Cooperative Development: Professional Self-Development Through Cooperation With Colleagues

by Julian Edge

This is a practical guide to professional self-development. It provides awareness-raising activities for the individual and a framework of structured actvities for colleagues working together. The emphasis is on enabling teachers to develop their own teaching according to their knowledge and experience. The first part of the book shows teachers how to acquire the skills necessary to explore their own situations and to discover their own ways of gaining more satisfaction from their teaching. The second part discusses background ideas and the use of co-operative development in classroom research as well as teacher education and assessment. The "Teacher to Teacher" series aims to provide a forum for new ideas, for exploring poblems and issues of concern to all teachers and teacher trainers. It is for all teachers who are looking for professional development.

110 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

About the author

I have been involved in teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) since 1969, with an increasing engagement in teacher education in that field. I am fascinated by the interaction between personal development and professional development, and by how individual development is best achieved in social interaction. That is very much the focus of my 2002 book, Continuing Cooperative Development. Mind you, I also love a good story, and I find that my writing has moved more and more away from academic prose towards the sharing of experience and the shared attempt to make sense of it. In my 2011 book, The Reflexive Teacher Educator, I use re-interpretations of the myths of Icarus and Narcissus, as well as snippets from my own mental cowboy movie, to sketch a picture of TESOL teacher education as I have shaped my version of it, and it has shaped my working life. If you find that any of this resonates with you, you can contact me at julian.edge@manchester.ac.uk