Professional Development In Order Research Articles

Millî Eğitim Bakanlığı Uzaktan Hizmet İçi Eğitim Faaliyetleri Hakkında Öğretmen Görüşlerinin Araştırma Bulgularının Değerlendirilmesi

In this study, the research findings of teachers' opinions about the distance in-service training activities of the Ministry of National Education were evaluated. Change and transformation are taking place very fast in the world. This rapid realization of change and transformation has made education very important. One of the most important stakeholders of education is teachers. Teachers need to give importance to their professional development in order to keep up with the developing world conditions. When it comes to professional development, we come across in-service training activities. In the research group of this study, there are seven teachers working in Konya-Meram in the 2022-2023 academic year and participating in distance in-service training activities. As a result of this research, according to the findings obtained from data analysis, studies can be carried out to improve the systematic infrastructure on the platforms where distance in-service trainings are held in order to prevent systemic problems that may occur. Teachers need trainings specific to their own branches. The number of branch-specific trainings that will enable teachers' development can be increased. Teachers have the expectation that there should be pre-informative studies about the trainings they will apply for. In this regard, a pre-introductory video can be added to the system screen during the application. In this way, teachers can be informed about the training they apply for and the preparations to be made by the teachers about the training can be made. Keywords: In-Service Training, Distance Education, Teacher Training, Research Findings

Making Rural Areas Attractive for Teachers and Principals:Putting Rural Educational Settings on the Agenda

One cornerstone in the ‘Nordic model of education’ is equal opportunities in education (Frønes et al., 2020), however, the curricula of the Nordic countries are adapted to urban environments (Bæck, 2016). Regional-spatial aspects of education therefore need to be identified to find solutions to equal education. In this re-analysis of two research projects in Sweden and Finland, new insights are highlighted regarding how to develop nationwide equal education. The study proposes establishing supportive structures in the education of teachers and principals and in their continuing professional development in order to bring about equal education.

Online Mode of Teaching and Learning Process in Engineering Discipline: Teacher Perspective on Challenges Faced and Recommendations

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people from almost every walk of life in general and academia in particular. It had a huge impact on teaching and learning resulting in a sudden shift from classroom and face-to-face teaching to distance and online teaching and learning. This sudden shift created a lot of ruckuses in the teaching of engineering disciplines. This study is pertinent to the examination of faculty perceptions of online teaching in Pakistani universities and the obstacles they face in teaching engineering students through the online mode during this pandemic. The research takes a quantitative and sample survey approach. A Google form questionnaire was used to collect the data from a sample of 91 faculty members from the engineering discipline of different universities in Pakistan during 2022. According to the study’s findings, faculty generally have a favorable opinion of virtual teaching in the context of COVID-19 for closing the achievement gap and guiding students’ futures in difficult times. However, they ran into a number of challenges when teaching online, including technological difficulties, problems with student participation, challenges with online tests and assessments, etc. The results of this study will urge educational institutions and policymakers to use the most up-to-date instructional methodologies and offer teachers ongoing professional development in order to improve the quality of online teaching, learning, and assessment in universities. Previous studies discussed a number of obstacles faced by students in virtual teaching in higher education, overlooking the perception and challenges faced by the engineering faculty. The present study replenishes this gap.

Poor Online Patient Ratings of Otolaryngologists in the United States: What are Patients Saying?

Online patient forums have become a platform for patient education and advocacy in many areas of medicine. The anonymity provided by such forums may encourage honest, candid responses. Using patient online reviews, this study sought to explore themes that arose from negatively perceived care interactions with American otolaryngologists using the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competency framework. Qualitative thematic analysis. Through an iterative multistep process, a qualitative thematic analysis was conducted on negative reviews (defined as ratings of two or less out of five) of all American otolaryngologists found on a popular online physician-rating website (RateMDs.com). A systematic search through the RateMDs website revealed 2950 separate comments of negative reviews. Of these negative reviews, 350 were randomly selected for thematic analysis. The predominant themes that emerged aligned closely with the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) competencies, in particularly with professionalism and interprofessional skills and communication. The negative reviews of American otolaryngologists revealed a number of areas where improvements could be made to quality of care. Patients value evidence-based medicine delivered by compassionate and respectful physicians. Isolating and aligning predominant themes within the ACGME framework proved a productive method to collect and organize pertinent patient feedback and integrate teaching into the post-graduate training and continuing professional development in order to avoid such negatively perceived interactions in the future.

