Book Review: Professional Support Beyond Initial Teacher Education: Pedagogical Discernment and the Influence of Out-of-Field Teaching Practices

摘要

The quality of education has long been a core point of attention for all stake-holders involvedin education. In fact, teachers are the most important agents to guarantee the education quality(Hattie, 2009). Thus, schools and institutions strive to maintain a stable, qualified, and sustainableteaching workforce. Teacher professional development helps to better prepare teachers for diverseteaching context, enhances the well-being of teachers and improves the quality of human resourcesof teaching in schools. That’s why it has been a global research concern (Wang and Shuttlesworth,2020). As far as we are concerned, though acknowledged as a life-long process of learning anddeveloping in the research of a recent decade, in real practice, the focus of teachers’ professionaldevelopment is still on the beginning stage. However, beyond the crucial initial stage, teachers maystill face serious challenges in their career development, which either drop them out or drive themto learn being professionalized. This is the very reason why Du Plessis’s book has attracted ourattention. Instead of focusing on beginning teachers, Du Plessis, in her book titled ProfessionalSupport Beyond Initial Teacher Education: Pedagogical Discernment and the Influence of Out-of-fieldTeaching Practices, explores the out-of-field teaching phenomenon which is being aware of but farunder-researched in previous studies (Hobbs, 2013). The book shows a great concern for teachersin challenging positions and attempts to find solutions in targeted professional support, from whichall stakeholders in educational system can benefit.