scholarly journals Effectiveness of TESOL Teachers Continuous Professional Development: Perspectives form Oman

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Khadija Al Balushi
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Student Learning ◽  
Teacher Quality ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Family Responsibilities ◽  
The Impact

Teacher continuous professional development (CPD) is perceived as a significant way of improving schools, increasing teacher quality, and enhancing student learning (Vangrieken et al., 2017; Day, 1999). Therefore, educational scholars and policy makers demand CPD opportunities for teachers to help them enhance their knowledge and develop new instructional practices. However, the effectiveness of CPD initiatives and the impact they have on teaching and learning is questionable as reported by many research studies both locally in Oman and internationally (e.g. Al-Balushi, 2017; Antoniou & Kyriakides, 2013). This paper reports the findings of a study, which critically examined the effectiveness of the CPD activities run by the Ministry of Education-Oman for TESOL teachers and the impact of these activities in improving schools, increasing teacher quality and improving the quality of student learning. Data were collected using questionnaires, observations, semi structured and focus-group interview with EFL teachers in Oman. The findings revealed that a number of factors affect English teachers’ CPD in Oman; some of these factors facilitate teachers access to CPD and its’ success while others inhibit that. The data indicates that CPD timing and location can facilitate teachers’ access to CPD while workload and family responsibilities are key inhibitors to CPD access. The findings further showed that suitability and relevance of CPD activity in terms of the topics presented in it and the ideas discussed was reported as an important factor to effective CPD whereas CPD done by unqualified teacher educators can hinder the success of CPD. The study further indicated that the centralised top-down nature of the current CPD system seems to negatively affect the success of CPD in the in-service TESOL context in Oman. The findings suggest that the role of teachers themselves in the provision of CPD is significant; the way teachers are currently marginalized and seen as grateful recipients of CPD do not provide the conditions for intelligent and responsive teaching profession

scholarly journals A Two-prong Approach for Enhancing Teaching and Learning for 21st Century skills Development in Oyo State, Nigeria

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Secondary Schools ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Formal Education ◽  
Survey Design ◽  
Instructional Delivery ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Professional Development Of Teachers ◽  
The Impact

Formal Education in the 21st Century is focused on the development of learners’ skills and competencies essential to navigate the complexities and uncertainties of the age. Effective acquisition of these skills in the school is predicated on adequate provision of technological resources, adequate school infrastructure and continuous professional development of teachers for innovative instructional delivery. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the extent to which infrastructural provisions and continuous professional development of teachers in secondary schools in Nigeria support the development and acquisition of 21st Century teaching and learning skills. The study which adopted the impact of school infrastructure on learning by Barrett et al.as a conceptual framework, used descriptive survey design. Two self-constructed instruments were used to collect data from (20) selected secondary schools, (50) teachers and (200) students. Data were analysed using frequency count, percentage score, mean, and standard deviation. Findings showed that the schools visited lack infrastructural provisions, the teachers do not have the requisite skills and the students are not aware of any other means of learning different from the conventional styles offered by their teachers. Therefore, this study offered a two-prong approach of immediate provision of technological infrastructure for schools and the development of teachers’ professional skills through focused training targeted at enhancing their technological instructional delivery skills.

scholarly journals THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TEACHERS’ CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ITS IMPACT ON EDUCATIONAL QUALITY: PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN FAGITA LEKOMA WOREDA, AWI ZONE, AMHARA REGION, ETHIOPIA IN FOCUS

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 81-94
Author(s):  
Solomon Melesse ◽  
Kassa Gulie
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Primary Schools ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Work Place ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Quality In Education ◽  
The Impact

This study examined the extent to which Primary Schools of Fagita Lekoma Woreda implement teachers’ CPD and its impact to quality in education. Data were collected from teachers, school principals, and woreda education office supervisors. Questionnaire and interview were used as the data gathering tools of the study. The quantitative data was analyzed using percentage and one sample t-test. The qualitative data was analyzed via thematic description. The findings confirmed that the respondents’ level of agreement regarding the implementation of teachers’ CPD was found significantly greater than the expected mean (3) in some parameters of the implementation of CPD (e.g., teachers' access to new ideas (3.48), teachers' state of sharing experiences (3.44), and teachers' professional interaction (3.48)). But, there was no significant difference between the expected mean (3) and the calculated means of the other parameters (e.g., attention given for teachers true learning (3.15), focus on staff professional development (3.10), pursuit for improved teaching and learning (3.06), teachers' engagement into continuous professional development (3.31), the match between professional development provision and professional needs (3.08), conceptualization of professional development (2.92), being insensitive of matching of staff development opportunities to individual concerns (2.75), effort made to relate learning experiences to work place conditions (2.88), and teachers’ engagement into professional development that promotes inquiry, creativity, and innovation (3.04)). The aggregate calculated mean value of extent of CPD implementation (3.14) also showed insignificant difference from the expected mean (3). Moreover, it was confirmed that there was no significant difference between the expected mean and the calculated means of all the parameters of the impact of CPD implementation on quality in education of primary schools of the woreda. Having considered the above major findings, relevant recommendations were forwarded in the recommendation section of this article.

