Page 71 - Štremfel, Urška, and Maša Vidmar (eds.). 2018. Early School Leaving: Training Perspectives. Ljubljana: Pedagoški inštitut.
P. 71
teachers’ professional development
professional development phase of each educator into account. Besides
involvement in professional development activities, it is also crucial how
these professional development activities are implemented. It is essential
that such activities are carried out that enable educators at different stages
of their professional development to improve their knowledge and compe-
tencies in order to prevent the ESL of students at risk.
How to implement professional development?
Educators are committed to focussing on both content knowledge (what to
teach) and pedagogical knowledge (how to teach). In recent decades, there
has been strong support (e.g. Krauss et al., 2008, Loughran et al., 2012;
OECD, 2014) for the belief that teachers should acquire in-depth pedagog-
ical knowledge, including notions about teaching and learning, alongside
their knowledge of the subject matter taught. Therefore, educators’ profes-
sional development needs to incorporate all those aspects and should be
put into effect through different strategies. It should include less tradition-
al approaches so as to develop not only the knowledge but also the beliefs,
attitudes, values and commitment, thus making the programme more at-
tractive for educators.
Guskey (2000) introduced seven major modes of professional devel-
opment that are still prominent in today’s professional development pro-
grammes: training, observation/assessment, involvement in a development/
improvement process, study groups, inquiry/action research, individually
guided activities, and mentoring. These could all be implemented in more
flexible programmes, e.g. as face-to-face-based activities, ICT-based activ-
ities or as a combination of both, while all of the above modes can also be
combined with each other. Given the complexity of the possible combina-
tions, seeking the best modes to fit all educators in their different profes-
sional development phases and different education systems is not the most
productive approach. Professional development should incorporate the in-
tertwining of modes considering the motivation and interests of each edu-
cator and their stage of professional development.
Improving individuals’ knowledge and competencies must be comple-
mented by the use of different strategies, models, changing the beliefs and,
more specifically, with effective collaboration among teaching staff to pro-
duce better learning for both staff and students (OECD, 2009). This would
enable better education experiences which are also essential for improving
the prevention of ESL.
71
professional development phase of each educator into account. Besides
involvement in professional development activities, it is also crucial how
these professional development activities are implemented. It is essential
that such activities are carried out that enable educators at different stages
of their professional development to improve their knowledge and compe-
tencies in order to prevent the ESL of students at risk.
How to implement professional development?
Educators are committed to focussing on both content knowledge (what to
teach) and pedagogical knowledge (how to teach). In recent decades, there
has been strong support (e.g. Krauss et al., 2008, Loughran et al., 2012;
OECD, 2014) for the belief that teachers should acquire in-depth pedagog-
ical knowledge, including notions about teaching and learning, alongside
their knowledge of the subject matter taught. Therefore, educators’ profes-
sional development needs to incorporate all those aspects and should be
put into effect through different strategies. It should include less tradition-
al approaches so as to develop not only the knowledge but also the beliefs,
attitudes, values and commitment, thus making the programme more at-
tractive for educators.
Guskey (2000) introduced seven major modes of professional devel-
opment that are still prominent in today’s professional development pro-
grammes: training, observation/assessment, involvement in a development/
improvement process, study groups, inquiry/action research, individually
guided activities, and mentoring. These could all be implemented in more
flexible programmes, e.g. as face-to-face-based activities, ICT-based activ-
ities or as a combination of both, while all of the above modes can also be
combined with each other. Given the complexity of the possible combina-
tions, seeking the best modes to fit all educators in their different profes-
sional development phases and different education systems is not the most
productive approach. Professional development should incorporate the in-
tertwining of modes considering the motivation and interests of each edu-
cator and their stage of professional development.
Improving individuals’ knowledge and competencies must be comple-
mented by the use of different strategies, models, changing the beliefs and,
more specifically, with effective collaboration among teaching staff to pro-
duce better learning for both staff and students (OECD, 2009). This would
enable better education experiences which are also essential for improving
the prevention of ESL.
71
