Jenny Reeves

Given the emphasis on transforming professional work through the adoption of enquiry-based and trans-disciplinary approaches to service development, there is an urgent need for those involved in professional education to develop a robust understanding of how changes in practice occur. A more inclusive approach to the analysis of the processes involved across the varied and interrelated contexts in which they occur is thus very timely. In this book, Jenny Reeves sets out to explore the gap between the experience of professional learning as an interactive, dynamic and socially contextualised process, and descriptions that are often individualistic, overly linear and largely context-free. She makes the claim that this disjuncture is the outcome of modes of enquiry that concentrate on limited selections of the available data. Adopting a relational approach to describing practice-based professional development, including graphical means for exploring the spaces produced by the activity, provides a very different picture. It creates a basis for representing the complex movements, relationships and interactions between people and things that occur during professional learning. It also provides a productive approach to describing the exchange and creation of professional knowledge across different contexts over time. By building a picture of the ephemeral spaces and connections that educating activities produce, mapping relational space allows those engaged in professional education to think rather differently about how professional learning and changes in knowledge and practice may be understood, supported and developed.

Given the emphasis on transforming professional work through the adoption of enquiry-based and trans-disciplinary approaches to service development, there is an urgent need for those involved in professional education to develop a robust understanding of how changes in practice occur. A more inclusive approach to the analysis of the processes involved across the varied and interrelated contexts in which they occur is thus very timely. In this book, Jenny Reeves sets out to explore the gap between the experience of professional learning as an interactive, dynamic and socially contextualised process, and descriptions that are often individualistic, overly linear and largely context-free. She makes the claim that this disjuncture is the outcome of modes of enquiry that concentrate on limited selections of the available data. Adopting a relational approach to describing practice-based professional development, including graphical means for exploring the spaces produced by the activity, provides a very different picture. It creates a basis for representing the complex movements, relationships and interactions between people and things that occur during professional learning. It also provides a productive approach to describing the exchange and creation of professional knowledge across different contexts over time. By building a picture of the ephemeral spaces and connections that educating activities produce, mapping relational space allows those engaged in professional education to think rather differently about how professional learning and changes in knowledge and practice may be understood, supported and developed.

With the increasing emphasis on continuing professional development for teachers and all educational practitioners, the use of portfolios to plan, chart and review professional development is now widespread. Drawing directly from their experience of developing portfolios and portfolio-based assessment, and from current research, this book enables the reader to: - design and plan a portfolio - chart and analyse relevant professional experiences - reflect critically on practice - assess performance against standards and competences frameworks - present evidence of practice and achievements - plan their continuing professional development There are Chapter Objectives, Key Questions and Tasks in every chapter, which adds to the practical focus of the book. An essential read for teachers, teaching assistants, any practitioner assembling a Continuing Professional Department (CPD) portfolio, those working towards further qualifications such as Chartered Teacher status, newly qualified and probationary teachers and anyone involved in supporting and mentoring CPD.

With the increasing emphasis on continuing professional development for teachers and all educational practitioners, the use of portfolios to plan, chart and review professional development is now widespread. Drawing directly from their experience of developing portfolios and portfolio-based assessment, and from current research, this book enables the reader to: - design and plan a portfolio - chart and analyse relevant professional experiences - reflect critically on practice - assess performance against standards and competences frameworks - present evidence of practice and achievements - plan their continuing professional development There are Chapter Objectives, Key Questions and Tasks in every chapter, which adds to the practical focus of the book. An essential read for teachers, teaching assistants, any practitioner assembling a Continuing Professional Department (CPD) portfolio, those working towards further qualifications such as Chartered Teacher status, newly qualified and probationary teachers and anyone involved in supporting and mentoring CPD.

`This book makes an important contribution to the debate on how school and individual performance may be enhanced. It would be of value to any teachers, education manager or academic who is interested in the issues of improvement in school performance'- Scottish Educational Review `....there is much to commend this book. The diagrams are very clear and `lift' the text so that creative thought, rather than mere comprehension, becomes possible' - Nurturing Potential Managing the performance of staff has become a key concern in education. It is a controversial area with a number of approaches based on very different assumptions. This book provides an overview of some of the key issues in developing professional performance and examines critically some of the strategies that can be used to enhance it. - The first section of the book sets out the development of performance management. - The second section deals with theoretical issues. - The third section adopts a case study approach mapping out and critiquing a range of strategies that can be used to improve performance. - Current issues such as work-based learning, performance related pay, the assessment of performance and the use of standards are examined. Performance Management in Education is a valuable resource for practitioners, those involved in professional development, and academics in the field of school leadership and administration.

`This book makes an important contribution to the debate on how school and individual performance may be enhanced. It would be of value to any teachers, education manager or academic who is interested in the issues of improvement in school performance'- Scottish Educational Review `....there is much to commend this book. The diagrams are very clear and `lift' the text so that creative thought, rather than mere comprehension, becomes possible' - Nurturing Potential Managing the performance of staff has become a key concern in education. It is a controversial area with a number of approaches based on very different assumptions. This book provides an overview of some of the key issues in developing professional performance and examines critically some of the strategies that can be used to enhance it. - The first section of the book sets out the development of performance management. - The second section deals with theoretical issues. - The third section adopts a case study approach mapping out and critiquing a range of strategies that can be used to improve performance. - Current issues such as work-based learning, performance related pay, the assessment of performance and the use of standards are examined. Performance Management in Education is a valuable resource for practitioners, those involved in professional development, and academics in the field of school leadership and administration.