MODELS AND BEST PRACTICES IN TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
GUIDING QUESTIONS
1. What are the needs of teachers in our country, and how will teacher professional development (TPD) address these needs?
2. Which of the three models of TPD are most appropriate to the needs of our teachers?
3. Which models are currently being used in our schools?
4. How can ICTs improve and extend current or projected TPD eff orts?
SUMMARY
To be eff ective and successful, teacher professional development must be of high quality and relevant to teachers’ needs. No amount of ICT can compensate for TPD that lacks these characteristics.
TPD is the tool by which policymakers convey broad visions, disseminate critical information, and provide guidance to teachers. Eff ective TPD begins with an understanding of teachers’ needs and their work environments—schools and classrooms. TPD then combines a range of techniques to promote learning; provides teachers with the support they need; engages school leadership; and makes use of evaluation to increase its impact. Essential techniques include mentoring, teamwork, observation, refl ection and assessment. TPD programs should engage teachers as learners—typically involving the process of “modeling.”2
When computers are involved, TPD programs must address not only teachers’ technical skills, but also their concerns about logistics, about how to use computers with students, and about risks to their status in the classroom. Successful computer-supported or computer-focused TPD provides teachers with hands-on opportunities to build technical skills and work in teams while engaging them in activities that have substantial bearing on their classroom practices or on other aspects of the school workplace.
TPD can be divided into three broad categories:
• Standardized TPD
The most centralized approach, best used to disseminate information and skills among large teacher populations
• Site-based TPD
Intensive learning by groups of teachers in a school or region, promoting profound and long-term changes in instructional methods