Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Keyword
-
- Teacher education (9)
- Education (5)
- Professional development (4)
- Social justice (4)
- Teacher Professional Development (4)
-
- Academic language (3)
- Action research (3)
- Community of practice (3)
- Discourse (3)
- Preservice teachers (3)
- Trauma (3)
- Agency (2)
- Autonomy (2)
- Climate change (2)
- Critical language awareness (2)
- Critical literacy (2)
- Diversity (2)
- EFL (2)
- Education reform (2)
- Experiential learning (2)
- Hope (2)
- Knowledge (2)
- Language ideology (2)
- Mathematics (2)
- Multicultural (2)
- Multiliteracies (2)
- Oppression (2)
- Pre-service teachers (2)
- SFL (2)
- Secondary Education (2)
Articles 1 - 30 of 61
Full-Text Articles in Education
For The Love Of Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experience Of Moral Education, Anne Marie Foley Ruiz
For The Love Of Teaching: Pre-Service Teachers’ Experience Of Moral Education, Anne Marie Foley Ruiz
Doctoral Dissertations
Moral aspects of teaching arise each and every day, yet we lack information about how prepared teachers feel about this critical aspect of teaching. This multi-case study explores perceptions of five pre-service teachers in an elementary teacher education program in Western Massachusetts. A series of interviews explore their histories prior to the program and their experiences in the program as related to the pre-service teachers’ orientations to the moral work of teaching. Research questions address the awareness and self-efficacy of student teachers in implementing the moral aspects of teaching. Using Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clark, 2006), this study explores beliefs …
Accreditation Of Teaching And Research Universities In Afghanistan: A Policy Implementation Analysis, Sayed Javid Mussawy
Accreditation Of Teaching And Research Universities In Afghanistan: A Policy Implementation Analysis, Sayed Javid Mussawy
Doctoral Dissertations
The quest for quality has encouraged many countries to establish quality assurance and accreditation models to sustain and improve quality. While some established their own procedures, a great majority of the countries including those in the developing world have adopted quality assurance policies developed in the Global North to respond to internationalization and to participate in the knowledge economy. However, most universities in developing countries lack adequate infrastructure to implement accreditation standards. Thus, investigating the implementation of accreditation policies in developing nations provides new insight into the opportunities and challenges posed by internationalization of quality assurance and accreditation. This study …
Developing New Teachers' Pedagogical Content And Relationship Knowledge (Pcrk) During A One-Year Urban Residency Teacher Preparation Program, Daryl Essensa
Doctoral Dissertations
This study examined how participation in a full public school year-long urban teacher residency program influencedthe perceptions of 17 new middle and high school teacher candidates about the use of affective qualities of learning within their classroom practices as teachers—Pedagogical Content and Relationship Knowledge (PCRK).The preservice teachers in this study explored the relationship between pedagogy and student learning of subject matter through a variety of course-related assignments, which included classroom-based application of the pedagogical strategies learned in coursework, readings, and reflections. Individual interviews were used to evaluate how the course and the assignments influenced the instructional practices of the preservice …
Shifting To Critical Empathy: Exploring The Ideological Becoming Of Secondary Teachers During Critical, Dialogic Professional Development, Maria Mcsorley
Shifting To Critical Empathy: Exploring The Ideological Becoming Of Secondary Teachers During Critical, Dialogic Professional Development, Maria Mcsorley
Doctoral Dissertations
The limited research concerning empathy within secondary education continues to focus on student empathy, rather than shifting the gaze to teacher empathy. Moreover, while teacher empathy is generally conceptualized as an innately positive quality, skill, or disposition, the research (while limited) suggests that empathy without deep understanding of social and structural inequity has demonstrated risk. Teachers who, for example, develop and express empathy across lines of difference without knowledge of systemic inequality (particularly about how inequity shows up in schools) have the potential to oversimplify or overidentify with an “other’s” experience (Boler, 1999). This can lead to the false confirmation …
Critical Language Awareness In The Multilingual Writing Classroom: A Self-Study Of Teacher Feedback Practices, Emma R. Britton
Critical Language Awareness In The Multilingual Writing Classroom: A Self-Study Of Teacher Feedback Practices, Emma R. Britton
Doctoral Dissertations
