A school-based staff development project: Its implications for an adult's learning process

The professional development of kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong appears to be limited by their inability to extend thinking beyond their own personal concerns so that the needs of the children were not the major determinant of their classroom practice (Li, 2000a). Professional development of a teacher involves cognitive development, a change of the practitioner’s perception of teaching and learning as well as a change in their coping strategies (Li, 2001). To facilitate the change, the key is cognitive structuring/advancement through the process of assisted performance taking place within the zone of proximal development (ZPD) (Tharp and Gallimore 1988) of individual teachers. Peer coaching and expert consultation, presumably in a collaborative school culture, are important elements in the process of cognitive development. This study is to compare the teaching and belief of teachers before, during and after the provision of peer coaching and expert consultation in a school-based staff development project. Data were obtained by recording vignettes of practice, listening to teachers’ conversations in workshops and commentary in the video. The findings of the study suggest that assisted performance and case-based training hold some promise for teachers’ learning process of professional development. Copyright © 2004 New Horizons in Education.