Abstract:
Nurturing effective learning and teaching is evidently an ongoing concern for Australian primary, secondary and tertiary teachers and therefore a focus on pedagogical issues often underpins professional development. Ensuring that evolving learning and teaching practices are appropriately supported, teachers have become extremely critical of the professional development on offer. Consequently the primary and secondary sectors have experienced evolving generations of professional development models to meet teachers' individual needs. However the tertiary sector has not been as fortunate since Higher Education Units formed to support the pedagogical needs of academics have often created feelings of confusion and resentment amongst the participants. This paper questions the appropriateness of the outdated professional development approaches offered by Higher Education Units particularly for those academics with no formal teaching qualifications. It also questions the credibility of those implementing the workshops. A more effective approach, trialled during a longitudinal study (Osborn 2001) is introduced. This professional development model is work embedded and provides the academics with a much needed contextual and individualised approach.