Impact of TESOL Continuing Professional Development programs (CPDs) - Research Paper Example

? Impact of TESOL Continuing Professional Development programs (CPDs) Evaluating the impact of in-service teacher training programmes Professional development in any job is important in ensuring the skills, knowledge, and performance of staff is improved. There are different professional development programmes constructed based on specific professional needs and experience of trainers. Any professional development programme has to articulate the needs of the intended trainees, and ensure any knowledge gained by such trainees is practical, relevant, and transferable to their respective jobs. In-service Teacher Education and Training programmes (INSET) have been the major channels through which teachers’ knowledge and experiences are revitalized to impact the desired knowledge and skills. Therefore, despite the numerous continues development programs available, the success of such programmes are measured by how best such trainees are able to transfer knowledge gained to their respective duties, skills improvement, in addition to job performance. Due to developments in information technology, there are increasing perceptions that ICT has resulted in major improvements in education, and may transform the learning process when implemented effectively (Oblinger & Oblinger, 2005). However, there are still arguments that discussions on ICT improving education are far-fetched, and that ICT has not always resulted to outright improvement of such programs (Smeets, 2005). Therefore, effectiveness of such teachers training programs related to ICT and other platforms have resulted in different findings depending on how such learning programs are implemented in different learning environments. This paper examines the challenges and impact of various professional training programs on both teachers and students. The article investigates several research papers on professional training programs, and outlines various findings to make a general summary regarding the impact of such programs. Short in-service teacher training (INSET) courses are one way in which the skills and knowledge of teachers may be revitalized through enhancing their skills and knowledge on specific aspects. INSET courses are common in many countries where English is taught (Lamb, 2005). INSET courses are aimed at facilitating and stimulating new ideas in teachers and as a platform for teachers to meet and share with new colleagues their experiences and skills. However, the impact of the INSET courses according to Lamb may not be effectively realized without proper follow up of the participants. The motivation and stimulus gained by teachers is fast eroded and teachers are frustrated when trying to implement all newly learned ideas; teachers enroll in such professional development courses to learn new ideas, but have difficulties applying the learned concepts and ideas in a static learning system, which does not encourage or facilitate them to apply such ideas (Lamb, 2005). This brings about tensions and frustrations in teachers. However, Bridges (2007) in a controlled group trial on the effectiveness of INSET reports the group actually registered impressive growth in skills, though on what the researcher termed as cautious positive results in an intensive immersion INSET. A study on Tanzania primary teachers on INSET programs showed that such INSET trained teachers were much better in introducing and developing lessons, in addition to involving students in class group work, which was found to improve learning (Hardman & Dachi, 2012). However, in another study, Bridges (2007) asserted that multiple assessments resulted in a lower self-reporting as the participants did not have enough time to express their concerns in the learning process. Despite this, INSET was found to have a varied degree of positive growth in knowledge acquisition. This reveals that measurement of the programme’s success in this case has to be based on enough feedback from such teachers, and how best class lessons improve. One way to measure the success of INSET programme in professional development of teachers would be to ensure such trainees and their needs are at the heart of every planning and execution phases of such INSET programs (Uysal, 2012). Such an approach would involve the need to consider several qualities of such teachers which include: their needs, their ideas, experiences, negotiating the programme content, accepting such teachers as experts, and encouraging them to have a critical reflection on their behavior and beliefs. Ensuring such factors are included would thus lead to inducement of long lasting changes in skills of such groups of teachers (Uysal, 2012). In other words, a teacher’s training programme would not have such success if it is based on traditional preset teachers training programmes, but a successful program has to be strictly designed with the specific group of teachers in mind. Such a setting in INSET program would encourage teachers to have a sense of ownership of the new ideas gained, in addition to increasing the professional confidence in teachers, and quality of obtained instructions, which are ideal measures of an INSET programme. According to Veenman et al (1991) explains that although relevant and practical content may be used to measure the success of an INSET