what teachers want in their PD experience

chanced upon this research article published by bill & melinda gates foundation reporting on teachers’ view on teachers’ professional development.

this list of “wants” of PD (and the ‘fineprints’ below) caught my eyes:

  • relevant
  • interactive
  • delivered by someone who understands my experience
  • sustained over time
  • treats teachers like professional
  • less lecture
  • opportunity to apply learning (through either demo/modelling, and practice)

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(acknowledgement: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2014). Teachers know best: Teachers’ views on professional development, p.4)

as the first bullet point “relevant” highlighted, this research reports the US context. would our teachers be looking at the same set of things, or less, or more, or entirely different set? based on my past experiences engaging in-service teachers, i would think the list can generally apply to our context too. and a timely reminder to fulfill them in my existing and new offering of courses, especially the blended ones (: