Teacher professional development is the tool by which policy makers convey broad visions, disseminate critical information, and provide guidance to teachers. It is the instruction provided to teachers to promote their development in a certain area (e.g., technology, reading instruction, subject mastery, etc.)
It is important to remind oneself that the majority of novice teachers begin their career in a teaching environment with little or no professional assistance while expected to carry a full educational load immediately. Some new teachers may teach disciplines that differ from their area of specialization. They may be asked to teach in some fields for which they are ill prepared and receive little support, and are not evaluated based on proper criteria to improve their teaching. In fact, not only novice teachers require guidance in these areas but there are also veteran teachers whose knowledge of teaching methods should be updated. In fact, school teachers need professional development opportunities in order to grow professionally. Professional development of teachers plays an important role in the current global movement of educational reforms. It seems that attending high quality professional development programs is crucial to the future of teachers.
What is apparent in most of the recent policy initiatives in education is an attempt to re-think the teaching profession by introducing significant changes in the way that teachers are trained. The existing teacher training programs are prepared in a wide range of activities including teachers’ orientation conferences, workshops and seminars, symposiums, courses, print publications, videotaping services, teacher consultations, teaching excellence centers, school teaching awards, research and training seminars.
However, due to missing ingredients in the existing programs of efficient training, those programs try to be revitalized. In spite of the importance of professional development in teacher training, traditional methods of professional development of teachers and instructors have come under severe attacks as inadequate, inappropriate and out of tune with current research about how teachers learn and how expertise is developed. The main point is that learning does not end at the conclusion of a workshop. Teachers need continuous support to implement the skills and concepts learned in professional development programs.
In fact, professional development programs for teachers should be more than a range of training workshops, meetings, and in-service days. It is a process of learning how to put knowledge into practice. Paying less attention to teachers’ development programs gives rise to those programs that are limited to occasional conferences or workshops, rather than a systematic on-going professional development. That’s why the traditional teacher training sessions cannot stand up to the expectations and challenges that emerge from new educational initiatives. For successful phases of implementation, teacher training activities that address the core areas of teaching are required to be extended. The aim is to provide continuing support for teachers as they develop new skills and understandings in their teaching career.
By: Marietta E. Escuadro | Teacher III | Binukawan Elementary School | Bagac, Bataan
