The Importance of and Impacts of Professional Development in Education Essay Example for Free

The grandness of and Impacts of nonrecreational Development in Education EssayAbstractLike e rattling argona of world endeavors, the lord ripening in case of gentility is considered as a key factor in honing the over all consummation of the students thereby resulting in a marked success of raisingal engrafts. In this regard, importance and the prescribed implications of efforts in verges of instructor culture sensnot be denied.This paper succinctly touches on the contemporary trends pertaining to the festering in didactics area with a special elucidation of master key developing where areas like collegial fundamental inter proceedings, teachers leadership, community interaction, teachers individual teaching and info impelled ending come up to be the effective st estimategies in order to enlighten the education arranging with positive re gradations. The paper to a fault analyzes a few research based programs as the case studies for advocating the importanc e of teachers and their collegial interactions for the success of whatever institution.Development in EducationIn the changing world, the aggrandizing competitiveness has overwhelmed every sphere of the contemporary life. Its a datum of experience that to cope with the increasing demands of the current era, a modern man is in a continuous process of inoculating reforms in every field. In this regard, what surpasses all the fields is the sector of education since it forms the basis for strengthening all the early(a) institutes of life.In other words, for the provision of better browseers, the applied science sector is as much dependent on the education system as is any other field like Medicine or Business. Keeping in positioning such a authoritative importance of education, various(a) analysts and educationists are bringing new innovations in order to h whiz the current education system. These reforms consume issues like the quality of teachers, testing and evaluation, st udy environment, course design, class and need analysis of the students etc.Professional Development in EductaionStudent learning depends first, last, and always on the quality of the teachers (Usdan, McCloud Podmostko 2001).When talking virtually the reforms in the education system, the character of a teacher cannot be denied. Since teachers play a key component part in the over all accomplishment of any educational institute, they have rather become the cynosure of educational reforms where they are considered as students who are in a constant process of mentoring and being mentored. The reason butt end bringing the teachers to the centre of attention is the fact that any kind of amendment happening in any classroom involves the participation of a teacher (Schwarz 1998). Any development in teachers would not only improve students performance but would withal motivate the teachers themselves. accord to Fullan and Stiegebauer,Good change processes (are those) that foster s ustained professional development over ones career and lead to student benefits (Schwarz 1998).Reasons behind Professional DevelopmentProcesses, formulas, and policies that are strengthened on () believe of learning are at the heart of a more expanded view of teacher development that encourages teachers to involve themselves as learners in much the same way as they esteem their students would (Lieberman 2002).Behind the increasing trend towards the teacher development lays the notion of learning by changing (Lieberman 2002). concord to this notion, the basic catalyzing force behind teacher development is the process of changes implemented in the institutions in an mentality of amelioration.In order to cope with the increasing demands, the teachers not only attend to their individual skills but withal refer to their colleagues. This concept views the teachers in a constant process of learning that facilitates them to realize their changing roles as instructors, peer coach and researches, to create new structures like problem-solving groups, decision-making teams, to work on new tasks like daybook and proposal writing and to establish an inquiry oriented culture in the classroom (Lieberman 2002).Models and interpretations of teachers professional developmentSparks and Loucks-Horsley have proposed five levels of teacher development which are individually-guided staff development, observation-assessment, involvement in a development and profit process and training and inquiry. However Hargreaves and Fullan propose that the term teacher development has multiple interpretations which include the search to find learning opportunities for better performance, finding places for personal development and helping to foster a learning oriented and supportive work environment (Kee Luan 1996). Marsick and Watkins proposed their Model of the knowledge Organization to have tercet levels namely individual learning, team learning, and organization learning (NCREL 2003). The first level focuses on individual skills that whitethorn be obtained in solitude or in groups whereas the last two refer to the collaborative skills of the teachers.Issues and mise en scene of Professional Development in EducationThe scope of professional development in education can be top hat seen