1. Introduction

The professional development of teachers is studied and presented

in the relevant literature in many different ways. But always at the coreof such endeavours is the understanding that professional development is aboutteachers learning, learning how to learn, and transforming their knowledge intopractice for the benefit of their students’growth. Teacher professional learning is a complex process, which requirescognitive and emotional involvement of teachers individually and collectively,the capacity and willingness to examine where each one stands in terms of

convictions and beliefs and the perusal and enactment of appropriate

alternatives for improvement or change. All this occurs in particulareducational policy environments or school cultures, some of which are moreappropriate and conducive to learning than others. The instruments used totrigger development also depend on the objectives and needs of teachers as wellas of their students. Thus formal structures such as courses and workshops mayserve some purposes, while involvement in the production of curricula, thediscussion of assessment data or the sharing of strategies may serve otherpurposes. Not every form of professional development, even those with thegreatest evidence of positive impact, is of itself relevant to all teachers.There is thus a constant need to study, experiment, discuss and reflect in dealing with

teacher professional development on the interacting links and influence s of the history and traditions of groups ofteachers, the

educational needs of their student populations, the expectations of

their education systems, teachers’ working conditions and the

opportunities to learn that are open to them.

During the past ten years a large number of articles published in

Teaching and Teacher Education have reported on research and

interventions designed for teachers, with teachers and by teachers

aimed at their professional learning, with an eye on their impact on

teacher and student changes. They cover different geographical

regions and different research and development procedures. The

first part of this article providesa bird’s eye view of the content of

these pieces, thematically organised in terms of their main

emphases. The second part reviews more closely nine articles

selected as being particularly illustrative of the thematic areas, and

also representative of different geographic locations and contextual

particularities.

2The Scopus search machine was used to retrievea list of

articles that included “teacher professional development”in their

key words, to select 111 relevant ones and, by examiningtheir

abstracts or the entire article, to produce the classification presented

below in Table 1. While it might beartificial to classify

journal articles according to a single thematic emphasisas usually

they have more than one central focus, to do so seemed asensible

way of providing a synthetic overview of what waspublished over

the period. In the rest of this first section then I briefly review the production under each one of thethematic areas.

2.1. Professional learning

These articles deal in general with how teachers learnand change by developing theory or applying theory to the discussion of teacherchange  They examine the personalprocesses that are involved in the various formats used for teacher learning,how teacher learning is researched and propose or discuss models of teacherprofessional learning The main emphasis of these studies is to understand theprocesses whereby teachers change. While some are centred on conceptualanalysis, others describe the approach with both qualitative and quantitativeresearch examples.

Within this broad area of professional learning, thereare three specific groups that standout in terms of the number of articles they contain. Articles that deal with reflection and narratives form one group.A second one centres on the role of different tools in professional learning,especially technological ones and a considerable number focus on beginningteacher learning.

2.1.1. Reflection processes

The assumption in articles dealing with teacher reflection is that

analysis of needs, problems, change processes, feelingsof efficacy,

beliefs are all factors that contribute to teacherprofessional

development, be it through enhanced cognitions or new or

improved practices. Reflection is discussed and used in research in

several ways. The studies in this decade centre primarilyon

reflection asan instrument for change and on the various ways in

which reflection canbe developed. A group explicitly considers the

contribution to reflection of narrative methods such asstorytelling

(for example, about Professional Development Schoolexperiences)

and the construction of stories within professionaldevelopment

activities. Narrative accounts serve also tounveil the role of

emotions in change. Other articles consider theimportance for

reflection ofinvolvement in research, and more practically the

opportunity offered by self-assessment tools or reflective school

portfolios as triggers for change

1. Introduction

The professional development of teachers is studied and presented

in the relevant literature in many different ways. But always at the coreof such endeavours is the understanding that professional development is aboutteachers learning, learning how to learn, and transforming their knowledge intopractice for the benefit of their students’growth. Teacher professional learning is a complex process, which requirescognitive and emotional involvement of teachers individually and collectively,the capacity and willingness to examine where each one stands in terms of

convictions and beliefs and the perusal and enactment of appropriate

alternatives for improvement or change. All this occurs in particulareducational policy environments or school cultures, some of which are moreappropriate and conducive to learning than others. The instruments used totrigger development also depend on the objectives and needs of teachers as wellas of their students. Thus formal structures such as courses and workshops mayserve some purposes, while involvement in the production of curricula, thediscussion of assessment data or the sharing of strategies may serve otherpurposes. Not every form of professional development, even those with thegreatest evidence of positive impact, is of itself relevant to all teachers.There is thus a constant need to study, experiment, discuss and reflect in dealing with

teacher professional development on the interacting links and influence s of the history and traditions of groups ofteachers, the

educational needs of their student populations, the expectations of

their education systems, teachers’ working conditions and the

opportunities to learn that are open to them.

During the past ten years a large number of articles published in

Teaching and Teacher Education have reported on research and

interventions designed for teachers, with teachers and by teachers

aimed at their professional learning, with an eye on their impact on

teacher and student changes. They cover different geographical

regions and different research and development procedures. The

first part of this article providesa bird’s eye view of the content of

these pieces, thematically organised in terms of their main

emphases. The second part reviews more closely nine articles

selected as being particularly illustrative of the thematic areas, and

also representative of different geographic locations and contextual

particularities.

2The Scopus search machine was used to retrievea list of

articles that included “teacher professional development”in their

key words, to select 111 relevant ones and, by examiningtheir

abstracts or the entire article, to produce the classification presented

below in Table 1. While it might beartificial to classify

journal articles according to a single thematic emphasisas usually

they have more than one central focus, to do so seemed asensible

way of providing a synthetic overview of what waspublished over

the period. In the rest of this first section then I briefly review the production under each one of thethematic areas.

2.1. Professional learning

These articles deal in general with how teachers learnand change by developing theory or applying theory to the discussion of teacherchange  They examine the personalprocesses that are involved in the various formats used for teacher learning,how teacher learning is researched and propose or discuss models of teacherprofessional learning The main emphasis of these studies is to understand theprocesses whereby teachers change. While some are centred on conceptualanalysis, others describe the approach with both qualitative and quantitativeresearch examples.

Within this broad area of professional learning, thereare three specific groups that standout in terms of the number of articles they contain. Articles that deal with reflection and narratives form one group.A second one centres on the role of different tools in professional learning,especially technological ones and a considerable number focus on beginningteacher learning.

2.1.1. Reflection processes

The assumption in articles dealing with teacher reflection is that

analysis of needs, problems, change processes, feelingsof efficacy,

beliefs are all factors that contribute to teacherprofessional

development, be it through enhanced cognitions or new or

improved practices. Reflection is discussed and used in research in

several ways. The studies in this decade centre primarilyon

reflection asan instrument for change and on the various ways in

which reflection canbe developed. A group explicitly considers the

contribution to reflection of narrative methods such asstorytelling

(for example, about Professional Development Schoolexperiences)

and the construction of stories within professionaldevelopment

activities. Narrative accounts serve also tounveil the role of

emotions in change. Other articles consider theimportance for

reflection ofinvolvement in research, and more practically the

opportunity offered by self-assessment tools or reflective school

portfolios as triggers for change