Professional development for teachers
The need for ongoing teacher education has been a recurring theme in teaching circles in recent years and has been given renewed focus of the emergence of teacher-led initiatives such as action research, reflective teaching, and team teaching. Opportunities for in-service training are crucial to the long term development of teachers as well as for the long term successes of the programs in which they work. The need for ongoing renewal of professional skills and knowledge is not a reflection of inadequate training but simply a response to the fact that not everything teachers need to know can be provided at pre-service level, as well as the fact that the knowledge base of teaching constantly change.
In short, Teachers' Professional development can be understood as below:
· In any school or educational institution there are teachers with different level of experience, knowledge, skill and expertise. Mutual sharing of knowledge and experience is a valuable source of professional growth.
· Teachers are generally motivated to continue their professional development once they being their careers.
· Knowledge about teaching and learning is in a tentative and incomplete state, and teachers need regular opportunities to update their professional knowledge.
· Classrooms are not only places where students learn they are also places where teachers can learn.
· Teachers can play an active role in their own professional development.
· It is the responsibility of schools and administrators to provide opportunities for continued professional education and to encourage teachers to participate in them.
· In order for such opportunities to take place they need to placed, supported and rewarded.
This process can be supported both at the institutional level and through teachers’ own individual efforts.
Teacher training and teacher development
Training: training refers to activities directly focused on a teacher’s present responsibilities and is typically aimed at short-term and immediate goals. Training involves understanding basic concepts and principles as prerequisite for applying them to teaching and the ability to demonstrate principles and practices in the classroom. Usually determined by experts and is often available in standard training formats or through prescriptions in methodology books.
Teacher development: Generally refers to general growth not focused on a specific job. It serves a longer-term goal and seeks to facilitate growth of teachers understanding of teaching and of themselves as teachers. Various Activities are done within Teacher Development
1. Teacher learning
· Teacher learning as skill learning
· Teacher learning as a cognitive process
· Teacher learning as personal construction
· Teacher learning as reflective practice
2. Novices and Experts interactions of various types.
3. Collaborative and self-directed learning
Collaborative learning: the goal of collegial forms of professional development are to encourage greater interaction between teachers, peer-based learning through mentoring and sharing skills experience and solution to common problems.
Self-directed learning: central to self-directed learning are the following process
· Inquiry
· Self-appraised
· Experience
· Personal construction
· Contextualized learning
· Planning and managing
4. WORKSHOPS
Benefits of workshops
1. Workshops can provide input from experts
2. Workshops offer teachers practical classroom applications
3. Workshops can raise teachers’ motivation
4. Workshops develop collegiality
5. Workshops can support innovations
6. Workshops are short-term
7. Workshop are flexible in organization
Procedures for planning effective workshops
1. Choose an appropriate topic
2. Limit the number of participants
3. Identify a suitable workshop leader : a number of qualities are needed in the workshop leader or leaders
· Knowledgeable about the subject matter
· Familiar with ways of conducting a workshop
· Familiar with teaching adult learners
4. plan an appropriate sequence of activities
5. looking for opportunities for follow-up
6. include evaluation
Workshops based learning is such a familiar format for professional development that the nature fo effective workshops is often for granted. The fact that many teachers have experienced both effective and less effective workshops during their careers is a reminder that a successful workshop needs to be well planned and coordinated and not thrown together at the last moment. A well conducted workshop can have a lasting impact on its participants and workshop can plan a key role in achieving a schools institutional goals as well as meeting some of the individual needs of its teachers. Providing opportunities for senior teachers to develop skills in running workshops is an important part of staff development. Giving teachers regular opportunities to update their professional knowledge through participating in workshop also sends an important message about the schools commitment to quality and to professional development. Workshops also give teachers an opportunity to step back from the classroom, make connections with colleagues and return to teaching with a renewed sense of enthusiasm.
4. Self-monitoring
Self-monitoring or self-observation refers to a systematic approach to the observation, evaluation and management of one’s own behavior in order to achieve a better understanding and control over the behavior. Self-monitoring is based on the view that in order to better understanding one’s teaching and one’s own strengths and weakness as a teacher, it is necessary to collect information about teaching behavior and practices objectively and systematically and to use this information as a basis for making decisions about whether there is anything that should be changed.
5. Teacher support groups
Types of teacher support groups
1. topic-based groups
2. school-based groups
3. job-alike groups
4. reading groups
Forming a teacher support group: the process of forming a teacher support group will depend on the goals of the group. Nevertheless, certain issues must be taken into consideration when planning a support group.
1. Group membership: the first decision to be made is how to recruit group members. Recruitment may be through direct recruitment, through indirect recruitment or through other group members.
2. Group size
3. Group organization
4. Determining group goals
5. Group time
6. Group meeting place
Support groups can help develop a culture of collaboration in an institution and enable teachers with different levels of training and experience to learn from one another and work together to explore issues and resolve problems.
7. Keeping a teaching journal
Journal writing enables teachers to document teaching experiences and to use the process of writing about them as means of reflecting on teaching. Journal entries also provide information that can trigger useful conversations with peers and supervisors. Although journal-writing procedures are fairly straightforward, successful implementation of journal writing requires careful thought about its goals, its focus and the time demands it can create for both writers and readers.
Writer: Sharada Acharya
Student : M.Ed. Second Year
Department of English
Faculty of Education
Tribhuwan University
Kirtipur, Kathmandu
