Elementary School Leaders’ approaches towards Staff Development in Cyprus Schools (original) (raw)
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Primary School Heads’ Professional Socialisation and Leadership Development in Cyprus
International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice, 2015
This article explores Cypriot primary school heads’ professional socialization (PS), in terms of their preparation for headship. A study in three phases involving a survey and interviews indicates that, to ‘learn what it is to be a head’ prior to headship, Cypriot heads resort to personal initiatives for training and development in school management and leadership; deputy headship, along with practising leadership in small primary schools, also appears to contribute to PS. In light of these experiences, heads take up headship with some preconceptions about the headship role. Upon entry to headship, networking and collaboration, as well as the formal training scheme for newly appointed school heads are also considered as useful, but heads set directions in which this programme could further be enhanced. In view of these findings, leadership development could address the contribution of previous heads, counterparts, colleagues, mentors and trainers to Cypriot school heads’ PS in both preparation as well as induction programmes.
Primary school heads’ professional socialization and leadership development in Cyprus
International Journal of Leadership in Education, 2017
This article explores Cypriot primary school heads’ professional socialization (PS), in terms of their preparation for headship. A study in three phases involving a survey and interviews indicates that, to ‘learn what it is to be a head’ prior to headship, Cypriot heads resort to personal initiatives for training and development in school management and leadership; deputy headship, along with practicing leadership in small primary schools, also appears to contribute to PS. In light of these experiences, heads take up headship with some preconceptions about the headship role. Upon entry to headship, networking and collaboration, as well as the formal training scheme for newly appointed school heads are also considered as useful, but heads set directions in which this programme could further be enhanced. In view of these findings, leadership development could address the contribution of previous heads, counterparts, colleagues, mentors and trainers to Cypriot school heads’ PS in both preparation as well as induction programmes.
Journal of in-service education, 2006
This article focuses on in-service teacher training in Cyprus and points to the necessity for reorganisation of existing practices and reformulation of national policies within the framework of continuous professional development. Examination of this issue results from the need of the educational system to respond to the challenges of the European educational area and overcome the identified inefficiency of the current training scheme. On the basis of the gap between emerging challenges and current practices, policy recommendations are proposed with regards to the organisation as well as the content of a possible training scheme that will incorporate a holistic, long-term approach to ongoing teacher professional development. Such recommendations include, among others, decentralisation of training provision and funds, as well as multiplicity of providers, along with accountability measures, such as legislative frameworks and quality assurance standards. At the same time, it is suggested that in-service teacher training should combine national priorities with locally perceived needs and extend beyond taught seminars towards personal study, reflection and alternative modes of professional development. Finally, it is recommended that in-service evaluation mechanisms should be established to maximize effectiveness through links to school improvement.
Principals' Views on Teachers' Professional Development
Professional Development in Education
This article is an account of a study that aimed to elicit the perceptions of school principals and middle managers in Lebanon on teachers’ professional development (PD) and to promote an understanding of PD that extends beyond workshops. The study was qualitative and exploratory and used online interviewing to collect data. Questions were emailed to 30 school principals in Beirut and North Lebanon. The overall intention was to extract understanding of how this professional qualification and administrative responsibility is understood and how the administration attends to it. Data were reduced through a coding strategy and emergent themes such as limited awareness of the benefits of embedded PD strategies, PD features of relevance, practicality and follow-up were identified. Other themes were the focus on the concept of workshop training as PD, the administrators’ lack of awareness of cognitive learning strategies and the importance of teacher PD to school renewal. Obstacles to PD were identified and included lack of time and funding for the workshops and teachers’ attitude toward growth and renewal. The study revealed that reflection is required to alter engrained conceptual structures. Critically, the study highlighted the issue that the school system in Lebanon is not designed to promote teachers’ continual learning initiatives. Keywords: professional development; teachers’ views; Lebanon
Professional development of teacher educators: voices from the Greek-Cypriot context
Professional Development in Education, 2013
ABSTRACT Although teacher educators are often regarded as models of lifelong learning for the teachers, their professional development has been the object of meagre research and discussion in the literature. This study raises awareness on issues pertaining to teacher educators’ professional development in the Greek-Cypriot context. Data from semi-structured individual interviews, conducted with a group of six educators – seconded to teach teachers – outline their notions of professional development, the formal and less formal routes they take towards this endeavour, perceived outcomes as well as problems they encounter. Findings indicate that teacher educators are involved not only in formal but also informal learning, both through and without interaction. Learning through interaction involves participation in seminars as well as informal conversations with colleagues, but not structured forms of peer learning. Learning without interaction resembles self-study and reflection, but not intentional experimentation with practices. These findings reflect the individualized character of educators’ professional development, while systemic opportunities for peer learning remain scarce. The article discusses exploitation of professional development opportunities within teacher education institutions. In particular, the authors argue towards more systematic approaches for teacher educators’ professional development in the individual and collective domains.
