“Today, education systems require profound changes to ensure that all children and young people acquire meaningful learning,” stated Dr. Denise Vaillant—academic secretary of the Institute of Education—in her article titled“Collaborative Work and New Scenarios for Teacher Professional Development.”
In issue No. 60—dated December 2016—of the journal Docencia, he stated that it is essential to “rethink teacher professional development policies,” as well as “new models of collaboration between teachers and professors”: “Until now, many proposals for change have almost always focused on improvement rather than profound innovation, and have offered ‘more of the same.’”
At the same time, according to him, professional development for teachers in Latin America has yielded “mediocre results, even though it is recognized as playing a key role in educational reforms.” The fact is, Vaillant argues, that these initiatives often fail to address teachers’ interests and bear no relation to the “actual conditions under which teaching takes place.”
The task is not easy, but it is urgent; today more than ever, education systems require professional development that makes a difference in the classroom. And for this to happen, an important step is to recognize the importance of collaborative and support networks among teachers.
“How do we move forward? What are the challenges facing teachers’ professional development? How do teachers learn? What does collaboration among teachers entail, and how can we foster it?” These are some of the questions addressed by the academic secretary of the Institute of Education.
That issue of the journal *Docencia* also featured a panel discussion titled “Analyzing Policies in Light of Collaborative Work and Professional Development,” which included the views of Dr. Beatrice Avalos—a researcher at the Center for Advanced Research in Education (CIAE) at the University of Chile and a visiting professor at Universidad ORT Uruguay.
- Read the full article:“Collaborative Work and New Scenarios for Teacher Professional Development”