Prospective physical sciences teachers' willingness to engage in learning communities

Abstract

Teachers' professional development is a lifelong learning process that should start with teaching practice, is best developed from experience and can be promoted by socio-professional interactions. Thus, a learning community of teachers might be a valuable environment for continuing professional development. This paper reports research carried out with 46 prospective physical sciences teachers about to graduate from a Portuguese university. The study aims at investigating their willingness to engage in learning communities. The majority of the participants stated that they would like to engage in a learning community. Therefore, actions must be taken in order to foster learning communities, including newly formed teachers.