Session Information
01 SES 09 A, Teacher Professional Learning and Development in Europe (Part 1)
Symposium to be continued in 01 SES 11 A
Contribution
Innovation in Teacher Professional Learning in Europe Research, Policy and Practice is a book due to be published by Routledge in 2023, providing an overview of teacher professional learning and development in 14 European countries. The authors participating in this symposium will provide an insight into current policy and practice relating to PLD in their countries. Taken together, the three symposia in this series will enable an up-to-date commentary on the state of PLD in Europe.
During recent decades we can track a path going from teacher education as In-service training (INSET) to Continuing Professional Development (CPD) to Professional Learning and Development (Ostinelli and Crescentini, 2021). The first is usually conceived as an occasional complement to initial teacher education; the second is a continuing process typified by transmissive approaches (Timperley, 2011); the third, finally, includes learning under the form of evolutionary processes capable of generating professional expertise and mastery (Dreyfus and Dreyfuss, 2008), focusing on the teacher as an individual professional but forming part of a network of professional learners capable of providing adequate answers to the rapid and sudden changes affecting contemporary schooling.
Teacher professional learning in every country analysed here has been classified as pertaining to one or other of these categories. However, each school system also has its particularities, both in defining its approach to teacher professional learning and from a cultural/structural point of view. Moreover, the countries participating in this study are also different in terms of population, going from small nations like Wales to larger ones such as France or Italy.
The information here proposed can give a good background for future deepening and more precise studies on various issues concerning teacher professional learning. Questions of relevance for all the countries include the increasing prominence of informal professional learning, the incentives for participating in teacher professional development, (including leadership development (Jones 2022) and how these may be aligned with needs, conditions and resources, and the issue of compulsoriness, in particular, the balance between prescription and option. Coaching (Kise, 2017), mentoring (Geeraerts et al., 2015) and professional learning networks (Handscomb and Brown, 2022) are associated practices that also deserve attention. Another important issue is how to balance and integrate in a lifewide-oriented organized approach what is performed autonomously and informally by teachers as professionals who take responsibility for their own learning.
References
Dreyfus, H. and Dreyfus, S., 2008. Beyond expertise: some preliminary thoughts on mastery. In: K. Nielsen, ed. A qualitative stance: essays in honor of Steinar Kvale. Aarhus: Aarhus University Press, 113–124. Kise, J. A. (2017). Differentiated coaching: A framework for helping educators change. Corwin Press. Geeraerts, K., Tynjälä, P., Heikkinen, H. L., Markkanen, I., Pennanen, M., & Gijbels, D. (2015). Peer-group mentoring as a tool for teacher development. European Journal of Teacher Education, 38(3), 358-377. Handscomb, G. and Brown, C. (2022) The Power of Professional Learning Networks: Traversing the present; transforming the future John Catt Educational Ltd Jones, K. (2022) Leading Professional Learning Insight Paper National Academy for Educational Leadership Wales https://nael.cymru/insight/leading-professional-learning/ Ostinelli, G., & Crescentini, A. (2021). Policy, culture and practice in teacher professional development in five European countries. A comparative analysis. Professional Development in Education, 1-17.
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