in the light of various strategies and issues involved under the vast umbrella of the term professional development.Team Learning and instructors collegialityAccording to Bernard-Powers et al.,Adults are learners just as are children, and that everyone learns best when there are ongoing opportunities to develop questions, investigate, reflect, apply and make do knowledge in real-life contexts (NCREL 2003).Collegiality or Collegial interaction is a phenomenon whereby the teachers get a recover of interacting with their colleague teachers for active professional learning through events like Conventions, Faculty run across, Seminars, Lesson planning, School Visitations, Sharing materials, Conferences, Workshops, Examination preparation, Informal meetings and Team teaching etc.According to the research work done by Jackson and Goodlad, the greatest impediment in the way of teacher development is the absence or lack of collegiality. It is because learning new skills and implementing them is a matter of trial and error. As long as the teachers work and asses the performance on their own, a much greater space for improvement is left as compared to the case where the teachers work in groups (Kee Luan 1996).The concept of teacher collegiality or the collaboration of teachers for the mean of honing their performance is not a novel idea. Although prevalent for the past decades, collegiality has gained special interest of educationists in the young few years when it is considered to be the most effective way of teacher development. With its roots profoundly repose in the organizational theory models, Collegiality fosters team work of the teachers thereb y assuring the success of the institute. During the collegial interaction process the teachers learn from the experienced teachers and apply collaborative skills. In this concern, organizations like Australian College of Education and the everyday Teaching Council for England have already taken active measures to encourage teachers collegial interactions (Leonard, L. Leonard, P. 2003).Teacher leadershipTeacher leadership is often considered as a direct contrast against collegiality because collegiality is misinterpreted as a form of interdependence of teachers on one another which leaves the individual potential of the teachers as leaders in doubt. Such misconception educate because of the lack of information that the collaboration of teachers not only helps in accommodating the weaknesses but likewise emphasizes on the encouragement of teachers in case of their motion.Such an encouragement processions a spirit and motivates the teachers for further honing their performance. This makes the teachers individually unfaltering rather than being dependent. According to McCann and Radford, collegiality also indicates the positive contribution of other teachers in the success of a particular teacher (NCREL). Succinctly speaking, the celebration of achievements is important to give teachers encouragement and recognition. Ways of sharing and celebrating achievements ahead a wider school audience should be a component of a mentoring scheme ( NCREL).Community InteractionAccording to the Ontario College of Teachers, the teachers are educational leaders who collaborate not only with their colleagues and students but also with the parents, and members of the community. As proposed by the issue Board for Professional Teaching Standards, an effective teacher is a participant of the learning community (Leonard, L. Leonard, P. 2003). The learning of such teachers is not merely confined to the premises of the institute but is stretched throughout the community. Occasi ons like parent teacher meetings, co curricular events, exhibitions and fairs provide a fair chance of learning experience in a culture specific context.Individual Learning Just as independent learners inspire an engaged and effective classroom, teachers who are themselves independent learners inspire resilient and engaged learning communities (NCREL 2003).Among many areas that are kept under consideration for teacher development, technical proficiency often supersedes various other skills since education like any other field is also overwhelmed with the current of latest technologies.For the very reason, professional development in education also focuses on the teaching of technological skills. According to a survey conducted in unalike schools of the West, technology use by teachers results in an improved student performance thereby resulting in an increase of such trends (Brumfield 2006). It is because the modern methods of teaching employ different technologies which make the lessons not only innovational but also interesting for the students.Individual Learning through Collegial InteractionsCollegiality also helps in honing the individual skills of the teachers in such a way that interactions with colleagues help the teachers to be acquainted with innovative strategies. Group discussions allow them to implement better strategies of the other teachers in their classrooms, helps them in fulfilling the take of all the students and provides them with a standard of professional practices to be implemented in the classroom (School Education Division 2006) .Cultural Contexts in Teachers LearningSince collaboration of teachers is wholly coalesced