Time and Opportunity for In-house Professional Development of Teachers

Abstract

Professional Development (PD) courses demand that teachers learn and practice new roles and ways of teaching/learning and assessment to create independent, critically conscious and confident life-long learners. That translates into a long-term contextual PD process to focus on dynamic role of teachers. Here, the problem is; where do teachers find time and support for that higher-level change in their already busy schedules? This issue explores the vital concern for the coordinators, head-teachers that how to carve out time, opportunity, and other relevant resources that teachers need to realize and practice the vision of PD. Therefore, in-service PD courses were introduced in the past decades. But, again time has emerged as key issue on most of the analysis of school change. Hence, while working with the teachers, we could explore and interpret a unique in-service PD strategy that addresses additional challenges of implementing required educational standards. Findings include; the teachers are getting updated feedback and information to improve their classroom practices, and address day-to-day issues. It has filled the prevalent gap between the teachers and the coordinators/managers. The coordinators could implement the learning theories through the teachers who are the right resources to implement the theories to bring change. It has also helped the teachers to manage time to do multiple responsibilities. The implications of the study reveal that it can help the coordinators, teacher educators and managers to further explore, design and implement effective in-service PD strategies to meet high expectations.