Filipino Teacher Professional Development in the New Normal

The Covid-19 pandemic has posed various challenges particularly in the education sector where the ‘new normal’ experience is all about online interaction and distance learning. As the health protocols enforce physical distancing measures, actual and personal interaction and engagements are limited. As teacher professional development (TPD) becomes a melting pot of best practices and strategies that work, teachers receive a perspective that helps them create their own professional vision. The findings of this study revealed that for teachers, TPD is a route to enhance and upgrade their knowledge and skills and professional growth, with teaching as a life-long learning process. Pre- Covid-19 TPD programs included initiatives on content, pedagogy and technology, action learning, graduate studies, leadership and management, and action research. During the pandemic, teachers were exposed to webinars and training on online teaching and learning, technological capacity, and mental health. Regardless of age and years of teaching experience, teachers have a mindset to grow in the profession and be better educators. They want to unlearn the old, and relearn new knowledge and skills because they want their students to learn according to their current needs and what the world needs in the future.