Journal of Education for International Development 3:2 January 2008 Co-constructing Meaningful Professional Development: Lessons for International Collaboration

Abstract

This paper describes a conceptual framework co-constructed by international collaborators for a short course designed and delivered to participants in a development project in Pakistan. The purpose of the project was to support teacher educators in the development and management of effective and innovative pre and in-service teacher education programs. The conceptual framework of the course focused on three factors commonly found in the literature to influence the quality of professional development: (a) content; (b) process/structure; and, (c) context characteristics. Finally, this paper details the evaluation of this project using Guskey’s (2003) model of professional development evaluation, and discusses the need for this kind of evaluation to be an integral part of all international development projects.