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Understanding Teachers’ Self-Sustaining, Generative Change in the Context of Professional Development

Item

Title

Understanding Teachers’ Self-Sustaining, Generative Change in the Context of Professional Development

Abstract/Description

Many current reform recommendations draw on the view that knowledge evolves at a rapidly accelerating pace and thus, learning fixed bodies of information and static skills is no longer a priority. Students need to acquire knowledge that can be adapted so that it serves as a basis for solving problems and acquiring new knowledge. In the same way, we begin to conceptualize teacher change not as acquiring a fixed set of teaching skills or learning how to use a particular program of instruction. The kind of change we envision involves teachers changing in ways that provide a basis for continued growth and problem solving—what we call self-sustaining, generative change. Self-sustaining, generative change does not involve acquiring a set of procedures to implement with fidelity; rather it frequently entails teachers making changes in their basic epistemological perspectives, their knowledge of what it means to learn, as well as their conceptions of classroom practice. It means conceptualizing teacher change in terms of teachers becoming ongoing learners (Borko & Putnam, 1996; Dana et al., 1997; Schifter, 1997; Sherin, 1997; Richardson, 1995). This conceptualization of teacher change may then lead to reconceptualizing professional development for teachers.

Date

Volume

14

Issue

1

Pages

67-80

Resource type

Research/Scholarly Media

Resource status/form

Published Text

Scholarship genre

Empirical
Theoretical

Open access/full-text available

No

Peer reviewed

Yes

ISSN

0742-051X

Citation

Franke, M. L., Carpenter, T., Fennema, E., Ansell, E., & Behrend, J. (1998). Understanding Teachers’ Self-Sustaining, Generative Change in the Context of Professional Development. Teaching and Teacher Education, 14(1), 67–80. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(97)00061-9

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