Responsive professional development: A facilitation approach for teachers’ development in a physics teaching community of practice

Creating learning environments that can accommodate teachers’ diverse needs is challenging because responsive elements are not clearly defined or identified. This study identified responsive teacher professional development (PD) elements by taking a phenomenological approach. Using surveys and interviews with 13 high school physics teachers in a PD program at a Midwestern university, we identified responsive features such as practicality, flexibility, and accessibility core to the enactment of a responsive PD. Other features were opportunities for community engagement, pedagogical support, and professional growth, which were aligned with the benefits of engagement in a Community of Practice model incorporated in this work. • Responsive Professional Development (RPD) is a facilitatory strategy in teacher PD. • RPD is attending to teachers' needs, interests, and concerns in PD design. • RPD allows adapting the PD instructions to fit the teachers' perspectives. • Teachers perceived the RPD strategies as positive. • Teachers identified PD elements that made the program distinct.