Despite the increasing amount of ethnolinguistic diversity in US schools and universities, traditional approaches to university writing instruction continue to advance the teaching of standard written American English (SWAE) from uncritical ideological standpoints (Bommarito & Cooney, 2016). To disrupt the naturalization of monolingual and standard language ideologies, existing scholarship shows the potential of critical language awareness (CLA), as a pedagogical approach which aims to develop students’ awareness of the relationships between languages, language varieties, language ideologies, power, and social inequities, alongside the teaching of SWAE (Fairclough, 1992). Because the production of student texts is central to a CLA pedagogy (Gilyard, …
Exploring Language, Culture And Identity: Perspectives From Non-Native Arabic University Teachers In The Us, Brahim Oulbeid
Exploring Language, Culture And Identity: Perspectives From Non-Native Arabic University Teachers In The Us, Brahim Oulbeid
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation explores how six non-native (NN) university Arabic teachers make sense of language, culture, and identity. Specifically, it aims to understand how their experiences as Arabic language learners, preservice teachers, and classroom practitioners shape their classroom work, especially as they relate to their conceptions of teaching culture and the negotiation of their personal and professional identities. Four questions guide this study: how NN Arabic teachers perceive culture, what their culture teaching practices are, what identities they enact, and what their contributions to the teaching of Arabic as foreign language (TAFL) field are. To address these issues, the study draws …
Educators Perceptions Of Ebd, Inclusion, And Evidence-Based Practices, Andrea Larmon
Educators Perceptions Of Ebd, Inclusion, And Evidence-Based Practices, Andrea Larmon
Doctoral Dissertations
The field of education has been changing with regard to inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. Not only are we seeing more students with disabilities being educated in public schools, but we are seeing students with more significant special education needs. Although schools are expected to provide a Free and Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) in the Least Restrictive Environment (LRE), many of the staff within the school, such as special education teachers, general education teachers, related service providers, paraprofessionals, and even administrators, aren’t sure how to provide the services and implement the strategies to allow the students …
Teacher Interactions, Teacher Bias And Child Behavioral Health, Ellen E. Edge
Teacher Interactions, Teacher Bias And Child Behavioral Health, Ellen E. Edge
Doctoral Dissertations
TEACHER INTERACTIONS, TEACHER BIAS AND CHILD BEHAVIORAL HEALTH SEPTEMBER 2020 ELLEN ELLSBERG EDGE, BFA, THE COOPER UNION SCHOOL OF ART Post BA, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.ED, UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph. D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Claire Hamilton This study utilized a mixed methods study design to gain a clearer understanding of the thoughts and feelings of Lead teachers in Head Start programs who work with children with perceived behavioral health challenges. Utilizing a semi-structured interview, 11 teachers employed in a New England Head Start program were asked about their views associated with child behavioral health, …
An Assessment Of The Professional Development Of Special Education Teachers In Saudi Arabia, Raja Almutairi
An Assessment Of The Professional Development Of Special Education Teachers In Saudi Arabia, Raja Almutairi
Doctoral Dissertations
The purpose of this study is to assess the current state of professional development activities of Saudi special education teachers in comparison to the research-based professional development practices of special education teachers. A survey of professional development evaluation and job satisfaction that describe three components was electronically collected from 613 special education teachers who were actively employed in Saudi public schools during the 2019/2020 school year. The results show that participating in professional development activities contributed to the study’s special education teachers’ satisfaction with their teaching profession. Additionally, the findings suggest that improvements to the professional development practices that are …
Building Capacity For Academically Productive Talk: The Development Of Teacher Leaders In Science Professional Development, Renee Affolter
Building Capacity For Academically Productive Talk: The Development Of Teacher Leaders In Science Professional Development, Renee Affolter
Doctoral Dissertations
