Investigating the Effectiveness of a Dynamic Integrated Approach to Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

This paper argues that research on teacher professional development could be integrated with validated theoretical models of educational effectiveness research (EER). A dynamic integratedapproach (DIA) to teacher professional development is proposed. The methods and results of a study comparing the impact of the DIA and the Holistic - Reflective Approach (HA) to teacher professional development are presented. Teaching skills and teacher perceptions of teaching of 130 teachers and the achievement of their students (n=2356) were measured at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Teachers found to be at a certain developmental stage were randomly allocated evenly into two groups. The first group employed the DIA andthe second the HA. Teachers employing the DIA managed to improve their teaching skills more than teachers employing the HA. Teacher perceptions and attitudes towards teaching have not been modified due to their participation in the interventions. On the other hand, the use of DIA also had a significant impact on student achievement. Implications of findings for the use of EER for improvement purposes are drawn and suggestions for research and practice in teacher professional development are provided.