教師專業化與專業發展

近年，教師專業發展受到重視，為教育改革中的重要元素，教師成為教育改革中的重要成員。一方面，在教師專業發展中，「專業標準」提供了一個框架，讓教師利用標準作自我評鑑，從而改進教學；另一方面，當教師達到愈高層次的發展，其教學的自主性愈大。 本文將談論與此趨勢相關的「教師專業化」的概念，以及與專業發展有關的文獻，同時將就專業標準對教師自主性的影響作探討。在評鑑教師表現的系統中，經常使用「表現指標」，當中包括一些可被觀察及記錄的行為，以評定教師是否達到一 / 某些專業標準；然而，在教師發展架構中，當教師達致熟練和專家階段，其出色的教學表現並不能靠文字紀錄來表達，因此，本文亦將探討這些專業指標的限制。
In recent years, the issue of teacher professional development has received major attention since it is a key element in education reforms. Teachers have become significant agents in reforms. On one hand, in terms of teacher professional development, “professional standards” provide a framework so that teachers could utilize these standards in self-evaluation in order to improve teaching. On the other hand, when teachers attain a higher level of development, they demonstrate more autonomy in teaching.
This paper will discuss the concept of “teacher professionalism” as well as iteratures on teacher professional development. At the same time, it will examine the potentials and limitations of professional standards on teachers’ autonomy. “Performance indicators”, which include typical behaviours that can be observed and documented, are commonly used in the evaluation system of teachers to determine the standards to which a teacher is fulfilling particular professional performance. Nevertheless, when teachers arrived at the proficient or expert stages, their knowledge and skills are tacit in nature and their outstanding teaching performance could hardly be expressed in verbal or written forms. This paper will look into the entangling relations between teacher professionalism and teacher development. Copyright © 2010 The Hong Kong Institute of Education.