Assessing Professional Development Programs: Impact on Teaching and Learning
Assessing Professional Development Programs: Impact on Teaching and Learning
Aishath Shibana
S. Teacher Resource Centre, National Institute of Education, Maldives.
Professional Development (PD) is a process which helps teachers to maintain the quality and efficiency of teaching by improving their skills and updating their knowledge. However, many countries are not able to carry out professional development for their teachers due to many reasons. Issues such as budget and releasing teachers are challenges faced by many countries. The government of Maldives gives a high priority, for improving the standard of teaching and strongly accepts that the quality of teaching can be improved when school-based professional development (SBPD) of teachers is institutionalized in the school system.
The Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) strives to support the schools to established SBPD across the nation. Under the Ministry of Education’s professional development policy, a government policy, it is required for every teacher to complete a minimum of 15 hours of professional development every year. These PD hours are conducted by schools as SBPD. Three days are allocated in the academic calendar to conduct PD.
The purpose of this research is to assess the impact of professional development programs carried out in a secondary school on teaching and learning.
Introduction
The mandate of professional development is given to CCE by Ministry of Education. Professional development days are included in the academic calendar for meeting the minimum requirement of 15 hours of PD every year. The Teacher Resource Centre (TRC) monitors the program conducted at the atoll level. The aim of this policy is to establish, plan and execute professional development required by the academic staff in schools and other academic institutions.
The geographic nature of the country and financial constraints are challenges Maldives face in conducting in-service. The Maldives being an island nation, transportation from one place to the other is a challenge. SBPD was introduced so that when the programs are conducted at school level the need for transportation cost will be minimized. According to the policy every school has a PD coordinator who organizes the programs at school level and reports it to the Teacher Resource Centre (TRC) in the atoll. The TRCs are responsible to provide necessary help for the schools in the atoll and ensure that the SBPD is going well.
PD Coordinators in schools were identified in 2010. They are responsible for carrying out or coordinating SBPD programs These PD coordinators were given one week of training on how to organize the PD at school level, by CCE. Advocacy sessions were also conducted for the school principals to provide them with the necessary information. They are responsible for carrying out or coordinating SBPD programs. According to the PD policy it is a schools responsibility to provide 15 hours of in-service every year. At the same time it is the teachers’ responsibility to get the 15 hours of in-service. The TRC coordinator ensures that the schools conduct a minimum of 15 hours of training throughout the year and report them to CCE.
Problem statement
Teachers generally consider that Professional Development activities are planned with insufficient relevence to particular classroom practice (Sapp, 1996). In some schools teachers are required to attend occasional or full-day PD sessions on topics selected by the school principal and presented by outside experts who have no idea of what the school situation is and what difficulties the teachers face. Hence teachers do not get much out of these sessions. Cameron (1996) proposes that professional development must be relevant to what the teachers do in the classroom and what students should know. According to Lingard, Hayes, Mills & Christie (2003) cited in Poskitt & Taylor, (n.d.) the main purpose of PD in education is to bring a good impact to the students learning by conveying the lessons in a way that could benefit the students. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate the impact of a professional development on teaching and learning as a year has passed since the implementation of SBPD in schools of the Maldives. The most effective way of assessing whether teachers translate the knowledge gained from professional development into instructional practice is checking what they do in the classroom. In this study teachers of Irushadiyya School (a school in Addu City) will be the dependable variables while the school-based professional development program conduct in that school will be the independent variable.
Aim of the research
The aim of the research is
· To find out whether PD activities are useful for teachers?
· To find out whether teachers are able to translate the knowledge gained from professional development into instructional practice.
· To identify factors having a significant effect upon a successful PD
Research Questions
This research is concerned with the following question:
1. “Are the PD sessions conducted in the school of any benefit to the teachers?”
2. “Are teachers making positive changes to their teaching as a result of School Based Professional Development?
Significance of this study:
The results of this study will enlighten future professional development programs by sharing best practices that may help other schools in planning their PD programs. This would help teachers to apply what is learned in professional development program into classroom practice. TRC coordinators may also use the results of this study to provide support to other schools and PD coordinators in organizing PD in a more beneficial way to the teachers. Finally, the results of this study may inform CCE about best practices of successful SBPD programs.
The setting:
Site:For this study Irushadhiyya School: one of the secondary schools in Addu City has been selected. It was built 23 years ago in Maradhoo, one of the islands of Addu. It is a secondary school where 140 students study at the moment in grade of 8, 9 and 10. They follow IGCSE curriculum, and at the end of grade 10 the students sit for IGCSE exam. There are altogether 24 teachers, out of which 12 teachers are from our neighboring country, India and the others are locals. The head of school has been working in the school for the last 7 years. The PD coordinator, who is also a leading teacher in the school, has been working in the school for the last 12 years. Both of them have a very good relationship with the teachers. As both the school Principal and Pd coordinator are continuing their studies online, they make the school the focus of all their assignments and projects. As a result many surveys and research is conducted on different aspects of teaching and learning as well as students matters. Some of the research they do is used in the professional development sessions, and a great effort has been put on to implement the ideas they learn from the course.
