A Community-Based, Practice-Oriented Teacher Professional Development Program: Changes in Teaching Culture in Korea

This chapter introduces a conceptual framework and practices yielded by research into a teacher Professional Development program focusing on teacher community for mathematics teachers to increase professionalism. Conceptually, it was distinguished from the other training programs in terms of the participants, curriculum, and methods. The teacher communities consisting of 3 or 4 teachers from the same school, as well as mentor and sub-mentor, master or professional teachers with professional expertise and executive capability. There were a total of 28 teachers from 9 schools and 18 mentors and sub-mentors supported each school. The curriculum of our program includes some process practicing and reflecting of teachers’ communities on their own classes. The program’s structure required active participation. Through our program, the teachers improved their teaching competency. Also, the operational ability of the teacher learning communities was improved. A teaching and learning community culture had been formed in each school, which showed that the community could be voluntarily operated although our program is over. The teachers volunteered to open their classes to teaching community members, rather than avoiding it, breaking awareness that open class regarded as the place of evaluating them until now in Korean classroom culture. The opening classes became a new method to improve teaching competency of community.