Despite decades of research on the type of classroom dialogue that supports collaborative student sensemaking and professional development efforts to support such dialogue, opportunities for students to incrementally deepen their understanding of science ideas through engagement in science practices and to engage in complex reasoning and argumentation through classroom talk is limited in most K-12 science classrooms (Driver, Newton, & Osborne, 2000; Lemke, 1990; Michaels, Shouse, & Schweingruber, 2008; Mortimer & Scott, 2003; C. O’Connor, Michaels, & Chapin, 2015; Reinsvold & Cochran, 2011; Scott, Mortimer, & Aguiar, 2006; Weiss, Pasley, Smith., Banilower, and Heck, 2003; Wilson, Schweingruber, & Nielsen, 2015). …
“I Missed A Lot Of Childhood Memories”: Trauma And Its Impact On Learning For Formerly Incarcerated Adolescents In The Age Of Zero Tolerance Policies, Alberto Guerrero
“I Missed A Lot Of Childhood Memories”: Trauma And Its Impact On Learning For Formerly Incarcerated Adolescents In The Age Of Zero Tolerance Policies, Alberto Guerrero
Doctoral Dissertations
The literature makes abundantly clear that trauma has a detrimental impact on students’ academic and behavioral efforts. It also challenges the notion of zero tolerance disciplinary practices being effective in redirecting student behaviors, making schools safer, and creating an environment that is conducive to learning. Yet, our current school climate consists of educators who have not been exposed to trauma-informed learning, while also incorporating disciplinary practices that are both draconian in nature and push students out of their learning spaces. This unfortunate reality is felt even more harshly by students who return to schools following an incarceration. This phenomenological study …
“In Our Very Flesh, (R)Evolution”: An Exploration Of Secondary Education Teachers, Otherness, And Embodiment, Ryan Ambuter
“In Our Very Flesh, (R)Evolution”: An Exploration Of Secondary Education Teachers, Otherness, And Embodiment, Ryan Ambuter
Doctoral Dissertations
In education, the proliferation of a mind/body dualism leaves the pedagogy of the body undertheorized, and its impact on education disregarded. While there is not an absence of research on the body within the field of education, what exists is limited in scope. Little has been written about the connections between teachers’ bodies, pedagogy, and politics at the level of secondary education. This research specifically focuses on teachers who are visibly other, critically conscious of their bodies, and find power in their difference. The purpose of this study is to make meaning of the stories, experiences, and potential of teachers …
Examining The Specialized Math Content Knowledge Of Elementary Teachers In The Age Of The Common Core, Stephanie Purington
Examining The Specialized Math Content Knowledge Of Elementary Teachers In The Age Of The Common Core, Stephanie Purington
Doctoral Dissertations
Mathematical standards for students have increased with the development of the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and its accompanying high stakes testing. Teachers need strong conceptual knowledge of the mathematics they teach in order to give students the opportunity to learn that math deeply. An earlier study (Ma, 1999) found that US elementary teachers lack the deep knowledge to teach math conceptually. Given the mathematics standards movements of the last two decades, it is plausible that the knowledge base of teachers has changed. Using the framework of Specialized Content Knowledge (SCK), which is the knowledge required to teach math …
“If You’Re Not Disrupting It, Then Who Is?”: Understanding The Effects Of Participating In Anti-Sexism Workshops On Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices, Kimberly J. Pfeifer
“If You’Re Not Disrupting It, Then Who Is?”: Understanding The Effects Of Participating In Anti-Sexism Workshops On Preservice Teachers’ Beliefs And Practices, Kimberly J. Pfeifer
Doctoral Dissertations
This phenomenological-inspired study seeks to understand both how preservice teachers make sense of their roles as anti-sexist educators and what effects participating in anti-sexism professional development (PD) may have on preservice teachers’ beliefs and practices, specifically as they connect to gender. Through four video-recorded workshops centered on an anti-sexist curriculum, questionnaire data, and subsequent individual semi-structured interviews, this study found four distinct yet interconnected themes. The first two themes: (1) Hesitancies and (2) There, Not Here, elucidate the precariousness of the teacher candidate role. While the following themes: (3) Shifts and (4) More, demonstrate the effects of participating in this …
An Examined Life Of A Language Teacher Of Chinese: An Autoethnographic Investigation Into Agency, Ying Zhang
An Examined Life Of A Language Teacher Of Chinese: An Autoethnographic Investigation Into Agency, Ying Zhang
Doctoral Dissertations
