Individual models of professional development

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CHAPTER 2 Literature Review

 Introduction –Professional development

This study seeks to understand the teachers‘ perspectives on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes. By using the case of the Mpumalanga Secondary Science Initiative (MSSI) project, the study will explore how the MSSI project was important to the participating teachers and what impact it has, or has not, had on their practices. It also seeks to establish which particular professional development strategies have resulted in improvements.
To understand continuing professional development from the teacher‘s perspectives, I begin my literature review by examining what teacher professional development involves, which different models exist and the conditions of their implementation, and why it is important to investigate and understand CPD, especially from the perspectives of the recipient teachers.
Many countries are experiencing vociferous calls to improve teacher quality by enhancing their teachers‘ knowledge of the subjects they teach and their pedagogical strategies and understanding (Darling-Hammond and Baratz-Snowden, 2005). South Africa is no exception to this trend. In the United States of America (USA) professional development is regarded as the cornerstone of the implementation of standards-based reform (Committee on Science and Mathematics Teacher Preparation, 2001). The latter is the latest attempt in the USA‘s efforts to foster teacher improvements and change. Many researchers have come to an agreement about what constitutes high-quality professional development. Such agreements are manifested in the standards that are developed by professional organisations such as the National Staff Development Council, the American Federation of Teachers, and the National Institute for Science Education (Corcoran, McVay, and Riordan, 2003). The standards of continuing professional development tend to focus on a variety of matters that have the potential to make CPD effective and useful. The importance of significant amounts of content information in professional development is, for example, included in many standard lists regarding professional development (Kent and Lingman, 2000). Other standards focus on the delivery methods for professional development (Correnti, 2007). Many of the standards regarding these delivery methods seem to point to the greater role that participating teachers have in the success of CPD. For this reason, among others, the need to understand teachers‘ motivations, perspectives and practices with respect to CPD has thus become more urgent.
The need for relevant professional development has never been as essential as it is today; this is because of state mandates which require teachers to be highly qualified, and the need for an increase in student achievement (Benton and Benton, 2008). Simultaneously, many countries are engaged in major educational reforms in order to meet the needs of their economy and society. Governments have also begun to acknowledge the fact that teachers are crucial to the education system if any changes are to be effective (Hargreaves, 1995). Bredeson (2002) emphasises this view when he considers teacher professional development to be critical to the successful implementation of the various educational reform initiatives. The professional development of teachers should thus be afforded a high priority if reform and restructuring initiatives are to be successful. Aside from the individual satisfaction or financial gain that teachers may obtain as a result of participating in professional development opportunities, the process of professional development has a significantly positive impact on teachers‘ beliefs and practices, students‘ learning, and the implementation of educational reforms (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). Villegas-Reimers also notes that teachers need professional development opportunities, not only because these opportunities promote the recognition of their work as professionals, but also because – as is the case for all professionals in any field – new opportunities for growth, exploration, learning, and development are always welcome. As a consequence of the lack of effective classroom practices and related theoretical debates, especially in South Africa, many new approaches to professional development have begun to emerge (Jita and Ndlalane, 2009). Such approaches include professional development programmes that have been implemented, and that are still being implemented, in many countries to assist teachers in improving their classroom practices.
For many years the only form of professional development available to teachers was staff development or in-service training which usually consisted of workshops or short-term courses that would offer teachers new information on a particular aspect of their work (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). While this was often the only type of training teachers would receive, it was usually also unrelated to the teachers‘ work in the classroom. Only in the past few years has the professional development of teachers been considered a long-term process which includes regular opportunities and experiences planned systematically to promote growth and development in the profession. This shift has been so dramatic that many have referred to it as: the ‗new image‘ of teacher learning; a ‗new model‘ of teacher education; a ‗revolution‘ in teacher education; and even a ‗new paradigm‘ of professional development (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 2001; Walling and Lewis, 2000).
There are many different interpretations of the concept of professional development and each author often uses a different term when referring to this concept. Professional development is defined as the development of a person in his or her professional role. To be more specific, Glatthorn (1995) defines teacher professional development as the professional growth a teacher achieves as a result of gaining increased experience, and as the systematic examination of his or her teaching. Viewed differently by Ganser (2000), professional development includes formal experiences such as attending workshops, professional meetings and mentoring, and informal experiences such as reading professional publications and watching television documentaries related to an academic discipline. For Ganser, what seems to be more important when looking at professional development is that one must examine the content of the experience, the process by which the professional development occurs, and the context in which it takes place (Ganser, 2000). On the other hand, some scholars view professional development as a process of culture-building and not merely skills-training (Cochran-Smith and Lytle, 2001). In this view, of professional development as culture building, it is clear that CPD and its impact will be affected by its coherence with the school programme (King and Newmann, 2000).
There has recently been a significant increase in the level of interest and support that teachers throughout the world are receiving in their professional development. Evidence of this, as cited by Villegas-Reimers (2003), is listed below:

