9 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved. TEACHER CPD ACROSS BORDERS: REFLECTIONS ON HOW A STUDY TOUR TO ENGLAND HELPED TO CHANGE PRACTICE AND PRAXIS AMONG JAMAICAN TEACHERS Paul Miller 1 --- Ian Potter 2 1 Reader in Education, School of Sports & Education, Brunel University, London 2 Head Teacher, Bay House School & Sixth Form, Gomer Lane, Gosport, England ABSTRACT The professional development of teachers and school leaders is an important factor in improving the overall quality and effectiveness of schools. Teachers and Principals who are well trained and who have exposure to different educational systems are in a position to draw on their experiences of other systems to improve outcomes for their classrooms, staffrooms and institutions as a whole. Reflecting on our own experiences of organising and delivering a Study Tour, we also present the experiences of Jamaican public educators on a recent Study Tour to England. From their feedback, it is clear that this experiential approach to capacity building has gone some way in stimulating participants’ thinking as regards their practice and how this can be improved, underpinned by Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) notion of reconceptualising professional capital and Mintzberg (2004) view of global mindsets. Keywords: Teachers, Jamaica, Study Tour, Leadership, CPD. Received: 1 January 2014/ Revised: 13 January 2014/ Accepted: 17 January 2014/ Published: 20 January 2014 1. INTRODUCTION & BACKGROUND This is a case study of the impact that educational research conferences can have. The narrative begins when a professional researcher based in Jamaica and a practitioner from England met for the first time in Cyprus at the Commonwealth Council for Educational Administration & Management‟s (CCEAM) conference in November 2012. The scholar and the headteacher discussed the challenges within their respective systems and Dr Paul Miller explained how he was keen to provide his Jamaican practitioner students with opportunities to deepen their professional and critical learning in educational leadership. Having founded the Institute for Educational Administration & Leadership- Jamaica (IEAL-J) a month previous, Miller considers it an important part of his vision to improve leadership performance and preparation-for-school- leadership in Jamaica. Ian Potter describes a similar ambition for his school where he wants to International Journal of Education and Practice 2014 Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 9-20 ISSN(e): 2310-3868 ISSN(p): 2311-6897 DOI: 10.18488/journal.61/2014.2.1/61.1.9.20 © 2014 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved.