Exploring the Personal, Social and Occupational Elements of Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

In a neoliberal political context, educational reform is seen as largely dependent on the individual teacher and his or her ability to continue developing and improving his or her practice with the ultimate goal of improving student outcomes. Professional development (PD) is therefore reliant on teachers to embrace new models of practice, to engage with these new approaches, to correctly interpret the PD ideas for application to the teaching and learning process, and ultimately implement new models and ideas in their classrooms (Huber & Hiltmann, 2011). This paper seeks to examine more closely three aspects of PD that have been found in the research literature to have a significant impact on the effectiveness of PD programs, because of their focus on, and consideration of the individual teacher. Aligning with Fraser, Kennedy, Reid, and McKinney (2007), successful PD programs that have a distinct focus on the personal, social and occupational aspects of teacher development will be discussed.