Being a small school they do not have many behavior problems and have a very good relationship with the school community including parents. Their main challenge is that many academically good students who graduate from primary school go to Muhibudhin School, known as the elite school for a long time, until recently. There was an entrance test given to all the students who complete the primary education and the cream of the students are given admission to this school. The other secondary schools get students who are rejected from Muhibudhin School. As a result most students who come to Irushadhiyya are academically average or low students. This has been a practice until 3 years back. In spite of these challenges the school manages to get a good result with 10 points of improvement in the IGCSE examination in the last two years. Since 2009 when academically good students started coming to Irushadhiyya the school is trying their best to produce the best results the school has ever had this year. The school Based Professional programs are the best tool they use in order to reach their target. The school management strongly believes that they can bring a very positive change through PD, and they are doing it. This school has been selected for the study as this school does need analysis before they conduct PD and conduct regular follow ups after the PD activities. All these are done with zero budgets. The purpose of the research is to study a well-established SBPD and see whether it has any positive effect on classroom teaching and learning.
Participants involved: The school Head, PD coordinator and 14 teachers and 10 students (books only) are included in the study.
Methodology
The goal
of this study is to evaluate a well conducted PD program and find out its
impact to teaching and learning. A case study was done as it would help to
provide a better understanding of the situation within the school. According to
Eisenhardt
(1989) and Merriam (1998) a case study focuses on the dynamics of a single
instance or phenomenon. It describes the situation in detail giving a clear
picture as it occurs in a natural setting. Case studies answer questions of “what,”
“how,” and “why” (Russ-Eft & Preskill, 2001; Stake, 1995; Yin, 1989). It
gives a general idea of the exact happening of the place. Seeking information directly from teachers and analyzing
the effects of their knowledge and skill development in their classroom
practice are central dimensions to understanding and ascertaining the impact
of, and providing direction for, ongoing teacher learning.
The data consists of careful observations and descriptive reports that are analyzed and interpreted. They are relatively judgmental with more emphasis on product than process. Therefore it will provide a strong frame work for the study.
Data collection: The data was collected through field observation and interviewing. Four periods of 45 minute classes were observed, and the school head, PD coordinator and a teacher were interviewed. The interviews took 20 minutes per person. The study has no risk involved in for the participants. However, a consent form was given to all the participants to sign before the field work began. A feedback session was held for every teacher at the end of observation to give them a feedback of their lesson and allow them to raise questions of their own. The same went for the interviews. The students names mentioned in the transcript were changed in order to hide their identity.
Data analysis- field Observation:
The observation notes were read and hand coded to identify common themes. All the coding was listed under the themes and a summary report was written based on the information. The summary focused on two main areas: questioning techniques and differentiation. The questioning techniques are checked based on the following criteria.
· Effective use of critical questions and high order questions to the individuals and groups
· The appropriate time of asking questions
· Usage of language to ask questions
· Provide time to think and answer the question
· Questioning and probing
· Effective use of reinforcement
The observation showed the following result:
Questioning: Most of the questions asked were open ended. Questions asked to recalling purpose are mainly directed at the whole class while questions asked for assessing purpose were directed at individual students. High order questions, question that leads to critical thinking, reflection were observed. Students were given opportunities to be involved in discussions, giving their opinion and suggestions. The use of language was good in all the classes. However, many times wrong tags were used and questions were used in inappropriate situations. Students were given time to think and answer. In many situations students were given sufficient time and were encouraged to recall what they have learnt. Many times teachers used probing questions like “What happened next?” and “so…..” A very effective reinforcement was observed with remarks like “Let’s help her”, “I know that you know it” and “It was a very good question but most of us couldn’t hear you”
Differentiation: Teacher’s proactive preparation for a variety of student needs with relevant teaching aids. Also teachers attended appropriately to students who struggle with learning. This encouraged students to participate in discussions. Some teacher walk around the class and helped the students who needed help. The content was relevant for the lessons, and teachers used a variety of learning materials such as charts cut outs. They took examples from their daily life. Generally all the lessons were focused to all levels of students. Teachers used a variety of assessment tools before, during, and after learning such as oral questions, written worksheets. Also students were given tasks like identifying and selecting the correct answers and taking short notes.
Data analysis- interview:
The data collected from the interviews was transcribed manually. The transcripts were read and hand coded to identify common responses. The responses were categorized into to 9 main questions. The interview included the following questions:
· How are PD programs organized in your school?
· Are PD sessions done based on schools and teacher’s needs?
· Are observations carried out to see teachers implement the ideas in the classrooms?
· How many of the ideas and suggestion offered in the PD are implemented in classrooms?
· Who takes sessions?
· How much are teachers involved in the session?
· What changes have you observed in the process of teaching and learning?
· Has it contributed to improve the results?
· What improvement would you have OR suggest for future PD programs
A summary of the common themes were developed for the final interpretation. According to the interviews the school conducts 5 hours in every PD day. Apart from this there are short sessions which were conducted after the school sessions by selected teachers on common issues on teaching and learning. The school does not have annual need analysis. However common issues in the instruction are identified during classroom observations. Sometimes information is also gathered by discussing the problems the Heads of Department (HOD) have observed or identified. Once the observations are carried out, leading teachers check whether teachers apply the ideas and suggestions in their classrooms, through continuous observations. From this the following ideas and suggestions are observable.
