In-service Teacher Training Program Research Articles

Dormitory Management and Boarding Students in Chinaas Rural Primary Schools

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether an in-service life teacher training program can improve boarding students’ health, behavior, and academic performance. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a cluster-randomized controlled trial to measure the effect of life teacher training on student health, behavior, and academic performance among 839 boarding students in ten central primary boarding schools in Shaanxi. And the authors also tried to identify why or why not life teacher training works. Both descriptive and multivariate analysis are used in this paper. Findings – The authors find significant improvements in health and behavior. Specifically, compared to boarding students in control schools, 15 percent fewer students in treatment schools reported feeling cold while sleeping at night. The results also showed that student tardiness and misbehaviors after class declined significantly by 18 and 78 percent, respectively. However, the in-service life teacher training program had no measurable impact on boarding students’ BMI-for-age Z-score, number of misbehaviors in class, and academic performance. The analysis suggests that improved communication between life teachers and students might be one mechanism behind these results. Originality/value – This is the first empirical work which explored how to improve the welfare of boarding students via their life teachers. Because of the sudden increase in boarding students in rural China, it is almost certain that school personnel lack experience in managing boarding students. As such, one promising approach to improving student outcomes might be in-service training for life teachers.

Towards a Reflective Textbook Evaluation Model

This paper investigates ways in which textbook evaluation can help in implementing a positive change in EFL teachers’ professional careers. It draws the attention of Moroccan high school English language practitioners to the viability of using textbook evaluation as a reflective practice to enhance teachers’ professional development. It argues that a systematic textbook evaluation allows teachers to develop professionally while reflecting on the content of the textbooks they are using. This process can be formative within the formal guided context of in-service teacher training programs where voluntary teachers regularly meet in teacher learning communities (TLCs)devoted to textbook evaluation. The objective of such collective reflective activity is to encourage teachers’ lifelong learning as they will learn from each other’s experiences and improve their teaching practices. Eventually, they will agree on effective reflective practices which promote teachers’ professional development. The findings recorded by TLCs could be used in improving the quality of future textbooks. A survey was designed to explore the attitudes of Moroccan high school English language teachers towards the suggested model of textbook evaluation and its ability to promote teachers’ professional development. The findings demonstrated that the teachers are in favor of the suggested textbook evaluation model as they believe that it has the potential of gearing not only their professional development, but also the quality of current and future ELT textbooks.

Examining the Effectiveness of In-Service English Language Teacher Training in Khartoum State/Sudan 2011/2012

<em>This study aims at investigating the effectiveness of in-service English language teacher training in Khartoum state: A case study of in-service teacher training programme “English for Teaching 1” (EfT1) provided by the British Council (2011-2012). The Researchers adopted the descriptive analytical method to analyze the collected data. The tool used to collect data was a questionnaire which was analyzed with the Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS). All the Hypotheses of the study were verified to be true and according to the analysis of the questionnaire. The study has come up with the following findings: Teacher training programme English for Teaching (1) (EfT(1)) has a positive impact on developing teaching process, the components of the programme satisfy the training needs of the English language teachers in Khartoum State, and the trainees who attended the programme have a positive attitude and opinions towards the programme. The study has been included with some recommendations that reflect the importance of in-service teacher training for Sudanese English language teachers and the effectiveness of partnership between national and international educational institutions in this field.</em>

The Effect of Film based Instruction on Students’ Learning Effectiveness and Motivation in the In-service Teacher Training Program

The Effect of Film based Instruction on Students’ Learning Effectiveness and Motivation in the In-service Teacher Training Program

Development and optimisation of an in-service teacher training programme on motivational assessment in physical education

