This paper examines teachers' experiences of autonomy as they undertook Continuing Professional Development (CPD) in the form of Teacher Learning Communities (TLCs) to develop Assessment for Learning (AfL). Participant teacher interview data were used from two parallel TLC projects, one in Hong Kong and one in London, UK. Autonomy was defined in terms of taking initiatives, acting independently and making critical inquiries. Links between autonomy and effective CPD were argued and the findings indicated that some teachers in both the projects experienced limited autonomy in terms of taking initiatives and being critical, although several described a new sense of professional independence as they attended TLCs. Their limited autonomy looked likely to inhibit the long-lasting impact of the projects, although one TLC in London seemed likely to shape teachers' AfL principles and practices more profoundly because attendance was voluntary and egalitarian.
[Copyright of Teacher Development is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2012.748686]

Changes in assessment practices in the direction of assessment for learning (AfL) can be a powerful force to enhance student learning. This article presents a case study of teacher learning in an AfL project in Hong Kong. In the Project, AfL strategies were adopted in Chinese Language and English Language classrooms at the junior secondary level. By examining subject leaders' and classroom teachers' experiences with the project reported in interviews, the paper enriches our understanding of the variations in the subject department contexts of teacher learning, the situatedness of teacher learning in terms of knowledge about student learning, understanding of AfL and curriculum leadership, as well as the relationship between teacher learning and changes in assessment practices. The article concludes with suggestions on fostering subject departments to be expansive environments for teacher professional learning and to be a vehicle of internal change, alerts the importance of integration of AfL into teachers' pedagogical content knowledge and the subject curriculum, and highlights the cultural dimension as an issue for further study in AfL.
[Copyright of Professional Development in Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19415250903554087]