Exploring ecological and professional competences’ development on the perspectives of teachers’ “needs”

Abstract

Taiwan’s Ministry of Education commissioned Nationwide Teacher Advancement Education Promotion Center to establish “the service platform of teachers’ professional development promotion” to promote effective communication on ecological and professional competences’ development among teachers and administrators. Through the platform, schools and national educational agencies can understand the needs of ecological and professional competences’ development and plan appropriate training and education activities. The number of hours, which were planned by the participants of teachers on the platform from 2009 to 2012 school year and which were needed for different kinds of professional development subjects, are analyzed. The results show that teachers’ needs for ecological and professional competences’ development subjects are stable. In summary, the paper draws some conclusions for the ecological and professional competences’ development of educators: provide teaching practices based on ecological and professional competences’ development courses. Provide a systematic series of ecological and professional competences’ development courses. Merge ecological and professional competences’ development resources to enrich the course content.