Problems and Perspectives in Management, 2020
This research aimed to examine the role of leadership in the school environment and leadership’s contribution to the effectiveness of teachers’ professional development in the public secondary education of Athens to improve the learning process and school quality. More specifically, this study highlights the school principal’s contribution as a leader in teachers’ professional development. The choice of leadership style (education, administrative, transformational, ethical, participatory, and contingent) positively impacts teachers’ professional development. Data were collected from 180 teachers of the public secondary education of Athens, involving lower secondary schools, upper secondary vocational and general schools, excluding private and other types of schools. SPSS software was used to perform quantitative analysis of the collected data. The results showed no statistically significant correlation between teachers’ gender, skills, characteristics, and abilities. However, it was observed that there was a statistically significant correlation between age, tolerance, and rejection of educational techniques on teaching practice. The evidence from this study confirmed a direct impact of the school principal’s training on teachers’ professional development. Finally, it was concluded that the school principal – the leader should work as a learning manager to lead teachers in professional development and as a learning manager and an inspiration for lifelong learning.
Professional Development in Education, 2013
This article considers the nature of professional development, how it occurs in individuals, and how educational leaders and managers can facilitate professional development for the purpose of school improvement. Social theories of learning provide compelling explanations of the conditions through which professional development occurs in and among individuals within a community of practice. Research into professional learning communities suggests ways forward for educational leaders and managers to foster environments in which individual and organisational learning is optimised through collaboration and shared leadership.
In all the countries, the modernization of education processes as well as of educational reform under way are based on the concern about the poor results in learning and in the poor quality of education. In order to solve these problems, in the last decades professional development policies have been launched and, more recently, also the modernization of processes and roles of school supervision. The cases described allow us to conjecture that a systemic view is already installed in the region since the goals of the reform are not only to change supervision or to improve the professional development of teachers, but also to pursue a process of improvement of the educational service provision, which implies a political strategy that includes a comprehensive reform.
Frontiers in Education
Continuous professional development (CPD) is important for educational leaders to improve institutional performance and students’ learning outcomes. Yet, organizing effective professional development programmes are often more complex than we might assume. The current study aims to explore the challenges of managing CPD for high school principals in Indonesia. Six high school principals and three officers of the Ministry of Education and Cultures (MoEC) were interviewed. Qualitative data from the interviews were analyzed and coded thematically using ATLAS.ti. Several themes and main points emerged from the transcripts of interviews. The findings revealed some challenges in managing CPD programmes at schools. They include resistance to change, technicality and workload, almost zero follow-ups, unprofessional recruitment, and unclear training syllabus. Among the suggestions to improve the CPD programmes are building personal approaches, developing professional skills, establishing a pr...
School Based Continuing Professional Development: The Role of School Principals
Journal paper, 2016
At school level, processes that affect teacher professional growth are associated with management or staff development perspective. School principals are expected to coordinate professional progression of their staff and also manage the learning community as a whole. Their leadership is crucial in providing working conditions that offer learning opportunities. The principals work together with parents, teachers, and community members as a community of practice to ensure quality teaching and positive classroom achievement. However, existing Continuing Professional Development initiatives in Sub Saharan Africa have not successfully addressed the needs of the teachers as they appear to be far removed from the learning contexts. Using interviews, document analysis and observations, this study looked into the role of head teachers in promoting professional development opportunities of their teachers, challenges they face and possible intervention strategies. Findings reveal that despite the existence of policy documents that support Continuing Professional Development of teachers, the structures required to translate theory to practice are lacking. Attempts to introduce or strengthen school-based staff development programmes are faced with inadequate school level supervisory capacity and teacher resentment.