Deeper Learning and Teacher Professional Development

“Traditional teacher prep does not teach you how to do” deeper learning, says Carrie Bakken, a teacher and codirector at the Avalon School in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Bakken and her colleagues know that if their classrooms and their students are going to meet the deeper learning competencies, then their own professional learning needs to hew closely to those competencies as well. The teachers’ learning, just like that of their students, “needs to be more inquiry-based.”

Teacher learning that values inquiry and that aligns with student learning has been identified as effective teacher professional development, whether in a deeper learning school or not. In 2005 the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development reported that

Effective professional development is on-going, includes training, practice and feedback, and provides adequate time and follow-up support. Successful programmes involve teachers in learning activities that are similar to ones they will use with their students, and encourage the development of teachers’ learning communities.

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