Teacher Development 3.0: How we can transform the professional education of teachers

We are a group of teachers, school leaders, teacher educators and researchers who want to promote the development of teaching as a profession in the best interests of children, young people and society as a whole. We are particularly interested in how universities can support a profession-led model of teacher development. We reject the terms of the polarised debates that are currently dominant: with regard to initial teacher education, ‘reform’ and ‘defend’ positions have become so entrenched that sustainable change for the good is ever more difficult to achieve. With reference to teaching, ‘traditional’ and ‘progressive’ have become meaningless terms flung around in the echo chambers of Twitter. In this pamphlet we promote 4 design principles that we believe are essential in transforming the professional education of teachers, both at the beginning and throughout their careers. We propose: * A long-life teaching profession; * Schools, universities and teachers at the heart of their communities; * Education as cultural and societal development as well as individual advantage; * A continuum of professional learning. We believe we need to take a long term view about the future of schools and teaching as a profession, responding to the significant societal challenges we face. We also offer 4 key design questions for teacher educators that might help them to enact the principles of Teacher Development 3.0.