• Extensive literature regarding professional development is available. This includes documents, essays and research reports on models and practices of professional development.
• International and national donor agencies have commissioned studies so that they can learn how to support such development more effectively.
• Many national and international organisations have supported the implementation of initiatives which aim to improve the professional skills and knowledge of teachers.
• Most educational reforms currently being designed and/or implemented include a component of teacher professional development as one of the key elements in the process of change.

Anamuah-Mensah, et al. (2008), Dembele, (2004) and Lewin et al (2003) all state that the issues of teacher education and the quality of professional development that have emerged from studies in Africa illustrate a number of ongoing concerns:

• The importance of identifying the good and useful aspects of practice and combining those with initial teacher education and continuing professional development.
• The expense of teacher education models and the under-developed and under-explored relationship between schools and trainees.
• The role of relevant experience, learning styles or motivation.
• The need to pay more attention to the affective side, and the role of the school in training newly qualified teachers.

There is a general agreement that learning to teach is a lifelong process. This notion of professional learning for teachers as continuous has been emphasised by several researchers such as Zeichner and Noffke (2001). Providing meaningful professional development for in-service teachers is seen as central to this goal. The meaning of in-service education is changing and it varies from country to country depending on the level of preparation teachers receive prior to entering the profession (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). Bolam (1982:3) notes that, for most, if not all developed countries, in-service education and training includes:
those education and training activities engaged in by primary and secondary-school teachers and principals, following their initial professional certification, and intended mainly or exclusively to improve their professional knowledge, skills and attitudes in order that they can educate children more effectively Studies on the effects of collaborative action research have found that experienced (in-service) teachers become more reflective, critical, and analytical about their teaching behaviours in the classroom when they engage in collaborative research (Rainey, 2000; Smith, 2005; McDonough, 2006). However, in most parts of the world the majority of in-service programmes are too short, too unrelated to the needs of teachers, and too ineffective at teaching knowledge (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). In addition, Atay (2007) argues that current In-Service Education and Training programmes (INSET) are often unsatisfactory because they do not allow teachers to be actively involved in their development or reflect on their teaching experiences.
Emanating from the different perspectives and philosophies on CPD, a number of types and models of teacher professional development have been developed and implemented in different countries. The goal has been to promote and support the professional development of teachers from the beginning of their careers until they retire. In the sections that follow, I examine some of the most prominent types of CPD in recent literature. These models include: professional development schools, distance education, teacher networks or school networks, workshops, seminars, courses, university-school partnerships, observations of excellent practice, and the ―training of trainers » models. This raises an important question for those creating professional development programmes: which one of these models is most likely to lead to the desired goals? It is important to point out at this stage that the models are described separately here for clarity and distinction, but that most professional-development initiatives use a combination of models simultaneously, and that these combinations vary from setting to setting.

Chapter One: Background to the study 
Introduction
Formulation of the problem
Aims and objectives
Rational for the Inquiry
Thesis outline
Chapter Two: Literature Review 
Introduction-Professional Development
Organisational partnership models
Professional development schools
University-school partnerships
Teacher-networks
School networks
Distance education
Individual models of professional development
Teacher workshops
Observation of excellent practice
Portfolios
The training of trainer‘s model
Coaching
Professional development in Africa
Concluding remarks
Conceptual framework
Duration
Collective Participation
Content focus
Active learning
Coherence
Critical Theory
Chapter Three: Research Methodology 
Introduction
Research approach
Research design
Sampling procedure
Data collection process
Instruments used
Semi-structured interviews
Data analysis process
Validity and reliability
Triangulation
Member checks
Prolonged engagement in the field
Ethical issues
Entry in the field
Access to the Mpumalanga schools
Entry in the Mpumalanga schools
Chapter four: Findings of the study
Introduction
Section A-Results from document analysis
Section B-Teacher case studies
Case study 1: Mr. Zak
Case study 2: Mr. Sipho
Case study 3: Mrs. Lizzi
Case study 4: Mr. Smith
Synopsis of data from all the participants
Chapter 5 : Discussions, Conclusion and Recommendations
Introduction
Major findings
Structure of the continuing professional development
Teacher collaboration
The content focus and context of teaching in rural settings
Personal transformation and growth
Conclusions and recommendations
List of references
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