Article By Claire Seeley, Emily Perry - November 2023
It is in the DNA of teachers and educators to continue a life-long learning journey throughout their careers. We all know that professional development is important. However, in reality, as wearers of several hats, teachers can have periods of feeling time- and energy-poor. What is sometimes offered in terms of professional development is not always what is useful. There can be a real sense of ‘being done to’ rather than teachers being given agency, empowered to seek out what they need. Fairman (2023) comments that ‘teachers often engage in professional learning passively without opportunities to engage with colleagues or instructional coaches over the long term, or to observe expert teachers, and they lack professional autonomy or choice in directing the focus, timing and method of their professional learning’.
So how do we reimagine professional development that is transformative, truly meeting the needs of both science educators and making a real impact on students’ learning? How can teacher developers create professional development that allows the right learning to happen, at the right time, for the right purpose? ASE Futures seeks to explore this very question. Its main purpose is to support teacher developers – all those who support teaching colleagues. This may be through initial teacher education, continuing professional development (CPD), mentoring and coaching, subject or departmental leadership, or the design of curriculum materials. If you are working with a teacher at any stage of their career, you should think about joining ASE Futures.