6.4 Inferential statistics
6.4.1 Teachers’ experiences with teacher-training programmes
The median was calculated, and the value is 2, which meant that most of the respondents (72.3%) agreed that professional development courses were theory oriented rather than practice oriented. Only 1.5% of the respondents disagreed (see Appendix Q).
Table 6.13 shows the features of professional development from the teachers’
perspectives, with 27.7% strongly agreeing that professional development activities help teachers to grow professionally, and 61.5 agreeing with this statement. Therefore, to sustain their views, the participants emphasised the point that teachers acquired PCK after following
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online teacher-training sessions as shown in Table 6.13, 18.5% strongly agree that teachers acquire pedagogical knowledge in online courses and 52.3% agree with this. Moreover, the findings show that teachers proposed that professional development programmes should focus on how to teach as 20% of the respondents strongly agreed and 55.4% agree with such view. This seems to indicate that teachers perceive online professional development as a means to acquire PCK, which will help them to teach better. Therefore, professional development providers must think about providing online professional development which focuses on how to teach using real-life video about teaching in different contexts. Teachers can pick up what they feel are relevant to their needs and adapt these concepts to their schools’
context.
The findings in Table 6.13 also show some contradictions, as 13.8% and 46.5% of the participants strongly agreed and agreed respectively with the statement that professional development courses are too theoretical. At the same time, 20% strongly agreed and 38.5%
agreed (58.5% in all) that the content of professional development courses changes their teaching practices. On the other hand, 56.9% (16.9% strongly agreed and 40% agreed) of the participants agreed the professional development course content does not reflect the school context. Furthermore, 50.7% (16.9% strongly agreed and 33.8% agreed) agreed the content does not meet teachers’ needs. Therefore, the delivery mode of professional development must be changed to meet teachers’ needs and schools’ needs. There is a contradiction in their views, since they agree that the content is too theoretical and not related to their school’s context, thus not meeting their needs and at the same they also agreed that PD content changes their practices. Their belief seems to be somewhat contradictory and confusing.
6.4.1.2 One-size-fits all
The respondents agreed (66.1%) that courses delivered in one-size-fits all mode do not meet their needs as they have individual needs. The result also revealed that 30.8% of the respondents were neutral regarding the statement (see Appendix Q). In Table 6.13, 44.6%
of the respondents agreed that one-size-fits-all PD programmes do not meet teachers’ needs, while 29.2% strongly agreed that this type of programme does not meet their needs.
Therefore, a total of 73.8% agreed with this statement and 20% were neutral. Thus, more
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specific programmes will be more appropriate for teachers to grow professionally. One-size- fits-all teacher-training courses do not contribute to school advance as highlighted by the results in Table 6.13, where 69.2% of the respondents agree that they are not adequate for school advancement.
Table 6.11 shows that 67.7% (24.6% strongly agreed and 43.1% agreed) of the teachers agreed that imposing one-size-fits-all professional development programmes leads to frustration and discontent. Only 27.7% were neural and 4.6% disagreed with this statement. As the content is not relevant their respective schools’ context, teachers become frustrated. Thus, this model of professional development programmes, because teachers are frustrated, will not benefit teachers’ professional development. It indicates that teachers are losing their time and energy in addition to money. Therefore, alternative models need to be implemented for teachers to benefit from professional development and 81.5% of the respondents agree that online courses can be another way of providing professional development courses for teachers as shown in Table 6.9.
6.4.1.3 Course duration
Table 6.13 indicates how the respondents rated the two statements regarding course duration with respect to effectiveness. The first statement was that short courses are more effective for teachers and the second that intensive and lengthy professional development courses have more impact on teaching practices. The results showed some contradictions as 69.2% of the teachers agreed that short courses are more effective and only 9.2% disagreed;
while 46.2% of the teachers from the sample tended to agree with the statement that intensive and lengthy professional development courses have more impact on teaching practices. In Table 6.13, 20% of the respondents disagreed with this statement. This indicates that the duration of the course must be adequate in terms of duration that is neither too short nor too long but related to teachers’ needs.
