Focus on Professional Development in Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

The paper presented explores and identifies a reflective process on professional development which basically refers to ongoing learning opportunities available to teachers and any other education personnel through online or traditional institutes and constituencies. This paper echoes on how professional development can be focused around student engagement through thinking skills and strategies; and the link between pedagogy and literature. The paper emphasizes the importance of professional development based on four stages: exploration of professional development for the present; developing the portfolio; undertaking the professional development and reporting on the professional development. The more educators integrate various strategies into daily learning, the more students will gain confidence to question, analyze, identify and apply ideas and concepts.

Today, educational institutes are facing an array of complex challenges as they have to work with an increasingly diverse population of students, integrate new technologies into classrooms, and meet extensive academic standards and objectives. This paper supports the theory that quality teaching and school leadership are the most important factors in raising students’ achievements. For improved educational strategies, professional development is a very good tool to strengthen teacher performance. Many people are not aware of their institution’s methods for improving teaching and student learning. This paper demonstrates that professional development is the appropriate way educators can better their performance and raise student achievement.