Kepada mereka yang berusaha untuk menyuburkan pembangunan profesional guru berasaskan sekolah maka buku ini perlu menjadi rujukan. Kenapa?

“the most powerful learning is that which occurs in respone to challenges currently being faced by learner and allows for immediate application, experimentation, and adaptation on the job” (Sparks & Hirsh, 1997)

Buku ini berorientasikan “how-to” yang memberi fokus kepada “job-embedded learning” berdasarkan kajian dan pengalaman pengamal. Ada tiga bahagian utama isi kandungannya.

• Pertama – memberikan asas program dan aktiviti pembangunan profesional sekolah yang berkesan. (3 bab).
• Kedua – secara lebih khusus, buku ini memperkenalkan beberapa strategi “job-embedded professional development“. antaranya, Book Studies, Research-in-Action, Coversation Tools, Lesson Study, Teacher Inquiry, Coaching dan Professional Learning Communities. (7 bab)
• Ketiga – mencadangkan penggunaan secara efektif toolbox pembangunan professional berdasarkan keserasian antara strategi dan keperluan pembangunan profesional. (2 bab)

Petikan di bawah digunakan oleh penulis buku ini untuk mewajarkan kenapa pembangunan profesional guru perlu menjadi agenda utama.

“No single principle of school reform is more valid or durable than the maxim that student learning depends first, last and always on the quality of the teachers. Experts may disagree about how highly to value the size of a class or school, how the system functions, or whether it is adequately funded – but nobody’s list of education’s priorities fails to place teacher quality at or very near the top.” (The Report of the Task Force on Teacher Leadership, 2001)

You can access the full and original version of Sir Ken Robinson talk thru this link – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCbdS4hSa0s