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Continuous Professional Development

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 Continuing Professional Development

Continuing Professional Development

Iwona Maciejowska, Hana Čtrnáctová, Pawel Bernard

Why is Continuing Professional Development important for (future) teachers?

A new graduate of teacher training studies assumes that s/he knows all that is needed for
him/her to function as a professional teacher. S/he has developed an image of the teaching
profession and the place of teachers in school and has seen what teaching looks like on
many occasions. The problems occur when such a graduate has to stand in front of a class,
relinquish the role of a student and take on a new role, that of the teacher. The previously
familiar environment has suddenly turned into something alien and the novice feels
abandoned to deal with a new and stressful situation on their own (Fabis, 1998). Conscious
and unconscious expectations held by the beginner towards the profession and towards
themselves may not be met and are likely to remain unconfirmed during initial teaching
experiences. Negative thoughts such as:
‘Nothing of what I have learned while studying is useful to me at work.’
‘Daily work at school is totally different from that described during classes or teaching
practice,’
‘I am absolutely not cut out to be a teacher.’
can easily start to appear in the graduates’ minds.
Of course, even, when a new teacher has acclimatized to school life, become comfortable
in their teaching role and mastered the necessary skills, there is a danger that they may
‘rest on their laurels’ and approach their tasks routinely and unimaginatively. Yet neither
chemistry, nor pedagogy or even the teaching of particular topics remain unchanged, but
are continually evolving. Thus in the report of the Committee for Education in the 21st
Century, established by UNESCO, entitled ‘Learning: the treasure within’, we read that
by 2020 knowledge, in many scientific disciplines, is likely to need to be updated every
76 days (International Commission, 1996). Simultaneously, school management, the
organization of school work, ICT, and above all, the students themselves, are constantly
changing (cultural diversity, changes in the approach to learning, changes in the approach
to the sciences, etc.).
Therefore, it is important, during pre-service teacher training, to develop an awareness of
the need for lifelong learning in PSTs and to show them what opportunities are available
after graduation and starting work, where they may seek information and support, and
how to assess the value of various educational courses. This is considered further in Good
Practice Example No 1.
While in some countries, in-service teacher training is conducted by the same units that
carry out the pre-service training; in other countries universities have little involvement
in ongoing in-service training, which is rather available on the free market. A review of
the literature on Continuing Professional Development (CPD) is given below and Good
Practice Examples No 2 “Teachers communities” and 3 “Qualification programme“ also
refer to CPD.

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 Iwona Maciejowska, Hana Čtrnáctová, Pawel Bernard
Theoretical framework

The literature on the topic of Continuing Professional Development is quite vast.

Relatively new and extensive studies include a global OECD report (OECD, 2009) and
one concerning the USA: Gates Foundation report (Teachers know best, 2014), Center for
Public Education report (Gulamhussein, 2013).
The development of teachers beyond their initial training can serve a number of objectives
(OECD, 1998), including:
• to update individuals’ knowledge of a subject in light of recent advances in the area;
• to update individuals’ skills, attitudes and approaches in light of the development
of new teaching techniques and objectives, new circumstances and new educational
research;
• to enable individuals to apply changes made to curricula or other aspects of teaching
practice;
• to enable schools to develop and apply new strategies concerning the curriculum and
other aspects of teaching practice;
• to exchange information and expertise among teachers and others, e.g. academics,
industrialists; and
• to help weaker teachers become more effective.
A number of different forms of Continuing Professional Development are distinguished in
Figure 1 below.