scholarly journals Internationalizing teacher education curricula: opportunities for academic staff development

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-169
Author(s):  
Mónica Lourenço
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Staff Development ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Academic Staff ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Staff Development ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of a collaborative workshop, aimed to support teacher educators in embedding a “global outlook” in the curriculum on their perceived professional development. Design/methodology/approach The workshop included working sessions, during a period of 13 months, and was structured as participatory action research, according to which volunteer academics designed, developed and evaluated global education projects in their course units. Data were gathered through a focus group session, conducted with the teacher educators at a final stage of the workshop, and analyzed according to the principles of thematic analysis. Findings Results of the analysis suggest that the workshop presented a meaningful opportunity for teacher educators to reconstruct their knowledge and teaching practice to (re)discover the importance of collaborative work and to assume new commitments to themselves and to others. Originality/value The study addresses a gap in the existing literature on academic staff development in internationalization of the curriculum, focusing on the perceptions of teacher educators’, whose voices have been largely silent in research in the field. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for a professional development program in internationalization of the curriculum.

scholarly journals Hastening slowly: insights about teacher development from an evaluation of courses at the WCED’s Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susan Meyer ◽  
Lydia Abel
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Teacher Development ◽  
Professional Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
School Level ◽  
Western Cape ◽  
Leadership Institute ◽  
Service Training ◽  
Education Administrators ◽  
The Impact

In the area of teacher professional development, South African education administrators face the challenge of reconciling two imperatives that have entirely different implications for programme time frames and budgets. On the one hand, there is an urgent need to improve the pedagogic content knowledge of many teachers to improve the overall standard of teaching and learning in the public school system. Considering the scale and urgency of the matter, centralised course-based in-service training seems to be the only affordable alternative. On the other hand, researchers have long warned that once-off course-based training on its own has limited impact on teachers’ practice, and has to be accompanied by further professional support in the school and classroom, or be abandoned in favour of more enduring professional learning communities. The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has grappled with this dilemma in the Department’s various professional development initiatives for teachers, a mainstay of which is the training offered by the Cape Teaching and Leadership Institute (CTLI). This paper presents some of the data and findings from an external evaluation that ORT SA CAPE conducted in 2011–2012 of courses offered by the WCED at the CTLI. The hierarchy of INSET outcomes proposed by Harland and Kinder (1997) was applied to record changes in the practice of 18 teachers at eight schools. The progress of five of the teachers is discussed to illustrate the interplay between school-level factors and the experiences of individual teachers which influenced the impact of CTLI training on their teaching.

scholarly journals Opinions of school principals and teachers about teacher evaluation according to performance criteriaPerformans kriterlerine göre öğretmenlerin değerlendirilmesine ilişkin okul müdürü ve öğretmen görüşleri

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1647 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferudun Sezgin ◽  
Ayşe Tınmaz ◽  
Sezgin Tetik
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Performance Evaluation ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
School Principals ◽  
Evaluation Process ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Performance Criteria ◽  
Ministry Of Education ◽  
Study Participants ◽  
The Impact

