Maarten van de Ven
Over the past 50 years, greater attention has been given to teacher professional development in higher education. Most professional development activities focus on individual teachers, such as mentoring or the use of portfolios. However, new developments in higher education require teachers to work together in teams more often. Due to these changes, there is a growing need for professional development activities focusing on teams.
This review study was conducted to provide an overview of what is known about professional development in teams in the context of higher education. A total of 18 articles were reviewed that describe the effects of professional development in teams on teacher attitudes and teacher learning. Several factors that can either hinder or support professional development in teams are identified at three levels: the individual teacher level, the team level, and the organizational level.
This review has shown that team-based professional development interventions can be successful in fostering teacher learning in Higher Education.