Understanding Professional Development from the Perspective of Social Learning Theory

This paper considers professional development (PD) from the perspective of Social Learning Theory (SLT). While a single component of SLT, self-efficacy, is frequently referred to in teacher education research, the full theory has not been used in this field previously. In this paper SLT is evaluated in terms of the extent to which it is able to describe and explain the phenomena of professional learning. An example of reform-oriented PD is used for this purpose. SLT provides an integrated view of learning, accounting for individual, cognitive aspects of learning, such as knowledge and beliefs as well as social and participatory aspects of learning. This study demonstrates that SLT provides a potentially useful theoretical approach in the context of teachers’ professional learning.