Preschool teachers' engagement in professional development: Frequency, perceived usefulness, and relationship with self-efficacy beliefs

David MUÑEZ, Alfredo BAUTISTA ARELLANO, Ellyn KHIU, Jun-Sheng KEH, Rebecca BULL

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Enhancing the quality of early childhood education is currently a central goal for many countries. There is widespread agreement that providing preschool teachers with opportunities for professional development (PD) is one of the key ingredients to achieving such a goal. Little is known, however, about the frequency with which preschool teachers engage in the different types of PD activities and about how teachers themselves perceive the usefulness of these activities. Similarly, there is limited research on how participating in PD relates to teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. The present study addresses these gaps in the literature with data collected in a Southeast Asian country: Singapore. Participants were 97 Singapore preschool teachers. A survey composing of several scales was used to collect the data. We explored the frequency and perceived usefulness of seven formal PD activities and 19 informal PD activities, both collaborative and individual. Teachers' self-efficacy was measured with the 'Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale' (TSES). Our findings showed that: 1) Participants engaged in informal PD (both collaborative and individual) more frequently than in formal PD; 2) There were positive correlations between frequency of participation and teachers' perceived usefulness for both formal and informal PD; and 3) High engagement in collaborative informal PD activities was a strong predictor of teachers' self-efficacy beliefs. These results indicate that work-embedded PD, both collaborative and individual, is highly important to Singapore preschool teachers. In order to enhance the impact and responsiveness of PD, we suggest that formal PD should be integrated as part of the informal PD activities in which teachers regularly engage. Limitations and lines for further research are discussed.

Mejorar la calidad de la educación infantil es una meta central en muchos países actualmente. Existe un acuerdo generalizado en que ofrecer oportunidades de desarrollo profesional docente (DPD) a los maestros/as es uno de los ingredientes principales para lograr dicho objetivo. Sin embargo, poco se sabe sobre la frecuencia con la que estos profesionales participan en iniciativas de DPD o sobre sus percepciones acerca de la utilidad de dichas iniciativas. Existe también poca investigación sobre las relaciones entre la participación en DPD y las creencias de auto-eficacia de estos profesionales. El presente estudio aborda estos vacíos en la literatura desde la perspectiva de un país del Sudeste Asiático: Singapur. Los participantes fueron 97 maestras de escuelas infantiles. Para recoger los datos, utilizamos una encuesta compuesta por varias escalas estandarizadas. Exploramos la frecuencia y la utilidad percibida de siete actividades de DPD formal y de 19 informal, tanto colectivas como individuales. Las creencias de auto-eficacia fueron analizadas mediante la escala 'Teacher Sense of Efficacy Scale' (TSES). Los resultados muestran que: 1) Las maestras participaban en actividades informales de DPD (tanto colaborativas como individuales) más frecuentemente que en iniciativas formales; 2) Encontramos correlaciones positivas entre la frecuencia de participación en DPD y su utilidad percibida, tanto del DPD formal como informal; 3) Alta participación en actividades colaborativas informales predice alto sentido de auto-eficacia. Estos resultados indican que el DPD que tiene lugar en la escuela, tanto colaborativo como individual, resulta crucial para las maestras de infantil en Singapur. Para mejorar el impacto y la relevancia del DPD, sugerimos que el DPD formal debería integrarse como parte de las actividades informales en las que los profesores participan cotidianamente. Se discuten las limitaciones y futuras líneas de investigación. Copyright © 2017 Psychology, Society, & Education.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)181-199
JournalPsychology, Society, and Education
Volume9
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Citation

Múñez, D., Bautista, A., Khiu, E., Keh, J.-S., & Bull, R. (2017). Preschool teachers' engagement in professional development: Frequency, perceived usefulness, and relationship with self-efficacy beliefs. Psychology, Society, and Education, 9(2), 181-199. doi: 10.25115/psye.v9i2.655

Keywords

  • Preschool education
  • Teacher professional development
  • Self-efficacy beliefs
  • Singapore
  • Alt. title: Participación en desarrollo profesional de maestros de educación infantil: Frecuencia, utilidad percibida y relaciones con las creencias de autoeficacia
  • Educación infantil
  • Desarrollo profesional docente
  • Creencias de auto-eficacia
  • Singapur

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