Designing a Model of Professional Development for Teachers Working in Unfavourable Social Conditions with Children at Risk of Educational Failure: Empirical Basis and Key Components

Abstract

The paper discusses results of a research on Russian teachers working in difficult social contexts (remote, back country regions, deprived town areas) with children at risk of educational failure.This research aimed to explore the existing practices of professional development for such teachers and its conclusions have formed the basis for developing a new model of professional development which implies the following features: continuity, individualisation, connection with the school’s general task of raising the quality of education, special training in teaching different groups of children.The model represents professional development as the individualised cyclic process which leads to refusal of routine and transition to modern practices of working with pupils with risks of low educational performance.The outcomes of this research may be of interest to education managers, advanced training specialists and can be applied within the national system of professional growth for teachers.