Patterns in teacher learning in different phases of the professional career

Abstract

This paper reviews recent research on learning patterns of student teachers and experienced teachers, mostly in the context of educational innovation and teachers' professional development. The discussion is structured along a model of teacher learning patterns comprising learning activities, regulation of learning, beliefs on own learning about teaching, motivations to learn about teaching, learning outcomes, and personal and contextual factors. A learning pattern is conceived as a coherent whole of learning activities that learners usually employ, their beliefs about own learning and their learning motivation; a whole that is characteristic of them in a certain period. Patterns in teacher learning across studies are identified and problematic aspects of teacher learning are discussed. It is concluded that teachers differ in the learning patterns they adopt, and that these patterns differ with regard to the quality of teacher learning and professional development in the context of adaptation to educational change and innovations. Implications for fostering teacher learning are derived.