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01. Professional Learning and Development
Paper Lesson Studies Professional Development Model In Field Training: Are Pupils Really There? Challenges For Integrated Professional Learning And Development Université Paris Est Créteil UPEC (Inspé de Créteil), Laboratoire CIRCEFT-Escol, France Presenting Author:In the context of the nationwide rollout of “constellation” training for primary school teachers in France, based on the lesson study model, this contribution examines how current teacher professional development arrangements support – or fail to support – teachers’ professional learning in addressing pupils’ learning inequalities. Situated within the conference theme “Knowing and Acting” and Network 1 “Professional Learning and Development,” our study analyzes how teacher collectives refine their observation and interpretation of pupil activity, and under what conditions research-based knowledge can transform classroom practices and pupil learning. Drawing on the French case of primary-level “constellations,” this work is situated within a European framework characterised by a crisis in teacher recruitment and attractiveness across nearly all EU countries. Given the growing difficulties in recruiting and retaining teachers, professional development models are increasingly presented as central levers for improving the effectiveness and equity of educational systems. In the French primary education system, “constellations” are small groups of six to nine teachers from the same grade level or nearby schools, brought together over a school year by a pedagogical advisor or trainer for around 30 hours. The programme combines 18 hours of collective out-of-class work (inputs, lesson planning, observation analysis) with 12 hours of classroom implementation and peer observation. Central to French and mathematics professional development plans, this format seeks to connect training and daily practice through theoretical inputs, peer reflection, lesson design, and experimentation. Inspired by Japanese Lesson Study, it promotes a practice-focused approach to professional development, while remaining highly prescribed and aligned with national priorities. The present study does not consider this format inherently “research-based”. Depending on the district, trainer, and professional culture, constellations may draw on research frameworks or rely mainly on institutional resources and peer exchange. The study focuses on this variability in theoretical tooling and its professional development effects. This research extends findings from previous studies on initial teacher education. A first study showed the marginal place of the sociology of learning inequalities in teacher education curricula and the limited focus on real pupil activity, leading novices to develop essentialist views of working-class pupils’ difficulties. A second study on an “integrated” teacher education experiment in Créteil demonstrated that combining class observations, workshops, lesson design, and research initiation fostered reflexive postures and greater attention to pupils experiencing difficulties. Our question now concerns professional development within constellations: to what extent and under what conditions do these prescribed peer-training formats develop teachers’ capacities to observe and interpret pupil activity in ways that reduce learning inequalities? More specifically, the study examines how observing pupils’ activity during a pre-planned, problematized didactic task reshapes teachers’ perceptions of pupils, especially those who do not fit conventional school expectations. The theoretical framework combines three strands. First, a sociology of learning inequalities perspective considers disparities as outcomes of situated teaching-learning processes, linking prescribed tasks, enacted tasks, and pupil/teacher interpretations. This approach enables analysis of pupils’ activity while avoiding psychologizing or culturalist interpretations of difficulties. Second, a socio-didactic framework focuses on tasks, instructions, resources, and interactions, while considering pupils’ socially differentiated relationships to school and learning. From this perspective, the study explores how cross-observations in constellations may move beyond binary views of success and failure by examining how pupils interpret expectations, use resources, and reshape tasks. Third, a Vygotskian developmental perspective frames constellations as proximal zones of development, supporting shifts from everyday categorizations of pupils toward more elaborated understandings of pupils’ learning activity and difficulties. Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The present study combines an analysis of prescriptive documents (e.g. ministerial texts, academic guidelines, training references) with an ethnographic study of several constellations. Our methodology involves the observation of the full constellation cycle, which comprises the following elements: launch meetings between trainers and teams, co-construction of training objects, theoretical and practical contribution from trainers, collective lesson planning, cross-observations of sessions, and debriefs. These are audio/video-recorded (per local feasibility) with ethnographic field notes to document interactions, analytical category circulation, teacher engagement modes, and control vs. professional development tensions noted in prior teacher training research. We also conduct interviews with participating teachers, constellation trainers, and (where feasible) academic trainer-of-trainers. Teacher interviews cover training trajectories (initial and continuing), prior constellation experiences, pupil difficulty representations, perceived agency, and the contribution of devices to professional learning. The methodology employed involves dual cross-referencing. Firstly, the present study traces "chains" linking classroom/pupil observations, constellation discussions, and interview discourses in order to identify how professionnal knowledge circulate, are appropriated, or transformed. Secondly, the contextualisation of constellation data against prior findings on integrated initial training is undertaken, with the objective of identifying continuities and ruptures in the manner in which teachers observe and interpret pupil activity with regard to reducing inequality. This strategy is characterised by its comprehensive approach, encompassing various levels of analysis, from macro policy and framing to micro classroom interactions. It emphasises the integration of research, knowledge, professional development and school equity linkages. Preliminary findings suggest that constellations effectively foster teacher professional development when built on guided pupil activity observations centered on pre-planned didactic tasks. In the cases that were studied, observation sessions and collective debriefs enabled some teachers to shift their focus from broadly spotting pupils to finely tracing approaches, errors, cue-taking, and renunciations. Marking each pupil's activity, especially among those who were struggling, was also enabled. However, these shifts are not systematic. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Despite the inclusion of dedicated moments in the constellation format for observing pupils, trainers – and consequently trainees – tend not to engage with pupils' precise cognitive and language-related activity. This limitation is particularly evident in the discourse of trainers, which rarely engages with fine-grained analyses of pupils' meaning-making processes, instead privileging more general or surface-level characterisations. The analysis indicates that, even when research-based analytical tools are introduced at other moments within the constellation, cross-observation phases struggle to draw effectively on these resources, which remain difficult to integrate for the analysis of pupils' activity. Collective discussions have a tendency to revert to conventional forms of pupil categorisation, drawing on familiar labels (e.g., "good"/"poor" pupil, "academic"/"non-academic," "motivated"/"unmotivated," "attentive"/"inattentive") that risk confining pupils within fixed interpretations of their difficulties – even within teams explicitly committed to combating inequalities. Trainers face particular challenges integrating actual pupil activity into their practices: under policy pressures from institutional instructions, they struggle to bridge from theoretical inputs to real classroom dynamics involving multiple teachers and pupil groups. In response, teachers then struggle to truly observe pupils’ activity even when seeing them “in action” during training sessions Our contribution shows that constellations’ potential to address learning inequalities depends less on cross-observation time than on the quality of analytical tools provided to teacher collectives. In this perspective, constellations—and more broadly lesson study-style models—can function as bridges between research and professional knowledge, provided research insights are used as tools to understand pupils’ real learning activity and difficulties. Situated in the French context, this finding resonates with the broader European and global crisis in teacher recruitment and attractiveness, highlighting the strategic role of such professional development approaches. References •Baillat, Gilles, and Daniel Niclot. 2017. “Former les enseignants en Europe : une approche comparative.” Sciences de l’éducation. Administration & Éducation 154 (2): 129–135. https://doi.org/10.3917/admed.154.0129. •Bautier, É., & Goigoux, R. (2004). Difficultés d’apprentissage, processus de secondarisation et pratiques enseignantes. Revue française de pédagogie, 148, 89‑100. •Benveniste, C. (2023). Des difficultés des enseignants débutants confrontés aux inégalités sociales d’apprentissage à un état des lieux de leur formation initiale (2016‑2019). Thèse de doctorat en sciences de l’éducation, Université Paris 8. •Benveniste, C., & Macedo, S. (2026). Les effets d’une formation initiale « intégrée » sur les pratiques et les discours d’enseignantes débutantes. Recherche et formation, 104. •Broccolichi, S., Joigneaux, C., & Mierzejewski, S. (dir.). (2018). Le parcours du débutant. Enquêtes sur les premières années d’enseignement à l’école primaire. Arras : Artois Presses Université. •Charles, Frédéric, Marlaine Cacouault-Bitaud, Serge Katz, Florence Legendre, Pierre-Yves Connan, and Angelica Rigaudière. 