Hemşirelerin Mülteci Kadınlara ve Yenidoğanlara Yönelik Kültürlerarası Farkındalıkları ve Hemşirelik Bakımına Yansımaları: Nitel Bir Çalışma

Objective: The aim of the study to determine the experiences, feelings and thoughts of nurses who provide care for refugee women and newborns. Material and Methods: The study had a phenomenological design. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 nurses between 9 December 2019 and 19 February 2020 working in maternity and neonatal units at a public hospital in southern Türkiye. The data were analyzed by using thematic analysis. This study was guided by the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research checklist. Results: Three themes with related subthemes were derived from the data: (a) Problems encountered, (b) Emotions and thoughts about refugees, (c) Nursing care process. Conclusion: Although nurses experience different problems during the care they provide for refugees, especially in terms of hygiene, communication and nutrition, it was observed that they practice their professions without discrimination with modern nursing philosophy in the care process they provide. Nurses need more professional development in order to develop their coping skills in the problems they face while caring for refugee women and newborns. Therefore, the role of refugee health nursing and nurses as an emerging field of nursing comes to the fore. In the future, this field should be included in both undergraduate and graduate nursing education curricula.

Antecedent Factors Motivating Nurses’ Participation in Continuous Professional Development in Kenya

Background: Maintaining one's professional competence in today's quickly evolving environment is essential, and it is crucial that nurses at all levels of the healthcare system demonstrate an interest in continuing professional education that lasts a nurse's whole career. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine factors motivating nurses’ participation in continuous professional development in Kenya. Methodology: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted in Narok County Referral hospital. A mixed method approach, which provided for triangulation that sought convergence and corroboration of the results from questionnaire, was adopted. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 40 respondents for the study. Data was checked for completeness and consistency and then entered into SPSS version 26.0 for analysis. Descriptive statistics used included frequencies, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Findings: Results of the mean and standard deviation revealed that majority of the respondents agreed that career development prospect had motivated them to participate in continuous professional development (M =4.15, SD =0.802). Similarly, the respondents were of the view that they participated in continuous professional development in order to keep themselves up to date with the constant changes in the nursing profession (M =4.40, SD =0.810). Upgrade skills and knowledge and to increase professionalism was another factor that motivated nurses to participate in continuous professional development as depicted by the mean and standard deviation (M = 4.30, SD = 0.939). Conclusion: Due to the complexity of the health care system, nurses are required to remain relevant in their area of practice. Continuous professional development equips the nurse with knowledge and skills to perform nursing care professionally. The critical component in achieving favorable results for quality patient’s nursing care is achieved by lifelong learning through continuing professional

Informing Practice Through Professional Development: An Interstate Urban Programming Study Tour

Southeast Pennsylvania 4-H Extension educators identified a need for professional development in order to further develop current urban 4-H programs. The expectation was that increased awareness and knowledge would lead to increased skills competency in planning, implementing, and evaluating urban 4-H youth development programs. An interstate professional development program was developed to inform practitioners on positive youth development in urban communities. The 2-day program included on-site observations of urban programs and professional development on best practices. The event was scheduled as a study tour that involved intentional focus on practical applications of research theory for informal education. The Penn State Extension 4-H Urban Study Tour included on-site observations, program development, and networking leading to the successful development of action plans for local implementation. The program was evaluated for impact using pre- and post-tour survey tools. Results suggest that the participants gained value from the professional development study tour, thus similar opportunities may be warranted.

