1. Continuing Professional Development
"An education system is only as good as its teachers." (Unesco 2014,9)
Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is one of the most important terms in teacher training.
Oxford University Press Video about CPD:
- continuing study throughout career
- learning as teachers
- CPD does not have to mean formal training
- CPD refers to watching a video, talking to colleagues, trying a new activity in class etc.
- "getting together, sharing, talking about what you are doing in your lessons" --> CPD
- the Internet gives us as teachers many more opportunities (technology)
- CPD does not require much additional time, even only a couple of minutes of reflecting ourselves together with a colleague may be very effective
- duty as teachers to be open to the idea of using new tools (being a reflective practitioner)
- decide where the individual needs are and, based on that, select new tools (use websites, e.g. Oxford University Press ELT blog)
- observation is a good way to help improve as a teacher (watch colleagues teach or ask colleague to observe us)
! clear guidelines are important for any observation
CPD
CPD is effective when it includes training, practice and feedback. The interest in developing schools as learning organisations allowing teachers to share their expertise and experience more systematically is growing.
(OECD 2009, 49)
What do the terms "continuing", "professional" and "development" mean to me with regard to my personal professional development?
Continuing:
During my studies as a future teacher and also in my future teacher context, I have to constantly develop myself and my activities based on comprehensive reflections. It is a never ending process, a work in progress that never ends. Society changes constantly, and therefore, I have to be open-minded and try to continuously adapt to these changes, learn from my mistakes and constantly improve myself with the aim of supporting my students in the best possible way.
Professional:
As a teacher I need professional competencies in various fields. I need to master my subjects and always be up to date, I need to have professional social competencies that allow me to interact with my students appropriately and be prepared for the variety of situations I will be confronted with. Being professional does not mean that I have the right response in every possible situation or that I always react appropriately, it also means that I am able to reflect and evaluate my actions and adapt them for the next time.
Development
Development also implies growth. Based on experiences and with the help of reflections I have to develop, become better and change over time. Positive as well as negative experiences are an important means of development.
Activities for teacher development in Germany
- Perle (Projekt erfolgreiches Lehren und Lernen) is a project that offers a variety of different seminars and support aiming at teacher development
- The IQSH offers seminars for teachers that help them develop in their profession:
2. Reflective Practices
"The use of reflective practice in teacher professional development is based on the belief that teachers can improve their own teaching by consciously and systematically reflecting on their teaching experiences."
(Farrell 2008, 1)
Video by the Chartered Instituted of Personnel and Development:
1. How can you adapt the described reflective practice of Luise for a teacher?
- focus on progress and not on results (reflection as necessary means of successful work)
- talk to colleagues, work in a team (reflecting by thinking alone is not enough)
--> reflective practices (there are many ways of reflective practices)
2. What can a reflective practice look like in schools? What would be required from the school (headmaster, colleagues, etc.)?
- a reflective practice should be based on routines:
e.g. weekly meetings with a group of teachers
--> there should be time frames for reflective practices and everyone should be open-minded and participate
--> it should become part of the "school culture"
3. Write or make a short audio recording what your ideal setting for reflective practice would look like.
My ideal setting for reflective practice would be a small group of colleagues in which everyone is open-minded, motivated and respectful. This group should meet on a regular basis, be it weekly or once a month, in a nice surrounding. It would be helpful to base these meeting on observations made with new technologies (e.g. video-recording of lessons).
Quotes referring to teacher reflective practices:
"Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better."
(Dylan William)
This quote resonates with me, because it implies that every teacher, no matter how old he/she is and how much experience he/she already has, has to improve. No teacher will ever be perfect and therefore, no teacher will ever be done with his/her professional development. It is an ongoing process. This does not mean that teachers are not good enough, it just means that there is always possibilities for becoming even better.
3. Reflective tools
Reflection is a highly complex process. It includes thinking about experiences or actions and evaluating them by trying to be as objective as possible.
Collaborating with other people for reflective practices may increase the level of objectivity and enrich the reflective processes.
The following quaotation underlines that every reflective practice requires the open-mindedness of a person.
- “Every teacher needs to improve, not because they are not good enough, but because they can be even better.”
– Dylan William
We need to be open for critical feedback in order to be able to improve ourselves in the future. Many people feel easily offended when they receive critical feedback, because it may evoke the fear of not performing well enough.
In fact, none of us is perfect and none of us will ever be perfect, but by being open for well-meant and constructive feedback we will be able to reflect ourselves and perform even better in the future. Reflective practices will then have a positive impact on our own development and on the development of our students.
There are many reflective tools that can help us reflect on ourselves and our practices:
- written and spoken reflection (e.g. learning diary, (e)Portfolio, audio recordings)
- necessity to organize ones reflections in a sustainable way
How can teachers develop and become more professional?
· Be open-minded
· Trust the process → ongoing process
· Always reflect my own classes, evaluate myself and my classes
· Be flexible and adapt to most recent developments
· Participate in seminars and conferences
· Read professional magazines, journals and books
· Include students’ interest
· Travel
· Keep work-life balance
· Carry out some small-scale classroom-based research
There are a variety of CPD models that may be used in teaching contexts fore reflective purposes:
CPD models as reflective tools
(increasing capacity for professional autonomy)
· Training
- Dominant form of CPD of teachers
- Students have passive role
- Offsite
· Award-bearing
- Taking part in modules
- Certificates after taking a class
- Standardization of teaching quality
· Deficit
- Teacher perceives as performing badly (potentially fault of school management)
- Problem-based
· Cascade
- Model for teachers, students are excluded
- One teacher attends training event and that teacher is supposed to inform other teachers about the issue
--> Teacher as multiplicator
- Questions what and how
· Coaching/mentoring
- Feedback on other classes (coaching)
- More experienced teacher teaches beginner (mentoring)
· Community of practice
- Work in a group for improvement
- Social theory of learning
· The Action Research Model
- Development and transformation as main aim
- Means of supporting greater participation, relevance and democracy
- Participants as researchers, aim of improving the quality of action within the action
- Encouragement to see research as a process rather than as a product of someone else’s research
- Power shifted to teachers themselves (they know what is relevant)
→ professional autonomy
--> Ask critical questions of own practice (but limited by political determinants)
· Transformative
- Meta-level
- Collaboration
- Combining models that at first sight do not work with each other
Especially the Action Research Model seems to have advantages for the use in (foreign language) classrooms. It is very practice-oriented and allows for constant adaptations based on new findings:
· Action research is different from normal self-reflection
- Action research → data
- Action research → systematic (identifying a problem, plan, analysis, action, evaluation), but flexible
--> Cyclical process
--> Goal: improvement in the classroom
.png)
Comments