There is a paucity of research about and done by L2 Chinese educators regarding the theoretical construct of agency. It is also noted that the qualitative inquiry is marginalized in L2 Chinese research field, let alone the narrative study of the agency of experienced by L2 Chinese-teachers. In this dissertation research, I aim at filling in the gap by conducting a longitudinal autoethnography which captures over a decade (1997-2017) of my personal and professional development with an agency perspective. The highly personalized autoethnographic accounts open up my personal and professional life as an experienced, college-level, transnational, early 40’s female native …
Chilean Teachers Responses To And Understanding Of Student Interaction With Diverse Peers In The Classroom, Javier Martín Campos-Martínez
Chilean Teachers Responses To And Understanding Of Student Interaction With Diverse Peers In The Classroom, Javier Martín Campos-Martínez
Doctoral Dissertations
Chile’s educational inequality has sparked intense debates in recent years (Cabalin & Bellei, 2013; Stromquist & Sanyal, 2013). While there is a wide consensus concerning the crucial role that teachers play in fostering inclusion in the classroom, research suggests that Chilean teachers, often without intent or awareness, reinforce exclusionary student interactions marked by social class and gender hierarchies (Carrasco, Zamora, & Castillo, 2015; SERNAM, 2009; Tijoux, 2013). Although teachers’ motivation and concern for questions related to exclusion and inclusion in education are spreading, navigating exclusionary dynamics can be particularly challenging especially since teachers’ initial and continuing professional education seldom addresses …
Retrofitting Educators Through Sheltered Instruction Training: A Longitudinal Case Study Examining The Efficacy Of A Five-Year District-Wide Intervention Effort, Marisa Ferraro
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation examines the impact of a district-wide professional development initiative to foster equitable pedagogies and practices for emergent bilingual students. The initiative spanned five years, 2012-2017, across one of the largest school districts in the Northeast. This quasi-experimental, mixed methods case study was conducted across twelve schools to investigate the efficacy of a sheltered instruction professional development program in three areas: 1) teacher learning and knowledge about sheltered instructional practices (n=1457) and application of the newly learned practices (n=70), 2) student learner outcomes, as measured by a standardized assessment, through three cohorts of third through eighth graders (n=457) and …
When Healing And High-Stakes Meet: Restorative Justice In An Era Of Racial Neoliberalism, Dani O'Brien
When Healing And High-Stakes Meet: Restorative Justice In An Era Of Racial Neoliberalism, Dani O'Brien
Doctoral Dissertations
Based on a 3-year ethnography, this dissertation documents the story of Presente, an explicitly critical youth-led restorative justice group attempting to dismantle the school-prison nexus and create a more youth-centered culture at their high-reform high school. This dissertation addresses the questions: How does serving as a restorative justice peer leader impact students? What challenges and opportunities arise as the school tries to transition to more restorative practices? And how do the values central to restorative justice come up against, challenge, and get challenged by neoliberal education reform?
Learning Linguistics, Teaching For Change: Preparing Secondary Educators To More Equitably Teach Disciplinary Literacies, Kathryn Accurso
Learning Linguistics, Teaching For Change: Preparing Secondary Educators To More Equitably Teach Disciplinary Literacies, Kathryn Accurso
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation explores ways to better prepare secondary teachers in the United States for more equitably teaching disciplinary literacies to English language learners (ELLs), a current goal of many teacher educators, literacy researchers, and applied linguists that is echoed in federal and state-level education policy. Specifically, it investigates the affordances and constraints of using a critical social semiotic approach to secondary teacher education for this purpose. The dissertation is structured as a set of three research papers, each of which addresses a different aspect of this topic. The first paper draws on existing literature to explore how a critical social …
A Semiotic Analysis Of Linguistic And Conceptual Development In Mathematics For English Language Learners, Hyunsook Shin
A Semiotic Analysis Of Linguistic And Conceptual Development In Mathematics For English Language Learners, Hyunsook Shin
Doctoral Dissertations
This study explores how an elementary mathematics teacher supported English language leaners’ (ELLs’) academic language and concept development in the context of current high- stakes school reform. The conceptual frameworks informing this study include Halliday’s theory of systemic functional linguistics (e.g., Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014) and Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of concept development (Vygotsky, 1986). Specifically, this study analyzes the interplay between academic and everyday language and how this interplay can facilitate the development of what Vygotsky referred to as “real” or complete concepts as students shift from “spontaneous” to more “scientific” understanding of phenomenon (Vygotsky, 1986, p.173). This year-long qualitative …
