Professional Development for Educators in Singapore, South Africa, and Zimbabwe

Teacher professional learning is an integral component to support the increasingly complex skills learners need in order to succeed in the 21st century. The purpose of this chapter is to compare teacher professional development in Singapore, South Africa, and Zimbabwe and identify gaps and share good practices between the countries to help teachers learn and refine instructional strategies. Continuous professional teacher development, which is managed by the South African Council of Educators, is a system that encourages educators to grow professionally. Zimbabwe has mainly relied on cascaded professional development workshops. However, critics of this model of professional development argue that this model often has no meaningful impact on classroom practice. In Singapore, most professional development is subject specific and provides teachers with opportunities for networked learning, collegial sharing, and collaboration. From the findings, the recommendation is that there is need for cooperation between countries to strengthen teacher professional development systems.