Effective professional development in implementation processes – the teachers' view

Ehlert, M., & Souvignier, E.

Abstract

In addition to research on effective professional development (PD), understanding how teachers view PD facilitates research-practice communication. Qualitative analyses of interviews (N = 43 teachers) revealed that teachers’ views differ from the research perspective. By mentioning active learning and service provision as primary PD features, teachers took on a pragmatic and service-oriented understanding. Teachers further endorsed short PD and relief measures but overlooked knowledge acquisition and student results as reasons for PD. This suggests that teachers orient themselves more towards resources than towards outcomes of PD. Finally, teachers prioritised emotions. A framework to address PD views in research-practice communication is proposed.