram Siraj
Runke Huang
author_facet Iram Siraj
Runke Huang
author_sort Iram Siraj
collection DOAJ
description The fragmented provision of training for early childhood educators has highlighted the imperative need for research-informed professional development (PD) programmes to enhance educator professionalism. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a research-informed in-service PD programme—“Leadership for Learning”—through cluster randomised controlled trials in Australia and China. In Australia, the study involved 83 early-years services, and 1346 4–5-year-old children. In China, the study adapted the PD programme both educationally and culturally, involving 24 preschools, 95 classrooms, 202 educators, and 547 children aged 3–5 years. The comparative findings revealed that the PD programme significantly improved scores on the ECERS-E and SSTEW classroom quality rating scales in both Australia and China. Regarding children’s outcomes, the Australian PD programme significantly enhanced children’s numeracy development, social–emotional development, and expressive language, but not vocabulary, while the Chinese adaptation improved literacy development but not numeracy. This study has important implications for the implementation of PD programmes and cross-cultural educational research, highlighting the need for context-specific adaptations to maximise the effectiveness of PD interventions.
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spelling doaj-art-ceb95d12b0ee46aeb3bcaac88ceddabb2024-12-27T14:22:26ZengMDPI AGEducation Sciences2227-71022024-11-011412129910.3390/educsci14121299Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and ChinaIram Siraj0Runke Huang1Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford OX2 6PY, UKSchool of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen 518172, ChinaThe fragmented provision of training for early childhood educators has highlighted the imperative need for research-informed professional development (PD) programmes to enhance educator professionalism. This study evaluates the effectiveness of a research-informed in-service PD programme—“Leadership for Learning”—through cluster randomised controlled trials in Australia and China. In Australia, the study involved 83 early-years services, and 1346 4–5-year-old children. In China, the study adapted the PD programme both educationally and culturally, involving 24 preschools, 95 classrooms, 202 educators, and 547 children aged 3–5 years. The comparative findings revealed that the PD programme significantly improved scores on the ECERS-E and SSTEW classroom quality rating scales in both Australia and China. Regarding children’s outcomes, the Australian PD programme significantly enhanced children’s numeracy development, social–emotional development, and expressive language, but not vocabulary, while the Chinese adaptation improved literacy development but not numeracy. This study has important implications for the implementation of PD programmes and cross-cultural educational research, highlighting the need for context-specific adaptations to maximise the effectiveness of PD interventions.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/12/1299in-service professional developmentcross-cultural adaptationsearly childhood education and careinterventionearly childhood educatorpreschool quality
spellingShingle Iram Siraj
Runke Huang
Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and China
Education Sciences
in-service professional development
cross-cultural adaptations
early childhood education and care
intervention
early childhood educator
preschool quality
title Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and China
title_full Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and China
title_fullStr Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and China
title_full_unstemmed Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and China
title_short Promoting Teaching and Learning Through Research-Informed Professional Development: The Leadership for Learning Programme in Australia and China
title_sort promoting teaching and learning through research informed professional development the leadership for learning programme in australia and china
topic in-service professional development
cross-cultural adaptations
early childhood education and care
intervention
early childhood educator
preschool quality
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7102/14/12/1299
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AT runkehuang promotingteachingandlearningthroughresearchinformedprofessionaldevelopmenttheleadershipforlearningprogrammeinaustraliaandchina