Thriving in the New Normal: In-Service Professional Development Needs and Experiences

Thriving in the New Normal: In-Service Professional Development Needs and Experiences

Li Li, Gareth Richard Morris
Copyright: © 2021 |Pages: 19
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-7998-7226-9.ch013
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Abstract

Language education in higher education has been significantly impacted by COVID-19, and this has placed significant pressure on practitioners around the world irrespective of their respective experience prior to the pandemic. Teachers are now expected to deliver classes utilising new mediums whilst learning how to use different technologies. This can place a significant strain on individuals, institutions, and education sectors as everyone is expected to become proficient in a new normal working environment. In light of this, this chapter considers the in-service professional development needs and experiences of 88 language teachers at a Sino foreign university in Mainland China. The aim is that the insights provided here will help education providers better understand the challenges that their staff may be facing and consider ways in which teacher learning can be addressed. This chapter should be of interest to educators, managers, leaders, and policymakers in a wide range of international settings.
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Background

Professional development is a key area for teacher education. There is a widespread view that it is critical for teachers to play an active role in their learning processes, as it will increase the success of development (Bailey, Curtis & Nunan 2001; Little, 2006; Li, 2017a). In terms of teacher learning, there are different approaches, and research suggests that the bottom-up efforts that are instigated by individuals and groups (e.g., Cheng & Wang, 2004) are more effective because such efforts are often closely related to teachers’ own needs. Mann (2005) highlights the core elements of teacher development, including the need to address the insider view rather than the outsider view and its nature of being a continuing process of becoming and a process of articulating an inner world of conscious choices made in response to the outer world of the teaching context (105).

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