TOPIC 8

TEACHER PROFESSIONAL
DEVELOPMENT
AND LIFE LONG LEARNING
 CONTENT
8.1 Personal learning plan
8.2 Reading culture
8.3 Research culture
8.4 Thinking/ reflective culture
-- reflective journal writing
-- portfolio management
8.5 Discussion (budaya Musyawarah)
8.6 Collaboration and cooperative culture
Lecture: 4 hours
Tutorial: 3 hours
8.7 Authentic learning (hands-on)
8.8 In-service training
8.9 Information retrieval from various sources
• Development in education requires each teacher to
increase his/her knowledge and skills in line with
current demands.
Professional Development
 activities that develop an individual’s skills, knowledge,
expertise and other characteristics as a teacher.
 includes any ongoing training that a teacher receives
to improve in areas of deficiency, to gain new knowledge
or insight in a particular area, or to be refreshed in a
particular area as needed.
 the sum total of formal and informal learning
experiences throughout one’s career from pre-service
teacher education to retirement.
 INTRODUCTION
Lifelong Learning:
 Self-motivation towards search and knowledge
enhancement of voluntary personal or
professional needs.
 Every teacher must have a passion and a strong
ambition to continue to increase his/her
knowledge.
 All teachers need to update their knowledge and
skills in ensuring the development and teacher
professional development in line with the
changes and challenges.
 INTRODUCTION
• Every teacher should have a plan in the form of self-study
programmes and opportunities available to be grabbed by
the teachers in order to enhance their knowledge and
skills.
• Ongoing training for teachers is an approach in lifelong
learning.
• Examples: Attending seminars and workshops, participate
in short and long courses, engage in consultation, reading,
doing research, visit to schools and benchmarking,
participate in projects run by community, ministries,
organizations or associations, and active in academia such
as Linguistic Society, MELTA, etc.
 INTRODUCTION
• In summary:
 Continuous Professional Development can be
provided in many ways, ranging from the formal to
the informal.
It can be made available through external
expertise in the form of courses, workshops or formal
qualification programmes, through collaboration
between schools or teachers across schools
E.g. observational visits to other schools or teacher
networks) or within the schools in which teachers
work (Coaching/mentoring, collaborative planning
and teaching, and the sharing of good practices).
 8.1 Personal Learning Plan

• Lifelong learning requires teachers to be

prepared with a personal learning plan.
• Teachers should expect and be expected
to maintain a personal learning plan to
guide their professional growth.
• This plan should take into account the
needs and interests of the teacher and
identify criteria for success.

7
Criteria:
Personal learning plan address the identified needs
and interests of the teacher.
 Needs:
-- Self-Identified growth areas including beliefs and
behaviors
-- Peer-Identified growth areas including beliefs
and behaviours
 Interests:
-- Relevant content area expertise
-- Relevant process expertise
 Identify criteria for success for each activity or
phase of the learning plan
 Impact on teacher practice &
 Impact on student learning
 Advantages of Personal Learning Plan
Enrich academic experiences.
 Provide opportunity for personal
improvement.
 Maximise individual strength and encourage
the use of total potential.
 Identify clearly the aim of each teacher.
 Ensure that all teachers are challenged to
continue to learn and be responsible for their
own learning and growth.
• If professional development refers to changes in
knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviour,
teachers need to create their own knowledge
and change their behaviour in order to
implement new developments and improve their
practice (Kwakman, 1998).
• In other words, teachers need to be aware of
their own learning processes when they carry out
their practices in the school.
• The new model of teacher learning suggests that
learning on the job may lead to improvement of
practice.
• Johnston and J. Q. Johnston (1998, p. 43)
reported from their data that teachers’
awareness of their learning processes can result
in:
(1) an increase in the using alternative teaching
methods;
(2) an increase in tolerance of students’ varied
learning behaviours; and
(3) an increase in both teacher and student’
willingness to work on teaching-learning
strategies which facilitate student success.
Examples of personal learning plans:
(a) Learning at home
 Learning at home is regarded as an informal
learning.
 At present, there are a number of educational
programmes that can take place at home,
including online learning (OLL), an approach that
allows one to proceed without having to be at a
college or university most of the time to interact
face to face with a teacher or lecturer.
 Learning modules are also becoming popular
and help students achieve academic success.
(b) Adult Education
• Adult education can be achieved through courses or
advanced studies programmes whether at college or
university.
• Workplace also provides opportunity for teachers
through Staff Development Training to improve the
efficiency and competences in their respective
careers (e.g., LADAP/CPD and PLC).
• Adults can improve their knowledge and skills in a
particular area of interest for personal enrichment
(Learn new skills).
e.g., attending computer classes at computer centre
 IT literate
(c) Continuing Education
• More focus on an effort to pursue one’s studies at a
college or university to earn a certificate, diploma or
advanced degree either full time or part time.
• An opportunity for anyone to achieve higher education.
• Many universities now offer programmes for those who
want to continue their studies on a part-time weekend
typically begins on Friday evening to Sunday.
• Various methods: (i) in classrooms and lab; (ii) distance
learning, online learning (OLL), interactive online courses
(d) Knowledge worker

• Peter Drucker (1957) suggested "the most

valuable asset of a 21st century institution will be
its knowledge workers and their productivity.
• The kind of teaching needed today requires
teachers to be high-level knowledge workers
who constantly advance – their own professional
knowledge as well as that of their profession.
• Knowledge workers like teachers have high
levels of education. They are highly motivated,
possess factual and theoretical knowledge, find
and access information effectively.
• The need for teachers themselves to become
modern, productive knowledge workers is
crucial for education in 21st century learning
environments.

• Hargreaves and Fullan (1992) asserted that a

teaching force that is more skilled and flexible
in its teaching strategies and more
knowledgeable about its subject matter is a
teaching force more able to improve the
achievement of its pupils.
The characteristics and traits associated with
knowledge workers:
 Tutorials 11 & 12
1. Based on your practicum experience in
school, evaluate the benefits of reflective
journal writing and portfolio management in
developing your higher order thinking skills.
2. Discuss how a teacher can fulfil his lifelong
learning in order to enhance his
professionalism. Provide examples to support
your arguments.
3. Discuss the importance of collaboration
among teachers. Provide examples to support
your arguments.
 Tutorials 11 & 12
4. Discuss the effectiveness of in-service training
programmes (LADAP) in improving teachers’
skills and competence in school as part of their
continuous professional development.
5. Provide a detailed description of the
implications of doing action research upon a
teacher’s professional development.
6. Discuss how a teacher can benefit from the
implementation of reflective practice in the T and L
process.
 ISL Tasks
Explain how these can be conducted in a
professional manner:
• Discussion (budaya musyawarah)
• Collaboration and cooperative culture
• Authentic learning (hands-on)
• In-service training
• Information retrieval from various sources