Go back to Richel Bilderbeek's homepage.

Go back to Richel Bilderbeek's teaching page.

(Teaching) Development of teachers

There are multiple models describing the development of teachers [1].

Fuller and Bown model

Accoding to Fuller and Bown [2] there are the following stadia in the development of teachers (translated from [1]):

[1] The beginning teacher feels closer to students in a classroom then the teacher in front of the classroom

[2] The beginning teacher is busy surviving this stressfull period and focuses mostly on order problems

[3] The beginning teacher focuses focuses on own learning: 'Am I good enough?', 'What must I learn to become better?'

[4] The beginning teacher focuses focuses on the learning of students: 'What must I do that my students learn most?'

Teacher career cycle from Fessler and Christensen

Accoding to Fessler and Christensen [3] there is the following teacher career cycle in the development of teachers (translated from [1]):

[1] Initial training: the teacher does not have any true responsibility

[2] Induction (roughly in the first one to two years): the core of the socialization for the profession takes place. Crucial is that the beginning teacher gets the feeling to get eveything under control and is accepted by collegues and others involved

[3] Improving competence (roughly in the second to and including four years): the teacher realizes shortcomings in knowledge and skills and works on improving this

[4] Enthousiasm and growth: the teacher works on a very level of competence. In the end of this phase, teachers are the ideal coaches of starting teacher, because they have enough energy and enthousiasm to share their knowledge with others

[5] Stagnation (roughly around the age of 40-45): coincides with the feeling called 'midlife crisis'. The teacher gets the feeling being stuck with the profession. The students are experiences as from 'another generation'

[6] Stability: depends on the previous phase: if the teacher accepts the profession, the teacher will look for new satisfaction. If the teacher is not satisfied with the profession, the teacher keeps away some of the aspects of teaching and might become embittered

[7] Ending of career: the way a career is getting to an end depends on the way the previous phase is ended

[8] End of career

References

1. Nico Verloop. Onderwijskunde. 2009. ISBN: 978-90-01-54533-8. Paragraph 5.4.2: 'Stadia in de ontwikkeling'
2. Fuller, FF & Bown, O. Becoming a teacher. 1975. In Ryan, K. (Ed.): Teacher education (74th Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education). Pages 25-52.
3. Fessler, R. & Christensen, J.C. The teacher career cycle. Understanding and guiding the professional development of teachers. 1992. ISBN-10: 0205133401. ISBN-13: 978-0205133406.

Go back to Richel Bilderbeek's teaching page.

Go back to Richel Bilderbeek's homepage.