The global education system is experiencing significant transformations, with societies now realising that teachers are not only the ‘variable’ that needs to be changed to improve the education system but also the most significant change agent in the reform. This emphasises the importance of teacher professional development (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). As agents and targets of change, teachers face increasing challenges that demand continuous enhancement of skills and knowledge due to technological advancements, curriculum updates, and evolving teaching methodologies (Borko et al., 2010; Lawless & Pellegrino, 2007). Research highlights that teaching quality profoundly affects student outcomes, making ongoing teacher development essential to improving global educational quality (Guskey, 2002; Hammond et al., 2017). In this context, the book, Rethinking teacher professional development: Designing and researching how teachers learn by Donald Freeman, challenges traditional paradigms by introducing a socio-material and sensemaking framework, offering valuable insights for designing more effective professional development strategies.
This book is divided into three main sections: Part I (Chapters 1-4) explores traditional perspectives on teacher learning and professional development; Part II (Chapters 5-8) challenges these assumptions with new concepts; and Part III (Chapters 9-10) provides cross-disciplinary, cultural, and contextual insights into professional development.
Chapter 1: “How Conventional Thinking has Led to a ‘Calculus’ of Teacher Professional Development”, critiques the conventional methodologies of teacher professional development, which are often formulaic and prescriptive. The author argues that such approaches fail to account for the complex realities of teaching and learning environments. He suggests that the traditional process-product model, which views professional development as a series of inputs leading to measurable outputs, oversimplifies the dynamic nature of teacher learning. This critique is well-supported by the literature and lays the groundwork for the book’s argument that new, more nuanced models are needed to truly enhance teacher development.
Chapter 2: “Knowing-Into-Doing: Mapping the Organization of Teacher Professional Development”, explores the idea that professional knowledge should directly enhance teaching practices. It critiques the assumption that professional learning automatically improves classroom outcomes and highlights the debate on top-down, standardised professional development versus teacher-led, inquiry-based models. Furthermore, this chapter advocates for professional development frameworks that are research-driven and responsive to the real challenges teachers face in their specific educational settings. Freeman ultimately calls for a more teacher-centred approach that fosters sustained, meaningful change in pedagogical practices rather than treating professional development as a one-size-fits-all solution.
Chapter 3: “How Teacher Learning Became Recognized as a Form of Learning”, delves into the essence of teacher learning, criticising traditional approaches that focus too much on measurable outcomes and tend to ignore the holistic aspects of the learning process. Freeman highlights this tendency as a “forest-for-the-trees,” where the overarching concept of teacher learning is often overlooked in favour of specific, easily measurable aspects. The chapter also questions the assumption that effective teaching directly impacts student performance, inviting deeper reflection into the complexities often lost in education dynamics. By advocating for a more comprehensive view, the chapter demonstrates the importance of considering first-hand experiential data and interpreting those experiences. It encourages using more adaptive methodologies that honour complexity in the learning and professional development process.
Chapter 4: “Researching Teacher Professional Development: The Assemblage, the Social Geography, and the Shadows on the Periphery”, emphasises a critical and holistic approach to researching teacher professional development by highlighting the interplay between research focus, methods, and assumptions. It advocates for an “assemblage” perspective, where research elements interact dynamically, rejecting linear methodologies. The chapter stresses the importance of considering socio-geographical boundaries, including excluded groups and capturing teachers’ subjective experiences through phenomenography. It critiques rigid assumptions about causality and time, warning against oversimplification, and calls for more reflective, inclusive, and adaptive research to better understand the complexities of teaching and professional growth.
Chapter 5: “Availability and Access to Professional Development: How Teacher Participant is Shaped”, explores how individual choices and structural factors, such as national policies, school norms, and socio-professional expectations, influence teachers’ participation in professional development. It challenges the view that non-participation reflects low motivation, highlighting limited access as a significant barrier. The author introduces the concept of a “culture of professional development”, emphasising the need for consistent, inclusive policies that align with teachers’ real needs. Using examples from Chile and Turkey, the chapter demonstrates how stable policies can enhance teachers’ understanding and utilisation of professional development opportunities.
