Teacher development and curriculum reform

Teachers' professional lives have changed significantly in the past decade or so. With the advent of national curriculum guidelines many schools now program in accordance with nationally developed Statements and Profiles. Key Competencies have entered the educational discourse and the introduction of new assessment and reporting procedures, together with 'gifted and talented' programs... have all contributed to the complexity and intensity of teachers' work. In this era, professional development has largely been devolved to schools, and information technology is beginning to challenge the very nature of schools as we know them. Not only are teachers expected to work harder, but there's a lot of new learning involved in teaching.... We are feeling the impact of globalisation on our everyday lives, and techno-science and cyber-culture now have a deep impact on the identity of young people. (Hattam et al. 1999: 1).