A Pedagogical Model to Scale Up Effective Teacher Professional Development – Findings from The Teacher Academy Initiative of the European Commission

Abstract

Teachers continue to experience change in education policy, societal trends, and cultural shifts in pedagogical thought, which all require a continual adaptation and innovation of their own practice. Effective support and opportunities for teachers to develop and apply their competences is crucial for maintaining both motivation and high standards in the school education profession. However, many teachers across Europe claim to struggle to have access to effective forms of Continued Professional Development (CPD) coupled with the numerous demands already made on their work. Onsite (face to face) courses with opportunities for peer learning remain popular but are not time or financially cost-effective in reaching a large number of teachers. By exploring the pedagogical model of the online courses of the European Commission’s ‘Teacher Academy’, this article discusses how an effective, collaborative approach to online CPD can be developed as a way of addressing both teacher and school education system needs.

MOOCs Design: A Conceptual Framework for Continuous Teacher Training in Portugal

“…The flexibility principle is considered by some experts, a key element in MOOCs. Hertz, Clemson, Hansen, Laurillard, Murray, Fernandes, Gilleran, Ruiz and Rutkauskiene [25] have defined for the Teacher Academy a set of pedagogical principles for teachers' continuous professional development and flexibility is one of them. This principle refers to free access, deadline flexibility and teachers' learning pace.…”

“…With regard to materials, content and learning activities, Minea-Pic [4] emphasizes that MOOCs for teachers should consider teachers' background (experience, skills, and needs), be aligned with the curriculum and include resources that stimulate teacher motivation. Hertz and his colleagues [25] also refer to watching videos of projects and lessons, as well as interviews with teachers and experts.…”

“…In the evaluation subdimension, the experts interviewed mentioned peer assessment as an enriching methodology for teachers, but with clear evaluation rubrics. According to Hertz, Clemson, Hansen, Laurillard, Murray, Fernandes, Gilleran, Ruiz and Rutkauskiene [25], learning evaluation and validation in MOOCs for European teachers involves the implementation of peer review activities. Peer reviews promote communication and interaction among participants and foster active and critical reflections on course topics [28,29].…”