challenging the ‘new professionalism’: from managerialism to pedagogy?

Abstract

In recent years there have been changes made to the conceptualisation of continuing professional development for teachers in both the Scottish and English systems of education. These changes have been instigated by successive United Kingdom governments (and, more recently, by the Scottish Executive), together with the General Teaching Council for Scotland (GTCS) and the General Teaching Council for England (GTCE). This article argues that these changes have not provided a clear rationale for CPD, but instead have introduced tensions between the concept of teacher education and that of training. The need for a less confused understanding of CPD and its purposes is underlined, as is the need for school-based approaches to continuing teacher education. Arguably, teacher education must move from technicist emphases to a model that integrates the social processes of change within society and schools with the individual development and empowerment of teachers.