2023. Professeur.e.s Des Écoles : Sociologie d’une Profession Dans La Tourmente. Editions L’Harmattan. •Danner, Magali, Géraldine Farges, Héloïse Fradkine, and Sandrine Garcia. 2019. “Quitter l’enseignement : un révélateur des transformations du métier dans le premier degré.” Éducation et sociétés (Louvain-la-Neuve), no. 43: 119–136. https://doi.org/10.3917/es.043.0119. •European Commission: Directorate-General for Education, Youth, Sport and Culture. 2023. Education and Training Monitor 2023 – Comparative Report. Publications Office of the European Union. https://doi.org/10.2766/810689. •European Commission, EACEA, and Eurydice. 2021. Teachers in Europe: Careers, Development and Well Being. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union. https://data.europa.eu/doi/10.2797/997402. •Farges, G., & Szerdahelyi, L. (dir.). (2024). En quête d’enseignants. Regards croisés sur l’attractivité d’un métier. Rennes : Presses universitaires de Rennes. •Netter, J. (2023). Favoriser la cohérence de la formation professionnelle des enseignant.e.s du premier degré pour développer les pratiques qui réduisent les inégalités scolaires. Réflexions sur les suites de l’expérimentation de « formation intégrée ». Rapport de recherche. INSPE de Créteil-UPEC, CIRCEFT-Escol. •Netter, J. (2023). Les funambules. Pratiques enseignantes et curriculum invisible dans l’école primaire contemporaine en France. Note de synthèse pour l’HDR, Université Paris 8. •OECD. (2023). PISA 2022 Results (Volume I): The State of Learning Outcomes in Education. Paris: OECD Publishing. •OECD. 2025. Results from TALIS 2024: The State of Teaching. Paris: TALIS, OECD Publishing. https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/results-from-talis-2024_90df6235-en/full-report.html. •Rochex, J.-Y., & Crinon, J. (dir.). (2011). La construction des inégalités scolaires. Au cœur des pratiques et des dispositifs d’enseignement. Rennes : Presses universitaires de Rennes. 01. Professional Learning and Development
Paper A Qualitative Study of the Occurrence and Influence of Multi-Intergenerational Learning Among Teachers The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R. (China) Presenting Author:This qualtiative study aims to explore the dynamic occurrence and influence of multi-intergenerational learning among teachers across three generations. Intergenerational learning is the interactive process of sharing knowledge, skills, experiences, ideas, attitudes, and beliefs between at least two generations (Tambaum, 2023; Mannheim, 1952). Various societies and organizations have adopted this learning format as an essential approach to promote teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD), such as UK, Finland, and European Network for Intergenerational Learning (ENIL) (ENIL, 2012; Geeraerts et al., 2018). Studies have increasingly highlighted its situated nature (e.g., Shulman, 2005; Hiçyılmaz & Polat, 2024). This characteristic emphasizes that teachers from different generations display both continuities and changes in values and behaviors, shaped by distinct historical, social, and cultural conditions. Thus, the occurrence and influence of their learning is impacted by individual, organizational, socio-structural, cultural, and historical factors.
Considerable efforts have been devoted to analysing the roles of individual (e.g., personality and agency) and organisational (e.g., schools) conditions (Geeraerts et al., 2018) between two generations. It is challenging to elucidate the dynamics of intergenerational learning influenced by socio-structural and cultural transformations. Consequently, the effectiveness of such learning may be at risk of being undermined, especially in today’s global environment, which is rife with constant changes and escalating uncertainties. Thus, it is necessary to analyse the transmission and historical shifts of multi-intergenerational learning among teachers within the dynamic social structure.
China exemplifies this context, where the mentor-mentee relationship forms the foundational framework for teacher intergenerational learning to promote CPD. Historically shaped by socio-structural shifts (e.g., the evolution from central planning to a market-led model with government macro-regulation), cultural tensions (e.g., the clash between patriarchal ethical hierarchies in China and the civic-individual rights traditions in Anglo-American contexts), and resulting intergenerational differences (Sandel & D’Ambrosio, 2018; Liu et al., 2025), this framework renders China’s teacher intergenerational learning both connected to and distinct from Anglo-American contexts. Research in this area can thus offer scholars a fresh perspective on multi-intergenerational learning and. By refining strategies, it may encourage educators to participate in and design such learning in China and beyond. However, this context has not been fully discussed and explored.
