Up, Close and Personal: Teachers' Responses to an Individualised Professional Learning Opportunity

Source: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 38, Issue 2, p. 129-146.
(April 2010).

This article provides an account of professional learning in action.
The authors documented the experiences of three upper primary teachers as they engaged in reflection-on-action with the assistance of an academic mentor. Video-stimulated recall was used as a mechanism to encourage productive reflective practice, using video footage of each teacher's numeracy lessons.

The results indicated that although it was a powerful medium for stimulating reflection, and the teachers indicated that it was a beneficial process, there was limited evidence to suggest that it resulted in substantial changes to their practices.
Reasons for this are hypothesised and recommendations made for personalising professional learning to cater for the needs and context of individual teachers.