6.4.1.4 Professional growth and progress
The median of the statements was calculated, the result being 2, which shows that 75.3% of the respondents agree that teachers needed to be up-to-date with advances in the educational field for them to grow and progress in their careers. Only 3.1% disagreed with
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the statement (see Appendix Q). To teach well throughout their career, teachers need professional development and teachers’ education programmes to improve and assist them in achieving the goals, before starting to teach, and throughout their career. In this study, 90.8% agreed that aspirant secondary school teachers should go for an initial teacher training.
Table 6.8 shows that 6.2% were neutral and only 3% disagreed with the statement. While Table 6.8 also shows that 90.8% agreed that all teachers must have an initial teacher training and only 3.1% disagreed. Thus, teachers emphasised the importance of professional development through their career. Those who hold a first degree can join the teaching profession without any initial teacher training. But those who hold a Higher School Certificate and aspire to be teachers must go for Diploma in education or Bachelor’s degree in education. But even though they think that all aspirant teachers and in-service teachers must follow professional development courses, in Table 6.13, 69.2% of them agree that their experiences acquired during their student life influence the way they teach. Thus, if teachers teach differently now, we shall this change in the next generation.
6.4.1.5 Teacher professional development and students’ learning outcome
In Table 6.9, 56.9% of the respondents agreed that the content of online professional development courses was directly related to their work. Furthermore, 60% of them agreed that the content of these programmes can be adapted to their schools’ context. Since the content was related to their work and could be adapted to their context, 77% of the respondents agreed that the content had helped them to improve their teaching. As their teaching improved, so the student outcomes would also improve. The teachers saw online professional development as being effective compared to face-to-face professional development as only 13.9% of the respondent disagreed with all three statements. Therefore, professional development providers must think of delivering professional development courses online.
6.4.1.6 Social influences
Table 6.14 shows that 26.2% of these teachers also claimed that they were not encouraged by the school management to enrol in online professional development programmes. Only 40% of the teachers agreed that the school management encourages them
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to use online professional development course. Additionally, only 36.9% of them acknowledged that people who are important to them encouraged them to use OPD. Only 33.9% of the teachers agreed that people using OPD have more prestige than those who do not while 41.5% were neutral. Furthermore, only 36.9% of them agreed that people in the teaching field who use OPD have a high profile while 35.4% were neutral and 27.7%
disagreed with this statement. Similarly, only 25.4% of them agreed that using OPD programmes gave status in the school while 33.8% were neutral and 30.8% disagreed. In the same way, only 27.7% agreed that they used OPD, while 50.8% were neutral and 21.5%
disagreed. Teachers fear being judged by their peers as they are working in a system which favours competition. So they tend to work in isolation. But using online professional development, teachers can participate in forum discussion anonymously; therefore they can discuss freely without fear of being judged. As everyone is working and learning individually, social influences do not have an effect on their intention to use online professional development. But 67.7% still believe that they can share experiences and resources with the peers within the school and with teachers in another schools with online professional development. Only 3.1% disagreed with the statement. On the other hand, only 38.5%
believed that school management valued teacher online professional development programmes and 44.6% were neutral as shown in Table 6.10. To conclude, it seems that social influences are not a significant contributor that positively influences teachers’
experiences with teacher-training programmes.
6.4.1.7 School context
When there is no support and collaboration at the school level, teachers tend to be frustrated and isolated. Teachers claimed that school management does not encourage them to participate in online professional development; this may explain why teachers tend to work in isolation. So school management must provide time for teachers to meet regularly and also provide job-embedded ongoing professional development. By providing adequate infrastructure for teachers to participate in OPD at school is a way of encouraging them. In Table 6.11, 73.9% of the teachers agreed that limited ICT infrastructure is seen as an inhibiting factor to participating in OPD. But in Table 6.10 only 38.4% agreed that schools provided facilities for them to access OPD, and the same percentage agreed that school
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managements value OPD programmes. Therefore, fewer teachers will tend to participate in such programmes. Furthermore, 41.5% of the teachers agreed that time is being provided to access OPD at their workplace. Therefore, we must make time provision in their workload to enable teachers to take part in online professional development programmes. Findings from this study indicate that OPD can provide just-in-time assistant to teachers at their workplace and the content can be adapted to their context.
6.4.2 Online teacher-training use behaviour