A Critical Lens Of Experiential Learning In Puerto Rico, Robin Marion
A Critical Lens Of Experiential Learning In Puerto Rico, Robin Marion
Doctoral Dissertations
ABSTRACT A CRITICAL LENS OF EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING IN PUERTO RICO February 2019 ROBIN L. MARION, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST M.A., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Dr. Denise K. Ives Teacher education research has shown that ethnically, linguistically, and economically diverse students have been historically under-served in U.S. public schools (Bennett, 2013; Gay, 2010). Scholars attribute the under-serving of diverse students to a deficit perspective that exists in many schools across the United States, both in classrooms and within school administration. This deficit perspective devalues the cultural and linguistic resources many students possess (Sleeter, …
Teacher Education And Professional Development On Classroom Assessment In Bangladesh: Exploring Policy And Practice Through A Vertical Case Study, Sumera Ahsan
Doctoral Dissertations
Formative Classroom Assessment (FCA) can be the single most powerful activity to promote students’ learning (Hattie, 2009). In Bangladesh FCA is not in practice (Ahsan, 2009). Policies and teacher preparation on FCA are the two factors that influence the practice of formative assessment in classrooms (Stiggins, 1999; Plake, 1993). In my research I aimed to learn how different actors, discourses, and materials come together to produce policies on FCA in policy network and translate the policies in a Teachers’ Training College (TTC), and in classrooms in an urban school. I used ‘critical socio-cultural approach to policy as practice’ (Levinson, Sutton …
Adopting Active Learning Classroom (Alc) Technology And Overcoming Barriers: A Faculty Development Intervention Model For Technology-Enhanced Learning Spaces, Bradford D. Wheeler
Adopting Active Learning Classroom (Alc) Technology And Overcoming Barriers: A Faculty Development Intervention Model For Technology-Enhanced Learning Spaces, Bradford D. Wheeler
Doctoral Dissertations
The goal of this study was to understand how instructors use technology, and what challenges they face, but also to increase the participants’ understanding of Active Learning Classroom (ALCs) technologies as it applies to their teaching by applying action research methodologies. This study also seeks to lay a foundation for additional research on ALCs, education technology, and the needs of instructors in terms of faculty development in technology. This study investigates a group of 13 faculty members in multiple disciplines teaching in ALCs. Thus far, research on the impact of technology-enriched learning environments like Active Learning Classrooms has typically centered …
Exploring Experiences, Perspectives, And Identity (Re) Formation Processes Of African High School Students In U.S. Public Schools, Brenda M. Muzeta
Exploring Experiences, Perspectives, And Identity (Re) Formation Processes Of African High School Students In U.S. Public Schools, Brenda M. Muzeta
Doctoral Dissertations
This dissertation examines the experiences of African high school students in U.S. public schools. Specifically, the study explores how African students negotiate their identities in a new education environment. Drawing on Asante’s (1980) Afrocentric theoretical framework, Erikson’s (1968) theory of identity and Tajfel and Turner’s (1979) social identity theories, this interview-based qualitative study seeks to describe and interpret how African high school students make sense of their new schooling experiences. One of my major goals of the study is to honor, recognize and bring to life the voices of African high school students. Their experiences are often minimized, their voices …
Technology Integration And Use In Elementary Mathematics Methods Courses For Pre-Service Teachers, Elzbieta Manos
Technology Integration And Use In Elementary Mathematics Methods Courses For Pre-Service Teachers, Elzbieta Manos
Doctoral Dissertations
According to the National Educational Technology Plan 2010, technology should be incorporated into teaching methods courses and field experiences and not just in stand-alone technology courses. The teacher preparation programs would provide technology-based learning experiences to prepare pre-service teachers to effectively use technology to improve learning, assessment, and instructional practices. However, the problem is that graduate pre-service teacher preparation programs do not adequately prepare pre-service teachers to incorporate technology into their teaching. Furthermore, the teacher preparation programs lacked opportunities for the pre-service teachers to experience technology as learners beyond the stand-alone course in technology. Research shows the need for pre-service …