Chapter 6: “(mis)Alignment in Professional Development”, explores the concept of alignment in teacher professional development, likening it to the game of “telephone”, where messages often become distorted. It highlights the gap between providers’ intentions and teachers’ experiences, noting that many teachers find that learning and applying knowledge need to be aligned with programme goals. The chapter emphasises the need to address this gap to enhance programme effectiveness, viewing (mis)alignment not as a failure but as an opportunity to refine learning experiences. Clear communication and an active meaning-making process are critical for designing effective professional development that supports teachers in reinterpreting and applying knowledge (Lampert, 2010).
Chapter 7: “Uptake, Usefulness, and Use: How Professional Development moves into Teaching”, examines how teacher development influences teaching by introducing the concepts of “uptake”, “usefulness”, and “use”. It emphasises that professional teaching goes beyond knowledge transfer, focusing on how teachers apply new learning in practice. The chapter highlights the role of individual teacher backgrounds and experiences in shaping their understanding and application of professional development. It underscores its importance in achieving teaching success and adaptability to various classroom contexts.
Chapter 8: “Naming and Learning Content in Professional Development: The Currency of Social Facts”, discusses the importance of naming and selecting content in professional development. It emphasises how the names of the contents shape perceptions, learning expectations, and social ownership in educational contexts. Content in professional development is fluid, as it is socially constructed and influenced by providers and participants. The framing of content by providers significantly shapes how participants perceive and engage with professional development. This chapter emphasises the importance of naming and selecting content and its language as a reflection of the global nature of education.
Chapter 9: “Learning4Teaching: Researching Teacher Professional Learning at Scale”, examines the evolving field of teacher professional learning research, emphasising the importance of balancing outcome-oriented and interpretive approaches to understand the complexities of teacher development. It highlights the Learning4Teaching project’s contributions to research design and methods for capturing the dynamics of teacher learning, advocating for a blended epistemological approach. The chapter stresses that professional learning extends beyond workshops to include teachers’ contextual experiences and addresses the sustainability challenges of development programmes that often lack long-term impact. Finally, this chapter emphasises the importance of building teacher authority, which includes teachers' roles and power in the learning process, including their ability to lead, direct, and influence the classroom learning environment. This is done to empower teachers to ensure meaningful engagement and practical application of new knowledge in the classroom. The learning process can become more effective by recognising and enhancing teacher authority.
Chapter 10: “Rethinking Professional Development: The Argument for Learning4Teaching”, argues that the challenges to teacher professional development stem from our conceptualisations, not methodologies. The chapter introduces the “Learning4Teaching” framework, which emphasises the need to rethink how we understand teacher learning, the processes involved, and how these elements are learned. The framework argues that focusing on teacher experiences and redefining the relationship between teacher and student learning can enhance the effectiveness of professional development. The conditional framework envisioned, suggests that teacher learning should be viewed as an ongoing process directly impacting student success, and challenging static views of professional development. Understanding the culture surrounding professional development could help explain why particular programmes succeed or fail, emphasising the importance of contextual factors in shaping outcomes.
