Teacher education in change : an intellectual practice : issues for Albania

Abstract

There is growing acknowledgement world wide that all teachers are entitled to high quality, up-to-date programmes of professional development and that the school as a site for such training is central to the endeavour. This paper suggests that the concept of the reflective practitioner (Schon 1987), which has provided a powerful and dominant model for teacher education for almost a decade, is insufficient as an informing principle given this new context of change and development. It is timely to draw on international debates and models of learning that cross cultures and contexts, and a pedagogy which takes account of the socially situated nature of the learning process. The article presents a case study of a recently developed in-service teacher education programme in Albania. It describes the planning and implementation of the project as well as the evaluation findings of the first pilot phase. The case study highlights three key areas that emerged in the programme's development: the iteration between theory and practice, the centrality of forums of inquiry and the need for transfonning frameworks. It is argued that the reconceptualising of teacher education as a social practice provides a fruitful way forward for change and advancement in training. Six key issues for teacher development and research are proposed.