with the process of sharing ideas, the cultural context plays a vital role during its practice. It is in the light of the cultural notions that the teachers share common norms while practicing collegiality. Consequently, this culture-specific collegiality is responsible for the creation of a particular school culture . Peterson draws a schism between two cases of cultures prevalent in the schools. Namely substantiative Culture and Toxic Culture, the former exists in educational institutes with teachers actively involved in collegial practice whereas the latter ascends the institutes where such exchange practices are discouraged (Leonard, L. Leonard, P. 2003).Educational Decision-makingDecision making in education is an extremely critical issue since the major decisions not only hold the fortune of the students but also determine the over all success of the institute. Any rightly taken decision may boost a positive wave of change when at the same time a wrong decision may mar the prospects of the schools population and its reputation. Realizing such a significance of educational decisions, the modern educationists propose a information-driven approach to decision making. Although with its idea being inoculated back in 1980s, data driven decision making in education has actually gained strength in the present day world.The pre-requisite of such a decision making is the presence of data as a proved reason for implementing any new policy or a change in the institute. Such a data is systematically collected and analyzed by the teachers, heads and administrators. This data is of various types including the input, process, outcome and satisfaction data. Here the input data involves the data on the demographics and expenditures of the school, the process data comprises of the data on quality of instruction, the outcome data analyzes the dropout rate and the test results and the satisfaction data asks for the opinions of teachers, parents, community and the students etc (Marsh, Pane Hamilton 2006).Instead of relying on a single type of information, triangulation of data is considered the most effective way of getting the maximum information possible. In the triangulation of data, various sources and techniques are adopted which are tallied with one another before arriving at a ny concrete finding to form the basis of the future decision. Such decisions fall under two categories namely the identification oriented decisions and the action oriented decisions. In the case of identification oriented decisions, the data obtained is utilized to identify goals and to do the needs analyses.In the case of action oriented decision making, one of the most viable ways of data collection is to introduce temporary changes in the classroom and obtain the data in the form of achievement test. The results of such an achievement test are further compared with the tests administered in normal circumstances. The difference in the come results of the students before and after the implementation of transitory changes determine whether the decision of implementing the change permanently would be viable or not. interrogation works on Professional Development and Collegial InteractionsThe jut for Enhancing Effective LearningThe Project for Enhancing Effective Learning (PEEL) wa s launched in Australia in 1980s and proved to be a commonwealth breaking work of teacher collaborative action research. The project commenced as a research work confined to the classrooms in Melbourne. Originally focused on the development of students and their learning practices, the proceedings of the research indicated a need of similar meta-cognitive development of the teachers in order to make the teachers play a positive role in facilitating the changes implemented in the classrooms. As a result of the changing environment in classrooms, unfaltering meetings of teachers were held in which the colleagues used to mention their observations, share their experiences and come up with their innovative ideas thereby making the meeting rather informal at many times. In the words of Baird and Hagglund, The over-riding outcome of PEEL was that every one learned (1994).Concerning the teachers, the Baird and Hagglund gave the following pictorial model to show a step-by-step approach of reforming education by the role of teachers in a collegial environment (1994).POOR eruditeness TENDENCIESReplace withGOOD LEARNING TENDENCIESFoster by practicingGOOD LEARNING BEHAVIOURSStimulate such behaviours by applyingGOOD TEACHING PROCEDURES(That should be associated withGOOD CURRICULUM DECISIONS and GOOD ASSESSMENT PRACTICES)The above mentioned Peel Pathway of Improving Learning stresses the compact of learning in a collaborative situation. Since its inception, PEEL has not only become a everyday education reform model for Australian institutes but also for the institutes in other countries like Canada.PLAN- ProjectPLAN in Swedish means Project for Independent Learning. Originally based on the methodology of PEEL, the PLAN Project of Sweden was started being framed in 1992 in order to bring a positive change in Gkstensskolan Institute of Sweden. The project was considerably based on a model that favored collaboration among teachers. One of the terms of agreement for joinin g PLAN was that the teachers should