1. Challenging the Discourse of Professional development Walter Humes University of Stirling

2. Four Challenges • Political • Philosophical • Pedagogical • Professional

3. Discourse Analysis • Where has the discourse come from? • Why has it come to prominence now? • What is its knowledge base? • How does it shape the thinking and practice of professionals? • Whose interests does it really serve?

4. The Changing Discourse of Professional Development • Reflection • Competences • Communities of enquiry • Action research • Leadership skills • Teacher identity

5. Curriculum for Excellence • Successful learners • Confident individuals • Effective contributors • Responsible citizens

6. Mark Priestley and Walter Humes (2010) • ‘The development of Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence: amnesia and déjà vu’, Oxford Review of Education 36 (3), 345-361.

7. The Dangers of Pedagogical Fundamentalism • ‘Active’ learning • Social constructivism • Collegiality

8. Edward Said • ‘Proper professional behaviour [now consists of] not rocking the boat, not straying outside the accepted paradigms or limits, making yourself marketable and above all presentable, hence uncontroversial and unpolitical and “objective”.’

9. Gordon Kirk • ‘Perhaps the hallmark of the professional teacher is that he or she holds open the possibility of enhanced performance, not as a response to political diktat, not as a form of compliance, not in fulfilment of contractual requirement, but as the expression of an inner professional commitment to improved practice.’

10. Contact • walter.humes@stir.ac.uk