Teacher professional development through curriculum development: teachers' experiences in the field trialling of on-line curriculum materials

Abstract

This article reports on the experiences of teachers participating in the field trials of new on-line curriculum materials and associated technologies in England. During the period January to July 2001, teachers in 60 secondary schools in England participated in the trialling of on-line curriculum materials in mathematics, Japanese and Latin. The three subject projects differed in a number of respects, but overall the teacher response was extremely positive. Though this was essentially a curriculum development project with a field trial of materials and an associated evaluation, this article focuses on a number of outcomes relating to aspects of teacher professional development that were a ‘side effect’ of the field trials and ran across the differing subject settings.