Teacher Change as a Result of Professional Development Engagement: A Review of Reflections from International Settings

Abstract

Effective teacher professional development has been well documented as a key facilitator of teacher change by providing teachers with opportunities to develop their professional competencies. A transformative teacher professional development program not only enhances teacher growth, ensuring effective teaching practices, but also fosters a culture of lifelong learning, which is a necessary foundation for addressing the dynamic educational evolution. Given that critical role, there is an extensive body of studies researching the relationship between teacher professional development and teacher change in various educational contexts worldwide. This paper was conducted to provide a review of research on how teacher change occurs as a result of teachers’ participation in professional development activities. Specifically, this review presents changes that teachers have undergone in their behavioral, cognitive, and affective domains following teacher professional development engagement and the mechanism of the change process. Drawing on systematic analyses of original studies in different international settings, the review points out professional development initiatives that facilitate meaningful changes among teachers from diverse global educational contexts, which can inform recommendations for optimizing teacher professional development programs to enhance professional growth and instructional quality in local settings.