Abstract
This chapter presents the findings of the fourth of five themes namely, ‘Professional Development’, as identified through the analysis of interviews with 53 research-active high school teachers and technicians. Teachers and technicians identified three distinct aspects of professional development provided through participation in research projects including (1) the development of new or enhanced skills, including practical, interpersonal and subject knowledge, (2) increased recognition of their role and their subject, including the development of alternative pathways to professional development beyond traditional management routes and (3) research projects as a pedagogical approach to science education.
As part of their reflections upon the role of research projects in their wider professional development, teachers and technicians also more frequently detailed the challenges they experienced, and these are also outlined in the latter part of this chapter.
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A. C. Rushton, E. (2021). Professional Development. In: Science Education and Teacher Professional Development. Palgrave Studies in Alternative Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64107-8_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-64107-8_7
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