It is essential that teacher development initiatives are designed to be accessible, appropriate and meaningful for teachers. They should also have an impact on teachers’ classroom practice. This theme focuses on teachers’ ideas about teaching and learning, their experiences in the classroom and how these ideas and experiences are affected by personal and local contexts.

Papers, presentations and publications

• Professional development spaces – An exploratory study of head-teachers’ perspectives in Ghana. Eric Addae-Kyeremeh
• Didactical situations in mathematics: Student teachers’ difficulties in implementation learner-centred approaches in Rwandan Secondary Schools. Habineza Faustin
• Collaborative model of peer teaching of literacy and numeracy in Ghanaian KG1-P3 classrooms: the lived experiences of prospective teachers. Nixon Daba Adzifome, Salome Praise Otami, Ahmed Kobina Amihere
• Influence of biology education on use of natural resources: a case study on use of natural products from Pece Wetland, Gulu District, Uganda. Henry Busulwa  
• Professional development and teacher morale in rural communities  Alison Buckler and Amani Abdel Gafar, 2012
• Building a policy understanding of the lives of female teachers working in rural schools in Sub-Saharan Africa Alison Buckler
• ‘The whole classroom is smelling bad’ Alison Buckler, 2009
• Pride and Light: Female teachers’ experiences of living and working in rural Sub-Saharan Africa Alison Buckler