Abstract:
This paper has emerged from earlier work with Victorian rural teachers enrolled in tertiary courses (Barnett & Nicholson 1990) which found a marked level of criticism of the locally developed professional development activities, the in-service and cluster based programmes provided within the structures established for teachers working in the Victorian government system. Teachers evaluated the in-service and cluster based programmes as often irrelevant and poorly presented. The reactions of teachers to in- service programmes were in line with other evaluations of in-service programmes. (Teacher Quality, 1989). Fullan (1991) argues that most professional development fails because:
[]one-off workshops are ineffective,
[]topics are selected by people other than those for whom the in-service is intended, []a lack of follow up;
[]neglect of the perceived needs of individuals;
[]the lack of a sound conceptual basis;
[]insufficient account of variations from place to place;
[]"quick-fix" solutions are offered.
[]one-off workshops are ineffective,
[]topics are selected by people other than those for whom the in-service is intended, []a lack of follow up;
[]neglect of the perceived needs of individuals;
[]the lack of a sound conceptual basis;
[]insufficient account of variations from place to place;
[]"quick-fix" solutions are offered.