Changing Horizons in Geography Education - HERODOT Network ...

aphy teachers who are GTA members. In the questionnaire no definition of professionaldevelopment was offered to teachers with the specific purpose of allowingteachers’ own notions of what constitutes professional development to be expressed.A response rate of 52 per cent was achieved.In answer to whether they think that the GTA is contributing to their professionaldevelopment all respondents invariably agreed that the association does contributeto their professional development. Teachers were asked how the GTA is actuallyenhancing their professional development (Figure 1). The field trips were consideredby all respondents as the activities that offer most opportunities for teachers’ professionaldevelopment. Teachers claim that field trips help them to discover new naturaland man-made landscapes of geographical interest. After familiarising themselveswith these newly discovered places teachers then evaluate the potential of these sitesfor fieldwork sessions for their students. The papers that are annually published bythe GTA are perceived by teachers as a means of circulating the results of researchin geography and thus keep them updated with new developments in geography as anacademic discipline and geography education. Teachers remarked that the knowledgeand insights they gain from the reading of these papers facilitates the inclusion ofup-to-date examples in their lessons.The opportunity to discuss and exchange ideas with other teachers of geographyand geographers was the third most cited reason why teachers consider GTA activitiesto contribute to their professional development. Matters related to the geographysyllabus and national examinations seem to be the most popular topics informallydiscussed by teachers during these activities, despite the fact that these themes arethe least focused on in GTA activities.Teacher members of GTA were also asked to suggest other activities that the GTAcould organise to enhance the professional development of its members. The mostpopular response was the organisation of seminars to discuss various aspects ofschool geography including syllabuses, textbooks and teaching aids. The setting upof a resource database or centre that facilitates the sharing of teaching aids amongstteachers is also regarded as an activity that could enhance teachers’ professionaldevelopment. Field trips to places outside the Maltese Islands are also perceived asan activity with a potential to develop teachers’ knowledge about places and conceptstaught in school geography. A number of teachers suggested that students shouldbe invited to attend to some seminars and field trips with the specific purpose ofdiscussing aspects of the geography syllabus that interest them or that they would liketo change. Besides these activities it should also be noted that two teachers sitting onthe GTA committee have been nominated by the association to attend internationalconferences organised by EUROGEO, the association that brings together geographyteachers’ associations from across Europe.DiscussionJoyce and Showers (1988) advocate that professional development has an impact ondifferent levels of an individual, namely on awareness, knowledge, skills and application.They suggest that the level of impact is dependent on the type of professional119