Book Description

What does it mean to be a professional in education and in other sectors where education is a focus? How can professional development techniques be implemented in a variety of settings to the best effect? Over the last decade, many shifts in individual professional identity and sector requirements in education have been evident. This book engages with current debates and presents a new model - critical professional development - involving several new concepts which are mapped clearly to practice and covering the necessary techniques and approaches. Key organizational challenges and possibilities in implementation are highlighted. In outlining the new model, the book discusses the theories and perspectives of critical professional development, from educational policy to practice. Case studies from a range of education sectors convey unique and richly textured examples of successful professional practice, providing strong links between teaching and learning and professional development, with approaches that can be widely adopted and applied in different settings. *** The text as a whole is starkly realistic, scholarly, and pragmatic rather than idealistic. As the authors concede, the definition of critical professionalism does not contain any original components; however, it is original in its holistic and practical conceptualization of professionalism in higher education...The theory proposed in this volume has wide applicability, and is worthwhile in the fields of theology and religion." - Reflective Teaching, Wabash Center, June 2015 [Subject: Educational Studies, Professional Development]