The purpose of the current study is to develop 2-dimensional teacher qualification standards, which reflect professional domains and professional development levels, and to examine their validity, with the aim of improving teacher professional. In ord...
The purpose of the current study is to develop 2-dimensional teacher qualification standards, which reflect professional domains and professional development levels, and to examine their validity, with the aim of improving teacher professional. In order to achieve the purpose of this study, the following research procedures were utilized.
First, the professional domains of a teacher as well as the professional development levels were determined based on the literature review of this study. Secondly, a two-round Delphi survey was conducted to gather the opinions from 30 experts including professors, school principals and educational supervisors. The components of the standards have been adjusted according to the statements of the experts, and the validation of the components was examined using PASW Statistics 18.0. Finally, a survey that consisted of 2,000 primary and secondary teacher participants was carried out in order to verify the validity of the teacher professional development standards. For data analyses Rasch measurement model of WINSTEPS 3.68.2 and PASW Statistics 18.0 were used.
The results of the study are as follows.
Firstly, The model for developing teacher professionalism standards includes teaching professional domain and professional development levels, resulting in a 2-dimensional structure. The teacher professional domain is shown to consist of the knowledge of education domain, education practice domain, and teaching profession fulfillment domain. The Knowledge of education domain is identified as knowledge area, which relates to the knowledge of the subject content that is required by a teacher to instruct students and the understanding of students that maximises learning effects. The education practice domain is the practice capability area, which refers to the actual capability, in addition to theoretical knowledge, to successfully carry out teaching activity. The teaching profession fulfillment domain is related to a teacher’s competency, as a member of school, to promote teaching culture among teachers and exert educational leadership.
The teacher professional development levels were presented to consist of the professional establishment level, professional application level, professional improvement level, and professional distribution level. The professional establishment level is where a teacher initiates the beginning of building professional upon the start of their career in teaching. The professional application level can be achieved when professional knowledge and attitude are effectively applied to learning activities. The professional improvement level can be seen when a teacher’s professional deepens and they can be seen as a vital member of the school. The three professional domains are further divided into specific twenty domains, and by combining these twenty professional domains and the four professional development levels, making eighty teacher professional development levels.
Secondly, the results of analysing of construct validity of the comments made by experts in education about the teacher professional standards showed that the median (M) for the first round was 4.11~4.68 while that of the second round was 4.36~4.86, showing overall increase in terms of the range. The Content Validity Ratios (CVR) were .53~.87 for the first round and .60~.85 for the second round. This proves that the construct is valid enough. In regards to reliability, the range of Cronbach alpha’s coefficient was .619~.915 for the first round and .771~.944 for the second round, which imply that the results were reliable.
Thirdly, the results of analysis for the validity of teacher professional standards for school teachers are as follows. An analysis of the construct validity indicated a median (M) of 3. 54~3.89 and standard deviatioin (SD) of .69~.86, thus showing that the school teachers generally believed that it was valid. The goodness-of-fit index of the questionnaire that was calculated to verify the content validity was .8~1.2. Referring to the goodness-of-fit of the questionnaire, the components of the teacher professional development standards in question were confirmed to well represent themselves as standards. In the test of reliability, the Chronbach alpha’s coefficient was .890~.951 which was above average level of satisfaction. The results suggest that the teacher professional development standards presented in this study conforms to school teachers’ experiential awareness and that the standards may become generalised, thus, it is appropriate to use them as teacher qualification standards.
The conclusion of this study are as follows.
Firstly, the teacher qualification standards are closely related to a teacher’s continuous development and improvement of professionalism. In this point, teacher qualification standards can be divided into 3 areas, and teacher professional development levels into 4 levels. This will allow 2-dimensional approach that will more effective than 1-dimensional approach in developing professional.
Secondly, the teacher qualification standards that are developed in this study suggests that the basic direction of personnel administration policy in education should be changed. This means that it is required, through the teacher professional improvement, to propose 2 ways for a teacher to become either a successful teacher or an educational administrator.
Thirdly, this study reveals that the nearly all standards for the teacher professionalism were clearly articulated and they can be applied to the teacher qualification standards. However, there is a limitation as a few components are not clearly explained in the statements, thus, further study may be necessary.
Lastly, the 2-dimensional teacher qualification standards developed in this study may contribute to the policy improvement of personnel administration in education, and also, in practice. It can work for a basic source in relation to developing curricular for pre-service and/or in-service teacher training courses. In addition, it will provide various implications in relation to issues including teacher evaluation, promotion and a range of entitlements.