This study investigates teachers’ perceptions of self-directed learning for professional development. One hundred and four EFL teachers from public high schools in a province in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, volunteered to participate in the descriptive study with a convergent mixed-methods design. A questionnaire and semi-structured interview were employed as the two instruments for a convenient sampling method of data collection. An SPSS descriptive statistical test and one-Sample t-test were conducted to evaluate the differences between the mean scores of the teachers’ perceptions from a test value of a 5-point Likert scale. Thematic analysis was applied to the qualitative data for the in-depth explanation of their perceptions of the roles, the benefits, and challenges of self-directed learning for professional development.
The results indicate that the teachers show a positive agreement on the significance of self-directed learning for professional development. In addition, sharing teaching experiences and collaborative development, enhancing teaching methods, and exchanging knowledge are frequently employed by most teachers. However, lack of institutional support, financial problems, family responsibilities, and workload are the main factors hindering them from engaging in self-directed learning for professional growth. In the article, teachers’ plans and expectations of self-directed learning for professional development are also addressed.
The findings from this study foster the teachers’ awareness of the significance of their self-directed learning for professional growth, inform the educational managers in promoting a conducive environment for self-directed learning for professional development, and suggest research areas in the future.
Keyword(s) : self-directed learning
The Phenomenon of Self-Education: Review of World Research Contexts
Modern education overcomes institutional, age, and spatial limits. It provides each person with the opportunity to lifelong learning, and it also allows managing the learning process. Self-education as a proactive human activity for the purposeful accumulation of experience is becoming a relevant subject of scientific research. The research contexts of self-education in world science are the following concepts: «adult learning», «continuous learning», «continuous professional development», «informal learning», «lifelong learning», «non-formal learning», «self-development», «self-directed learning», «self-education», «workplace learning». A review of the segments of the subject field formed by these concepts was carried out. The main goal was to compare and determine the possibilities of using these concepts for the study of self-education in educational, organizational (professional) and life contexts. The articles indexed in the Scopus database served as the basis for the review. Quantitative indicators characterizing the prevalence of terms and the content of the sought-for concepts in the most cited articles were identified. The results showed that the significant amount of knowledge about self-education is concentrated in the segments related to the concepts of lifelong learning, self- directed learning, informal learning, and workplace learning. The most promising is the study of self-education of students or professionals based on the theories of self-directed and informal learning. The theories of self-directed learning are necessary to consider the initiation, implementation, and control of person’s proactive learning activities. The theories of informal learning are necessary to analyze the spontaneous, but meaningful experience accumulation in the process of various activities. The materials of the review, which describe contexts for the study of self-education, will be useful for scientists to determine the current research perspectives and select an adequate theoretical framework.