International professional development as a form of globalisation

Abstract

This chapter examines models of professional development (PD) for science teachers in four different countries (the United States, Romania, Israel and the Republic of Armenia), and using this comparison as a launch point, considers the notion of professional development as a form of globalization. Comparing and contrasting familiar PD models for established democracies (the US and Israel) with less familiar PD activities (from countries exiting socialism/communism such as Romania and the Republic of Armenia) help us extend our understanding of the roots, strengths and flaws of the familiar PD and readdress the role of cross-cultural PD providers who think and act globally © 2007 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.