The art of designing a professional development programme for teachers

Abstract

In this study, we introduce an analytic framework for effective professional development programmes (PDPs) that has been synthesised and derived from the literature. The framework acknowledges that certain design features concerning how to process the content as well as the methods to facilitate teachers’ enactment are important but also complementary for effective professional development (PD). The framework is furthermore empirically validated through the analysis of how a group of primary school teachers realise an intended PD module and how its components influence the teachers’ competence development. The PD module explored is from the Norwegian PDP Maths and Science Trails (MaST), which aims to enhance teachers’ ability to teach in a way that facilitate students’ deep learning. The results provide insight to how the different design features and methods in the PD module can influence the teachers’ competence development and, hence, how the PD module can be revised and improved. Furthermore, the results demonstrate the framework’s utility and validate it as analytic framework that can be used as a tool for designers of PDPs to makes these programmes more effective in improving teachers’ competence development.