Physics Education and Sustainable Development: A Study of Energy in a Glocal Perspective in an Angolan Initial Teacher Education School

Education is a key element to address sustainable development goals (SDG). This is particularly relevant in developing countries (e.g., Angola) where politicians signed agendas (2030 and 2063), but their commitment is far from expected. One issue of these agendas is the sustainable production and use of energy, where Angola faces a serious situation given the strong petroleum dependence and the weak use of alternative energy resources. Despite recent national policies, physics education in Angola is characterized by traditional practices. Therefore, this study questions how electric energy may be taught in a physics course of an initial teacher education program to develop teacher educators’ conceptions and practices. Empirically, the study included a case study (CS) in a physics course for future physics teachers in an Angolan school and an exploratory study (ES) 1 year later. Data collection used a variety of techniques and instruments in the CS (e.g., documental analysis, questionnaire, and physics teachers’ documents produced in an intervention action where a didactic sequence about energy was negotiated) and, in the ES, a focus group with physics teachers involved in the CS. Data were treated by statistics and content analysis. Although the results cannot be statistically generalized, they suggest that: with the traditional approach, the future teachers learned academic concepts, but do not know/nor see the importance of local energy resources and do not value their role as active citizens; the teacher educators agreed with the didactic sequence to improve their teaching; 1 year later, teachers referred to have changed their practices. Recommendations pointed to promoting teacher professional development in order to contribute to the SDG and educational research as a collaborative process to support and sustain new practices.

Utilization of information and communication technology (ICT) among undergraduate health science students: a cross-sectional study

BackgroundWe already know that incorporating information and Communication technology (ICT) into every aspect of human activity result in significant change and makes tasks easier to complete. It can help in areas of healthcare systems and medical education. Therefore, this study aimed to assess utilization ICT and its associated factors among Arba Minch University College Medicine and Health Science students.MethodsA cross sectional study design was conducted in June through August 2021 among under graduate students in college of medicine and health science at Arba Minch University, Ethiopia. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on the students’ socio-demographic factors as well as the utilization ICT. The data entry form was prepared with Epi-data 3.1 versions software and STATA version 14 software was used to analyze the data.ResultsA total of 355 participants enrolled in the study, with a response rate of 98.34%. The percentage of students who used ICT was 55.77% [95% CI, 0.50, 0.60]. Regarding of field of study, health informatics students (84%) used the most ICT, while midwifery students (52%) used the least. Urban resident [AOR = 1.85, 95% CI = 1.08, 3.16], ICT knowledge [AOR = 3.8, 95% CI = 2.25, 6.40], having formal training of ICT [AOR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.06,3.48], having IT in current course study [AOR = 2.2, 95% CI = 1.23, 3.84], and had good IT skill [AOR = 2.4, 95% CI = 1.34, 4.23] revealed a significant and positive correlation with the use of ICT.ConclusionIn the current study previous residence, ICT knowledge, having formal training, having IT in current courses, and IT skill were significantly associated with student ICT utilization. Therefore, the university should continue to invest in professional development in order to improve teaching and student performance, as well as provide the college with student-centered ICT computer labs to encourage students to use technology.

Re-Thinking Factors Influencing Registered Nurses’ Compliance to Continuing Professional Development Requirements at a Selected Hospital in Oshana Region, Namibia

Changes in healthcare environment require nurses to go through Continuing Professional Development in order to remain competent and skillful when responding to challenges in the field. Therefore, Continuing Professional Development is an active and proactive systematic maintenance, improvement, and broadening of knowledge and skills, and the development of personal qualities necessary for executing professional and technical duties throughout the individual’s working life. This study aims to determine the factors influencing registered nurses’ compliance with Continuing Professional Development requirements at a selected hospital in Oshana Region, Namibia. The study is anchored on the following research questions: 1) What factors prevent registered nurses’ compliance with Continuing Professional Development requirements? 2) What are the effects of compliance to Continuing Professional Development requirements on registered nurses’ professional practice? 3) What are the strategies that could improve nurses’ compliance with Continuing Professional Development requirements? The study adopted a quantitative, cross-sectional, descriptive survey design for registered nurses at a selected hospital in Oshana Region. From the population of 318 registered nurses, a simple random sampling was used to select 177 respondents repre- senting a 95% confidence level and a confidence interval of ±5% to capture valid and reliable information. Data were analyzed using both the SPSS version 24, Microsoft excel 2012 version. The main findings of this study are such as the shortage of staff, lack of hospital support, professional growth, and networking as some of the factors that influence registered nurses’ compliance to Continuing Professional Development requirements. The study recommended that hospital management should support Continuing Professional Development attendance and collaboration among the stakeholders.