Figure 1. Various forms of Continuing Professional Development

Courses and workshops may deal with subject matter (chemistry), pedagogy (e.g. teaching
methods) or pedagogical content knowledge, while education conferences and seminars
allow teachers and/or researchers to present and discuss topical education problems. A
qualification programme usually involves a period of long-term training e.g. a degree
programme, which is likely to include a variety of components (workshops, observations,

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mentoring). Teachers can, and should be encouraged to, engage regularly in informal
dialogue with peers on how to improve their teaching.
A dominant feature of conferences, seminars, observations of the work of other teachers in
schools and of numerous courses, is the presentation of ready-made solutions. The forms
are geared towards message-passing and passive reception of knowledge, only rarely
is this combined with any critical reflection and discussion. In contrast, forms such as:
workshops, coaching and research require personal involvement and independent learning
from a teacher and usually also contribute to the acquiring of new skills. In most cases,
programmes leading to a qualification include elements from both of the groups discussed
above.
All of the above can contribute to a formal structure of LLL (lifelong learning); they may
be organized and conducted by components of the education system, higher education,
accredited commercial companies or non-governmental organizations, such as teachers’
organizations or scientific associations. Participants often receive certificates confirming
attendance and the achievement of specified learning outcomes.
Of course, good teachers will also seek to develop their qualifications and skills in more
informal ways, at times most convenient for them, in response to changing needs and
circumstances. They may achieve this, for example, by reading specialist literature (e.g.
periodicals, publications, websites) or by discussing relevant issues in groups of teachers
of the same or similar subjects, at the same level, or from the same school.
The percentage of teachers undertaking the various forms of CPD is quite diverse. Among
the more formal approaches, courses and workshops dominate, with over 80% of teachers
in the OECD countries having participated in such forms of training, and in the US this is
even higher (Darling- Hammond et al., 2009). Some results are presented below (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Participation rates by type of professional development activity (OECD, 2012)

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 Iwona Maciejowska, Hana Čtrnáctová, Pawel Bernard
Effectiveness

Research findings

Studies have demonstrated that the effectiveness for the different types of Continuing
Professional Development is varied. Teachers reported that the most effective forms of
development were often the more informal ones such as, “Individual and collaborative
research” and “Informal dialogue to improve teaching”, but programmes leading to
qualifications were also likely to be effective. In the researchers’ opinion, effective
professional development programmes require that at least 50 to 80 hours be devoted to
the various activities e.g. workshops, practice, and coaching (French, 1997; Yoon et al.,
2007) Short workshops appear to have little effect on teacher practice and it was found,
for example, that programmes shorter than 14 hours produced no observable benefits
(Gulamhussein, 2013).
However, effectiveness depends not only on the selection of an appropriate form of training,
but also on its quality. Although research (OECD, 2009) has shown the greater effectiveness
for long-term training, professional learning communities and coaching, have been used
and promoted by the educational authorities in the USA. However studies commissioned
by the Gates Foundation (Teachers know best, 2014) suggest that the American teachers
are not happy with these approaches, and would prefer longer courses and conferences.
This might of course be due to the fact that the manner in which such forms of training
as coaching and collaboration are implemented is far from ideal. The same studies show
that the people responsible for CPD, in the USA, would like to increase the use of lesson
observation, coaching and professional learning communities. Teachers, on the other
hand indicate that observations rarely lead to effective coaching, as one-off feedback
from an unprepared school administrator is not useful. Similarly, according to teachers,
cooperation within a community of practice requires really good planning, structuring and
preparation for meetings, systematic management of forums, clearly defined goals and
active involvement of participants, which does not happen often enough.

Challenges

The problem for education is not that teachers do not participate in Continuing Professional
Development, but that it is frequently ineffective. It tends to be ineffective not because
teachers lack knowledge (of new methods, strategies, content), which can easily be
remedied, by for example, a lecture, but because it is difficult for the teachers to bring this
new knowledge or approach into the classroom.
Moreover, there is also often the problem of changing deep-rooted yet outdated or incorrect,
stereotypical teachers’ beliefs. These will only change once the teachers have seen the
benefits of changes to their students learning (Quattlebaum, 2012).
In many countries, participation in CPD is seen as a duty. Teacher development is demanded
either generally by the system of granting promotion (e.g. in Poland), or the obligation to
participate in a certain number of hours of training per year (e.g. Bulgaria, Spain, Italy).
However, where the participation in CPD is not accompanied by interest from the teacher
its effectiveness will be severely limited. The research literature is clear on the benefits

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of intrinsic motivation to learning (Stipek,1996). Extrinsic motivation on the other hands
has some serious limitations. First of all “it’s not sustainable - As soon as you withdraw
the punishment or reward, the motivation disappears.“. Furthermore “If the punishment or
rewards stay at the same levels, motivation slowly drops off. To get the same motivation
next time requires a bigger reward.“ (Kohn, 1999).

