The views concerning in-service teacher education courses in Science teachers' professional development

Abstract

The main aim of this research is to identify administrators' and science teachers' views regarding in-service teacher training courses. Semi-structured interviews and questionnaires have been utilized for collecting the data. The interviews were conducted with 6 head teachers (administrators) and 6 science teachers. A questionnaire developed by the researchers was conducted upon 109 teachers from seven primary schools. The results showed that there were discrepancies between the results of questionnaires and the interviews. In the questionnaires, most of the teachers indicated that the in-service training courses were helpful in their professional development. In the interviews, even though most of the head teachers found in-service training courses to be helpful in teachers' professional development, most of the teachers did not share the same opinion. Both the questionnaires and the interviews revealed some reported deficiencies and expectations from in-service training courses. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd.