About the content
This course will emphasise what you can do to act professionally. This includes developing your own philosophy of teaching and making sure that you continue to improve your knowledge and skills. It also considers what it means to be part of a community of professionals, working with others to improve what happens in your school, community and profession. This course is part of the Foundations of Teaching for Learning program which is designed to assist people who are currently teaching but have had no formal teacher education improve their understanding of their role and work as a teacher. This set of courses will enhance your knowledge and understanding about learning and teaching and what makes a teacher a professional. Practical activities are provided to assist you in using what you have learned to improve your teaching practice. While these are optional, it is strongly recommended that you undertake them if at all possible. Of particular importance is a guide to the development of a portfolio to help you organize and document your thinking about what you have learned. In addition, you may be able to use the portfolio to access other opportunities in the future. Announcement for US based teachers: Coursera and its partners are proud to offer eligible teachers in the US free Verified Certificates for this course and other high-quality teacher professional development courses, through the ConnectED effort announced by President Obama. To participate in this opportunity, US district leaders simply need to approve Coursera teacher professional development by completing a brief form at: www.coursera.org/tpd. US Teachers interested in this opportunity are also encouraged to follow the link to learn more and www.coursera.org/tpd. Once a district’s form has been verified, the district leader will be notified and teachers in the district will receive access to free verified certificates for Coursera professional development. Coursera and the Commonwealth Education Trust thank educators for the hard work they do every day and hope this opportunity will assist US teachers to continue developing their craft in a meaningful and flexible way.
- Week 1 - What it means to be a professional
This week we will consider what it means to be a teaching professional. We will ask you to think about your own beliefs about teaching and education in light of the expectations that society has for teachers. We will also reflect on the importance of the teach...
- Week 2 - Ethics, codes of conduct and standards for teachers
Now that we have started to consider teaching as a profession, we will begin to reflect on professional behaviour and ethics in more detail. We will look at the various means that are used to ensure that agreed professional standards are met. The topics covere...
- Week 3 - Legal and administrative responsibilities of a teacher
This week we will consider the roles that statute law, judge-made law and case law play in teaching and schooling. We will examine the concept of duty of care, the care that is owed to students by their teachers and school, and its implications for your profes...
- Week 4 - Developing a personal philosophy of teaching
Building on the last three weeks, we will now consider the importance of developing a personal philosophy of teaching. We will look at the impact that teaching and schools can have on student learning and development, and on student lives more generally. We wi...
- Week 5 - Being part of a professional learning community
Professional learning has a powerful role in improving teaching and learning. We will consider its impact by looking at research that demonstrates its influence on teacher quality and student outcomes. This will be complemented with case studies of professiona...
- Week 6 - Continuing to develop as a professional
We will conclude this course by examining the need for a teacher to continue to develop as a professional. It is important for teachers to periodically reflect on their teaching, engage in self-assessment, and set goals for future professional learning and dev...
- Professor Stephen Dinham, Chair of Teacher Education and Director of Learning and Teaching
University of Melbourne, Australia
Coursera is a digital company offering massive open online course founded by computer teachers Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller Stanford University, located in Mountain View, California.
Coursera works with top universities and organizations to make some of their courses available online, and offers courses in many subjects, including: physics, engineering, humanities, medicine, biology, social sciences, mathematics, business, computer science, digital marketing, data science, and other subjects.