Ever-evolving and Multi-dimensional: Studies of Teachers’ Professionalism and Professional Development in Portugal, Poland, Spain, and the UK

There is, notes King (2014), ‘an increasing number of [professional development-related] causal impact studies carried out in the United States and elsewhere’. King’s geographical reference is significant, because, whilst there are certainly exceptions, North American research tends to incorporate a strong emphasis on professional development’s generativity: impact that extends beyond teachers’ practice to student achievement. Such perspectives have spawned what is referred to as a ‘consensus’ about what specific features of professional development provision make it effective – whereby ‘effectiveness’ is interpreted as incorporating generativity. Indeed, one American author referred to it as a ‘national consensus’ (Supovitz, 2001).

In contrast, quite a different tradition of research into professional development is evident in Europe. Whilst, again, there are exceptions, the dominant European perspective reflects a wider conceptualisation of (effective) professional development: one that privileges complexity theory over linear causality, and values the development of teachers themselves, irrespective of whether such development leads to student achievement gains. Moreover, European scholarship variously incorporates a distinct focus on conceptualisation, definitional precision, and theoretical understandings of what professional development is and what does or does not constitute it, and how it occurs.

This symposium reflects the European epistemic tradition. Drawing upon the findings of research projects undertaken in four European countries - Portugal, Poland, Spain, and the UK – the symposium will address the question:

How does the multidimensionality of both professionalism and professional development manifest itself in the lives and practice of European teachers?
Addressing this question will involve consideration of substantive issues such as the relationship between professionalism and professional development, and the ways in which teacher professionalism has changed over the years. It will also involve consideration of methodological issues – in particular, ways of injecting rigour into examining teacher professionalism and professional development, by adopting a conceptual model as an analytical frame.

This overarching focus of this symposium is changes to teachers’ professionalism, since, as Evans (2008, 2014) notes, change to professionalism is essentially what defines professional development.