The continuous professional development of the teacher (CPD) has long been considered a
prerequisite for the career and also for economic progress. CPD must be compared to standards
which also make it possible to construct validation systems for the teachers’ skills in progress.
The issue of teaching professionalism emerges also in the Italian legislative debate. We outline the
research “The continuous professional development of the teacher: from the Improvement Plan to the
appraisal”, conducted with a group of 33 schools in Southern Italy, the University of Bari and Unione
Cattolica Italiana Insegnanti Medi (UCIIM, teachers’ association). The research project investigated
the documentation of practices (connected with school’s self-evaluation, teacher evaluation and
appraisal procedures) to improve the quality of teaching and to develop teacher professionalism.
Three phases of research training occurred: a) The first phase involved a specific document analysis
of “Rav” and “PdM” (acronyms for Self-Assessment Report – Rapporto di Auto-Valutazione – and
Improvement Plan – Piano di Miglioramento). These documents were presented to the teaching
staff and served as the primary materials for self-evaluation and decision-making. b) In the second
phase, referred to as “professional development,” the skills audit and standards were introduced and
collaboratively developed with the teachers. These documents formed the foundation of a teacher’s
professional development program. c) The third phase was dedicated to “merit appraisal.” It focused
on selecting and analyzing the best appraisal sheets, which were considered the primary documents
for assessing merit and promoting teachers. The school staff involved over 300 people, including
teachers and principals. The results of the study underlined: the impact of the documentary practices
introduced by school evaluation system on professional development; the importance of university-school collaboration supporting school-based assessment and teachers’ professional development,
shifting from a top-down orientation to more teacher self-regulating initiatives; the methodological-educational choice of principals as teachers’ tutors.
Keyword(s) : evaluation
Systematic Reviews on In-Service Training Effectiveness. A Prior Comparative Analysis of the Used Terms
The professional development of teachers has a definite impact on the improvement of the entire
educationalsystem (OECD, 2018; Darling-Hammond, 2017). Forthisreason, the main international
organizations – OECD (2013 ), European Commission (2012 ) – ask countries to establish
feedback and accountability procedures for in-service training (ITT), for the ‘
process by
which teachers engage in further education or training to refresh or upgrade their professional
knowledge, skills and practices in the course of their employment’ (UNESCO, 2019). Researchers
state that here are numerous factors to be considered in carrying out this work: the type and quality
of training, school climate, students’ skills, knowledge domain, etc. (Lipowsky & Rzejak, 2015).
After a brief presentation of howthe mostrecentsystematic reviews on the topic have been conducted
(Filges et al, 2019; Egert et al, 2018; Kalinowski et al., 2019), this article presents the results of a study
on the terms and constructs in use in the context of the researches into in-service teacher/continuing
professional training, impact/effect, and programs/instructions. The data and information collected
offer a comparative analysis (Esser & Hanitzsch, 2012), based on systematic reviews (Polanin et al.,
2019) and a meta-analysis, useful for setting up further meta-analytical investigations on the topic
especially in terms of the disambiguation of terms and the narrowing of the field.
The training of in-service teachers in many countries has been made compulsory and structural
and is conceived as an opportunity for growth and professional development for the entire school
community, and a strategic and functional logic forimproving the quality of the schoolsystem (Perla,
2019).
However, ministries of education do not yet have a univocal model and shared procedures
capable of describing and analysing the impact that the training provided has in the terms set out
in the European Commission (2020): output – results achieved immediately, i.e. increase in skillsfocus subject to training; outcome – wider benefits for involved teachers – improvement of teaching
practices of teachers involved in training; outreach – effects on the institutional and social context of
the school where and of the territory within which the teachers involved in the training.
Teacher’s Professional Competences and Their evaluation
The reform process of Slovak system of education requires a professional discussion aimed at
enhancing the quality of the teacher’s professional performance in the context of the pupil’s needs
and overall optimization of the education system, including qualitative changes in the content
and organization of education as well as a change in the social status of teacher. One of the topics
discussed was the possibility of increasing the quality of the teacher’s performance by mapping
them to the requirements of the teacher’s professional competency profile. A team of experts from
Constantine the Philosopher University in Nitra (Slovakia) has been addressing this issue in the
form of a research project Evaluation of Teacher Competences, which focuses on the development
and design of a comprehensive evaluation model and tools for evaluating different teaching
competences.