Recommendations

There has been a clear change in the approach to CPD over recent decades “Professional
development can no longer just be about exposing teachers to a concept in a one-time
workshop, or giving teachers basic knowledge about a teaching methodology. Instead,
professional development in an era of accountability requires a fundamental change in a
teacher’ s practice that leads to increases in student learning in the classroom” (Teaching
the Teachers, 2014).
Richardson (2003, p. 402) proposed a list of characteristics for effective professional
development. Such programmes should:
• be statewide,
• be long term with follow-up;
• encourage collegiality;
• foster agreement among participants on goals and visions;
• acknowledge participants existing beliefs and practices;
• have a supportive administration;
• have access to adequate funds for materials,
• involve outside speakers.
Subsequently the National Staff Development Council (Professional development, 2007)
proposed a set of nine criteria that should form the basis for all professional development:
• content knowledge,
• quality teaching,
• research-based,
• collaboration,
• diverse learning needs,
• student learning environments,
• family involvement,
• evaluation,
• data-driven design, and
• teacher learning.
A number of non-governmental organizations, such as the Centre for Public Education
(USA) have also developed their own standards or recommendations based on many years
of experience and research. They imply, among other things, that:

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 Iwona Maciejowska, Hana Čtrnáctová, Pawel Bernard
“In order to truly change practices, professional development should occur over
time and preferably be ongoing. During the implementation stage, initial attempts
to use a new teaching strategy are almost certain to be met with failure, and mastery
comes only as a result of continuous practice despite awkward performance and
frustration in the early stages.
Coaches/mentors are found to be highly effective in helping teachers implement
a new skill. Getting feedback on their implementation of a newly learned teaching
skill is very important.
Professional development is best delivered in the context of the teacher’s subject
area. Teachers don’t find professional development on generic topics useful.
Teachers can establish professional learning communities - communities of
teachers in the same content area who create instructional innovations, support each
other during the implementation stage, and reflect on the results. The community of
teachers serves as coaches for each other.“ (Gulamhussein, 2013)
Active learning and content knowledge are the top two characteristics of professional
development. Unfortunately, a common mistake is to apply the methods of passive
knowledge reception and use lectures to try to educate teachers in the field of active
training, PBL and IBSE, whereas the focus should rather be on teacher application of
learned material in the form of active learning (Richardson, 1998).
Gulamhussein (2013) has suggested 5 principles:
1. The duration of professional development must be significant and ongoing to allow
time for teachers to learn a new strategy and struggle with the implementation
problem. Mastery of a new skill is a time-consuming process.
2. There must be support during the implementation stage to address the specific
challenges of changing classroom practice. Those teachers who received coaching
along with introductory workshops are more likely to use a new teaching strategy/
method/ technique in their classes than those who only attending the training
workshop.
3. Teachers’ initial exposure to a concept should not be passive, but should engage
teachers through varied approaches so they can participate actively (e.g. role play,
discussions, modelling, visits to classrooms) to help them to understand a concept
before going on to apply it.
4. Modelling (an expert demonstrates a new practice in a classroom) has been found to
be highly effective in helping teachers understand.
Where a new e.g., strategy must be implemented in a large number of schools and
educators do not want to work with large numbers of participants in a single session, the
cascade system of CPD may be introduced. This was used in Poland to help to implement
a previous educational reform. A group of experienced teachers was assembled and given
detailed training on the new ideas. Subsequently these teachers took on the role of trainers
for other teachers in their local environments.

