Physics Teacher Professional Learning

Abstract

This chapter presents an overview of the current situation of physics teacher professional learning, encompassing pre-service teachers at the start of their teaching careers and throughout the lifetime of their teaching careers. We outline the needs and opportunities for teacher professional learning in several educational systems, including the transnational mobility program offered to teachers in Europe. We reflect on the frameworks for teacher professional learning that support teachers to develop their general pedagogical content knowledge and specialized content knowledge for teaching physics. We explore the strategies for reflective, collaborative interaction between teachers and researchers, focused on reinforcing teacher's confidence in teaching physics and developing their competencies for long-life learning. Overall, this chapter explores the state-of-the-art of teacher professional development and how these strategies can be utilized to support physics teachers in designing teaching and learning activities that address the needs of future physics learners.