The research team has developed special evaluation tools – a set of assessment sheets aimed at
assessment (Assessment Sheets for evaluators), self-assessment (Self-Assessment Sheets for
the observed and evaluated teachers), and a tool to correlate the assessment positions of the
evaluator and the evaluated teacher. In developing the tools, the specific focus of each professional
competence and the content and performance requirements on teacher’s work have been taken
into account. The methodology for verifying the efficiency of the designed tools included panel
discussion, piloting, and personal interviews. The results of the pilots in primary and secondary
schools all over Slovakia were analyzed, evaluated and taken into account when modifying the
final version of the evaluation tools. These are now offered for implementation by school managers
in Slovak schools.
One of the issues in the research project, testing the process aspect of education, is the competence
of planning education. The research, focused on identifying the complex of the given competence
components and their analysis. The most important part of the competence is the ability to create
a model (plan/scenario) of a lesson, the success of which is based on the correct identification and
realization of the educational aims and objectives. The teachers demonstrate competence through
their ability to implement relevant didactical transformation of the curriculum content, not only
in the view of the requirements of particular subjects, but also in the view of the current societal
challenges and needs, taking into account modern and effective methodological approaches. The
assessment tools for the competence in educational planning were verified in a pilot. The paper
presents partial results of the research, which confirmed the relevance and reasonability of the
methodology for the competence assessment. Education and training requirements in the Slovak
Republic accept common aspects related to the education of citizens of the European Union and
at the same time prioritize education as an essential means for ensuring sustainable development.
Achievement of these goals can be ensured not only via transforming the Slovak school system, but
also via teachers’ personal, professional and career growth.
Students’ feedback: messages and implications
Abstract
Active learning increases the role of organized and systematic feedback between all the stakeholders
of modern education. Although this factor has been given considerable attention in the literature,
the study of written feedback from students and the subsequent response of the teacher deserves
closer investigation. This research reveals – on the basis of feedback forms analysis – the level of
development of students’ competences of self-regulation, reflection and evaluation. Zimmerman’s
model of self-regulated learning was used as theoretical premises of the paper; qualitative analysis
was employed for data interpretation. The study helped to identify a range of problematic areas in
students’ self-regulatory processes in learning including,
• inconsistencies in the evaluation of performance aspects and the performance in total;
• organisational issues concerning the use of the feedback form;
• underdeveloped reflective skills (difficulty in analysing the educational experience critically and
understanding how to use it in the future performance).
The article discusses ways to address these problems on the part of the teacher. The findings show
the importance of learners’ feedback for the teacher as an indicator of their metacognitive skills
development. Close attention must be paid to students’ responses, their “decoding” and acting upon
them help establish dialogic relations between the participants of the educational process, thus,
increasing the quality of educational experience.
On the Academic Mobility of Students in Networking environments
Within the framework of the project “Development and approbation of new modules and rules of implementation of basic educational bachelor programmes enlarged group of specialties “Education and pedagogy” (field of study – Psychological and pedagogical education), which includes the academic mobility of students of pedagogical universities (non-pedagogical training areas) in the framework of network interactions” (Room open competition: 2014-04.03-05-043-f-91.055) one of the prerequisites was to create a package of educational materials for teachers participating in the project. In the basic educational program the discipline program is the main component. To fulfill the analysis of the program of educational discipline and educational complex we proposed an Expert assessment card. Using this card allowed the teachers and project leaders to analyze the executed work in detail and to improve the quality of syllabi and teaching materials.
If the program of the discipline is made at a low level, it does not pass the examination and is not authorized for use. If the program has a permissible level, it can be allowed to be implemented, but the teacher should make corrections or additions. If the program of the discipline is made at a sufficient level, it is allowed to be implemented with recommendations, which teacher can optionally consider. A program, which is fully in line with modern requirements for the development of training modules and educational complex is of high level.