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Good practice examples

GPE 1 – Pre-service teacher education

One class of the teaching profession preparatory course at Jagiellonian University in

Krakow is dedicated to Continuing Professional Development. It consists of several
activities:
1. Types of Continuing Professional Development
Pre-service teachers are asked to prepare a list of skills which they believe are necessary
(based on qualification standards as well as on their previous limited experiences in school)
to be a good teacher. Usually they list: communication (a dialogue with students and
parents, presentation); motivation; time, stress, project and classroom management; ICT;
etc. On the basis of their 6-weeks teaching practice in a school, they point out, among other
things, the problem of motivating students to learn and to actively engage in class. They
note how the learning environment is changing as a result of the introduction of IT and
various teaching aids (electronic journals, interactive whiteboards) in the classroom, and
appreciate that CPD will be necessary to keep up to date. They experience levels of stress
which they would like to be able to deal with. They have no experience of supervising
project work, although this is now mandatory at the lower secondary school level, and
during their university studies in Poland. Here the role of a teacher is drastically changed
as compared to the traditional one. The teacher must now be able to delegate some of his
or her roles to the students, trust them, and let them become more active and independent.
For new teachers this can appear to be extremely challenging.
In the next step PSTs are required to look on the internet for opportunities to develop
chosen skills and share new knowledge with colleagues. Unfortunately in Poland, apart
from formal qualifications and some EU programmes, no significant provision of on-going
or coaching or mentoring currently exists. In general only short, narrow topic focused
courses are available and teacher educators find it necessary to draw attention to teacher
networks and NGOs such as the Polish Association of Science Teachers, and also to
encourage peer observation.
2. Resources
PSTs have an opportunity, in class, to become familiar with various sources that can help
teachers to raise their professional qualifications: articles in journals, proceedings, websites,
discussion forums and guides published by the Ministry of Education or the commercial
sector. The PSTs are then required, in their own time, to prepare a review of one article
from a journal dedicated to teaching and a second one on an educational website, and to
share them with others using an educational platform. In their reviews PSTs seek to answer
the following questions:
• What new did they learn from the examined material?
• In what way does the new knowledge relate to what was already known? Does it
complement or extend what they already know, or is it in fact contradictory?
• How can this knowledge be used to improve school practice?

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 Iwona Maciejowska, Hana Čtrnáctová, Pawel Bernard
3. Teachers’ promotion/career pathways
PSTs, in pairs, consult available sources (e.g. the website of the Ministry of Education), to
become acquainted with the requirements for a particular grade in the teaching profession
in Poland and then to present this information and relevant comments to other PSTs.
The teacher uses the discussion to point out the increasing demands and the degree of
independence placed on a teacher and stresses the importance of the transition from ‘I
learn’ (“trainee” teacher) to ‘I share my experience with others’ (“certified” teacher). The
PSTs are then asked to prepare preliminary plans for professional development during
their first 2 years in the classroom (based on their previous experience of resources and
activities). These plans are then discussed and evaluated by the whole class.
4. Observation & participation
Twice a year, the Department of Chemical Education JU organizes several hours of
scientific sessions for teachers as the general public. The sessions include an introductory
lecture, concerning recent changes in education in Poland or chemistry from a PCK point
of view. The lecture is followed by a series of short oral presentations or a poster session,
where teachers present their own concepts, innovative ideas, lesson plans, examples of
students’ projects, ideas about scientific clubs, tests, scientific excursions, etc. PSTs are
invited to participate in these sessions, and every year a few of them present their own
posters. It seems to us that observing the active participation of experienced teachers in
CPD is likely to be motivating for pre-service teachers. The PSTs also welcome receiving
feedback concerning their own ideas from the experienced teachers.

GPE 2 – Teachers communities

Participation in all kinds of communities may be an alternative to the standard model of

acquiring new skills and professional development (Vescio, Ross and Adams, 2008). Such
an approach places greater emphasis on transformation/development of participants than the
transfer of knowledge (Rogoff, 2010). Depending on the purpose of creating a community
and selection of its participants, we may distinguish several types of communities:
• Community of Learners,
• Community of Practice,
• Community of Interest.

