Teachers' perceptions of teaching and the implications of professional learning and development (PLD) training on their practice: A report on in-service teacher training at Tailulu College

Fonua, Paul and Fa'avae, David (2017) Teachers' perceptions of teaching and the implications of professional learning and development (PLD) training on their practice: A report on in-service teacher training at Tailulu College. [Professional and Technical Reports] (Unpublished)

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Abstract

The quality of an education system cannot surpass the quality of its teachers (Thaman, 2016). Quality teacher education is necessary for the improvement of education systems in any country. Unlike the government schools, in-service teacher training for the Mission Schools in Tonga is left to the schools themselves and very little resource is provided by the ministry of education.
Although the in-service training programme for teachers through professional learning and development (PLD) training already existed at Tailulu Tongatapu however, in September 2014, the Tonga government’s introduction of SOLO Taxonomy, a framework for curriculum design, teaching and learning, and assessment, was a key feature of the in-service training programme at the school.
The findings of this report suggest teachers maintain at least an 80% attendance rate to PLD training. As well, the time allocated to PLD training per week needed to be followed up with an iterative process of classroom observations plus direct feedback to inform teachers’ practice. Moreover, a design based research approach was suggested as a framework to use for future in-service training that is design and intervention-oriented and based on “grounded theory and research” (Reimann, 2011, p. 37).
Because of the limited resources and facilitators to implementing PLD training, the school leadership team selected a focus group to work within 2015. The focus group was made up of teachers who taught at the form 1 level. In 2016, the focus group continued with the same form 1 teachers, and a request was also made for all new staff or returning staff to join the group.
The duration of the PLD training sessions ranged from 1 – 3 hours per week. Although PLD training was specifically designed and implemented for form 1 teachers, however, training was also conducted for all staff as well as examiners at the school. This report, however, is focused mainly on the 2016 in-service training for form 1 teachers and new or returning staff to the school.

Item Type:	Professional and Technical Reports
Subjects:	L Education > L Education (General)
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts, Law and Education (FALE) > Institute of Education
Depositing User:	David Fa`avae
Date Deposited:	11 Feb 2019 04:39
Last Modified:	11 Feb 2019 04:39
URI:	https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/11306

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