Professional Development: International and National Perspectives. Four Presentations from AAHE's National Conference on School/College Collaboration, 1993-1994.

The four papers presented here address teacher development from an international viewpoint. In "Professional Development and Standards" (Linda Darling-Hammond) it is suggested that U.S. educators engage in new kinds of collaborations with universities, and it proposes a shift from information transmittal to "co-construction" of knowledge state From telling to facilitating. Next, "Reflections Derived From an Ethnographic Study of Japanese Elementary Schools" (Nancy Sato) warns that collaboration can be a double-edged sword, and notes that the separation of teacher and student roles and relationships is blurred in Japan, as is the separation between a teacher's personal and professional life. A similar context exists in China as we see from "Visions of Collegiality: Images from Teachers in China" (Lynn Paine). There teachers are part of an organization where working together is the fabric of their entire careers. The theme of "An Australian's Focus on Teaching and Learning Through Professional Development" (Diane Snowball), is the importance of continued teacher training for new teachers, noting that in Australia the purpose of assessment is to inform teaching. A brief section on the American Association for Higher Education and its Education Trust is appended. (CH)