Teacher professional development (PD) can be used to improve teaching and student achievement, however, there is a general problem of ineffectiveness in professional development programmes; they are often described as “too conventionally taught, too top-down, and too isolated from school and classroom realities to have much impact on practice”.  Where teacher professional development programmes are available, the TALIS study finds that across all the participating countries and economies, teachers most often cite the following barriers for participation: conflicts with their work schedule (51% of teachers); a lack of incentives (48%); lack of support from employer; and on average, 44% of teachers consider professional development activities to be too expensive (OECD, 2014).

In a recent study, we set to look for new and emergent practices in the area to show various innovative ways that have emerged to overcome the above-cited barriers in addition to also focusing on the needs of teachers of the future. We call these examples “teacher professional learning experiences with a wow-factor”.  The 30 examples that were selected for the study were classified according to their type of innovation using the terminology of The Oslo Manual for measuring innovation, namely that of product innovation, process innovation and organisational innovation, as well as combinations of them (OECD and Eurostat, 2005).

To analyse the examples, seven labels were used to describe the focus of innovation. They are the following: PD that focuses on the school as a learning organisation;  Competence-oriented approaches empowering learners; Innovation in online delivery of professional development; Innovating PD through mixing digital delivery and hands-on;  Active, contextualised learning by teachers and school heads;  Innovating PD through degree programmes; and Innovative PD actors and partnerships.

The proposed Foorumi-esitys discusses various aspects of the study, either in English or Finnish, offering the audience a glimpse into current trends in European education.

Esitysaineisto

Linkit raportteihin:

• Main report with Final analysis 

• Technical report with 1-page descriptions of all 30 examples with 6 case studies