The use of the Community of Learners in the example of the IRRESISTIBLE

project

The IRRESISTIBLE project (Including Responsible Research and Innovation in Cutting

Edge Science and Inquiry Based Science Education to Improve Teacher’s Ability of
Bridging Learning Environments) combines formal and informal education, inquiry
based methods and elements of Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI). The project
involves teachers who participate in the creation of educational materials as well as in the
practical use and application of the developed materials. The learning model is based on a
Community of Learners (CoL). The community created is not homogeneous and includes
not only teachers, but also other educators, scientists specializing in a specific area of

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chemistry and museum representatives. The elements ensuring successful outcomes based
on CoL include, among other things, selecting and developing the key objective of the
group activity. In the case of the IRRESISTIBLE project, the main task for the team is to
develop teaching materials applicable in lower and upper secondary schools.
Moreover, the equality of the members of such a community should be stressed. All
participants in the IRRESISTIBLE project bring in a wealth of knowledge and skills and
each participant should know for what purpose s/he has joined the team and what his/her
required contribution is expected to be. Therefore:
• The role of researchers is to provide knowledge, current research results, modern
research methods and models describing the issues discussed. In addition, researchers
outline the academic approach to the issue of RRI.
• The task of museum representatives is to outline a framework of informal learning
based on the creation of interactive exhibitions and exhibits.
• The task of subject educators is to provide knowledge and skills related to the use
of inquiry based methods. Educators supervise the overall consistency of the created
materials and their reference to core curricula and teaching programmes, they also
provide essential guidance in the field of Information and Communication Technology
(ICT).
• The task of the teachers is to adapt the developed teaching materials into their
classrooms by reflectively piloting and implementing them.
Due to the specialization of the group members in various areas, the activity of a community
is not limited to teacher training, and the transfer of knowledge can be multidirectional
(Maciejowska & Apotheker, 2015). Each participant has an opportunity for professional
grow, while at the same time acting as a leader, supporting the development of other
community participants.
The work of IRRESISTIBLE CoL has a blended character. Such an approach involves
alternating face-to-face classes and elements of distance learning. During the face-to-face
classes, a variety of techniques, ranging from traditional lecturing methods to open inquiry,
may be used. A major part of the classes included discussions and group work on solving
minor problems and developing content for components of the materials being prepared. In
the remote community work Web 2.0 technologies were used, to help generate cooperative
contributions from the members. In the case of the CoL being described a private Facebook
was used. Such an arrangement is particularly useful for communication in asynchronous
mode and as a repository for working files and teaching materials.
Each IRRESISTIBLE Community of Learners included 4 to 5 teachers. After the
professionalization in the initial phase of the project, each of these teachers goes on to act
as coach to another Community of Learners with 4 to 5 new teachers who are introduced to
the modules from the first round and coached to use them in their own classrooms (Figure
3). In this way, after the first two rounds, at least 25 teachers in the partners’ region will be
familiar with Responsible Research and Innovations, cutting edge science, Inquiry Based
Science Education, and the informal learning setting of the partners’ science centre.

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 Iwona Maciejowska, Hana Čtrnáctová, Pawel Bernard

Figure 3. Two phases of IRRESISTIBLE Community of Learners (IRRESISTIBLE

home page)

The applications of the Community of Practice based on the example of the

SAILS project

Another model for teacher training based on a community model, was used in the SAILS
project (Strategies for Assessment of Inquiry Learning in Science). The project aimed to
promote inquiry-based learning and appropriate assessment of students. Teacher education
was therefore one of the main objectives of the project. In this case, teachers taking part
in the training are associated in a so-called Community of Practice (CoP). This type of is
that community is made up of people who are enthusiasts and practitioners in a given field
(Holmes, Meyerhoff, 1999). This fact distinguishes CoP from e.g. Community of Interest
(CoI), since in the latter case the association is formed by people interested in a given topic,
but not necessarily having practical experience in the field. The overall objective of CoP
is to create conditions for the professional development of teachers. The education model
employed may be divided into two stages:
I. Face-to-face teaching implemented during workshops, summer schools, etc. The
purpose of this stage is to transfer the basic knowledge and skills in the use of
Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE). At this stage, a community is also formed,
and teachers have an opportunity not only to gain knowledge but also to meet other
people who, just like themselves, want to develop and apply the above mentioned
methods in practice.
II. Teaching based on the Web 2.0 platform. The platform shared with the community
is a place where community members can collaborate in solving problems and share
experience and materials.
Thanks to the first stage, teachers have an opportunity to become experts and practitioners
in the use of IBSE. Obviously, their practical experience is initially minimal, and generally
the community is at the same level. Over time, the teachers gradually acquire the required
skills and experience. The community activity is monitored and stimulated by moderators.
In the case of any visible slowdown in the group development, a good stimulus may be
provided by challenges mounted by the moderators. A key aspect in the case of the CoP

