Professional development of teachers in Malta : the view of providers

Abstract

The study explores the various types of professional development opportunities a teacher participates in throughout his/her career. The professional development opportunities tackled in this study were pre-service training, mentoring, in-set, learning communities and keeping of journals or any other reflective material. The study involved interviews with the Director of in-service provision, an education officer from the quality assurance department and five education officers of various subjects. Five focus groups with teachers of the same subject as the education officer interviewed were also conducted to yield more information with regards professional development opportunities. All stakeholders involved do appreciate the importance of such professional development opportunities but question the duration and form of such training opportunities. The study also indicates the importance of learning communities, the benefits of having an experienced teacher guide newly qualified teachers in their initial years of teaching, and that appropriate, effective and relevant inset training should be organised that is also followed-up.