Teachers as agents of change: blending research and practice and thoughts on future teacher professional development opportunities

This paper offers critical reflection on approaches to teachers’ professional development with new technologies. Drawing on international literature, it argues there is a need to move away from ‘one off’ and ‘one size fits all’ professional development activities to those that are based in day to day practices and informed by wider pedagogical practices. It calls for a move away from 'best practice' and 'top down' models, to ones that emerge collaboratively and from the 'bottom up'. and which also account for individual and contextual factors, thereby enabling teachers to incorporate new practices within their existing practices and beliefs. It also draws on the case studies within the book to suggest that the promotion of teachers as researchers should be seen as a powerful, empowering professional development activity that not only encourages greater reflection on practice and outcomes but which also provides contextual data that can be more effectively disseminated to and used by other practitioners.