Towards best practice : professional development in New Zealand primary schools

Professional Development is now a requirement for all teachers. This study explores the professional development experiences of teachers within the New Zealand State Primary school context. It will explore professional development as it is described by participating teachers in interviews, observed in practice from field observations in a school setting, outlined in documentation and as discussed in a range of the relevant literature. This study arose from my experiences as a primary school teacher and from an interest in how professional development was occurring, in a New Zealand environment that increasingly sought accountability from its teachers, while placing them in a context of on-going change