devote an mo for collegial interactions practiced in the form of groups having 12 members each. The group leaders of different groups were also compulsory to collegiate with each other frequently with a sole purpose of training the teachers for rising students performance.Impacts of Professional DevelopmentAs a consequence of aggrandizing emphasis on professional development of teachers, the education system has witnessed a considerable phase of amelioration.According to the studies of Wisconsin Department of Public steering, as a result of professional development, the teachers do not confine their lessons to the conventional facts but keep updating their knowledge with latest developments in their fields. Similarly, the teachers do not expect normative feedback but appreciate multiple perspectives from their students. They also design the curriculum in such a way that the knowledge inculcated to the students becomes more thought provoking. In order to clarify various concepts, they try to extract examples from the real life situations instead to sticking to the text book instances. by the practice of collegiality, teachers are now able to work in groups in order to share different teaching strategies about which they had learnt either in workshops or through community interaction and also share materials they that had retrieved from various sources which are helpful in honing the teachers performance. As a result of frequent interactions, all the teachers of the institute simultaneously hone their abilities thereby rising the over all quality of the institutes education. In a special case when a large number of teachers leave the institute, teacher collegiality helps in training the novices who enter the faculty. In this way the weaknesses of a few teachers are accommodates by the strengths of the others (Inger 1993).ConclusionThe area of teacher development pertaining to the educational reforms is challenged by a numb er of impediments. Among these hindrances, a few pointed out by Lieberman involve the lack of knowledge about how teachers learn, little space for invention and the building of craft knowledge and the view of teachers in practices which is not considered as an acceptable moiety of teachers learning (Lieberman 2002).Even with such obstacles, the significance and positive implications of Teacher Development Programs cannot be denied. In the light of case studies of various teacher development programs, it is garner that the place of teachers as learners in a collegial environment is as necessity for the development of education systems as the teachers place in the form of educational leaders is made possible only by the collegiality practiced among them at different levels.ReferencesBaird, J.R. Hagglund S. (1994). Teacher collaborative Action Research A Swedish reading of an Australian Project. Retrieved shew 14, 2008, from Education Resources Information Center http//www.eric.ed. gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/13/5d/31.pdfBrumfield, R. (2006). Teacher development key to tech success. Retrieved frame in 14,2008, from E-School News http//www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/index.cfm?i=37127CFID=686760CFTOKEN=98871010Critical Issue Terms of participationRethinking Teachers Independent Learning Traits (2003). Retrieved March 14,2008, from magnetic north Central regional Educational Laboratory http//www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/educatrs/profdevl/pd400.htmCollaboration, Teamwork, and Mentoring. Retrieved March 14,2008, from North Central regional Educational Laboratory http//www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/envrnmnt/stw/sw5ment.htmInger, M. (1993). Teacher Collaboration in Secondary Schools. Retrieved March 14,2008, from National Center for Research in Vocational Education http//vocserve.berkeley.edu/CenterFocus/CF2.htmlKee, T.E. Luan, T.S. (1996). Collegiality and Teacher Development. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from The Australi an Association for Research in Educationhttp//www.aare.edu.au/96pap/teoek96556.txtLeonard, L. Leonard, P. (2003). The continuing trouble with collaborationTeachers talk. Current Issues in Education On-line, 6(15). Retrieved March 14, 2008, from http//cie.ed.asu.edu/volume6/number15/Lieberman, A. (2002). Practices That confine Teacher Development. Phi DeltaKappan, 76 (8).Marsh, J.A. , Pane, J. F. Hamilton, L.S. (2006). Making Sense of Data Driven Decision Making in Education. Retrieved March 14, 2008, from The Rand Corporation http//www.rand.org/pubs/occasional_papers/2006/RAND_OP170.pdfProfessional learning guide (2006). Retrieved March 14, 2008, from Learning,Teaching and Assessment Guide http//www.ltag.education.tas.gov.au/Proflearn/designpl/proflearnguide.htmSchwarz, G. (1998). Teacher light and Professional Development for School Reform. Westport, CT Bergin Garvey.Usdan,M., McCloud, B. Podmostko, M. (2001). Leadership for Student Learning Redefining the Teacher as Leader. Retrieved March 14,2008, from Institute of Educational Leadership http//www.iel.org/programs/21st/reports/teachlearn.pdfWisconsin Standards for Teacher Development and Licensure. Retrieved March 14,2008, from Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction http//dpi.wi.gov/tepdl/pdf/10kdp.pdf