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discussed above is that any teaching materials developed as part of the project are made
available to all members of the community, who are asked to pilot their implementation.
Conferences organized as part of the project offer further encouragement for members to
become more active. CoP members are invited to present their experience at national and
pan-European forums. The preparation of presentations is accompanied by consultation
and exchange of materials within the CoP.

GPE 3 – Qualification Programme

At the Charles University of Prague the education of teachers does not end with graduation
from the college. Further education of pedagogical workers (FEPW) is not only a matter
of their interest; it is actually required under the Pedagogical Workers Bill of 2004 and
its amendments that teachers have to reinforce renew and supplement their qualification.
There are three kinds of further education defined as part of these post-graduation studies:
a) studies in order to fulfil qualification prerequisites,
b) studies in order to obtain further qualifications,
c) studies in order to deepen their professionalism (continuous education).
Programmes that have been developed and offered to chemistry teachers as part of their
continuing education belong mainly to the first and third type of studies. To fulfil any
qualification prerequisites various types of supplementary pedagogical studies (SPS) of
chemistry are presented to professional chemists in order to allow them to gain the necessary
qualifications for teaching. The content is very similar to that followed in magister studies
of teaching of chemistry: apart from the pedagogical and psychological topics there are
mainly covered within the discipline of the didactics of chemistry. The main difference is
that a combined form of study is used in the case of SPS.
Continuing the education of chemistry teachers, in order to deepen their professional
qualifications, is becoming more important, especially today when, as many ‘Frame
Educational Programmes’ (FEP) goals imply, there needs to be major changes to chemistry
education and these changes need to be introduced mainly by the teachers themselves.
Many chemistry teachers, currently teaching were trained for a different approach to
teaching and are unfamiliar with the new requirements, often leading to uncertainty and
stress. FEP, in the general, offer innovation of teaching content, the opportunity to use
active methods and forms of work and the use of modern technologies, unfortunately these
aspects are often not reflected in the changes that the teachers subsequently make in their
School Educational Programmes (SEP). The teachers have to be better prepared if they are
going to be able to realize the aims of the SEP well in practice. Currently, it is they who will
decide how best to change the way of teaching, what methods to use, how best to capture
and hold the interest of their students and motivate them to learn both at school and in their
future lives. The problem, at present, is the absence of any unified concept of continuing
education, with a range of views being offered by colleges, secondary and primary schools,
FEPW facilities, civic associations and foundations, companies and private individuals.
Currently the main forms of training offered take the form of lectures, practical classes,
tutorials and workshops, which are often interconnected into courses of varying length
(Vašutová, 2004a a 2004b; Čerňanská 2011).

