EFFECT OF IN-SERVICE TRAINING ON ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Abstract

The purpose of the research is to investigate the impact of an innovative teacher support package (ITSP) on the teacher’s teaching performance. This research elaborates how ITSP is contributing to the quality of education through the improvement of teaching practices of the Elementary School Teachers (ESTs) in the public schools. In this work, first of all, teachers’ teaching performance was conducted and monitored through a tool known as the classroom observation tool COT. This tool includes eleven standards practices on the basis of which the teachers were ranked from scores 1 to 5. A score of 1 represents the poorest performance, whilst a score of 5 signifies excellence. Each teacher was observed at least twice a month through COT, and then on the basis of COT results, the researchers identified which teacher needed training and mentoring. A group of teachers were selected on the basis of the COT result, and then Teacher Forum Meeting TFM was arranged at the cluster level. In this TFM, a selected group of teachers was trained through an innovative teacher support package (ITSP), developed by the Quaid e Azam Academy for Education development QAED. This ITSP contains highly standardized guidelines regarding the COT, and it reveals through examples how teachers can improve any specific practice of COT. The mean score difference of pre training and post training groups showed that ITSP has significant effect on teachers’ teaching performance.