Professional learning vs professional development.

It seems that professional development is a thing of the past for teaching and professional learning is the what should be happening now. It was a few months ago that I was pulled up for referring to 'professional development', and have been mulling this over and reading ever since. I feel that maybe the sun is rising above the fog.

I understand that this change, specifically within teaching, is part of the change in reclaiming (or claiming) of teaching as a profession. The push in the context of a move from a percieved technocratic view of teaching, where teachers are 'trained' in the 'art and craft' of teaching, towards a learned and research based profession. The term 'professional development', in this context perhaps reflects the model where outside influences will 'develop' the teacher's skills, through delivering short courses. This compares to a 'professional learning' model where the teacher is at the core of the learning, learning may not be based on preset outcomes, but it is ongoing, involve collaboration and be long term.

Although governing bodies in New Zealand and England are moving towards using the term 'professional learning', there appears to be a flip flopping between the two terms.

The long tail

I heard an interview with Chris Anderson on the radio yesterday. (Yes, realtime! Still do this sometimes). He was talking about the 'long tail'. In New Zealand education, this refers to the group of students for whom school is not meeting their learning needs and are not achieving. In economic terms (which is where Chris comes from), it refers to products that are sold that are not mainstream, but are economically viable due to the internet. The result of the long tail is that there is greater diversity in products available. Therefore the internet is catering for a much wider diversity in interests and thinking than was available previously. This idea when crossed into education is exciting! encouraging diversity. This links into the idea of personalised learning environments that Stephen Downes and Derek Wenmoth discuss in their blogs.

I am still thinking about the implications of the long tail- both tails.