Professional Learning and Development in Education: Perspectives and Strategies

Running head: PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Professional Learning and Development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Introduction to Professional Learning and Development (PLD):
In the context of education, the term Professional Learning and Development (PLD)
refers to a wide variety of different activities such as special training, education and advanced
professional skill development which can support professional growth. The aim of PLD is to
improve the efficiency, competency and effectiveness of professionals, better utilization of
strengths and bridging the weaknesses. PLD’s are essentially long term and sustainable
development strategies that can influence better quality of professional learning and capacity
building (Stewart 2014). This involves the educators/ trainers / teachers engaging the
professional students in a stimulative way to support critical thinking, development of
professional knowledge, and ensure that the practice is up to date and critically evaluated.
Self evaluation practice is also an important part of PLD that helps the professional students
to analyse their own strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities for further
improvement. Models of PLD therefore should focus on the development of a challenging
environment that supports the development of critical thinking, professional knowledge,
professional skills, and conceptual understanding (Baldwin 2016). PLD is also an interactive
approach that involves reflective practices and promotes learning from others in a
collaborative manner. Furthermore, educational policies, professional standards and
professional requirements inform the development of PLD. PLD can involve a cyclical
process that includes planning of the course, engaging the students, analysing the impact of
PLD, identifying the evidences of impact and engaging in professional dialogue (Cordingley
2015). The types of learning supported by PLD includes collaborative learning, learning
through enquiries, learning that increases professional knowledge and conceptual
understanding, and learning through research of best practices.
Body:

2PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
-critical review and analysis of the professional learning and development perspectives:
For educators PLD encompasses a wide variety of concepts, topics and strategies that
supports the development of professional skills, knowledge and competencies. During my
study as a professional teacher in a 1 year intensive course from the School Of Education,
Australia, I was able to understand the concepts and perspectives of PLD, and how it fosters
professional and personal development (Knobel and Kalman 2016). These concepts and
perspectives are discussed below along with my reflection on those practices.
Accreditation from a professional university in professional teaching is very important
as it brings together various professional skill developments, and enrolling in such a course
helped me to develop my competencies and skills as a professional educator. Several
important perspectives were identified. These perspectives are critically discussed next along
with reflection on how it influenced my professional learning and development (Stewart
2014).
Effective learning and teaching strategies
Studies show that the experiences and the knowledge of the teacher are of vital
importance towards the promotion of learning and development in the students. When
teachers and educators are experienced, they can use the strategies of instruction and
education in a more efficient manner and support better performance among the students.
Several authors have suggested that efficient teachers can make differences among all
students, including the students who come from a disadvantaged background. These ideas
were widely supported since the 1980’s, where it was widely believed by scholars and
educators that good schools can help in the development of a positive learning environment
for every student. Moreover, effective teaching methods and good schooling strategies can
improve access to quality teaching for students and thus have high expectations on them.

3PROFESSIONAL LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT
Similarly, ineffective teaching can severely disadvantage the learning and developmental
process of the child, compared to students taught by competent teachers. I believe that
developing professional knowledge and skills among teachers to use effective teaching
strategies can help to support a more effective education, and hence PLD can support better
learning strategies. Due to this perspective is very important (Hultquist 2016; Nisbet and
Shucksmith 2017).
Content:
The content of the curriculum is a component of PLD that helps to foster a more in
depth understanding of teaching strategies. Also, good content can help to improve the
engagement of the students in the learning process. The richness of the content can thus be
related to the effectiveness of the education and better understanding of the concepts. Studies
show that PLD is mainly focussed on developing the content for the teachers which includes
pedagogical knowledge, teaching skills and content foe the teachers. Also, a significant focus
is given to programs that develop the knowledge of the content and how students can be
supported to learn and understand their subject matter in a better way (Kirilova and Vlasova
2016). Teachers can utilise the PLD knowledge is a more effective manner when the content
have direct relation to the curriculum taught to the students. Other studies have shown that
PLD can help in better learning by the students, deepen the understanding of the teachers on
the subject matter, and understand how to deliver the knowledge in an effective manner. In
my opinion, developing the content of the PLD to include the subject matter being taught by
the students can make the teachers more prepared for the classroom. However, a downside of
this strategy would be the diversification of the PLD content, that would be influenced by the
various subject matters across different domains of knowledge, and thus make the PLD
content more streamlined to specific courses and curriculum. This implies that the