From Industry Professionals to Secondary School Teachers: The Relationship between Second Career-Changing Teachers and Social Cognitive Career Theory

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and teaching field is facing significant human resources shortages, particularly in the subject matter of environmental sciences education. The current study collected interview and focus group data and sharing from 220 pre-service and in-service second career-changing teachers in the United States about their career decision and decision-making process. The results of this study indicated that the participants believe educating the next generation is their priority of joining the education and teaching profession. Many expressed that the populations of STEM teachers with professional and industry experiences are greatly needed. The outcomes of this study provided the blueprint for researchers, school leaders, policymakers and human resources planners to reform and polish their current plans for teachers training and professional development in order to solve the workforce issues in the fields of STEM education and teaching. Received: 29 May 2021 / Accepted: 15 July 2021 / Published: 5 September 2021

Teachers’ way of contextualising the science content in lesson introductions

Abstract: Previous studies have pointed to the benefits of involving students’ everyday life experiences in lessons and in contextualising the science content to enhance learning and positive attitudes towards school science. However, most of these investigations have been conducted as intervention studies. By contrast, the present study explored how teachers, in authentic situations and without interventions, related the school science context to other contexts. We analysed a total of 490 minutes of lesson introductions in Swedish Grade 9 classes. The results revealed that teachers employed contextualisation at the intersection of science content and the everyday life context, the school context, and the language context. Furthermore, it appeared that contextualisation was created in the moment, as a way of explicating the scientific content. Compared to intervention studies, the present study shows that occasions of contextualisation are rare. It is possible to conclude that the use of contextualisation in science learning situations could be viewed as a teacher competence and must be explicit in teacher education and professional development in order to achieve the benefits of enhanced student interest and learning shown in the mentioned intervention studies.

The Workforce Shortages of Secondary Environmental Sciences Teachers: The Perspectives from Second Career Changing Teachers

The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education and teaching field is facing significant human resources shortages, particularly in the subject matter of environmental sciences. The current study collected interview and focus group data and sharing from 140 pre-service and in-service second career-changing teachers in the United States about their career decision and decision-making process. The results of this study indicated that the participants believe educating the next generation is their priority of joining the education and teaching profession. Many expressed that the populations of STEM teachers with professional and industry experiences are greatly needed. The outcomes of this study provided the blueprint for researchers, school leaders, policymakers and human resources planners to reform and polish their current plans for teachers training and professional development in order to solve the workforce issues in the fields of STEM education and teaching.

Assessment of knowledge and attitude of allied healthcare professionals about COVID-19 across Saudi Arabia.

The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has shown a catastrophic effect on mankind. The allied healthcare professionals (AHPs) play a pivotal role against COVID-19. To appraise the knowledge and attitude about COVID-19 of AHPs working across Saudi Arabia. This cross-sectional study was conducted using Qualtrics software to gather data from all five regions of Saudi Arabia during the nationwide lockdown in April 2020. Complete responses of 195 AHPs were considered for analysis. The questionnaire consisted of 15 and 14 questions on knowledge and attitude, respectively. The overall scores of each domain were calculated and modified Bloom's criterion was applied to categorize them into a three-point ordinal scale. Statistical analysis was performed using Chi-square test along with multivariate logistic regression for significant parameters. The AHPs displayed a moderate level of knowledge (58.2%) and a good level of attitude (80%). The AHPs were found to have a non-significant (P > 0.05) difference in the level of knowledge within age, gender, region, occupation, educational level, organizational setup and years of experience. The attitude of AHPs working in a private setup has shown a 2.8 times (P = 0.020) higher risk for having moderate/poor attitude compared to the AHPs working in a government organization. AHPs displayed a moderate level of knowledge and good attitude towards COVID-19. Emphasis should be given to continuous professional development in order to enhance their knowledge. Furthermore, strategies should be developed in the private sector to positively reinforce the attitude of AHPs.

