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Description
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The
main theme for the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) will be
representations of cultural media and artefacts from the participating
countries, such as iconic works of art, literature, and music, including
cultural representations of, and by, migrant communities within these nations.
Teachers will be encouraged to appreciate the interconnection between their
growing cultural awareness and appreciation, and their approaches to
teaching. From the project partners' perspective, 'professional development'
for teachers ought to be understood as personal and cultural development,
rather than narrower 'technicist' conceptions of CPD. The project will embed
research, evaluation, and dissemination from the outset in order to analyse
and raise awareness of the impact of this approach on teachers and their
professional development. The project partners will develop, evaluate, and
disseminate an online (web-based) CPD package for teachers. This CPD will
enhance teachers' intercultural awareness, their understanding of the
educational applications of technology, and their ability to foster
citizenship and intercultural understanding among students in schools. It
will also provide a model of CPD that can be utilised to support teacher
professional development at all stages, from initial teacher training to
induction/ year one and to teachers moving towards enhanced/ expert/
experienced status.
The
starting point for this CPD will be an emphasis on epistemological
questioning that will require teachers to reflect critically on their current
professional and cultural assumptions. They will then be guided through a
process that enhances their personal and professional vocabulary and
understanding in order to create a framework in which international
professional dialogue can take place around critical pedagogical and cultural
issues. The CPD will be delivered via an online learning environment (OLE)
that will stimulate, provoke, and support teachers, bringing them together
within a virtual community of enquiry. This approach will be piloted with,
and provided free to, groups of teachers from five EU states, and made
available more widely at the end of the Project, following evaluation and
assessment of impact.
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