Review Gold Open Access 2019

A Comparative Review of the Literature on Pakistani Science Teachers' Professional Development

Science Education International
Journal · Vol. 30 · Issue 3 · pp. 223-235
Abstract

Pakistan, like many other countries of the world, has continually been criticized for its unproductive professional development (PD) policies and practices for teachers due to low student achievement in science disciplines. A good portion of science teachers (62%) in Pakistan was found to be uncomfortable in teaching the scientific concepts (National Education Assessment System [NEAS], 2014) and PD programs are failing to address this issue. There is a need to reconstruct the operationalized knowledge of PD for Pakistan to expand the ways of knowledge creation, examination, authentication, and distribution. This also implies the need to review the current western literature on PD designs and practices to explore the ways of addressing the issues of Pakistani PD programs. With this purpose in mind, the current study set out to search the comparative understanding of science teachers' PD learning and experiences in Pakistan. The study was carried out to review the literature on science teachers' PD learning and experiences in the Western context (The US and European countries) while comparing it with the situation of Pakistani science teachers' PD practices. This seeks to address the critical questions of how to increase the effectiveness in Pakistani PD practices. © 2019 International Council of Associations for Science Education (ICASE).

Keywords

Author Keywords

Science teachers Pakistan Professional Development

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
University of Education, Lahore, Punjab, Pakistan
Department of Middle and Secondary Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, United States
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
References 10 References
1 Adamson, Karen, The Impact of Professional Development on Elementary Teachers' Strategies for Teaching Science with Diverse Student Groups in Urban Elementary Schools, Journal of Science Teacher Education, 24, 3, pp. 553-571, (2013)
2 Aflalo, Ester, Religious belief: The main impact on the perception of the nature of science on student teachers, Cultural Studies of Science Education, 8, 3, pp. 623-641, (2013)
3 International Journal of Academic Research, (2011)
4 Akiba, Motoko, Professional learning activities in context: A statewide survey of middle school mathematics teachers, Education Policy Analysis Archives, 20, pp. 1-36, (2012)
5 International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, (2012)
6 International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, (2011)
7 Allen, Carrie D., Studying Teachers’ Sensemaking to Investigate Teachers’ Responses to Professional Development Focused on New Standards, Journal of Teacher Education, 66, 2, pp. 136-149, (2015)
8 Antoniou, Panayiotis, A Dynamic Integrated Approach to teacher professional development: Impact and sustainability of the effects on improving teacher behaviour and student outcomes, Teaching and Teacher Education, 29, 1, pp. 1-12, (2013)
9 Interdisciplinary Journal of Problem Based Learning, (2012)
10 International Journal of Human Resource Studies, (2013)
Quick Actions
Full Text via DOI
Citation Metrics
2
Times Cited (Scopus)

References 10
Document Identifiers