Although assessment practices are commonly part of the physical education (PE) curriculum they may often frustrate rather than support students’ basic needs for autonomy, competence and relatedness. Nevertheless, assessment also provides various promising opportunities to support these basic needs and enhance learning in students. In order to address this issue, we developed an in-service teacher training programme that was grounded within contemporary theories on assessment and motivation, and aimed at improving PE teachers’ expertise on motivational assessment practices. In close collaboration with PE teachers and other experts in the field an in-service teacher training programme was developed that covered important topics such as quality assessment, motivation and assessment for learning. Specific attention was directed to the translation of theoretical concepts into practical and applicable tools. The in-service training programme was then provided on-site three times to a total of 33 PE teachers (of whom 20 were male (60%) and 12 were female (40%), teaching experience 3–32 years) representing different PE departments. Through an iterative cycle of development, provision, evaluation and adjustment the programme was gradually optimised. Focus group sessions and questionnaires were employed to evaluate various aspects, and identify barriers and success factors. The in-service teacher training programme is a successful first step in improving the expertise of PE teachers to start and develop higher quality and more motivating assessment practices. Nevertheless, in order to generate durable change within daily PE practice, follow-up training sessions or counselling methods (e.g. through communities of practice) are essential to overcome implementation barriers. Development, adjustment and future directions for assessment are discussed.

Getting out the most of the combination of working and learning: the case of teachers-in-training in Flanders

The current study investigates the learning of student teachers in alternative programmes in which they combine a teaching job with an in-service teacher-training program at the university. The aim of this paper is to explore which work-related and training-programme related factors facilitate the learning of these teachers-in-training in the workplace. Starting from the framework of the Job-Demands-Control-Support model, a total of 11 teachers were interviewed. Results of the qualitative analyses indicated that high levels of job demands, autonomy and social support were important for in-service student teachers’ learning in the workplace. Social support and guidance from colleagues in the workplace seemed more relevant for learning than the support and guidance from the supervisors from the teaching program at the university. Implications for practice and for further research are discussed.

Evaluating the effect of a teacher training programme on the primary teachers’ attitudes, knowledge and teaching strategies regarding special educational needs

Research has consistently stressed that regular school teachers are important in determining the success of implementing inclusive education. It was also found that teachers’ attitudes, their knowledge about special educational needs (SEN) and teaching strategies are prerequisites for implementing inclusive education successfully. This study examines the effects of an in-service teacher training programme on regular primary school teachers’ attitudes and knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies. A pre- and post-test control group design study was set up (Nexperimental group = 33, Ncontrol group = 34), comprising 11 public primary schools. The training programme consisted of 32 hours face-to-face training sessions, covering topics about attitudes and knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies. In order to establish the effects of the training programme, attitudes and knowledge were measured at two moments: before and after the training programme was performed. The outcomes of ANCOVA revealed significant positive effects of the training programme on most dependent variables (attitudes, knowledge about SEN and about teaching strategies) with medium to large effect sizes. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Korean EFL teachers’ perceptions of the impact of EFL teacher education upon their classroom teaching practices

ABSTRACTThis study employed qualitative data collection and analysis methods to investigate the influence of English as a foreign language teacher education programme on Korean teachers’ classroom teaching practices. Six in-service secondary-school teachers participated in semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was applied to the data collected from these interviews. Findings from the analysis included that: a) most of the teachers were dissatisfied with the largely theory-oriented pre-service teacher education programmes that they attended; b) a major source of influence on their teaching was their experience of in-service teacher training programmes with practical curricula; c) observation of other fellow teachers’ teaching had the strongest impact upon the teachers’ teaching practices; and d) the teachers’ low English proficiency and the washback effect of the Korea Scholastic Aptitude Test hindered the maintenance of the changes brought about by in-service teacher education programmes. This study ends with a discussion of the implications of these findings.

The Implementation of Ict Based Education in Elementary Teacher Education (PGSD) in Indonesia

In fact, Information Communication and Technology (ICT) have been utilized in schools even though relatively small in numbers. At present, there is a program for Elementary Teacher Education called PGSD program in Indonesia. The PGSD program is an in-service teacher training program especially for elementary school teachers in Indonesia, to improve their qualifications from Diploma-2 to Strata-1 level, conducted through ICT-based distance learning mode. This study uses survey method to examine the accessibility of ICT infrastructure and networks, and the effectiveness of using ICT for teaching and learning in six university member of PGSD program in Indonesia. The results of the study show that the PGSD program needs to improve the ICT infrastructure and networks as well as apply ICT based teaching and learning skills.

