Regional Seminar – Flemish-Dutch

Regional Seminar - Flemish-Dutch

Vrije Univeristeit Amsterdam, The Netherlands - 16 January, 2018

Ann MacPhail (University of Limerick, Ireland) key-note: Conditions for effective teacher educator professional learning

The Flemish-Dutch Regional Meeting was attended by 28 participants.

Jurriën Dengerink and Ruben Vanderlinde started the day by giving an overview of the state of the art of the professional development needs and opportunities in the Netherlands and Flanders.

Next, InFo-TED’s program, conceptual model, teacher educator portal, and summer academy were briefly introduced by Ruben Vanderlinde, Mieke Lunenberg, and Paulien Meijer.

The highlight of the morning was Ann MacPhail’s informative and inspiring key-note that consisted of three parts. Firstly, Ann presented the results of the InFo-TED, secondly the results of the interviews, and thirdly she focused in depth on some Irish findings. After each part there was an opportunity for the participants to discuss what the given information meant for them and their practices.

In the afternoon, the participants worked in four groups, discussing 1. professional development of teacher educators together with peers, 2. professional development in an organizational and political context, 3. professional development with regard to research, and 4. professional development and the summer academy.

The first group discussed the importance of lifelong learning and a shared professional development agenda. They also emphasized the value of opportunities to share practices (as peers and by organizing soapbox moments).

The second group talked about the interconnection between the biography of teacher educator, available knowledge (research, frames of reference), and policy context (micro-meso-macro), and stressed the importance of keeping this triad in mind when we discuss the aims and promotion of teacher educator development.

The third group analyzed the different ways we talk about the professional development with regard to research. They emphasized that we need to discern diverse aims and approaches and to be precise when we talk about this theme.

The fourth group discussed the summer academy, and talked among others about the possibility to involve more people in the summer academy. They suggested that every participant of the summer academy should daily share their experiences, learning, and question with a colleague outside the academy.

The wrap up of the day did lead to the conclusion that we may need more of these days, because the opportunities for teacher educators to meet in an inspiring environment are scarce.