The Virtual Community of Practice for School Principals: A Professional Development Method

In an education system that is constantly evolving, school principals play a pivotal role, hence the importance of continuing their professional development in order to acquire the necessary competencies to perform effectively throughout their professional careers. This article examines the characteristics of a community of practice (CoP) as a professional development approach with a group of school principals (N = 10) who participated in a virtual CoP for one year. The corpus from the semi-structured interviews was analysed by considering the four components of Wenger’s (2005) social theory of learning, namely, meaning, practice, community, and identity. Our results also showed the levers of this support method during its implementation.

Embracing educational disruption: a case study in making the shift to a remote learning environment

PurposeAs an institution that has invested in e-learning infrastructure and technology for e-learning delivery, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak conducted The Digital Educator Series as a means of embracing this educational disruption. In particular, this paper reports on the first three courses held under the Digital Educator Series that aims to equip teachers with practical and effective online teaching to school teachers in Sarawak. While the training is still in effect, preliminary results are shared, and implications for practice and recommendations for further research are considered.Design/methodology/approachApproximately 136 questionnaires containing close-and open-ended items were distributed to the teacher participants of the Digital Educator Series. Close-ended items were designed to gather general information about their perceptions of online teaching and learning. Items were constructed to gather insights on familiarity with online teaching and learning, perceived usefulness of platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Google Classrooms. The open-ended items were designed to gather information on areas of improvement for the courses and professional development needs of teachers for online teaching.FindingsThe findings revealed very mixed responses in terms of teachers' familiarity with online teaching and learning. Nonetheless, it was encouraging that the majority of teachers felt positively about the impact and usefulness of the courses in the Digital Educator Series and have expressed that would like to learn more about online teaching pedagogy. Teachers reported the greatest familiarity with Google Classroom and were very positive about the applicability the Google Classroom Course (91.2%) in their own teaching practice. Conversely, all of the participants reported they were unfamiliar with Microsoft Teams. Accordingly, the teachers did not perceive its applicability to be as high as the Google Classroom. The qualitative findings further corroborated this and expressed the need for specific professional development programmes that include pedagogical and technological support. Overall, the teachers are strongly focussed in their professional development in order to improve their online teaching,Research limitations/implicationsLike other research, this too has its limitations. The sample size in this study was restricted to those who attended the Digital Educator Series training. Hence the results of this study, whilst have been enriching, and to a certain extent are supported by the current literature, the accuracy of the description may be unique to this particular group of individuals, within this particular setting. Additionally, the study only relied on self-reports from both the questionnaire and the semi-structured interviews. This study accepts that self-reports have shortcomings. Not all experiences of the courses would have been readily accessible through the teachers' conscious reflections. This makes it difficult to construct a complete picture of the experience, challenges and identify all salient factors within a particular workshop or training.Practical implicationsAlthough the adoption of teaching and learning to online platforms is undoubtedly the way to maintain continuity of learning for students, it has also unveiled glaring inequities in Sarawak. Therefore, continuous and personalised professional development needs to be provided, focussing on pedagogical and technological support. There is a need to embrace these changes as a long-term response that will develop and improve over the next few years. That response should include better infrastructure, policies for quality improvement, accessibility standards and strategic plans for continuous access in the future. This includes advocating for platforms that can fit into the core technology environment and for teachers to adopt an innovative mindset.Originality/valueIn light of the complex and multifaceted challenge of transitioning to online learning in Sarawak Malaysia, it was evident that the need for innovative solutions to optimize educational endeavours has become accelerated. To ensure that students are well-supported and widening participation and access to education, it is imperative that the education disruption be embraced. This starts with addressing teachers' digital literacy through a professional development programme of online reaching.

Senior High School Teachers’ Readiness In Implementing 21st Century Learning: An Input To School Improvement Plan

This study aimed to identify the level of teachers’ readiness in implementing the 21st century learning; determine the relationship between teachers’ demographic profile and level of understanding 21st century learning; determine the difference between Bay and Los Baños districts teachers’ readiness; and design a training program for teachers. The respondents were the regular/permanent senior high school teachers of the Department of Education in the said districts, School Year 2019-2020. The teacher-respondents were from three and six public senior high schools from Bay and Los Baños, Laguna, respectively; adopted questionnaire and used simple random sampling technique. Findings, reveal that the level of teachers’ readiness was high but they still need professional development in order to: increase the knowledge about 21st century learning; assessment of students, use technology as a tool in teaching; and have advanced training on different strategies in handling 21st century students. The teachers’ profiles such as sex, age, teaching position, years in service and educational attainment influenced the level of teachers’ understanding in implementing the 21st century learning; while there is no difference on teachers’ level of readiness between the Bay and Los Baños districts. Hence, a comprehensive training program is recommended to enhance teachers’ professional and technical skills.

