Widening the circle

When many of us started teaching, the overhead projector, loudspeaker and stencil duplicator were the most widely used technologies in schools. Our classrooms had a blackboard with chalk and a duster, and we took our students to the school library to watch a video when it was relevant. The cameras we used to take photos of our students used film. This was 20 years ago, not 50. How quickly the educational technologies available to us as teachers have changed in a relatively short space of time. There are many challenges for teachers' professional learning associated with this rapid rate of change. Here, we discuss three particular challenges: redefining the nature of teacher knowledge required to be a professional 21st century educator, keeping abreast of emerging trends and informing parents of new developments.