PDP: A Living Legacy in Teacher Education

Dr. Selma Wassermann's story reminds us that the Professional Development Program (PDP) at Simon Fraser University did not begin as a routine institutional initiative. Rather, it emerged from a deliberate effort to challenge prevailing assumptions about traditional teaching methods through sustained, reflective practice.

To translate PDP's founding philosophy into an account of how the program took shape, evolved, and endured, we spoke with Stephen Smith, Professor and Director of Professional Programs in the Faculty of Education, and Janice St. Helene, Associate Director of Preservice Professional Studies.

PHILOSOPHY

From the outset, PDP operated under a straightforward yet demanding principle: practice comes first. Teaching was understood as an ethical and relational profession, grounded in experience and developed through ongoing, attentive engagement in real classroom settings.

The program was not designed to produce technicians of curriculum, but educators capable of judgment, responsiveness, and care. PDP was borne in practice and carried forward through reflection, attentiveness, and responsibility to students.

Traditional models of teacher education have typically entered the university as the primary site of knowledge production. PDP, by contrast, was built around schools. Student teachers entered classrooms early in their preparation and spent extended periods there, allowing them to understand the work of teaching through lived experience. Over time, the program's structure grew more complex, incorporating integrated modules, extended practica, and regional partnerships.

Its fundamental commitment, however, remained unchanged: schools are not peripheral to teacher education; they are its foundation.

INNOVATION: THE DIFFERENTIATED STAFFING MODEL

One of the enduring innovations that set PDP apart was its differentiated—or complementary—staffing model. Rather than separating academic and professional expertise, PDP institutionalized collaboration between tenure-track faculty and practicing educators seconded from school districts.

PEOPLE: CARRYING THE TORCH

The PDP did not remain a single, closed model. Instead, its underlying philosophy continued to inform new directions in teacher education, including integrated approaches that rethought the boundaries between coursework and practicum. Programs such as the Professional Qualification Program (PQP) and the Professional Linking Program (PLP) emerged from this lineage, each carrying forward PDP's commitments while responding to the particular circumstances of internationally educated teachers and part-time students.

Janice St. Helene presents these programs as extensions of PDP's responsiveness rather than deviations from its fundamental principle. They form part of a broader ecosystem of practice-first teacher education—distinct in context, yet unified by a shared philosophical foundation.

LEGACY AND LEARNING — TAKING THE QUESTION FORWARD

Assessing the impact of teacher education is never straightforward. As Stephen Smith observes, the work of teaching is often taken for granted, making its effects difficult to quantify. Nevertheless, the immersive length and structure of PDP's practicum suggest a lasting influence. Graduates enter the profession with a clearer understanding of its demands and, in many cases, with a greater capacity for resilience over time.

Viewed across six decades, PDP emerges not as a finished model, but as a living legacy—one grounded in a radical commitment to dissolving the divide between theory and practice, and one that continues to learn from its own history.