Professional development for school leaders in England: decision-making for social justice

ABSTRACT A study of nine headteachers in England, using a research protocol developed and carried out in Ontario, finds implications for the professional development of school leaders with respect to their decision-making to achieve greater equity. The types of professional development that leaders found to be most effective within their particular contexts are identified. The challenges faced by school leaders are explored in relation to their efforts to reduce context-specific achievement gaps. The data generated from semi-structured interviews are examined within the context of the English school system, which is highly neoliberalised and has a performative driven policy landscape. The impact of this context on the practice of school leadership for social justice is discussed and, in particular, how data-based decision-making can be improved through professional development in order to achieve more equitable outcomes, especially for disadvantaged students. The paper has relevance for practitioners in how its findings illuminate professional development practices that school leaders might benefit from and from an argument that reflective and reflexive school leaders are more likely to make objective, critically informed decisions.

In-service Home Economics Teachers’ Attitudes to the Integration of Sustainable Topics in the Home Economics Subject

Education for sustainable development is essential for the well-being of present and future generations and is one of the key objectives in the discipline of home economics. The purpose of this research was to ascertain whether in-service teachers of home economics recognise the opportunities to educate students about sustainable development in their courses and if they can identify the topics related to sustainable development that they can integrate into the subject of home economics. To determine this, a study using a questionnaire with a non-random sample of 89 Slovenian in-service home economics teachers was conducted. The results were qualitatively and quantitatively analysed. According to the research results, in-service home economics teachers understand that the topics of the subject promote education for sustainable development. They see the most opportunities for integrating sustainable topics arising in the fields of food and living environments, and less in economics and textiles. This is evident because sustainability topics are predominantly connected to food and the living environment classes in the current education system. Based on the research results, it can be deduced that in-service home economics teachers should be offered ongoing professional development in order to achieve the competences needed to teach sustainable development as part of the home economics subject. The need to update the curriculum of this subject has emerged as it offers numerous opportunities to educate the young in topics related to sustainable living.

Patient safety in a Resource-constrained Context: A cross-sectional study of experience, drivers, barriers and preventive measures for safety incidents and accidents amongst medical doctors in South-east Nigeria.

Globally, safety of patients in healthcare environment has been an issue of the decade, especially in resource-constrained settings. The Hippocratic maxim primum non nocere requires medical practitioners to give utmost importance to the principle of beneficence and safety in attending to patients. It is a current paradigm in quality of care metrics that determines what happens to patients who interface with the healthcare system. The study was aimed at describing the experience, drivers, barriers and preventive measures for patient safety incidents and accidents in a cross-section of medical practitioners in Abia State, Southeast Nigeria. This was a cross-sectional study carried out on 185 physicians in Southeast Nigeria. Data collection was done using a pre-tested, self-administered questionnaire that elicited information on experience, drivers, barriers and preventive measures for patient safety incidents. The mean age ± standard deviation of the respondents was 36 ± 5.6 years, with a range of 25-72 years. There were 163 (88.1%) males and 22 (11.9%) females. Lifetime and previous 1-year committal of patient safety incidents were 100% (185/185) and 61.0% (113/185), respectively, with the most committed safety incident being medication errors. The most common driver of patient safety incidents was physician stress and burnout (100%) (185/185), whereas the most common barrier was communication (100%) (185/185). The most common preventive measure was patient safety incident reporting system (100%) (185/185). One-year committal of patient safety incidents was associated with duration of practice <10 years (P = 0.00001) and sex (P = 0.011). Patient safety incidents occurred amongst the study participants, with the most committed safety incident being medication errors. The most common driver was physician stress and burnout. The most common barrier was communication and feedback barrier, whereas the most common preventive measure was patient safety incident reporting system. Patient safety information, education and training should be the target for continuing professional development in order to safeguard the health of the patients in healthcare environment.