Adjusting content to individual student needs: Further evidence from an in-service teacher training program

Adapting instruction to the specific needs of each student is a promising strategy to improve overall academic achievement. In this article, I study the impact of an intensive in-service teacher training program on reading skills offered to kindergarten teachers in France. The program modifies the lesson content and encourages teachers to adapt instruction to student needs by dividing the class according to initial achievement. While assessing impact is usually difficult due to the presence of ability bias and teacher selection, I show that in this context, a value-added model that controls for school and teacher characteristics constitutes a legitimate strategy to estimate the treatment effect. Results show that all students benefiting from the program progressed in reading skills at the end of the year. Besides, weaker students progressed faster on less-advanced competences (such as letter recognition), while stronger students improved their reading skills. This suggests that teachers adjusted content to students’ needs. Finally, a cost-effectiveness analysis reveals that the program is approximately three times more cost-effective than reducing class size in France.

Evaluation of School Based Assessment Teacher Training Programme

This study employed the Kirkpatrick Evaluation Model to assess the reaction of in-service teacher training program on School Based Assessment (SBA) and its contribution towards teacher’s learn- ing (knowledge, skills and attitudes). Kirkpatrick evaluation model has four stages, namely the assessments of reaction, learning (knowledge, skills and attitudes), behavioural and outcomes. This study will discuss the first two stages of assessments that is reaction and learning (knowledge, skills and attitudes). This quantitative survey study used self-developed questionnaires, involving 1200 primary school teachers who had attended the in-service training programme. The respondents were selected randomly from the state of Selangor, Malaysia. The findings of the assessment on reaction which included five sub variables, was on average at a high level. Based on regression analysis: 1) three independent variables (reaction) contributed 21.7 percent to the variances of dependent variables (knowledge); 2) three independent variables (reaction) contributed 19.4 percent to the variances of dependent variable (skills); and 3) three independent variables (reaction) contributed 17.20 percent to the variance of dependent variable (attitudes). These findings suggest that the SBA teacher training program should be continued with strategic improvements to alleviate teachers’ knowledge, skills and attitudes to better improved the implementation of SBA program.

Integrating technology to facilitate critical reflection and creativity in pre-service teacher development

Reflection is known to be at the centre of professional development. This study aims to investigate how trainees are engaged in self-reflection upon their own learning at an experiential training course. A series of face-to-face sessions on teaching reading to young learners is provided and complemented by online asynchronous communication. Data are gathered from pre- and post-session questionnaires, logs from trainees' learning journals, interviews, observation and trainees' work. The triangulated analysis of the collected data reveals that the experiential learning with online interaction is conducive to raising trainees' awareness through critical reflection. It also shows roles that technology plays in trainees' creative thinking in devising unconventional learning activities. The findings of the study further provide implications for pre- and in-service teacher training program development and practice in other contexts.

Integrating technology to facilitate critical reflection and creativity in pre-service teacher development

Reflection is known to be at the centre of professional development. This study aims to investigate how trainees are engaged in self-reflection upon their own learning at an experiential training course. A series of face-to-face sessions on teaching reading to young learners is provided and complemented by online asynchronous communication. Data are gathered from pre- and post-session questionnaires, logs from trainees' learning journals, interviews, observation and trainees' work. The triangulated analysis of the collected data reveals that the experiential learning with online interaction is conducive to raising trainees' awareness through critical reflection. It also shows roles that technology plays in trainees' creative thinking in devising unconventional learning activities. The findings of the study further provide implications for pre- and in-service teacher training program development and practice in other contexts.

