JOURNAL OF TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Year:2018 | Volume:3 | Issue:1 |Papers Count:6

The aim of this research was to study the effect of knowledge management system on teacher professional development. This quasiexperimental study with control group pre-and post-test design included a statistical population of 110 sixth grade teachers in Birjand in the academic years of 1392-1393. The sample was selected by following purposive systematic sampling method according to educational level, work experience and computer knowledge. They were accordingly divided into one control and one experimental group with 20 participants, who took a pre-test, experienced the treatment (i. e. the independent variable) for four months and finally sat for a post-test. The collected data was analyzed by using descriptive and inferential statistical methods (e. g. MANCOVA). A questionnaire was developed on the basis of the standards of Maryland University to evaluate the teachers' professional development. The face validity of the questionnaire was confirmed by experts and its construct validity was previously confirmed in a study by Ayobi (2014). The reliability of the instrument (i. e. 0. 93) was calculated by using Cronbach's alpha. It was used knowledge management system as mediator. The knowledge management system specially developed for the sixth grade teachers was considered as the mediator variable. The results showed that knowledge management system enhanced the teachers' professional development and positively affected the nine components of professional development, namely educational design, specialized knowledge, cooperation and collaboration, practice teaching, educational technology, assessment, research orientation, learning environment and teacher development and growth.

Teacher's effectiveness is the result of all elements and attempts of the subsystems in the public and formal education. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the school organizational climate and the physical education teachers' effectiveness. In terms of method and data collection procedure, the study was descriptive – correlational and of survey type, respectively. The statistical population of this research included all male and female physical education teachers in the city of Rasht (i. e. 207). The research instruments were the Modified Organizational Climate Inventory for Schools and Teacher Effectiveness Questionnaire (modified and validated by Hallaji, 1395) with the reported reliability of 0. 91 (Dabagh, 1396). The researcher employed descriptive statistics to describe the data, Kolmogorov Smirnov test to test data normality and Spearman correlation coefficient at P≤ 0. 05 to test the research hypotheses. The results showed that the data did not follow the normal curve, there was a positive significant relationship between organizational climate of schools and the effectiveness of physical education teacher, and there was a positive significant relationship between the three components of school organizational climate (supportive behaviour, commitment behaviour and intimate behaviour) and the effectiveness of physical education teachers. In addition, there was a negative significant relationship between the two components of school organizational climate (desperate behaviour and mandatory behaviour) and the effectiveness of physical education teachers.

Many experts believe that one of the main causes of ineffective language learning in Iranian state schools has been inefficient teacher education. As a result, a new curriculum for English language teacher education has been in place in Farhangian University since 2012. This study aimed to examine some aspects of the curriculum that needed to be improved, changed and/or maintained in order to help improve English language teaching in Iran. The evaluation framework of second language teacher education developed by Richards (1998) was employed as a guideline for analying the curriculum. The research was conducted through a course material analysis and the data was collected through questionnaires and interviews from 150 male and female teacher-students and 5 teacher educators. The results revealed that the programme has many advantages including its special emphasis on language teaching theories, teaching skills, communication skills and subject matter knowledge. However, there were some shortcomings, namely lack of close supervision of the practicum at schools, no pre-thought policies for teacher-students participation in English teachers' communities of practice, insufficient time allotted to teaching conversational skills and more consciousness-raising activities for teacherstudents in terms of pedagogical reasoning skills and the influential socio-cultural factors in second language learning.

The present study aims to investigate the relationship between time management and information literacy and anxiety of research in teacher researchers of Ardabil. In this descriptive/ correlational study, the statistical population included 344 teacher researchers of Ardabil in academic years of 93-94, out of which 181 persons were selected as the sample by employing stratified random sampling method of Kerejsi and Morgan table. To collect data, the researcher used Hashemizade et al. 's (1385) questionnaire of time management, Duel's (1994) questionnaire of information literacy and Higins and Kutrlic's (2006) questionnaire of research anxiety. The validity of the questionnaires was confirmed by professors and experts. In addition, the reliability measures through Cronbach’ s Alpha coefficient were obtained (i. e. time management questionnaire (0. 83), information literacy questionnaire (0. 89) and anxiety of research questionnaire (0. 35). Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test was used to determine the normality of data distribution. The data was analyzed by employing descriptive statistics methods (frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation) and referential statistics methods (one sample t-test, Pearson’ s correlation coefficient and multiple regressions). The results indicated that the teacher researchers' time management and information literacy values were meaningfully higher than the mean and their anxiety of research was meaningfully lower than the mean. Also, there was a meaningful negative relationship between the participants' time management, information literacy and the components of these two on one hand and the subjects' anxiety of research on the other hand. The findings of multiple regressions suggested that there was a meaningful reverse predictor relationship between their time management and anxiety of research on one hand and their information literacy and research axiety on the other hand. More specifically, the components of interpretation, combination and use of information, out of the seven components of information literacy, showed a meaningful reverse predictor relationship with anxiety of research.

Aesthetics education is one of the important goals of education systems especially at early childhood. The purpose of this research is to propose a practical framework for teachers to develop aesthetics in early childhood. For this purpose, the study employed document analysis and content analysis of the resources in internal and external databases on aesthetics education. Among the sources related to aesthetics education, 65 sources were selected and their findings were coded and categorized in tables in terms of the goals and necessities of aesthetic education, the common discourses of aesthetics, the implications of three common discourses in aesthetics education and the strategies for children's aesthetics education. Finally, a framework, based on the obtained categories, was proposed in which the goals and necessities of aesthetics education, the common discourses in aesthetics education, the implications of three discourses and strategies for the development of children's aesthetics were introduced. Teachers, using this framework, can provide the foundations for implementing aesthetics education at early childhood.

This study investigated the impact of teachers' professional qualities on the students' entrepreneurial motivation and Spirit in the female vocational schools of Hamadan. The statistical population of this descriptive and correlational research included 799 students in the academic years of 1396-1397. According to the stratified random sampling of Kergcie and Morgan table, a sample of 260 students was selected. Three standard questionnaires were used: Teachers' Professional Qualities, Entrepreneurial Spirit and Entrepreneurial motivation. The face and content validity of the questionnaires were examined and their reliability measures, according to Cronbach's alpha, were calculated to be. 93, . 88 and. 85, respectively. The data was analyzed by using SPSS and Lisrel softwares. The results showed that there was a positive meaningful relationship between the teachers' professional qualities and the students' entrepreneurial motivation and spirit. However, it was observed that the indirect effect of the teachers' professional qualities on the students' entrepreneurial spirit with the mediating role of entrepreneurial motivation was not meaningful.