Policy makers, school and district leaders, researchers, industry, and parents are all increasingly concerned with improving the quality of education in schools. Therefore, teachers need to welcome and keep themselves up-to-date about the improvements, developments, and educational reforms. At this point, in-service training of teachers is one of the most urgent concerns of teacher educators and policy makers. Although there is a widespread view on the importance of teachers&rsquo / professional learning, how design and process should be handled is still questioning issue. The purpose of this study was to determine the kinds and qualities of in-service training that teachers needed. Professional development designs&rsquo / three elements were highlighted in this research. Content refers what designer of professional development expects teachers to learn / form denotes the context, materials, schedule, and evaluation in which learning takes place / audiences are targeted group of teachers who needs to participate some certain programs. Via survey design / data were collected from 1730 teachers, and analyzed through ANOVA and Structural Equation Modeling. Teachers reported an occasional need for Guidance and Special Education, Preparation for Inter/national Exams, Self-development, Professional Teaching Knowledge, and Technology Use, and reported medium satisfaction with previous programs. They also reported their preferences for in-service training program format. All these results were discussed together, and combined as design elements of training programs. Determining what teachers need and prefer and how they learn best made it possible to provide suggestions for Turkish teacher training policy to maximize the match between teacher needs and the content and process by which those needs are met.

The overall aim of this study is to contribute to the understanding of development projects carried out by teachers within the Swedish 9-year compulsory school. The study concentrates on the everyday classroom work of the teachers, firstly when there were extra funds to use for the development projects, and secondly, when the funding had expired. Eight projects at the primary level were selected. Each project was visited three times during the first year. A follow up was made three years later. Data were collected by way of interviews, questionnaires and observations. The projects had different aims, contents and organization. Some projects changed or developed their aims and contents in the course of the project period, while others kept their original direction. Differences in the development of project activities were found to be related to such factors as the amount of personal support given by headmasters and colleagues, and on whose initiative a project was started, whether by the authorities or by the teachers themselves. Within the framework of the projects, the teachers often instigated relevant in-service training, developed new forms of cooperation, sought to integrate school subjects and tried new pedagogic practices. When financial support was terminated, the new ideas and the new practices were incorporated in the changed every day way of working. The project work tended to make the teachers feel more harmonious and whole, in that the activities tended to tie the teacher's personality and career more firmly together. Besides this personal development, the teachers felt that the project work enhanced more and closer cooperation in the schools. The teachers emphasized that it had become very important for them to collaborate, and that they felt they were no longer left alone with the responsibilities and problems in the classroom. The projects led to more committed pedagogical discussions in the staff- rooms resulting in a claim for more knowledge. The project teachers often invited lecturers and arranged other forms of in-service training. The results of the study are discussed in relation to theories of school development, teacher work and career as well as to gender theories. / digitalisering@umu

This study was undertaken to analyze the opinions of elementary school teachers in Korea about actual and desired levels of computer education and the sources of computer anxiety, with the object of developing guidelines for a teacher training program. A survey instrument was developed and tested to provide basic sample demographic data, tabulation of opinions on computer competencies, as well as an analysis of three variables of anxiety: 1) use of computers as educational tools, 2) lack of personal ability, and 3) lack of computer knowledge. The instrument was administered to a sample composed of 421 teachers, parents, or computer experts, and three analyses of variance procedures were performed to analyze the sources of computer anxiety. Analysis of the data revealed the following: 1) most of the teachers sampled had little experience with computers or computer applications; 2) older teachers or those with little experience reflected the highest degrees of computer anxiety; 3) training programs should focus on computers as instructional tools; 4) computer language training should be addressed on a broad level; 5) development of a broadly focused training program, ranging from basic instruction in computer capabilities to advanced programming skills; and 6) there is a need for support and commitment to computer education by educational administrators. A model for the development of guidelines for computer training programs was proposed, based upon the assumption that computer literacy cannot be equated with computer science. Based upon objectives derived from an analysis of the nature of Korean society, learners, and the state of their knowledge, the following program goals were suggested: 1) instructors should be made aware of computer capabilities and limitations; 2) classify the scope and sequence of programs to reduce computer anxiety in accordance with existing skill levels and levels of needs among teachers; 3) encourage a teacher-centered approach based upon voluntary participation; 4) select knowledgeable training personnel with communicative skills; 5) encourage small group training to enable collaborative learning; 6) extensive use of hands-on methods, with adequate hardware and software resources; 7) training periods of a length to assure provision of practical classroom skills; 8) provision of incentives; 10) focus upon the integration of computers into the instructional process. / Graduation date: 1992

A review of the literature revealed that there are many variables that influence teachers' instructional practices. These influential variables fall into three categories: those related to the teacher, which are referred to in this study as teacher role characteristics; those related to the inservice education activities of teachers, referred to as staff development variables; and those related to the teachers' individual teaching situations, referred to as school climate variables. It was hypothesized that there may be variables that are related to the use of manipulatives for mathematics instruction by primary grade teachers. Nineteen independent variables in the three categories were studied. In order to investigate the hypotheses, a population of teachers was located in eight school districts outside of but within a sixty-mile radius of Corvallis, Oregon, and a sample was drawn from those teachers having some specialized training in the use of manipulatives beyond their initial teacher certification college coursework. One hundred eighty teachers were mailed a survey instrument, designed and field-tested by the researcher, whose purpose was to determine amount of manipulatives use. Following the completion of this survey, there were 145 participating teachers who were then sent a questionnaire, designed and field-tested by the researcher, which Pearson correlations were calculated for the variables based on continuous data and one-way analysis of variance was computed for the variables based on categorical data. Multiple regression analysis was then performed on the three independent variables that were statistically significant at the .05 level. A teacher's attitude toward the usefulness of manipulatives training, his/her current teaching beliefs (child-centeredness), and perceived attitude of students' parents were all highly correlated with manipulatives use. In the final regression model, each of these three variables made a unique contribution for explaining the variance in teachers' use of manipulatives. Other variables that may also have some relationship to the use of manipulatives included: quality of manipulatives training, follow-up from initial manipulatives training, and perceived response from students. / Graduation date: 1991

This study reviewed the methods of teaching orthopedics to family practice residents. It explored the areas of how, when, and to what end. Questionaires were sent to all family practice residency programs in the United States. The complied results showed that most residents are taught during a block assignment for four weeks in the second year of residency. The results showed preceptorships being utilized most frequently and for at least 50% of the teaching time. Lectures were used next most frequently and usually for 20% or less of the teaching time. Nearly all of the respondants felt their residents were qualified to initially manage athletic injuries, simple fractures, and low back pain. On the management of infant foot problems, 63% felt their residents were qualified and 36% felt they were not. This difference was felt to be due to a difference in content and not process. Suggestions for future research were put forth.Ball State UniversityMuncie, IN 47306

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M. Tech. Education, Tshwane University of Technology, 2010.

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Social Sciences

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education