Taking teachers' continuous professional development (CPD) beyond reflection: adding shared sense-making and collaborative engagement for professional renewal

Abstract

While reflection continues to be promoted as a central feature of teachers' continuous professional development (CPD) activities in Scotland and elsewhere, a wider debate across professions and national boundaries has opened as to how reflection might be re-conceptualised to restore its social and critical dimensions. This paper seeks to contribute to this debate, arguing that drawing ideas from the literatures on both reflection and communities of practice provides a sounder foundation upon which to build CPD activities that are likely to support professional renewal than that provided by either concept by itself. In particular, the authors draw on their participation in a number of Scottish research and development projects to focus on shared sense-making and collaborative engagement as activities that can enhance reflection. The paper concludes with a set of design principles for CPD activities.