Supporting the development of teachers as expert learners: lessons on professional learning from large scale pedagogical innovations in Mexico and Colombia

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ABSTRACT This conceptual article presents a challenge to the dominant view and practice of teacher professional learning and its focus on preparing experts in teaching and proposes instead an emphasis on preparing experts in learning. Drawing on contemporary knowledge on the nature of human learning and development, and in particular, the key role that constant exposure to expert practice plays on effective learning, the author develops the argument that the emphasis of teacher professional learning should be placed on developing mastery of the practice of learning much more so than developing mastery of the practice of teaching. Through a secondary analysis of existing knowledge on two successful initiatives of large-scale pedagogical innovation in Mexico and Colombia, the author distils some fundamental features of professional learning approaches that support the development of teachers as expert learners. He outlines an explanation of why and how this type of professional learning is contributing to the remarkable improvements in student learning and wellbeing achieved by these pedagogical innovations. He also proposes some additional features currently missing in the two cases examined that could be considered for a next generation of professional learning approaches to effectively prepare teachers as experts in learning.