programme, such internal features may not be the sole pointers of success in such programmes. As Veenam et al elaborates, the success of an INSET programme has to be measured based on the above internal factors, and the features of a school as the teacher’s work place. This would mean investigating the classroom level, the level of the school, and the knowledge use by such teachers. Therefore, an INSET program would tend to be more successful when the program is designed with the needs of teachers in mind, has to be relevant to their jobs, has to have a supportive working climate to encourage the learners to participate, and has to create a feedback mechanism for such teachers (Veenman et al, 1991). An INSET program that portrays such mechanisms tends to be more successful than one that does not. Ozen (2009) in investigating the success of INSET programmes via distance learning observed that the success of the program depends on relationship between the INSET program, course content, and the support mechanism in INSET programs through distance education, the school curriculum, application of what is learned, providing various practical opportunities for such trainees to have an active involvement in application of the programs, the learning environment characteristics, competency of the teaching staff, and their skills in measuring and evaluating performance of INSET teachers during the INSET training via distance learning. Proper integration of the above factors leads to a successful INSET training program. Therefore, effective measurement of INSET distance learning programs has to ensure the above factors are well articulated in such programs to ensure their success in equipping teachers with the required skills. Collaborative learning on the other hand results in better skills improvement among participants in professional skills development. Amoah (2011) carried out a study involving qualitative experiment research on 4 mathematics teachers, through interviews and reflective dialogues. The research established that creating a favorable environment to facilitate reflective dialogues, and collaborative practices among the teachers resulted in development of deep reflective dialogues culture, which allowed them to systematically investigate the teaching practices, and control their cultural influences. The environment allowed the teachers to have a broader look at problems professionally, instilling critical thinking regarding the social, political, and cultural trends in the learning environment, and analyzing the resulting competing claims (Amoah, 2011). This would be measured by having a control group that does not involve in collaborative learning, and comparing their results with the group in question. Thus, similar to the INSET program where teachers were allowed to share their experiences and have a critical view of their learning process, reflection on such challenges resulted in deeper evaluation to address the entire learning process, which leads to new experiences and skills. However, the effectiveness of INSET programs was watered down as teachers were eager to implement new experiences in rigid systems, which resulted in more frustrations as Bridges (2005) elucidates. Moreover, a study carried out on a Master’s of Arts programme involving teaching English at master’s level to teachers indicated a positive impact on the graduates. The programme was effective in instilling better teaching skills, and improving the standard and quality of English teachers in Thailand (Soontornwipast, 2008). However, the study indicates there were still challenges in teacher education, evaluation of the concepts, program management, the structure of teaching, and the learning process, which translates to challenges involved in teachers’ training programs. Moreover, Uysal (2012) asserts that teachers require a comfortable training setting in addition to collaborating with their trainers to ensure a successful INSET program. Such an atmosphere has to encourage teachers to share “their own knowledge of classroom subjects, pedagogy, children and subjects with their fellow teachers” (Gravani, 2005, 122). Moreover, teachers in such INSET programs were found to have more respect and acceptance of their colleagues’ views much more than views of their lecturers or researchers. This means that any INSET program has to encourage more collaboration and practical input by teachers to ensure success. The level of input by such teachers would thus be the best measure in indicating the success of such programmes. Goodall et al in evaluating the effectiveness of Continuing Professional Development programs (CPD) highlighted the setting and implementation of such programmes as being critical in determining the effectiveness of a program. However, (Raza, 2010) supports CPD programmes and concludes that such programmes are essential and productive in professional development of TESOL teachers and other professionals. Moreover, a report by London South Bank University (2006) explains the positive impacts of CPD programs on teachers. According to Goodall et al, some participants suggested factors such as flexibility, negotiating skills, and integrity of programme tutors as critical in ensuring effectiveness of the programme. The qualifications of the moderators come into play if such programmes need to have the required impact. These factors