Does teacher training truly enhance teaching quality, or is it merely a formality with little real impact in the classroom? This book challenges the assumption that teacher professionalism can be measured solely through standardised training programmes, which often fail to align with real-world needs. With an innovative approach, it offers a fresh perspective on how teachers learn—not just through formal instruction but also through their interactions with their environment, policies, and personal experiences. Freeman critiques the traditional view that improving teachers' skills automatically leads to better student outcomes. He highlights how education systems often focus more on quantifiable results while overlooking crucial aspects such as reflection, adaptability, and teachers' independent professional development. Through socio-material and sense making frameworks, the book invites readers to rethink teacher learning as a dynamic, multifaceted journey that goes far beyond just acquiring technical skills. It sheds light on how teachers’ daily interactions with their surroundings—the classroom, their colleagues, the resources available to them—play a crucial role in shaping their professional growth. This approach goes deeper than the mere transfer of knowledge; it explores how teachers actively interpret and adapt to the ever-changing complexities of their teaching environments. By emphasising the intertwined relationship between material, social, and institutional factors, the book challenges the traditional view of teacher development as a rigid, one-size-fits-all model. Instead, it presents teacher learning as a continuous, evolving process that is intimately connected to real-world experiences and the systems in which teachers are embedded. The result is a more nuanced understanding that invites teachers to see their professional journey as something rich, responsive, and deeply personal.
One of the main strengths of this book is its innovative theoretical offerings and conceptual frameworks. By critiquing conventional paradigms, the book provides a new perspective on professional development, emphasising socio-material and sensemaking approaches that address the complexities of teacher learning. Chapters such as "Knowing-Into-Doing" and "How Teacher Learning became Recognised as a Form of Learning" effectively challenge reductive, outcome-focused models and propose more dynamic and adaptive methods for understanding teacher growth. The inclusion of international perspectives, as seen in the discussion of the policy landscape in Chile and Turkey, adds a global dimension to the analysis, increasing its relevance across various educational contexts.
Despite the strengths offered by this book, one potential shortcoming is its reliance on limited sample studies to illustrate its points, which may hinder the generalisability of its findings. Also, while the theoretical arguments are strong, the methodological discussions are still rather concise, leaving the reader without many practical steps to implement the suggested framework. The lack of detailed case studies or in-depth examples of how these theories translate into classroom practice might make it difficult for practitioners to apply the insights directly. These shortcomings, however, do not detract from the book's scholarly value but highlight areas where future research or complementary resources could expand its practical impact.
The book is a valuable resource for educational researchers, policymakers, and educators, offering critical insights into teacher learning and professional development. It critiques traditional methods, proposes innovative frameworks, and emphasises teacher-led, inquiry-based models tailored to professional realities. Focusing on socio-material contexts and systemic factors like culture and policy, the book bridges theory and practice, exemplified by its “Learning4Teaching” framework, which reconceptualises teacher and student learning relationships. It aims to advance the discourse on teacher development and equip stakeholders to drive meaningful, sustainable educational change.
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Guskey, T.R. (2002). Professional development and teacher change. Teachers and Teaching, 8(3), 381-391. https://doi.org/10.1080/135406002100000512
Hammond, L.D., Hyler, M.E., & Gardner, M. (2017). Effective teacher professional development. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/122.311
Lampert, M. (2010). Learning teaching in, from, and for practice: What do we mean? Journal of Teacher Education, 61(1-2), 21-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487109347321
Lawless, K.A., & Pellegrino, J.W. (2007). Professional development in integrating technology into teaching and learning: Knowns, unknowns, and ways to pursue better questions and answers. Review of Educational Research, 77(4), 575-614. https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654307309921
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Reviewer Notes:
Aidillah Suja, M.Pd.I is a lecturer at Sultan Abdurrahman State Islamic University Kepulauan Riau, Indonesia. His research interests include Arabic language education, Arabic learning methodology, Arabic learning strategy, foreign and second language education, and teacher education. Email: aidillahsuja87@gmail.com (https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6223-6359)
Mia Nurmala, M.Pd is an academic and lecturer in Arabic Language Education at the Indonesia University of Education (UPI). Her research interests focus on improving the quality and effectiveness of Arabic language learning, developing the profession of Arabic language teachers, and sociolinguistic and grammatical studies. Email: nurmalamia7@upi.edu (https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7021-4570)
Cite as: Suja, A., & Nurmala, M. (2025). BOOK REVIEW. Rethinking teacher professional development: Designing and researching how teachers learn. Journal of Learning for Development, 12 (3), 666-670.