· Homework is less but more meaningful
· Teachers give constructive feedback to students telling what they do well and what they need to improve
· Teachers involve the students more in reflecting, recalling and reviewing what they have learnt,
· Teachers apply the theories like “wait time” in classroom
· Teachers discuss issues in groups and come up with the best solution for the issues
· When writing objectives now we focus on what students need to know, how they will do, how we are going to assess them.
Normally PD coordinators and the school principal facilitates sessions on the main PD day. The short sessions were facilitated by teachers. Hence the teacher’s involvement is very big in the SBPD. The following changes have been observed in the way teachers teach and treat students, due to the PD.
· Students involvement in the class is better
· Teachers perspectives regarding students have changed
· Teachers believe that if students cannot learn from their teaching they have to learn how to teach the students
· Teachers believe that a teacher should create a learning environment for his/her students to learn
· Teachers write a better objective in their lesson plans, making the lessons more students oriented.
· There is a positive learning atmosphere in the school
· A 45 minute lesson includes varieties of activities rather than teacher talking nonstop
· Many students have improved due to the constructive feedbacks
The school management as well as teachers are happy with the change. They agree that the change is visible. They also believe that it is too soon to say that it contributed to the improved results but there is lot of improvement. In the next year the school plans to organize sessions among the departments and have regular follow ups of the PD sessions.
Reliability & Validity of the result:
The results obtained from the field were checked for its reliability and validity. Inter-rater model was employed. According to Fink (2006) inter-rater reliability is the extent to which two or more individuals agree in their ratings. The field observation was compared to the interview transcriptions to see the relationship. The interviews include people who organize the PD at school level. The teachers were the people who benefited from the sessions. Hence the observation should reflect the sessions. According to the result, what was observed in the classrooms and what was said in the interviews has a great connection. Samples of student’s exercise books and teachers lesson plans were also analyzed to cross check the information.
Limitation of the methods:
There was no such limitation in the study. The school was happy about the fact that their work is checked and reorganized by some people. They gave their full cooperation. However some problems were faced when one of the participants could not come for the interview as he had to take an emergency leave. So the next person who came for the interview had some language problems and the transcription was not clear.
Findings
In respect with Vukelich & Wrenn (1999)
cited in
(a) The school has a focus: Although they do not carry an annual plan they do collect information of teachers needs through their observation. Teacher’s voices are included as they consider discussions from coordination meetings.
(b) Concentrate on the teacher participants’ needs: Teachers are involved in finding out issues they face in teaching. Based on these issues teachers prepare for sessions and conduct short sessions.
(c) Be ongoing and sustained: The school does not take PD as a 15 day program. They arrange sessions in between according to their needs.
(d) Engage teachers in generating answers to actual, ‘real-life’ problems: The teachers ideas are used in deciding the topics. In coordination meetings the HODs discuss the problems faced by teachers. The leading teachers go into the class and observe teachers lesson, find out their weakness before they decide a topic for PD.
(e) Provide for participants’ meaningful engagement: The teachers are happy about the sessions. They agree that they have learnt lot from the session. They agree that there are a lot of changes in the students. They don’t mind having more than 15 PD hours. These factors prove the participant’s engagement and shows that it is meaningful.
(f) Help participants to develop Collaborative relationship: The school has a very friendly environment. In the short PD sessions teachers work in groups, which further develops a collaborative relationship. A less experienced teacher is attached to a more experienced teacher in order to enable everybody to participate and also help teachers to be more empowered.
(g) Encourage participants to reflect on their teaching: The sessions are planned in a manner which provides the teachers the chance to reflect upon their teaching. Eg: How can a lecture be more meaningful? When can students be involved? Etc. Also it was found that teachers use students to reflect and recall on what they have learnt.
According to
Conclusion:
Ball (1996) cited in Mueller & Welch, (2006) suggests that professional development must challenge teachers to investigate , experiment, consult and consider outcomes. Teachers must be given an opportunity to critique and inquire what they do with students to identify why they do it and how they can improve it. Hence making learning meaningful to the teachers. At the sametime Cameron (1996), proposed that professional development must be relevant to what the teachers do in the classroom and what students should know. The knowledge they gain must have a direct link to what the teachers face and need every day. Teachers need to spend time in discussing the issues they have, contextualizing the knowledge to present situations and arguing on issues among colleagues. This is the success behind the effectiveness of PD sessions conducted in Irushadhiyya School. The information provided in the PD challenges the teachers to investigate problems they face in their classrooms and find out how they can improve the situation. As a result teaches know each and every child in the class - their strengths and weakness. This broadens their perspective regarding the students as well the student’s perspectives regarding the teachers. It has transformed the school atmosphere into a learning atmosphere. This is what I have seen in Irushadhiyya School. According to the school principal they plan to conduct more in-depth evaluations of their PD in future, and find out the students perspectives and parents perspectives regarding their PD. This is very useful for the sustainment of the programs.
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