Teacher Professional Development: International Perspectives and Approaches

Abstract

Nations around the world are currently embarked in deep reforms of their education systems. There is widespread agreement among policymakers, scholars, and educators that one of the keys for success during these reforms is promoting the professional development (PD) of in-service teachers. Every year, governments invest astronomical amounts of money on teacher continuous learning. However, the literature shows that much of the PD offered to teachers is inefficient, having small or no effect on teaching practices and/or student learning. This monograph describes the perspectives and approaches to teacher PD of five nations heavily committed to research and/or practice in this field. Understanding how PD is structured in these nations may guide others in designing more favorable learning opportunities for their teachers. The article from United States provides a general framework regarding the features of high-quality PD and offers examples of recent effective initiatives. The four following articles describe the PD models of Australia, Hong Kong, Finland, and Singapore, among the highest-achievers in education presently. Because teacher continuous learning is a high priority in these nations, strong infrastructures for high-quality PD have been built to meet teachers' needs and interests. The monograph closes with a contribution from Spain, the country where the journal Psychology, Society and Education is edited. The author discusses the five prior articles and reflects on how the ideas presented could improve the PD currently offered to teachers in other nations, particularly Spain.

Preschool Teachers’ Engagement in Professional Development: Frequency, Perceived Usefulness, and Relationship with Self-Efficacy Beliefs

“…Finally, in order to enhance the impact and responsiveness of PD, we suggest that formal PD should be integrated as part of the informal PD activities in which teachers regularly engage. In line with current discourses in the field of teacher PD (Bautista & Ortega-Ruíz, 2015), we consider that a better integration will lead to more competent, motivated and satisfied ECE professionals, which in turn will benefit the learning and development of young children.…”

“…One of these measures has been providing inservice preschool teachers with opportunities to foster their learning and professional development (PD). It is typically assumed that both formal (e.g., seminars, courses, programs) and informal PD learning experiences (e.g., collaborative reflection, discussion groups) are relevant to promote the professional growth of these teachers, and in turn benefit the learning and development of children (Bautista & Ortega-Ruíz, 2015). However, little research has investigated the actual frequency with which preschool teachers engage in different types of PD and the perceived usefulness of these activities.…”

Investigación-acción como recurso para la innovación y mejora de la práctica educativa en conservatorios: Una experiencia en las enseñanzas elementales de música en España

“…Sin embargo, para que esto sea posible, es necesario que el profesorado disponga de los recursos necesarios para favorecer que el alumnado desarrolle las competencias que propugnan dichas reformas educativas (Bautista & Ortega-Ruíz, 2015). Investigaciones previas señalan que la formación inicial tienen deficiencias significativas en la capacitación de los futuros docentes de música .…”

“…Por un lado, una revisión en profundidad del currículum que habilita al futuro docente como profesional de la enseñanza (Bautista, Tan, Ponnusamy, & Yau, 2016) y, por otro lado, plantear una efectiva formación permanente del profesorado (Borko, 2004). Para que la formación del profesorado sea provechosa, es fundamental que esta (1) aporte ideas prácticas, específicas y concretas a la vez que lo suficientemente flexibles para adaptarse a cualquier situación y contexto (Bautista & Ortega-Ruíz, 2015;Bautista et al, 2016); (2) se desarrolle en base a las necesidades y preferencias del profesorado y (3) se plantee como un proceso continuo en el que los docentes realicen un trabajo activo y participativo (Bautista & Ortega-Ruíz, 2015).…”

Monográfico sobre Investigación en Interpretación Musical: Implicaciones para el Desarrollo Profesional Docente

“…El impacto investigador se mide a partir del número de citas de otros investigadores y del ranking de las revistas donde uno publica. Además, el lenguaje utilizado en artículos científicos suele ser demasiado técnico e inaccesible para los docentes, y su contenido demasiado abstracto, específico y/o alejado de los problemas reales, llegando en ocasiones a carecer de sentido para el profesorado (Bautista & Ortega-Ruíz, 2015). La meta de contribuir a mejorar calidad de la enseñanza en conservatorios y escuelas de música, o al menos algún aspecto concreto de la misma, es por tanto secundaria para muchos académicos-investigadores interesados en la música, incluso irrelevante o imposible, pues algunos no tienen formación musical y ni siquiera han estado nunca en este tipo de centros educativos.…”