Involving teachers in early stages of context-based curriculum innovations requires a professional development programme that actively engages teachers in the design of new context-based units. This study considers the implementation of a teacher professional development framework aiming to investigate processes of professional development. The framework is based on Galperin's theory of the internalisation of actions and it is operationalised into a professional development programme to empower chemistry teachers for designing new context-based units. The programme consists of the teaching of an educative context-based unit, followed by the designing of an outline of a new contextbased unit. Six experienced chemistry teachers participated in the instructional meetings and practical teaching in their respective classrooms. Data were obtained from meetings, classroom discussions, and observations. The findings indicated that teachers became only partially empowered for designing a new context-based chemistry unit. Moreover, the process of professional development leading to teachers' empowerment was not carried out as intended. It is concluded that the elaboration of the framework needs improvement. The implications for a new programme are discussed.

The aim of this study is to develop a framework for professional development programmes that empowers chemistry teachers to teach and design context-based chemistry curricula. Firstly, teachers' involvement, their concerns and their professional development in several context-based curriculum innovations is discussed. Secondly, to develop such a framework, a theory for (teacher) learning is needed. From an overview of several theories for (teacher) learning, an adapted version of Galperin's theory for the internalisation of mental actions is selected. Thirdly, this theory is combined with four strategies for professional development, five events for teacher-based curriculum design, and specific goals into a framework for this kind of professional development programmes. This framework will contribute to a better understanding of the relations between the goals of such professional development programmes, the intended learning processes of the teachers and the sequence of events in such programmes. Empirical research with this framework is recommended.

The aim of this study is to understand the design of professional development programmes in teacher-based and context-based chemistry curriculum innovations. Firstly, the goals of these programmes are discussed and related to the concept of empowerment. Next, in a selection of empirical studies, four general strategies for professional development are analysed (providing access to innovative units, organising reflection, collaboration and organising the design of innovative units by teachers). This analysis results in two outcomes: (1) a sequence of events for teacher-based and context-based curriculum design and (2) the conclusion that in these studies explicit relations between the goals, the strategies and the activities in these programmes are lacking; they should be made more explicit. It is recommended that a theory for teacher professional development should be used to describe these relations.

Even experienced chemistry teachers require professional development when they are encouraged to become actively engaged in the design of new context-based education. This study briefly describes the development of a framework consisting of goals, learning phases, strategies and instructional functions, and how the framework was translated into a professional development programme intended to empower teachers to design context-based chemistry education. The programme consists of teaching a pre-developed context-based unit, followed by teachers designing an outline of a new context-based unit. The study investigates the process of teacher empowerment during the implementation of the programme. Data were obtained from meetings, classroom discussions and observations. The findings indicated that teachers became empowered to design new context-based units provided they had sufficient time and resources. The contribution of the framework to teacher empowerment is discussed.

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