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Abstract This paper is part of the special issue on Teacher Learning and Practice within Organizational Contexts. Shifting instructional practices in elementary schools to include more equitable, reform‐based pedagogies is imperative for supporting students’ development as science learners. Teachers need high quality professional development (PD) to learn such practices, but research shows considerable variability in the extent to which teachers implement instructional practices learned during PD. Individual teacher characteristics such as self‐efficacy may influence teacher learning during PD, but only account for part of the variability. The organizational conditions of teachers’ schools and districts may also play a key role in teachers’ implementation of new instructional practices. However, because systematic research in this area in science education is still nascent, it is difficult for districts and PD providers to address organizational barriers to professional learning. To meet this need, we conducted an explanatory mixed‐methods study using surveys (N = 54) and interviews (N = 19) of elementary teachers engaged in equity‐focused, reform‐based science PD, testing the degree to which a conceptually framed set of organizational conditions predicted teacher equity self‐efficacy and instructional practice alignment. Out of the 11 organizational conditions, only teacher professional impact and their sense of autonomy in their instructional practice explained variance in the outcomes. Qualitative findings showed these relationships to be iterative and recursive, rather than linear. Our findings underscore the essential role of teacher professionalism and sense of agency over commonly cited organizational conditions such as materials and labs in supporting teachers to implement more equitable science instructional practices during PD.
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This content will become publicly available on January 31, 2026
Understanding Science Teacher Learning as Situated in Organizational Contexts: Introduction to the Special Issue
ABSTRACT In this special issue, we feature scholarship focused on understanding the organizational context of science teacher learning. The special issue grew out of discussions among professional learning researchers and practitioners over the last several years that highlighted the following concerns: (a) that teacher learning in professional development showed up in vastly different ways in teachers' instructional practice; (b) that traditional research on the role of individual teacher traits (existing knowledge, skills, and beliefs) did not fully explain this variation; (c) that simply listing organizational features as barriers to teacher learning did not allow for a theoretical understanding of the interplay of teacher learning within organizations; and that (d) the existing literature that took up this interplay was not yet well known in the science education community. Together, these concerns signaled a need for a repertoire of work to support research and design practices that situate teacher learning within their organizations. The 14 original empirical and conceptual pieces that compose the special issue examine the ways teacher learning is shaped by the sociocultural and historical institutions of schooling that teachers work within and navigate as part of their daily practice. Teachers are positioned, not solely as conduits of reform nor as constrained actors within their organizational environment, but rather as agentive learners situated in complex contexts. The work of this special issue mirrors the kinds of design features championed within the issue's articles. It began in scholarly relationships that were developed through mutual admiration, and germinated on a kayak trip during a conference in San Diego. The special issue grew and flourished through group gatherings at the National Association for Research in Science Teaching (NARST), culminating in a NARST invited poster session. Similar to the resources noted across many of the included studies, the collective learning featured in these articles was fostered through infrastructure (support from Science Education and NARST), a culture of collaboration (zoom sessions, group discussions of theory and methods), and relationships (mentoring, happy hours, laughing). This emergent process has culminated in a set of articles that examine, unpack, and challenge the concerns that sparked the special issue, providing new and innovative understandings. Enjoy!
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- Award ID(s):
- 1813012
- PAR ID:
- 10614645
- Publisher / Repository:
- Science Education
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Science Education
- Volume:
- 109
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 0036-8326
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 993 to 1001
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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