JOURNAL OF TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Year:2018 | Volume:3 | Issue:2 |Papers Count:6

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of teachers‟ professionalism in school effectiveness. The research population, 1109 people, consisted of all the teachers of smart schools in district 5, Tehran, from which 240 subjects were selected using simple random sampling. This quantitative, descriptive research followed a survey-correlation design. The instruments employed included a researchermade 25-item questionnaire about teachers' professionalism based on the Sachs model (2003) and a researcher-made 18-item questionnaire on school effectiveness based on the Chen and Lane model (2011). The reliability and validity of the instruments were measured by using Cronbach's alpha and confirmatory factor analysis, respectively. The results indicated that the reliability and validity were desirable. For data analysis, descriptive (center and scatter plot) and inferential (single sample, Pearson correlation coefficient and linear multivariate regression) statistics were employed by using SPSS software. The findings revealed that the teachers' professionalism had a positive, direct and significant relationship with the effectiveness of smart schools and its components (α >0. 05). In addition, the components of teachers' professionalism had a positive, direct and significant positive effect on the effectiveness of smart schools (α >0. 05).

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between cultural intelligence and organizational learning with professional skills of high school teachers. The method was applied in terms of objectives which followed a descriptive correlation design to collect the data. The statistical population consisted of 2018 state high school teachers in Qom province teaching in the second semester of the academic years of 96-97. 252 subjects were selected randomly as the sample in accordance with the Morgan and Krejsi tables. The data was collected from three standard questionnaires: Tabeshfard's Organization Learning, Early and Angle's Cultural Intelligence and Hajizadeh's Professional Skills. The reliability measures considered to be appropriate on the basis of Alpha-Cronbach's were. 96, . 92 and. 94 for the instruments, respectively. The results showed that there was a positive and significant relationship between cultural intelligence and professional skills (r =. 536), using the Pearson correlation coefficient, regression, and Fisher test. In addition, organizational learning and professional skills were found to be positively and significantly correlated (r =. 969). Finally, it was revealed that organizational learning (β =. 963) and cultural intelligence (β =0. 44) can significantly predict significant professional skills.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of teaching lesson study on professional development and critical thinking of the teachers in in the city of Kavar. This semi-experimental research followed a pre-test / post-test control group design. The population consisted of all the teachers in Kavar, of whom 25 subjects were randomly selected as the sample and were placed in experimental (No=13) and control (No=12) groups. The data was collected by using the four standards of planning and designing, creating and maintaining a learning environment, measuring and communicating with others and evaluating teaching and learning among the nine standards of the American Kentucky Professional Development and California Rickets Critical Thinking questionnaires, the face and content validity of which were confirmed by the experts (i. e. university instructors and experts in charge of education office in the district). The data was analyzed by using descriptive statistics (e. g. minimum and maximum, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (i. e. singlevariable and multivariate covariance). The results showed that teaching lesson study had a significant effect on enhancing four components of professional development and two components of critical thinking (i. e. creativity and commitment).

The present qualitative research aimed to identify the limitations and benefits of multi-grade classes based on the lived experiences of multi-grade teachers from Kermanshah province and to propose some approaches to enhance the teaching effectiveness in such classes. The research statistical population consisted of all multi-grade teachers of Kermanshah province in the school year of 2017-2018, of whom 12 experienced teachers with the experience of teaching in such classes were selected purposively. The required data was collected through semi-structured interviews. Having been categorized and analyzed, the data was presented to the interviewees to be validated and extrapolated. The results indicated that all of the claimed benefits, including the possibility of higher and lower grades students' taking advantage of such instructions, the establishment of learning through cooperation with teachers, the development of social and communicative skills could be confirmed regarding all of the observed districts and the findings of the other studies. Such limitations as the shortage of teaching time and classroom management were general ones being recognized by the respective researchers around the world. However, a considerable part of the limitations were caused by the requirements of Iran educational system of 6-3-3 regime which resulted in experiencing both an increase in the number of grades in one class and more classroom management problems and other damages for the teachers due to the sixth grade teenagers in coeducational classes who are in the critical period of adolescence. Among the other limitations, overlooking the need for equipping these classes with technological tools, the poor selection of educational leaders and the families' economic and social constraints can be mentioned.

Teacher education according to the standards of the country is one of the goals and ideals of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The purpose of the current research is to study the teacher education system standardized for the Islamic Republic of Iran according to the teachings of the Qur'an. This qualitative research has employed the strategy of Glazer's classic data-based theory to elicit and analyze the data. 57 key concepts have been extracted in several stages of open coding, the identification of key propositions and concepts, selective coding, the analysis of the main and secondary categories and the pivotal and theoretical coding focused on the Islamic Republic of Iran teacher education criteria according to the teachings of the Qur'an. On the basis of the inductive analysis, these concepts are categorized into the six sub-categories of values, goals, concepts, territories, principles and methods. Consequently, three main categories were extracted: why, what, and how. These findings can be exploited as a conceptual model for teacher education in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

This current study aimed to compare the professional competencies of teachers graduated from Farhangian University with those of teachers who graduated from other higher educational institutes in Kurdistan province. In this descriptive study, a total of 226 teachers were selected using a two stage cluster random sampling, which included 84 teachers graduating from Farhangian University and 142 teachers graduating from other higher education institutions. The data was collected by using four researcher-made performance tests of Mathematics and science content knowledge and mathematics and science pedagogical knowledge. The validity of the tests were confirmed by employing content validity index and expert views. The reliability of the instruments was assessed using the tests split-half reliability method. The findings indicated that there was a significant difference between the two groups of teachers in terms of mathematics and science content knowledge, favoring Farhangian University graduates. However, it was found that the two groups did not perform differently in terms of science and mathematics pedagogy. Female teachers who graduated from Farhangian University scored significantly higher than their male counterparts in science pedagogical knowledge. Concerning other university graduates, males significantly outperformed the females in mathematics and science content knowledge tests.