Pre-Primary Teachers’ Beliefs about Early Foreign Language Learning in Slovenia

The introduction of foreign languages into the early years has spurred a need for qualified teachers. Most of the recent studies (e.g. Garton, Copland & Burns, 2011; Mourao & Lourenco, 2015; Murphy & Evangelou, 2016) reveal that there are not enough teachers who would be proficient in a foreign language and at the same time have thorough knowledge of the preschool curriculum and methodology of teaching foreign languages to young learners. More pre-service and in-service teacher training in this area is highly recommended. In Slovenia, there is currently only a two-year in-service teacher-training programme for pre-primary teachers who wish to gain a formal certificate to teach English to children from the ages of 3 to 6 and only a few teachers have finished it. Nevertheless, the research shows that in 2009/2010 almost half of Slovene kindergartens (47,5%) offered some form of foreign language teaching to children and we can assume that this number has grown in the last six years. Ideally, foreign languages would be taught by trained pre-primary teachers, proficient in foreign languages and early language teaching methodology, and therefore we have conducted a research among 369 pre-primary teachers, asking them about their beliefs about early foreign language learning. Questionnaires were administered to all the participants in the study. The results show that most pre-primary teachers have a positive attitude to early foreign language learning. Most of them think that children should start learning a foreign language in kindergarten and that foreign language learning should be integrated into the preschool curriculum. They think that foreign languages should be taught by qualified pre-primary teachers and approximately half of them are willing to train for early FL teaching. Their attitude to early foreign language learning brings an optimistic forecast into the future, but there is still a lot to be done for effective inclusion of foreign languages into pre-primary education. Keywords: preschool children, pre-primary teachers, foreign language learning

El ICE de la Universidad de Zaragoza, un centro para la mejora de su profesorado y su universidad

El Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación (ICE) de la Universidad de Zaragoza (UZ), desde su creación, ha diseñado, creado materiales y desarrollado cursos para el profesorado, y también para los estudiantes, de temática muy variada; algunos, como el Certificado de Aptitud Pedagógica, de gran relevancia para el profesorado. También ha constituido equipos de investigación y ha producido diversas publicaciones de amplia difusión en el mundo de la educación. Además, desde hace 25 años, el ICE de la UZ comenzó a implementar el Programa de Formación Continua del Profesorado Universitario de la UZ, constituido por actividades, con diferentes formatos, relacionadas, fundamentalmente, con el diseño curricular; la psicología de la educación y del aprendizaje; las metodologías activas y colaborativas, y la evaluación. Posteriormente, en el año 2007, la UZ constituyó el centro Instituto de Ciencias de la Educación para la formación y el asesoramiento docente del profesorado universitario; la colaboración en el impulso de la innovación pedagógica, la investigación educativa y la mejora de la docencia universitaria y el asesoramiento en los procesos de renovación de las metodologías docentes universitarias, entre otras funciones. Actualmente, el ICE de la UZ desarrolla su actividad en el marco de cuatro programas: Programa para la Formación del Profesorado de la Universidad de Zaragoza, Programa de Apoyo a los Estudiantes, Programa de Apoyo al Sistema de Calidad de las Titulaciones y Programa de Apoyo a la Innovación Docente en la Universidad de Zaragoza. En este trabajo se expone la evolución del ICE de la UZ desde su inicio hasta nuestros días.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.15304/ie.25.2811

The Effectiveness of in-service Teacher Training Program at Faculty of Islamic Education and Teacher Training IAIN Imam Bonjol Padang

