International Perspectives on Teacher Professional Development : Changes Influenced by Politics, Pedagogy & Innovation

Teacher professional development is subject to reform as a consequence of three, often interwoven influences: innovation, politics and pedagogy. For example, recent decades have seen learning and teaching take centre stage. As technologies have become more accessible and relevant, so professional development has had to keep pace, in order to provide teachers with an opportunity to develop skills and experiences to deal with this innovation. In terms of politics, as the prescription of input and the measurement of output are regulated and deregulated by the State, so teacher professional development shifts to meet accountability and credibility demands. Likewise, as our understanding of learning and teaching evolves, in terms of knowledge, processes, dispositions and evaluation, subsequent teacher professional development programmes responded to these current or in-vogue research findings. This new and much-needed book describes how teacher professional development in science education, from initial teacher education to continuing professional development, continues to face and address the various challenges that arise as a consequence of innovation, politics or pedagogy.