The Knowledge They Possess: Elementary Teachers' Expertise And Where It Becomes Usable Knowledge In The Ma Education System, Helen-Ann Ireland
The Knowledge They Possess: Elementary Teachers' Expertise And Where It Becomes Usable Knowledge In The Ma Education System, Helen-Ann Ireland
Doctoral Dissertations
ABSTRACT The Knowledge They Possess: Elementary Teachers’ Expertise and Where It Becomes Usable Knowledge in the Massachusetts Education System February 15, 2018 By Helen-Ann Ireland BA University of New Hampshire MEd Antioch University EdD University of Massachusetts Amherst (pending) Dr. Sharon Rallis, Dissertation Chair Elementary teachers are facing a dilemma. They are expected to uphold the Massachusetts (MA) state mandate and deliver Common Core State Standards (CCSS), use the programs their school has adopted aligned with CCSS and meet the various cognitive and behavioral needs of their students. Sometimes the teachers experience competing commitments between meeting standards, using programs, pacing, …
Increasing Stem Participation And Student Success Of Developmental Mathematics Students At An Urban Community College, Vanessa A. Hill
Increasing Stem Participation And Student Success Of Developmental Mathematics Students At An Urban Community College, Vanessa A. Hill
Doctoral Dissertations
This mixed method, quantitative and qualitative, study explores the effects of a curriculum with an emphasis on scientific, technological, and engineering focused problems and careers on student success and interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). The setting is an urban community college where in the spring of 2016, 71% of the students tested into developmental mathematics (STCC, 2017). The course of study was Algebra one, a developmental, non-college credit bearing, mathematics course. Students had the option of two paths for the subsequent course, a terminal college level mathematics class, or a STEM pathway developmental algebra two course. Pass …
Preparing Asian Esol Teachers To Respond To Student Writing: A Systemic Functional Linguistic Perspective In Action, I-An Chen
Doctoral Dissertations
L2 teachers generally lack the ability to respond to student writing in productive ways, because L2 teacher education has typically not developed teachers’ understanding of how language works in constructing meaningful texts. To address the need for preparing teachers to give meaningful feedback, this study investigates the professional experiences of Asian English language teachers (ELTs) who participated in a professional development program informed by Halliday’s systemic functional linguistics (SFL). This program attempts to apprentice teachers to becoming critical text analysts who are able to analyze the linguistic features of their students’ emergent writing practices and provide informed feedback. The research …
Critical Language Awareness In An Ell Urban Language Classroom: Transforming A Latina Teacher’S Language Ideology, Yvonne V. Fariño
Critical Language Awareness In An Ell Urban Language Classroom: Transforming A Latina Teacher’S Language Ideology, Yvonne V. Fariño
Doctoral Dissertations
How can language be re-conceptualized as a tool and resource in contested pedagogies? Vygotsky theory of the mind (1978, 1986, 1998) and Engeström Activity Theory (1987, 1992) document how learning and development are situated within sociocultural contexts (Scribner & Cole, 1981; Tharp & Gillmore, 1988). Vygotsky theory of the mind (1978) central tenet is “understanding everyday activities and of cognitive processes” (Mondada & Pekarek Doehler, 2004: 467), or the process of appropriation itself, as it happens in everyday practices without isolating it from social context or human agency. Even though the goal of activity theory claims to be multi- voiced …
“Going The Extra Mile”: Perspectives And Experiences Of Coaches Supporting Primary School Teachers In Sierra Leone, Ashley Clayton Hertz
“Going The Extra Mile”: Perspectives And Experiences Of Coaches Supporting Primary School Teachers In Sierra Leone, Ashley Clayton Hertz
Doctoral Dissertations
Limited research exists that explores instructional coaching as a component of teacher professional development in low-income, developing countries. In response to this gap in the literature, I used an intrinsic case study design to explore the experiences and learning of a cohort of coaches supporting primary school teachers in a whole school development/ early grade reading initiative in Sierra Leone. Using an adaptation of Valsiner’s (1997) Zone Theory as a conceptual framework and analytical lens, I explored coaches’ perspectives of their knowledge and beliefs; coaching actions and experiences; constraints within their context; and professional learning and support needs. By examining …