Article Link: http://www.exchangepress.com/article/steps-to-reflective-practice-model-of-teacher-development/5015314/
While early childhood educators have embraced Developmentally Appropriate Practice in our work with children, we have been slower to adopt such practices in helping early childhood teachers to grow.Our field’s methods of teacher education and training still lean toward direct teaching (e.g. classes and workshops) and observational learning from models (e.g. mentoring programs), rather than methods based on the teachers’ own actions and understandings. Most staff development is curriculum based, rather than based on how teachers learn and grow.
This critique is not new. Betty Jones neatly captured this idea when she wrote that “. . . people who are going to become teachers of young children should be taught in the same way I hope they will teach. Katz (1977) has called this the Principle of Congruity �" that adults be treated according to the developmental principles they must follow in working with young children" (1986, p. xi). With this congruity in mind, Jones and Katz have long promoted an experience-based approach to staff development. In their views, one of the keys to helping teachers grow is for them to have a relationship with a trusted confidant, another early childhood professional with whom they can create a continuing ...