CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL TEACHERS IN INDIA: LEARNING FROM INTERNATIONAL SUCCESSES

Professional development of teachers refers to the procedures and ways of assisting the teachers in constant renewal of their knowledge base and honing their skills to adjust to the emerging needs and changing situations of the teaching profession. While professional development includes both pre-service(preparation for the teaching profession) , continuous professional development of teachers refers to the in-service teacher education programs meant for development and professional growth within the realms of this profession. The paper discusses in brief the scenario of teacher professional development in the country along with some chief problems uncovered through researches made in the area of teacher education and professional development of teachers in India. Further, five international models of continuous professional development namely the MiTEP, the Ramp and Pathways, the Quest , the CCM and the Wyoming Triad model, have been discussed in brief that have provided a number of strategies and techiniuques of teaching and learning that can be implemented in the Indian system of professional development of teachers and some of them have been listed in the paper.