The Contribution of Educational Research Course towards Teachers Professional Development

student-teachers; research; professional development

Abstract

The study explores the contribution of educational research course taught in teacher education programmes towards teachers’ professional development. Seventeen student-teachers and two teacher educators from a selected university participated in semi-structured interviews. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. The findings revealed a divided proportion among student-teachers as some reported the course has a crucial contribution to professional development and some said the course had no contribution. The findings further revealed tension between what was expected and the experienced reality of the research course in contributing to teacher professional development. The course content was huge and did not enable teachers to acquire and use research skills for professional development. Teaching and learning time was limited and varying attitudes among student-teachers towards the course was a challenge. The study recommends that teacher training institutions
revise the research course to suit its applicability to teachers in the school context. Also, teacher educators should interpret the context and design simple lessons to enable student-teachers in developing the required skills and apply them in the school context.