Professional development of teachers
When we talk about professional development of teachers we mean the development of all teachers’ competencies which enable them to act as an expert. Teachers’ development of competencies starts with their pre-service teacher training and should continue during their whole working life through in-service training. This lifelong learning empowers them in ways that allows them to prepare their students to live in a world which is permanently changing. These competencies related to the profession of teaching comprise a number of factors: Related to teachers’ knowledge, Shulman (1986) distinguishes between content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge (knowing how to teach the content) and pedagogical knowledge (knowing how to teach more generally). Teachers’ professional agency is not only influenced by their knowledge but also by their beliefs related to the subject and its teaching, their competencies for self-regulation, their motivation, self-efficacy and their interest.
For details on teachers’ professional development please see Maaß & Artigue (2013), Maaß & Doorman (2013), Joubert & Southerland (2009) and Rösken (2011).
References
Joubert, M., & Sutherland, R. (2009). A perspective on the literature: CPC for teachers of mathematics. London: National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Mathematics.
Maaß, K. & Artigue, M. (2013). Implementation of inquiry-based learning in day-to-day teaching: a synthesis. ZDM - The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 45(6), 779–795.
Maaß, K., & Doorman, M. (2013). A model for a widespread implementation of inquiry-based learning. ZDM - The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 45(6), 887-899.
Rösken, B. (2011). Hidden Dimensions in the Professional Development of Mathematics Teachers. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Shulman, L. S. (1986). Paradigms and research programs in the study of teaching: a contemporary perspective. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.), Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 3–36). New York: Macmillan.