Insights into Self-guided Professional Development: Teachers and teacher educators working together

Abstract

This research documents the ways in which a self-generated, self-directed, self-study group of teachers can serve as an effective model of professional development. Data suggest that the Alumnae Group began with a shared desire to communicate. Over time, members developed a shared language that was concrete, precise and coherent. This shared language coupled with an ethos of critical friendship enabled participants to grapple meaningfully with dilemmas of teaching – identifying and comparing practices and developing a more complex schema for meeting the needs of students. This process appears to be the foundation on which the success of the group rests as well as a model of professional development.