tandfonline.com – Continuing professional development designed as second-order action research: outcomes and lessons learned

ABSTRACT

This paper reports the results from a second-order action research process, accompanying a continuing professional development (CPD), the Pedagogy and Subject Didactics Programme (PFL). PFL is a 2-year-postgraduate university course that focuses primarily on subject didactics, action research methods and peer group learning. This study accompanied PFL 2015–2017 with 20 graduates. The main objectives of the evaluation were to verify and maintain a good quality of the input and the possibility to bring this input into the daily work of teachers. Through the formative process orientation, we as program administrators were enabled to integrate many insights directly into the further development of the course. The described process shows how and to what extent PFL could be positively shaped by feedback from teachers and our reflection on it. In this way we were able to meet the needs of the participants without losing sight of PFL’s goal. Targeted interventions enabled us to achieve most of the two main objectives of the study.