PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

 In education, the term professional development may be used in reference to a wide variety of specialized training, formal education, or advanced professional learning intended to help administrators, teachers, and other educators improve their professional knowledge, competence, skill, and effectiveness. "Professional development is defined as activities that develop an individual's skills, knowledge, expertise and other characteristics as a teacher." 

The definition recognises that development can be provided in many ways, ranging from the formal to the informal. It can be made available through external expertise in the form of courses, workshops or formal qualification programmes, through collaboration between schools or teachers across schools (e.g. observational visits to other schools or teacher networks) or within the schools in which teachers work. In this last case, development can be provided through coaching/mentoring, collaborative planning and teaching, and the sharing of good practices.

Objectives of Professional Development

•To update individuals' knowledge of a subject in light of recent advances in the area

•To update individuals' skills, attitudes and approaches in light of the development of new teaching techniques and objectives, and new educational research

•To enable individuals to apply changes made to curricula or other aspects of teaching practice 

• To enable schools to develop and apply new strategies concerning the curriculum and other aspects of teaching practice 

• To exchange information and expertise among teachers and others, e.g. academics, industrialists

 •To help weaker teachers or beginners to become more effective.

Areas of Professional Development

Subject competency in teacher's subject area-e.g., learning new scientific theories, expanding knowledge of different historical periods, or learning how to teach subject-area content and concepts more effectively. 

Training or mentoring in specialized teaching techniques that can be used in many different subject areas, such as differentiation (varying teaching techniques based on student learning needs and interests) 

Certification in a particular educational approach or programme, usually from a university or other organization. 

Technical, quantitative, and analytical skills that can be used to analyze student-performance data, and then use the findings to make modifications to academic programs and teaching techniques. 

New technological skills, such as how to use interactive whiteboards or computer skills, fundamental teaching techniques, such as how to manage a classroom effectively or frame questions. 

Working with colleagues, such as in professional learning communities, to develop teaching skills collaboratively or create new interdisciplinary courses that are taught by teams of two or more teachers. 

Leadership skills, such as skills that can be used to develop and coordinate a school-improvement initiative. 

Pairing new and beginning teachers with more experienced "mentor teachers" to expose less- experienced teachers to new ideas and skills, and provide constructive feedback and professional guidance. 

Conducting action research to gain a better understanding of what's working or not working in a school's academic programme. 

 Attending higher education to earn an advanced degree, such as a master's degree or doctorate in education, educational leadership, or a specialized field of education such as literacy or technology. 

Improving classroom management skills. 

Follow-up training to teachers to ensure that the knowledge and skills learned by the teachers are implemented in the classroom.

Need for Professional Development

Great teachers help create great students. An inspiring and informed teacher is the most important factor influencing student achievement, so it is critical to pay attention to how we train and support both new and experienced educators. The need for professional development of teachers are:

• Teacher Preparation

The best teacher-preparation programs emphasize subject-matter mastery and provide many opportunities for student teachers to spend time in real classrooms under the supervision of an experienced mentor.

• Teacher-Induction Programmes

Support for beginning teachers is inadequate. Nearly half of all teachers leave the profession in their first five years, so more attention must be paid to providing them with early and adequate support. Mentoring and coaching from experienced colleagues is critical to the successful development of a new teacher. Induction programs create opportunities for novice teachers to learn from best practices and analyze and reflect on their teaching.

• Ongoing Professional Development

It is necessary for veteran or experienced teachers to have ongoing and regular opportunities to learn from each other. Ongoing professional development keeps teachers up-to-date on new research on how children learn, emerging technology tools for the classroom, new curriculum resources, and more. The best professional development is ongoing, experiential, collaborative, and connected to and derived from working with students and understanding their culture.

Effects of Professional Development

• Gains in teacher knowledge: Competency related to content, methods of teaching, specialized skills leadership quality, evaluation practices, etc are gained by the teachers. 
• Change in classroom Instructional practices related to the professional development. The instructional practices are modified and improved through professional development.
• Improvement in student achievement: professional development of a teacher improves the achievement of the student. The students can perform better when the teacher uses better practices in classrooms.

Professional Development Activities

 Courses/Workshops (e.g. on subject matter or methods and/or other education-related topics);  Education conferences or seminars (at which teachers and/or researchers present their research results and discuss education problems).

Qualification programme (e.g. a degree programme); Observation visits to other schools.

Participation in a network of teachers or professional organisations formed specifically for the professional development of teachers.

Individual or collaborative research on a topic of professional interest; and Mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching, as part of a formal school arrangement.

Less Formal Professional Development Activities: Reading professional literature (e.g. journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers); and engaging in informal dialogue with peers on how to improve teaching.