Professional development opportunities for early years teachers using social media: the case of England and Turkey

Professional development is a key skill for all teachers and needs to be promoted. However, there are quite different practices within countries because of different qualification requirements [Moss, P., G. Dahlberg, S. Grieshaber, S. Mantovani, H. May, A. Pence, S. Rayna, P. Oberhuemer, I. Schreyer, and M. Neuman. 2010. Professionals in Early Childhood Education and Care Systems: European Profiles and Perspectives. Opladen: Barbra Budich Publishers]. To decrease the practical gap between the countries, early years teachers in one developing and one developed country have been chosen to use social media as a way of interacting with each other and furthering their professional development. Kolb's Experiential Learning Model has been adapted as a theoretical underpinning for the research. To identify the impact of the model, interviews and observations have been used to collect data. Findings show that there have been positive outcomes that support professional development for the participating teachers.