National models for continuing professional development: the challenges of twenty-first-century knowledge management

Abstract

If teacher quality is the most critical factor in improving educational outcomes, then why is so little attention drawn to the knowledge and evidence base available to support teachers in improving the quality of their professional knowledge? This paper draws together findings from a range of sources to propose national models for continuing professional development (CPD). It examines the unacknowledged problem of providing a sustained approach to improving the quality of and access to the evidence base underpinning teachers’ CPD. In the twenty-first century, through the use of digital technologies, the research and evidence base underpinning educational practice surely could be made accessible. The quality of the knowledge base and teacher access to this is rarely if ever acknowledged in the discourses about school and system improvement. The lack of access to the latest research is further compounded by the fact that research published in journals is not generally designed around questions teachers want answered. In short, the knowledge that is produced and the management of it within the education sector lack systemic organisation and dissemination. This paper outlines opportunities for low-cost inter-linked national and international e-infrastructures to be developed to support knowledge sharing and building.