An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level

In recent years, the education system in Malta has been changing to provide students a better education. Offering quality education requires teachers who are not only qualified and warranted but able to keep themselves in-line with the on-going changes of tomorrow’s society. Professional development...

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Main Author: Fenech, Maria Sabrina
Format: Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)
Language:English
Published: 2018
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56308/
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author Fenech, Maria Sabrina
author_facet Fenech, Maria Sabrina
author_sort Fenech, Maria Sabrina
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description In recent years, the education system in Malta has been changing to provide students a better education. Offering quality education requires teachers who are not only qualified and warranted but able to keep themselves in-line with the on-going changes of tomorrow’s society. Professional development is the key for teachers to up-skill and re-skill their competencies as to be able to guide others. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of primary state school teachers in Malta about professional development by finding ways of how such a system can be improved locally to become more effective. To be able to reach the aim, it was best to make teachers central to the study as to evaluate their perspectives about their own development. A pragmatic worldview philosophical approach was chosen in order to address the research issue. The study was conducted within two primary schools where questionnaires were distributed to primary teachers. As to validate the findings, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two primary teachers from each school followed by another two interviews with the respective head of school. The mixed methodology helped in confirming the data collected from different perspectives. The findings showed that local teachers know about the importance of professional development and are willing to participate in various courses which eventually help the teachers in widening their capacity or enhance teaching and learning. However, due to a number of factors, teachers locally participate mostly in compulsory professional development activities only even though various other courses are available. Teachers have described that the professional development offered is not always effective and made their suggestions in order to bring a positive change.
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spelling nottingham-563082020-05-07T14:32:09Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56308/ An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level Fenech, Maria Sabrina In recent years, the education system in Malta has been changing to provide students a better education. Offering quality education requires teachers who are not only qualified and warranted but able to keep themselves in-line with the on-going changes of tomorrow’s society. Professional development is the key for teachers to up-skill and re-skill their competencies as to be able to guide others. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the perception of primary state school teachers in Malta about professional development by finding ways of how such a system can be improved locally to become more effective. To be able to reach the aim, it was best to make teachers central to the study as to evaluate their perspectives about their own development. A pragmatic worldview philosophical approach was chosen in order to address the research issue. The study was conducted within two primary schools where questionnaires were distributed to primary teachers. As to validate the findings, semi-structured interviews were conducted with two primary teachers from each school followed by another two interviews with the respective head of school. The mixed methodology helped in confirming the data collected from different perspectives. The findings showed that local teachers know about the importance of professional development and are willing to participate in various courses which eventually help the teachers in widening their capacity or enhance teaching and learning. However, due to a number of factors, teachers locally participate mostly in compulsory professional development activities only even though various other courses are available. Teachers have described that the professional development offered is not always effective and made their suggestions in order to bring a positive change. 2018-03 Dissertation (University of Nottingham only) NonPeerReviewed application/pdf en https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56308/1/Fenech_MariaSabrina_Dissertation_Richardson.pdf Fenech, Maria Sabrina (2018) An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level. [Dissertation (University of Nottingham only)]
spellingShingle Fenech, Maria Sabrina
An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level
title An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level
title_full An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level
title_fullStr An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level
title_full_unstemmed An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level
title_short An Evaluation of the Teachers’ Perception on Professional Development in Maltese State Schools at Primary Level
title_sort evaluation of the teachers’ perception on professional development in maltese state schools at primary level
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/56308/