The purpose of this study was to examine the opinions of school principals and teachers about the new implication process which teachers are being evaluated by school principals according to performance criteria. Phenomenological study design was chosen in this qualitative research. Participants were selected according to maximum variation sampling which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. Data were collected from 11 school principals and 14 teachers via semi-structured interview forms in Tokat city center. Data were analyzed according to descriptive analyzing technique. According to the results obtained in the study, participants stated that the purpose of current performance evaluation is the evaluation of teachers and to support their professional development. About the new application’s access to the purposes, while many of the teachers reported that the system could not achieve its goals, most of the school principals stated that the system would reach the goals with some shortcomings. Participants criticized the system for fast coming up and implementation. Participants stated that school principals were not qualified for this system. The most important strength of the system was defined as the teacher’s close awareness of the school principals. According to teachers’ views about the weaknesses of the system; the impact of conflicts or prejudices affecting school, school principals’ failure to take into account the criteria list, the existence of biased behaviors, the fact that principals were not educated in supervision, erroneous or incomplete practices in branch-specific evaluations, the deterioration of organizational peace. The majority of school principals reported that the applied system could contribute to the professional development of teachers, while the majority of teachers thought that the system would make a limited contribution. A two-day seminar was held with the school principals while training for teachers was not arranged by the Ministry of Education prior to the performance evaluation process. In the study, some suggestions were also made regarding the development of the current practice and the assessment of teacher performance in Turkey.Extended English abstract is in the end of PDF (TURKISH) file. ÖzetBu çalışmanın amacı öğretmenlerin performans kriterlerine göre okul müdürleri tarafından değerlendirildiği yeni uygulama konusunda okul müdürleri ve öğretmenlerin görüşlerini ortaya koymaktır. Nitel araştırma yöntemine göre tasarlanan bu çalışmada olgu bilim deseni benimsenmiştir. Çalışmada katılımcılar amaçlı örnekleme yöntemlerinden maksimum çeşitlemeye göre oluşturulmuştur. Tokat il merkezinde görev yapmakta olan 11 okul müdürü ve 14 öğretmenle yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme formu kullanılarak veri toplanmıştır. Veriler betimsel analiz tekniğine göre çözümlenmiştir. Araştırmada elde edilen verilere göre katılımcılar mevcut performans değerlendirme uygulamasının amacının daha çok öğretmenlerin değerlendirilmesi ve mesleki gelişimlerini artırma olduğu yönünde görüş belirtmişlerdir. Yeni uygulamanın amacına ulaşabilmesine ilişkin öğretmenlerin çoğunluğu sistemin amacını gerçekleştiremeyeceğini düşünürken okul müdürlerinin çoğunluğu bazı eksiklikler belirtmekle birlikte sistemin amacına ulaşabileceğini ifade etmektedirler. Uygulanma süreciyle ilgili katılımcılar sistemin bir anda gündeme gelmesi ve uygulanmasını eleştirmektedir. Katılımcılar okul müdürlerinin bu konuda yeterli olmadığını düşünmektedir. Sisteminin en önemli güçlü yanının okul müdürünün öğretmeni yakından tanıması olduğu ifade edilmiştir. Sistemin zayıf yönleri ile ilgili olarak öğretmenler; okulda yaşanacak çatışmaların veya önyargıların değerlendirmeyi etkilemesi, okul müdürlerinin kriter listesini dikkate almaması, taraflı davranışların varlığı, müdürlerin denetim konusunda eğitimli olmamaları, branşa özgü değerlendirmelerde hatalı veya eksik uygulama, örgüt barışının bozulması şeklinde görüş belirtmişlerdir. Okul müdürlerinin çoğunluğu uygulanmakta olan sistemin öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişimine katkı sağlayacağını belirtirken öğretmenlerin çoğunluğu kısıtlı katkı sağlayacağını düşünmektedir. Performans değerlendirme süreci öncesinde Milli Eğitim Bakanlığı tarafından öğretmenlere yönelik bir eğitim düzenlenmezken, okul müdürlerine iki günlük bir seminer düzenlenmiştir. Çalışmada ayrıca mevcut uygulamanın geliştirilmesi ile ilgili ve Türkiye’de genel anlamda öğretmen performansının değerlendirilmesi ile ilgili olarak birtakım önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

Information Superhighway and Continuous Professional Development for the Networked Teachers

2018 ◽  
pp. 1761-1776
Author(s):  
Asli Lidice Gokturk Saglam
Keyword(s):  
Professional Development ◽  
Communities Of Practice ◽  
Online Communities ◽  
Continuous Professional Development ◽  
Learning Networks ◽  
Personal Learning ◽  
Impact Of Technology ◽  
Online Communities Of Practice ◽  
The Impact

This chapter focuses on the impact of technology on teacher training through online communities of practice (CoP) and investigates its potential for facilitating continuous professional development for the educators who can create personal learning networks on the web. Wenger's Community of Practice Theory (1998) and Garrison et al.'s (2000) Community of Inquiry (CoI) are explored as underlying theories of CoP. Furthermore, examples of online communities of practice will be briefly enlisted. The chapter will provide brief information how online learning is operationalized within the confines of CoP. The chapter will also discuss role of online communities of practice for teachers' continuous professional development with reference to current literature, explore challenges and focus on suggestions and avenues for further research.

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