Teachers’ professional learning study

Abstract

An international study into teachers' professional learningEffective teaching is at the heart of a successful education system. There is growing recognition that supporting teachers' professional learning from the beginning to the end of their career is critical to fostering high-quality teaching. The OECD Teachers' Professional Learning (TPL) study examines the policy environments that support teachers' professional growth by exploring common strengths and challenges in participating jurisdictions. In doing so, the TPL study aims to facilitate peer learning, enrich national debates through international exchange and support the development of effective teacher learning systems at both the system and school levels.The study seeks to provide policy makers and practitioners worldwide with evidence and examples of effective and innovative policies to improve initial teacher preparation and teachers' continuing professional learning (CPL). "Teachers' continuing professional learning" is defined in a broad sense including all formal and informal activities aimed at helping teachers to update, develop and broaden their skills, knowledge and expertise. In particular, the TPL study looks at how schools and school systems:• shape teachers' motivation to engage in CPL;• ensure that teachers have access to CPL;• provide different CPL opportunities;• select and develop CPL content;• ensure the quality of CPL.The lens for analysis is provided by the conceptual framework for the TPL study (Boeskens, Nusche and Yurita, 2020[1]). The TPL study seeks to reflect recent advancements in the theory and practice of teachers' CPL by (1) considering a broad range of CPL goals to account for teachers' and their students' diverse and changing needs; (2) including informal and non-formal settings and formats such as personal study and collaborative learning; (3) going beyond the teacher's role as a recipient of CPL to focus on teachers' agency in the learning process, and shifting the emphasis from the individual teacher towards teachers' collective capacity.The TPL study seeks to avoid a dichotomy between formal professional development (PD) and day-to-day professional learning, which are sometimes treated separately in the literature. Rather, the term CPL is used broadly to include the formal and informal activities that aim to update, develop and broaden the skills, knowledge, expertise and other relevant characteristics of teachers. Traditional professional development courses or seminars are seen as one component within a much larger ecosystem of continuing professional learning opportunities. Professional development initiatives may or may not lead to professional learning, but the two terms are not synonymous. From a review of relevant research, the conceptual framework for the study identifies the following characteristics of professional learning, as distinct from traditional professional development:• an active role for teachers (individually and collectively) who are considered to be reflective professionals; Box 1.3. Digital c...

Networked Professional Learning Communities as Means to Flemish Secondary School Leaders’ Professional Learning and Well-Being

“…Corroborating findings from other studies in the field [7,40,78,86], this study found that bringing principals together on a regular basis in itself seems enough to allow for beneficial personal outcomes that can provide mental support and ease professional grievances. Principal PLCs-and peer counselling more in general-have the potential to add to one's professional well-being by reducing a feeling of professional isolation which school principals often report [8] and by giving opportunities to ventilate both frustrations and concerns about school challenges, even if interactions are not that much structured or focussed on a specific policy question [87].…”