Review of the Literature

Translating Theory into Instructional Practice 
We have considered a variety of strategies and programs that need to be considered when we try 
to change teachers’ practice and provide professional development opportunities. In addition, 
Darling-Hammond (1998, pp. 4-5) suggested the following professional development strategies 
based on a social constructivist approach to teacher learning that have succeeded in improving 
teaching, and that correspond nicely to the strategies detailed above:
▪
Experiential, engaging teachers in concrete tasks of teaching, assessment, and 
observation;
▪
Grounded in participants’ questions, inquiry, and experimentation; 
▪
Collaborative, involving sharing of knowledge among educators; 
▪
Connected to and derived from teachers’ work as well as examination of subject matter 
and teaching methods;
▪
Sustained and intensive, supported by modeling, coaching, and problem solving around 
specific problems of practice; and
▪
Connected to other aspects of school change. 
The above strongly suggests a way forward in terms of inservice teacher development in many 
countries. Countries that rely on episodic and centralized cascade models without adequate 
school-level follow-up, may consider introducing policies of continuous professional 
development (CPD). Continuous, localized, or school-based professional development is ongoing 
and takes place frequently, including all teachers, at the school or cluster level; it is 
contextualized within real-life questions, problems, and scenarios in real classrooms in a school; 
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and it allows colleagues to collaborate, share knowledge, and reflect on solutions to these 
questions through teacher research . 
Discussions among teachers that support critical examination of teaching would appear to be rare 
in many countries, despite policies that promote reflective practice. There is often little time or 
encouragement for this process, it often is not integrated into professional development programs, 
and teachers can even find it threatening unless it is well understood and structured. Borko (2004) 
suggests that such conversations, or the development of communities of practice, must occur if 
teachers are to explore collectively ways of improving their teaching and support one another as 
they work to transform their practice.