What Is Professional Development For Teachers, And Why Is It Necessary?
When it comes to teaching our children, there is no shortage of theories and methods. Some of these methods have been blamed for declining student aptitude tests and higher drop-out rates. Although the goal is to improve the knowledge and skills of the students, many of the methods used in the past several decades have fallen short of meeting this goal.
By and large, the methods used by teachers in the public school system appear to be making it more difficult for them to actually learn. It also doesn't help that traditional, workshop based teaching methods have been proven to work less and less effectively. As a result, many administrators see it as a questionable expense to put money into professional development for teachers. This may be because they don't truly understand what professional development is, or why it's so helpful.
What Is Professional Development For Educators?
Many teachers, when they devote time to professional development, tend to focus on more workshop based plans. That is to say, most teachers receive their professional training in short, one or two day programs designed to deliver all the information they need. In this case, "many" refers to almost 90% of all teachers (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009), even though it's been proven not to work as well. There have been several studies that proved that this style of development has very little effect on changing poor teaching practices, and no effect what so ever on student learning (Yoon et al, 2007; Bush, 1984).
The reason for this is because workshop style training doesn't actually touch on the most difficult part of professional development. Most teachers don't have a problem with the actual information. They know the information well enough. They went through college, so their ability to retain knowledge is as good as it ever was. The problem most teachers have is in implementing new teaching styles. There have been actual studies indicating that even the best teachers will have a hard time figuring out how to implement new teaching methods (Ermeling, 2010; Joyce and Showers, 1982). If that's the case, you can imagine how little this style of training would help teachers who are having a hard time doing their jobs!
As you can tell, professional development and training is exactly that. It's training and instruction for teachers, helping them to learn and grow in their craft. Their job is to instruct our children, after all. So it's only natural that they would need to occasionally be re-trained in any new and upcoming methods. This is true of any profession. Whether it's doctors, lawyers, or factory workers, a professional will occasionally need to be trained in the newest procedures. This is because facts change. Studies are done, people discover new and better ways to perform certain tasks, and professionals who intend to remain in the business must learn how to use these better ways.
Why Is Professional Development Necessary
Obviously, professional development is necessary because without it, students won't learn. More specifically, science has discovered over the years that tried and true teaching methods don't work as well as they "should" work. For many years, it was thought that students who acted out in class and were too energetic just needed to be forced to sit still and pay attention. Now it's become obvious that kids need creative outlets for their energy, or they simply won't be able to learn anything.
This is just as true now as it was a hundred years ago. People and culture has changed over the years, and so too much teaching methods change. It's not enough for a teacher to have learned how to teach twenty years ago in college. They must constantly upgrade their understanding. They must learn how to implement new, better ways of teaching students. Not only that, but they must learn how to recognize potential problem students before they become problems. They must begin to recognize when a student has a problem with class, and when they have a problem at home.
Only then can they truly teach our children the way our children deserve to be taught.
By and large, the methods used by teachers in the public school system appear to be making it more difficult for them to actually learn. It also doesn't help that traditional, workshop based teaching methods have been proven to work less and less effectively. As a result, many administrators see it as a questionable expense to put money into professional development for teachers. This may be because they don't truly understand what professional development is, or why it's so helpful.
What Is Professional Development For Educators?
Many teachers, when they devote time to professional development, tend to focus on more workshop based plans. That is to say, most teachers receive their professional training in short, one or two day programs designed to deliver all the information they need. In this case, "many" refers to almost 90% of all teachers (Darling-Hammond et al., 2009), even though it's been proven not to work as well. There have been several studies that proved that this style of development has very little effect on changing poor teaching practices, and no effect what so ever on student learning (Yoon et al, 2007; Bush, 1984).
The reason for this is because workshop style training doesn't actually touch on the most difficult part of professional development. Most teachers don't have a problem with the actual information. They know the information well enough. They went through college, so their ability to retain knowledge is as good as it ever was. The problem most teachers have is in implementing new teaching styles. There have been actual studies indicating that even the best teachers will have a hard time figuring out how to implement new teaching methods (Ermeling, 2010; Joyce and Showers, 1982). If that's the case, you can imagine how little this style of training would help teachers who are having a hard time doing their jobs!
As you can tell, professional development and training is exactly that. It's training and instruction for teachers, helping them to learn and grow in their craft. Their job is to instruct our children, after all. So it's only natural that they would need to occasionally be re-trained in any new and upcoming methods. This is true of any profession. Whether it's doctors, lawyers, or factory workers, a professional will occasionally need to be trained in the newest procedures. This is because facts change. Studies are done, people discover new and better ways to perform certain tasks, and professionals who intend to remain in the business must learn how to use these better ways.
Why Is Professional Development Necessary
Obviously, professional development is necessary because without it, students won't learn. More specifically, science has discovered over the years that tried and true teaching methods don't work as well as they "should" work. For many years, it was thought that students who acted out in class and were too energetic just needed to be forced to sit still and pay attention. Now it's become obvious that kids need creative outlets for their energy, or they simply won't be able to learn anything.
This is just as true now as it was a hundred years ago. People and culture has changed over the years, and so too much teaching methods change. It's not enough for a teacher to have learned how to teach twenty years ago in college. They must constantly upgrade their understanding. They must learn how to implement new, better ways of teaching students. Not only that, but they must learn how to recognize potential problem students before they become problems. They must begin to recognize when a student has a problem with class, and when they have a problem at home.
Only then can they truly teach our children the way our children deserve to be taught.