Conceptualisation and Research of Teachers’ Professional Development

Abstract

The topic of teacher professional development is increasingly gaining momentum in contemporary literature on education. In this paper, we present a possible theoretical conceptualisation of teacher professional development, its characteristics as both individual and collaborative processes, and its correlation with changes in contemporary education. The aim of the research was to identify the professional issues and dilemmas that preoccupy early primary teachers and subject teachers at the beginning of their professional development, as well as which issues and dilemmas they deal with as experienced practitioners, in order to contribute to further conceptualisation of professional development as a continuous process. The findings of the research are in line with the three-phase model of professional development of Fuller and Brown, in which these authors and teachers distinguished the “care for survival” phase, the “care for teaching” phase, and the “student care” phase. The research confirmed the existence of these stages in the professional development of both early primary teachers and subject teachers.

Keywords

• professional development
• three-phase model
• beginner teacher