affect the quality of the CPD program offered, which will then impact on the improvement of the training professionals and their subsequent skills. Poorly designed CPD programs would thus be of no effect to the professional improvement of the target group. Goodall et al observes that questionnaires or surveys are widely used to evaluate the success of most CPD programmes across schools. However, as Godall et al asserts, the use of such measuring methods is highly variable; completion of a questionnaire or a survey is perceived to be an end in itself. Consequently, Goodall et al recommends design of better professional development and training that would make it much easier to evaluate its effectiveness. Such evaluation is too brief and does not indicate the actual picture of such CPD programmes. In other words, professional development has to be an ongoing process and not a onetime event, implying that any evaluation has to be an ongoing event Rose & Reymonds (2007) blame the narrow perception of INSET programs as a one off event involving attendance of courses and conferences on the poor impact of such programs. For example, Rose & Reymonds assert that teachers do not consider on-job learning as part of CPD program, though such experience has proved to have numerous benefits, with the narrow perception leading to reduced impacts. However, Harris et al (2006) question the effectiveness of CPD programmes, and explain that the effects of such programmes on students have been under-evaluated. This questions the success of CPD on improving teachers’ skills. Harris et al (2006) suggest more support and training in schools to have a better understanding and evaluation of CPD impacts. Moreover, Waters (2006) argues that the design and presentation of such professional training programs will greatly impact the effectiveness of the system. In a study, Waters revealed that the design of the course, the relationship between the trainers, the trainees, and the school, as well as the school based follow-up on the programme are all critical aspects in determining the impacts of an INSET training programme. Moreover, Shah, Kiani, Mahmood & Hussain (2011) on a study of Trained Graduate Teachers (TGTs), participating in INSET programmes explain that such teachers reported much more improvements compared to TGTs who did not; this explains the positive impact of such programs. Thus Waters (2009) in a study on innovation in English Language Learning (ELL) suggests the use of innovations, or attempts to bring about a change in ELL from outside the conventional setups through the use of innovated methods in ELL in order to have the required change. The success of such an approach would be assessed by how much the innovations improve the learning process. As Waters (2006) argues, innovations in ELL lead to altering the design of such English learning programmes by improvising new methods, which facilitates application of different and exciting approaches in teaching. Such innovations include impacting more skills in development of research methods in teachers through TESOL programmes designed to encourage more research (Kiely et al., 2004). Waters (2009) suggests that the use of native language in teaching second language professional learners as the biggest impediment that impacts on the effectiveness of language learning among teachers. However, Wedell (2005) in a study on cascade models of in-service training revealed that the design of a cascade plan and its implementation has to be in such a way that all teachers are at the same learning level, to ensure the required materials are delivered at the same level, after which they will be required to translate the materials to students in classrooms. Moreover, Yadav (2012) argues that the quality of INSET programmes largely depends on the training package, the physical facilities used, equipment, as well as the human resources, all which contribute to success of a professional development programme As Wedell (2005) argues in the cascading approach, there lacks enough human resources, equipment, and enough physical facilities, which waters down the intended impact of such a training programme . Wedell (2004) further elaborates that teachers from an Initial Teachers Training (ITT) will have difficulties trying to teach TESOL students due to lack of coherence between the TESOL micro-environment, and their teaching; this would have a major effect on their students’ motivation, the attitude of older teachers or school administrators to such teachers, and their level would not meet parental expectations. Therefore, teachers of programmes such as INSET have to be specialized in such specific areas; there would be poor outcomes when English teachers from an Initial Teachers Training school are used for such purposes. Moreover, Thomas & Wright (1999), noted that there are major challenges preventing teachers to change the classroom conventional system, as well as challenges of training during the INSET programmes based on the embraced innovation method. However, Kasule (2003) on investigating the effectiveness of INSET programmes on ESL teaching in South Africa revealed that the programme was still ineffective in improving the method of teaching to students. English according to Kasule was observed as a mental exercise; the class lessons were uninspiring, restrictive, complicated, and ineffective. Therefore, INSET according to Kasule had no effect on improving ESL learning mainly due to lack of confidence in teachers based on their competence in English, which questions the effectiveness of such INSET programmes. Thus, lack of confidence and low self-esteem in teachers hampers effective measurement of the success of INSET programmes in this case. Considering the above arguments, professional development courses have a wide variability, and their effectiveness depends on the relationship between their design, implementation, and their subsequent follow up. Though many researchers have reported on the effectiveness of INSET and CPD programmes in professional development, major challenges have also been reported based on how such programs are implemented. For example, an INSET program would be more effective in changing the classroom teaching approach when the moderators of such training are qualified, availability of enough training equipment, preventing any cascade effect by parallel training of all teachers, effective follow up, and a broader approach to include on job training as part of professional development. Innovation in teaching and training methods has also been advanced as an effective way of improving the impact of such training approaches. Therefore, the impact of the training programme will mainly depend on how such a programme is implemented in addition to the inclusion of broader factors to stimulate motivation and professional development among teachers. References Amoah A.S. (2011). The Reflective and Collaborative Practices of Teachers in Ghanaian Basic Schools: A Case Study, (Doctoral Thesis) University of Nottingham Bridges, S. (2007). Learner Perceptions of a Professional Development Immersion Course, Prospect, 22(2), 39-60. Goodall J, Day C., Lindsay G., Muijs D., & Harris A., Evaluating the Impact of CPD Hardman F., & Dachi H. (2012) Evaluation of School Based INSET Pilot Programme, University of York, Institute for Effective Education. Harris A., Day C., Goodall J., Lindsay G., & Muijs D. (2006) What Difference Does it Make? Evaluating the Impact of Continuing Professional Development in Schools John, P. D. & Gravani, M. N. (2005). Evaluating a ‘new’ in-service professional development programme in Greece: The experiences of tutors and teachers. Journal of In-service Education, 31(1), 105-125. Kasule D. (2003), A Model For a Non-Native ELT Teacher Education Program, (Doctoral Dissertation) University of South Africa Kiely, R., Clibbon G., Dickins R.P., Walter C., Woodfield H. (2004) Teachers into Researchers: A Study of Learning to Research on a Masters in TESOL Programme, Graduate School of Education, University of Bristol Lamb, M., (1995) the Consequences of INSET ELT Journal 49(1). London South Bank University, (2006), PPD Impact Evaluation Summary Report, Training and Development Agency for Schools Oblinger, G., & Oblinger, L. (2005). Educating the Net Generation. Educause available from http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/EducatingtheNetGeneration/43017 Ozen R., (2009). Investigating the opinions of MoNE staff about INSET programs via distance education, Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 10(4) Raza A. N., (2010). The impact of continuing professional development on EFL teachers employed in federal universities in the United Arab Emirates, (Doctoral Dissertation), The University of Exeter, June 2010. Rose J., & Reynolds D. (2007) Teachers’ Continuing Professional Development: A New Approach, international Congress for Effectiveness and Improvement, 20th Annual ICSEI World. Shah A.M., Kiani K.H., Mahmood Z., & Hussain I. (2011). In-Service Training of Secondary Level Teachers: a Follow up of Teachers’ Performance in Comparative Perspective, Journal of Education and Practice, 2(11/12), Retrieved from www.iiste.org Smeets, E. (2005). Does ICT contribute to powerful learning environments in primary education? Computers & Education, 44 (3), 343-355. Soontornwipast, K. (2008), An Impact Evaluation of a Masters TEFL Program Operating at a Language Institute in Thailand, (Doctoral Dissertation) Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia, 2008. Thomas, H. and Wright, T. (1999) ‘The role of facilitator training and the development of process competence’ In R. Budd (ed) Redesigning the Language Classroom Triangle XV, Paris: The British Council Uysal H.H., (2012) Evaluation of an In-service Training Program for Primary-school Language Teachers in Turkey, Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 37(7), article 2 Waters A. (2006) Facilitating Follow-up in ELT INSET Language Teaching Research, 10(32). Waters A. (2009). Managing innovation in English Language Education, Lang. Teach. 42(4), 421–458 Wedell M. (2004). TESOL Initial teacher Training and TESOL Curriculum goals: Making the Connection, Paper given at the seminar on Initial Education for Teachers of English: What can be learned from the International Experience? Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile. Santiago 26.04.04. Wedell, M. (2005) Cascading training down into the classroom: The need for parallel planning, International Journal of Educational Development, 25 (6), 637 - 651. Yadav S.K. (2012) Impact of In-service Teacher Training on Classroom Transaction, Department of teacher Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training, New Delhi. Read More