Abstract
This chapter is based on the author's research regarding teacher professional development, which included case study interviews, surveys of school leaders and literatures searches. The findings of the research reinforce other studies to suggest that the most effective professional development occurs in collegial situations, rather than in one-off workshops conducted by experts imparting knowledge to individual participants. For teachers, professional learning within communities of practice is enhanced as individuals participate in overlapping networks such as school faculties, year-level teams, study groups and professional associations. Of significant interest is the observation that the accommodation of multiple tensions between various communities of practice has the potential to result in professional learning, new ideas and positive action to improve students' learning. [Author abstract, ed]
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Beyond communities of practice : theory as experience |
| Publication status | Published - 2005 |
Keywords
- Collegiality
- Cooperative learning
- Flexible learning
- Inservice teacher education
- Learning communities
- Professional continuing education
- Professional development
- Secondary education
- Secondary school teachers
- Situated learning
- Student teacher relationship
- Teacher improvement
- Training methods
Disciplines
- Educational Assessment, Evaluation, and Research