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 Iwona Maciejowska, Hana Čtrnáctová, Pawel Bernard
The content of educational programmes tends to be varied but is likely to reflect new
knowledge from the disciplines of pedagogy, psychology and general didactics, and new
knowledge from the scientific disciplines and their didactics. The programmes also include
coverage of the use of ICT in teaching, environmental protection, advice on working with
various groups of students, language education for the teachers and much more. The goal
of the chemistry didactic activities in these postgraduate studies is mostly to ensure that
course content will correspond to the current needs for scientific education development.
The continuing education of teachers should be focused on current theoretical and practical
problems in chemistry education, especially in the area of innovations of contents and
teaching methods. Staff from faculties that prepare chemistry teachers to have both the
theoretical background and practical experience needed in the area of chemistry education
are committed to providing these forms of continuing education for chemistry teachers
over the long-term (Vašutová, 2004a a 2004b; Čerňanská 2011). During the 1990s, this
mostly took the form of solitary lectures by experts and excursions, which were followed
by cycles of classes dealing with topical issues such as health and safety in the school
chemistry lab, or the use of ICT in chemistry education. Over the past 10 years there have
been a number of FEWP courses organized with the help of the European Social Fund
(ESF) or with direct support from the EU as a part of 7th FP projects:
• One example of an educational programme realized with the help of ESF was the
chemistry courses offered between 2005-2007 as part of the projects Modular System
of Further Education of Primary and Secondary School Teachers, Scientific Literacy –
Development of Key and Specific Competences in Science Subjects and Open Science –
Improving the Quality of the Education of the Secondary School Teachers in Technical
and Scientific Subjects.
• In the period 2008-2014 there were the projects Programme for Pedagogues of Scientific
Subjects and Science and Mathematics at Secondary Schools: Actively, Currently, and
with Applications. The names of these projects alone show that the goal of these courses
was first and foremost to inform the teachers about the new conception of the contents
of the subject matter of chemistry and the new active methods and forms of chemistry
teaching. As far as new subject matter goes, it involved mainly current applications of
chemistry and introduced topics such as new materials, nanotechnology, instrumental
analytical methods, basics of pharmacology and food chemistry; while the methods
and forms of teaching included various ways of group, cooperative or project-based
teaching of chemistry.
• One example of programmes realized with help from the EU was the chemistry courses
in the projects ESTABLISH or TEMI, where the teachers got acquainted with inquiry-
based education in chemistry during a series of workshops.
It is therefore clear that currently there are significant initiatives at various institutions
(schools, institutes, associations, companies etc.) to prepare and present educational
programmes for chemistry teachers. There is unfortunately still a lack of any unifying
concept of what lifelong learning for teachers should involve and these programmes vary in
both professional level and quality. While there is no wish to diminish the variety of supply
and diversity of educational institutions offering courses, there is clearly a need for content
to be well-defined and for the various programmes to be more effectively coordinated if we
are to solve current problems and improve chemistry teaching in our schools.

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Summary - recommendations for (future) teacher education

It is clearly important to develop in PSTs an appreciation of the need for continuing learning
and development of their competences and upgrading of their qualifications, and the sooner
this is achieved the better. Pre-service teachers should also be made aware of the various
types of lifelong learning that are available.
Not all strategies, methods and procedures used in CPD are equally effective. After taking
part in any training programme, teachers should not be abandoned as they may well need,
and will certainly benefit from, continuing support. Such support could be in the form of
a joint search for the solutions to existing problems or of consultations to help resolve
doubts. Participants should also realize that sharing their newly acquired knowledge and
skills with other teachers is likely to enhance consolidation. However, it is important to
stress that training can only be considered successful if the potential benefits from the
training are actually introduced into school practice.
In CPD, it is important to address both teachers’ own individual training needs and the
educational needs of schools and subjects, resulting for example from changes to education
law, or the core curriculum. Teachers often complain that the training they receive is
inadequate for their needs. It is important that teachers are well motivated towards CPD
as a poorly motivated learner will gain little. It is now clear that professional development
is best delivered in the context of the teacher’s subject area and that only long-term,
diversified, CPD programmes are efficient. Support through coaching and mentoring and
participation in communities of practice have been shown to be useful. Much has been
achieved but there is clearly still much to do.

For future reading

Avalos, B., (2011). Teacher professional development in teaching and teacher education
over ten years. Teaching and Teacher Education. 27, 10-20 and literature cited there
Bolte, C., Holbrook, J., Mamlok-Naaman, R., Rauch, F. (Eds.). (2014). Science Teachers’
Continuous Professional Development in Europe. Case Studies from the PROFILES
Project. Berlin: Freie Universität Berlin/Klagenfurt: Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt.
Available under http://www.profiles-project.eu

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