Exploring Challenges of EFL Teachers in Professional Developments in Bani Walid Secondary Schools
Keywords:
Professional Development, Learning OutcomeAbstract
Teaching is a professional job; professional development programs becomes an urgent necessity to develop and improve teachers’ skills frequently. By ongoing learning, teachers’ profession and performance can be boosted; professional qualifications are viewed as powerful indicators of teacher professionalism (Leung, 2009). Developing teacher fosters improving student learning, teaching methodology and teaching process itself. The current study utilized mixed method design to explore challenges that EFL Libyan secondary school teachers face regarding professional developments, and investigating the impact of professional developments on students’ outcomes. A total of 30 EFL teachers participated in this study. The results showed challenges that Libyan EFL teachers face in professional developments were: poor internet infrastructure and limited digital literacy, ineffective teacher performance evaluation systems, poorly designed PD programs, inadequate training venues, teacher demotivation, teachers’ beliefs and attitudes toward professional development, and influence from colleagues. The study also showed the significant influences of PD programs on teacher teaching development and students learning out comes. As abounded areas of research on PD, it is recommended more investigates should be conducted in order to muster tangible evidence on the significance of teachers’ PD. Also, classroom observations of teachers should be utilized in such king of study to provide a comprehensive understanding to the barriers and factors of teacher development. It would be another informative research method to investigate the impact of PD on teachers’ development.
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