Professional Development for Teachers: Skills and Growth

Introduction: Interpreting Joyce and Showers' Framework

Figure 2 in Joyce and Showers (1995) suggests that awareness and conceptual understanding are far more significant in specific parts of teaching — and in other helping or communication professions — than skill attainment or problem-solving, at least where the presentation of theory and modeling are concerned. That is not to say that these other areas are unimportant, but only that they are not as vital as the ability to recognize and understand the concepts with which a person is working (Jasper, 2006).

In other words, a teacher must first develop a strong conceptual foundation before skill-based performance can be meaningfully evaluated or improved. The framework presented by Joyce and Showers provides a useful lens through which to examine how different dimensions of professional practice interact and vary in importance depending on the instructional context.

Skill Attainment, Feedback, and Coaching

When it comes to skill attainment in feedback and coaching, however, there is a strong correlation between awareness and proficiency. It is more important to be both aware and skilled in those two areas. By contrast, the presentation of theory and modeling is more focused on awareness and conceptual understanding than on attaining a specific level of skill. In the areas of coaching and peer interaction, application and problem-solving are highly significant, because they involve working closely with people and require collaboration to provide the best possible learning environment. In most other areas of teaching, application and problem-solving abilities are not as central as the remaining dimensions of practice.

This research is directly applicable to a professional teaching setting because all teachers should be aware of the concepts they are teaching, but they must not allow their skill attainment in subject matter to overshadow more critical skill-development areas, such as coaching study teams and conducting peer visits. In other words, a teacher's primary problem-solving abilities should be focused on coaching and on relationships with peers. At the same time, those teachers must also have well-developed ideas about how to present theories and model appropriate ideas and behaviors for their students.

Applying the Research to the Work Setting

Even though all areas of teaching are significant and should be employed as effectively as possible, some must be emphasized more than others. That is true of any helping profession where communication is central (Golding & Gray, 2006). Not all teachers recognize the importance of professional development, or the need to distinguish between areas requiring improvement and areas of existing strength. Figure 2 demonstrates that there are, indeed, several distinct components of teaching, each differing in its significance and in how it contributes to creating a cohesive learning environment where maximum student growth can occur.

Professional development in a well-structured work setting takes this research into account by focusing on separate subject areas and acknowledging that there is much more to teaching than what initially meets the eye. Not every teacher has the same skill set, but that does not mean they cannot learn to teach the same subjects to similar groups of students effectively. All professionals who work to help others through the communication of ideas and information must recognize that there are many facets to what they do, and that a one-size-fits-all approach is insufficient (Golding & Gray, 2006; Jasper, 2006).