This research focuses on the multi-intergenerational learning across three teachers representing three generations in the Chinese context. Their relationship can be simplified as the Mentor 1 (i.e., a late-career teacher)-Mentee 1/Mentor 2 (i.e., a mid-career teacher, Mentor 1’s direct mentee, and Mentee 2’s direct mentor)-Mentee 2 (i.e., an early-career teacher and Mentor 2’s direct mentee). Two research questions were put forward to guide this research: l How has multi-intergenerational learning among teachers occurred in the Mentor 1-Mentee 1/Mentor 2-Mentee 2 relationship? l How has multi-intergenerational learning influenced three generations of teachers in this relationship? Methodology, Methods, Research Instruments or Sources Used The theoretical framework of this study draws on the learning theory of Illeris (2017). This theory claims that learning is a process in which individuals develop functionality, sensibility, and sociality by negocitating with various (e.g., society, culture, and individuals) conditions. This emphasis guides this study in examining how social, cultural, and historical conditions shape multi‑intergenerational learning among teachers, thereby addressing the first research question. This research used the qualitative case study as a method to explore multi-intergenerational learning among teachers. The qualitative case study excels at answering “how” questions (Yazan, 2015). Instructed by the conceptual framework, this research employed three school teachers in the Chinese context through purposive sampling (Palinkas et al., 2015) with three standards: (a) born in different periods; (b) have established long-term stable intergenerational learning relationships; and (c) have interacted with various factors (e.g., stakeholders, culture, social structure, and history). The following are their details: Teacher G (Mentor 1): A late-career teacher born in the 1970s. Teacher Y (Mentee 1/Mentor 2): A mid-career teacher born in the 1980s. Teacher M (Mentee 2): A late-career teacher born in the 1990s. Following research ethics, we obtained consent from all participants before data collection, including consent for the method, purpose, and use rights of data collection, storage, analysis, and presentation. Subsequently, data were generated through three rounds of interviews with all participants and document collection. Data from these interviews helped us gain a deeper understanding of the participants’ learning pathways, strategies, and impacts. Information from different rounds of interviews also served as a triangulation tool. We also collected documents, including participants’ reflective teaching reports, lecture slides, and published papers. These documents capture the specific participants’ intergenerational interactions, key learning moments, and historically situated sociocultural contexts. Such data can be used to supplement the interview data. This study employed thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) to analyse the collected interview and textual data. Using this method, we ultimately identified six themes and 15 subthemes to answer research questions. Conclusions, Expected Outcomes or Findings Through data analysis, this study discovered a three-dimensional pathway for the occurrence of multi-intergenerational learning among teachers in the Chinese context and its impacts. The experience of participants revales three pathways of multi-intergenerational learning, including teaching-oriented, ethics-oriented, and auxiliary-oriented pathways. In the content dimension, participants facilitated the intergenerational exchange of pedagogical expertise and experiences through the teaching-oriented pathway, employing core strategies that include lesson preparation and delivery, teaching reflection, and extensive reading. In the incentive dimension, participants followed the ethics-oriented pathway, in which they shared enthical norms and provide positive feedbacks to enchance each other’s moral sense, strengthening their motivation for learning. In the interaction dimension (i.e., the auxiliary-oriented pathway), participants learned how to establish coordinated relationships with stakeholders, organisations, and historically situated sociocultural contexts through three methods: (a) generating pre-experience and hypotheses; (b) providing external professional sources; and (c) interpreting policy and trends in education and other fields. The three pathways facilitate participants to develop themselves in functionality (i.e., improving participant’s pedagogical literacy and leadership, which contributed to the preparation and enactment of their instructional leadership), sensibility (i.e., constructing beliefs about “good” teachers and having a clear career plan, which promoted in shaping and refining participants’ professional identities), and sociality (i.e., strengthening capacities to navigate external relational environments). References Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa European Network for Intergenerational Learning. (2012). Intergenerational learning and active Ageing: European Report October 2012. European Commission: Education and Culture DG. Geeraerts, K., Tynjälä, P., & Heikkinen, H. L. T. (2018). Inter-generational learning of teachers: What and how do teachers learn from older and younger colleagues? European Journal of Teacher Education, 41(4), 479–495. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2018.1448781 Hiçyılmaz, G., & Polat, S. (2024). The first steps to generation-friendly schooling: The relationship between intergenerational space, intergenerational solidarity, intergenerational knowledge sharing, and intergenerational learning from the teachers’ perspective. Leadership and Policy in Schools, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/15700763.2024.2362717 Illeris, K. (2017). How we learn: Learning and non-learning in school and beyond (2nd ed.). Routledge. Liu, H., Sammons, P., & Menter, I. (2025). Exploring teacher identity tensions and coping strategies in a comparative case study of primary school teachers’ narratives. Teachers and Teaching, 31(3), 419–452. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2023.2288627 Mannheim, K. (1952). Essays on the sociology of knowledge. Routledge. Palinkas, L. A., Horwitz, S. M., Green, C. A., Wisdom, J. P., Duan, N., & Hoagwood, K. (2015). Purposeful sampling for qualitative data collection and analysis in mixed method implementation research. Administration and Policy in Mental Health and Mental Health Services Research, 42(5), 533–544. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10488-013-0528-y Sandel, M. J., & D’Ambrosio, P. J. (Eds.). (2018). Encountering China: Michael Sandel and Chinese philosophy. Harvard University Press. Shulman, L. S. (2005). Signature pedagogies in the professions. Daedalus, 134(3), 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1162/0011526054622015 Tambaum, T. (2023). Intergenerational learning in action. In E. Karen, O. L. Wing, M. Jörg, & Z. Miriam (Eds.), Third international handbook of lifelong learning (pp. 739–762). Springer Cham. Yazan, B. (2015). Three approaches to case study methods in education: Yin, Merriam, and Stake. The Qualitative Report, 20(2), 134–152. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2015.2102 | ||