School Conditions and Teacher Participation in "Effective Professional Development": Results From Teaching and Learning International Survey 2013

• In Event: Understanding How to Improve Teacher Quality and Equity Through International Comparative Research

Abstract

Objective:
A key lever for improving teaching is provision of effective professional development. This paper uses TALIS 2013 data to consider school-level factors associated with teacher participation in effective professional development (Desimone, 2009) and reports of impact on instruction.
Methods:
Factors were created from TALIS 13 items using exploratory factor analysis on half the sample. Two factors emerged. Teacher cooperation involves the degree to which teachers discuss instructional issues and share materials and practice. The instructionally focused leadership factor involved the degree to which school leaders supported teachers and focused on instructional issues. These factors were the confirmed on the second half of the sample using confirmatory factor analysis. The factors were then used to identify school types. Four types of schools emerged. Teacher-led schools are characterized by very high levels of teacher cooperation but low levels of instructionally focused leadership. Leader-led schools were just the opposite having high levels of instructionally focused leadership and low levels of teacher cooperation. Leader dominant schools were characterized by very high levels of instructionally focused leadership and low levels of teacher cooperation. Balanced, collaborative schools had high levels of both teacher cooperation and instructionally focused leadership.
Results:
These school types were found to be associated with different levels of teacher participation in ‘effective professional development’ and reported impact from participation. Not surprisingly, the balanced, collaborative schools had teachers who participated in the highest amount of effective professional development and subsequently reported higher levels of impact from participation in professional development. Surprisingly however, those in teacher-led schools reported the least amount of participation in effective professional development and also reported the least amount of professional development impact. Also interesting was that teachers in leader dominant schools reported the second highest participation in effective professional development and impact from participation. Countries participating in TALIS 2013 vary significantly on the percentage of teachers in schools with supportive conditions and this is associated with differences in teacher participation in professional development types and reported instructional impact.
Significance:
Understanding the school conditions that are most associated with professional development that can have an impact on teachers’ instructional practices is important to improving schools and educational outcomes. These analyses suggest that it is incumbent on policymakers to help schools develop structures and processes that encourage teachers to cooperate. Emphasizing and supporting the instructional focus of school leaders is also needed. But ultimately, we need to increase the amount and variation of effective professional development offerings available in many countries.

Author

• V. Darleen Opfer, RAND Education