Traditional professional development assumes that teachers can (and should) improve their classroom practices as a result of gaining new information or knowledge from taking a workshop or course. ... [t]his ... approach assumes that the transmission of knowledge .. in a workshop ... will change classroom teaching behaviours. In reality... workshop sessions have little actual effect on classroom teaching. Reflective teaching .. shares the common goal of improving teaching ...
A good deal of what passes for "professional development" in schools is a joke - one that we'd laugh at if we weren't trying to keep from crying. It's everything a learning environment shouldn't be: radically underresourced, brief, not sustained, designed for one size fits all", imposed rather than owned, lacking intellectual coherence, treated as a special add-on event rather than as part of a natural process and trapped in the constraints of the bureaucratic system we have come to call "school". In short, it's pedagogically naive, a demaning exercise that often leaves its participants more cynical and no more knowledgeable, skilled, or committed than before.
One principle of professional development ... is that it can offer 'meaningful intellectual, social, and emotional engagement with ideas, with materials, and with colleagues both in and out of teaching.'
... if change does not involve conflict, the change being attempted is probably superficial, not threatening enough to be deep and significant
Developmental continuum: 1. Teacher entering the teaching profession - technical competence, confidence to teach according to proven principles2. Teacher gains experience - modify/adapt initial theories of teaching - moving toward more interpretive views of teaching implicit in the theory3. Develop personal theories of teaching , .., creating teaching approaches according to the particular constraints and dynamics of the situation in which they work. .. teacher development can be seen as a process of ongoing self-discovery and self-renewal, as top-down approaches to teaching are replaced by more bottom up spproaches, or approaches that blend he two
Without desire teaching becomes arid and empty. It loses its meaning. Understanding the emotional life of teachers, their feelings for and in their work, and attending to this emotional life in ways that positively cultivate it and avoid negatively damaging it should be absolutely central to teacher development efforts.
people learn when: they discover that there is something that they do not know and wish to learnthey are able to tackle this task reasonably directlythis task affords intrinsic rewardsthe task is sensible and manageablethey are able to form hunches, test them, and see the results of their teststhey have access to suitable informationthey are able to see patternsthey have a sense of making progressthey find themselves in a challenging but friendly and supportive environment
Teachers need to be able to take part in activities such as: engaging in self reflection and evaluation develop specialised knowledge and skills about many aspects of teaching expanding their knowledge base about research, theory, and issues in teaching taking on new roles and responsibilities, such as supervisor or mentor teacher, teacher-researcher, or materials writer developing collaborative relationships with other teachers.