The purpose of this research is to reveal: 1. The influence of in-service Teacher Training Program (PLPG) towards the teacher competency as participant of PLPG; 2. The correlation between gender (X1) towards the teachers’ competency as participant of PLPG; .3. The correlation between Age (X2) towards the teachers’ competency as participant of PLPG; 4. The correlation between years of service towards the teachers’ competency as participant of PLPG; 5. The correlation between the number of training followed (X4) towards teachers’ competency as participant of PLPG; and 6. This research used quantitative method. The population of this research is 1.300 teachers of PLPG in 2013. By using Yamane formulation, there are 220 teachers taken as the sample. The data was analyzed by using t test and correlation analysis. The findings of the study suggested that: 1. There is a positive influence of PLPG implementation towards teachers’ competency as PLPG participant; 2. There is no significant correlation between gender (X1) and teachers’ competency as PLPG participant; 3. There is a significant correlation between Age (X2) towards teachers’ competency of PLPG; 4. There is no significant correlation between the Years of Service (X3) towards teachers’ competency as the participant of PLPG; 5. There is a significant correlation between the number of Diklat followed (X4) towards teachers’ competency as the participant of PLPG; and 6. There is a significant correlation between the effectiveness of PLPG (X5) towards teachers’ competency as the participant of PLPG. Keywords: PLPG, LPTK, teacher certificationCopyright © 2015 by Al-Ta'lim All right reserved

EFL Teachers’ Preferences for Teacher Learning Activities in a Professional Development Course

The Turkish Ministry of National Education (MEB) renewed English language teaching programs for the primary and the secondary state schools in Turkey (MEB, 2013). This renewal requires teachers to employ new approaches to teaching English. Several in-service teacher-training (INSETT) programs are organized by MEB to help EFL teachers to cope with the requirements of the recently prepared language teaching reform. This study was designed to express secondary state school EFL teachers’ expectations from the INSETT programs by identifying their perceptions of the most influential teacher learning activities that contribute to their learning and their suggestions related to the improvement of INSETT policies. The findings indicated that the teachers value practical and experiential activities that help them to learn how to observe and assess their teaching practices and themselves as teachers. The findings also covered the teachers’ suggestions regarding INSETT guidelines to be set in areas such as the identification of teacher needs; the organizational features; matching the content focus of the programs to the strategies used by the trainers; establishing a culture of empowerment at schools; and building local teacher networks.

Training early childhood teachers for sustainability: towards a ‘learning experience of a different kind’

In this study, we discuss findings from a small-scale project evaluating an in-service teacher training programme focused on ‘perspective transformation’ in early childhood education and education for sustainability (EfS). A bespoke professional development programme was developed for Turkish early childhood teachers, based on a variety of Mezirowian-inspired adult education activities. Data were gathered using a mixed method research design, from 24 early childhood educators, through learning diaries, a Learning Activities Survey and follow-up interviews. Initial findings illustrate the range of transformations possible in the teachers’ perspectives during and after the training workshops. Influential factors in facilitating perspective transformation are shown to be the content, structure and sequencing of the training, and peer support. We conclude that transformative learning techniques offer a viable framework for engaging practicing early childhood teachers with EfS and also discuss implications for teacher preparation in both areas.

熊本市教師塾「きらり」による教員研修に関する効果

熊本市教師塾「きらり」による教員研修に関する効果

Quality of individualised education programme goals and objectives for preschool children with disabilities

Individualised education programmes (IEPs) are the road maps for individualising services for children with disabilities, specifically through the development of high-quality child goals/objectives. High-quality IEP goals/objectives that are developed based on a comprehensive assessment of child functioning and directly connected to intervention and evaluation activities are more likely to support the individualisation of services and as a result, child development and learning. High-quality goals/objectives allow professionals or other caregivers to know what to teach, when to teach and where to teach. The purpose of this study was to examine the quality of IEP goals/objectives developed for preschool children with disabilities in Turkey. A total of 2235 IEP goals/objectives developed for 100 preschool children with disabilities were rated using Goal Functionality Scale III and IEP/Individualised Family Service Plan Goals and Objectives Rating Instrument. Results indicate that the overall quality of IEP goals/objectives for preschool children with disabilities is generally poor. Moreover, the quality of IEP goals/objectives does not vary based on child’s age, disability status and developmental domain. Consistent and systematic low quality of goals and objectives across IEPs, age levels, disability status and developmental domains warrants the development of clear guidelines for professionals to use while writing IEP goals/objectives for young children with disabilities. Both pre- and in-service teacher training programmes should emphasise how to write high-quality IEP goals/objectives that can guide the individualisation of instruction, intervention and other services based on the unique needs of each and every child.