If you would like to participate in discussions about this topic, please visit the specific forum.

(Group Leaders: Eilish MCLOUGHLIN, Dagmara SOKOLOWSKA)

Education systems must adapt to the rapidly changing landscape of the global economy and society to prepare learners to live and thrive in a complex and connected society. Thus now, more than ever, providing support for physics teachers (from early childhood to university level) in addressing new challenges and barriers to student participation and engagement in physics education at school and university level is critical. The quality of pre-service teacher education supplemented by a continuing professional learning programme, is widely considered the most crucial factor for improving the quality of student learning. The effectiveness of teachers’ instructional strategies depends on their understanding of how students learn (a topic) and their awareness of how student learning is affected by other factors, such as the specific educational contexts and students’ difficulties/ideas related to that topic. Teachers need to deploy a range of strategies to support individual and differentiated learning in their pedagogical practices. Crucially, teachers’ engagement in professional learning is shown to have a positive influence on their learners’ academic achievement in physics – and this is increased when teacher professional learning is extended over a period of time and involves the engagement of external experts and opportunities to take part in professional communities of practice. 

The GIREP Thematic Group Physics Teacher Professional learning (GTG-PTPL) invites participation by anyone interested in addressing the following questions: 

1) What are the key challenges and opportunities to recruiting and retaining physics teachers? 

(2) What pedagogical methodologies are most effective in enhancing physics teaching and learning?

(3) What are the key challenges and opportunities for developing teachers’ competencies for online teaching? 

(4) What is the role of national and international networks of teachers, physics education researchers and university-school collaborations in improving physics teaching?

GTG-PTPL will support activities that foster communication and exchange among GIREP members with an interest in  this area, including the organization of an Invited symposium or workshop at GIREP Conferences and actions associated with the corresponding proceedings.

For further information, please email to:

Eilish MCLOUGHLIN (Dublin City University, Ireland) eilish.mcloughlin@dcu.ie

Dagmara SOKOLOWSKA (Jagiellonian University, Poland) dagmara.sokolowska@uj.edu.pl