Teacher Learning and Professional Growth Plans: Implementation of a Provincial Policy

Citation

Fenwick T (2004) Teacher Learning and Professional Growth Plans: Implementation of a Provincial Policy. Journal of Curriculum and Supervision, 19 (3), pp. 259-282. http://www.ascd.org/publications/jcs/spring2004/Teacher-Learning-and-Professional-Growth-Plans@-Implementation-of-a-Provincial-Policy.aspx

Abstract
Teachers' professional learning has long been linked to educational reform. In the past decade, two trends have emerged that have exerted significant influence upon our conceptualization and attitudes about teacher development. One is increasing replacement of the term "professional development" with the broader signifier "lifelong learning." The other is a shift from focus on individual teachers developing skills to a conception of learning as evolving in communities of practice. In particular, enthusiasm appears to have grown for the notion of building a "learning community." Together with the changing demographics of the teaching profession, these trends are reconfiguring issues of teachers' professional development. They are also linking teachers' knowledge and practice to larger questions pervading other sectors of continuing professional education about the purposes of lifelong learning and the links between lifelong learning, work, relationships, and identity. The central concern of this research was the role of supervisory policy and practice at provincial, district, and school levels in fostering teachers' learning toward improving schools. Policy should support supervisory practice that honors the diverse processes of professionals' learning as interpretive meaning making and that links learning to core visions. Supervision that supports teacher learning must also somehow navigate between teacher needs for autonomy and flexibility and public demands for professional accountability and measurable competency.

Journal
Journal of Curriculum and Supervision: Volume 19, Issue 3