EFL Teacher Training and Development - Special Academic Support

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The focus of research

As every person has the abilities and skills to learn something new, this capability should be used for the improvement of professional skills and knowledge acquisition. For instance, the Cambridge online dictionary suggests the definition of development as an activity when someone or something grows or changes and becomes more advanced (Development, n.d.). Another example can be found in the definition found in the Cambridge online dictionary for training as the process of learning the skills you need to do a particular job or activity (Training, n. d.). So, the present proposal suggests an analysis of the teacher-training programs and analysis of the most appropriate strategies that can be applied to the countries of the Middle East region due to differences existing between cultures and education practices.

Importance of teacher-training strategies

It is necessary to train teachers as they can become good trainers in the future for other teachers. For example, the Train the Trainer program introduced by the British council (British Council, 2010) is effective in training teachers so that they could provide students with educational strategies more effectively. In other words, the importance of teacher training and development strategies cannot be overestimated because of the benefit it brings to professionals and students who receive knowledge and practice their skills with more qualified and effective teaching practices. This means that experienced educators can become effective trainers and advance their professional skills further to achieve greater results. This field should also be analyzed because of the peculiarities of teaching when every year brings innovative approaches and creative models to propagate educational strategies more effectively.

Literature Review

The problem of teacher training became one of the burning issues when the merging of cultures started and cultures and educational systems started to influence each other with regard to the teaching-learning strategies and professional development concepts. The educational differences can be viewed in studies about the Middle East and its religious and cultural life (Andersen et al., 2011; Roskin & Coyle, 2010). Kárpáti (2009) analyses the importance of teacher-training in terms of changes that should be made in competencies assessment, observation as an evaluation tool, and reform that can bring quality training:

The amendment of 1996 to the Public Education Act specifying a requirement for teachers to participate in professional development programs, states that a qualifying examination must be passed to obtain a teaching position and secures the conditions of funding the system by declaring that three percent of any education budget must be spent on in-service training for teachers (p. 218).

At the same time, Clachar (2000) reports about the attitudes of Turkish educators toward the strategies used in a Western educational system that is actively adopted in the Middle East (p. 66). On the contrary, a study by Howard and Brown (1997) contains a comparison of educational strategies applied to teacher-training programs with regard to the situation in the UK and Middle East (pp. 54-55).

Some strategies of teacher training prove to be effective while others are still hypothetical due to differences in educational systems. For instance, Bahloul (1994) reports about difficulties experienced by volunteers who teach in Tunisia and Morocco (p. 4). The more challenges the educational system of the country presents, the more effective should be the strategies introduced (Tucker & Corson, 1997).

Research Questions

The main research questions for this proposal include the following issues:

Why the professional development is important for teachers and how they can benefit from this? What is the best model (of training) that can be applied to my institution as the most suitable? Does this model/strategy/practice meet the need of in-service teachers? What is the teachers attitude towards the training program and professional development of teachers? Does the teacher accept the new programs and educational strategies willingly? Is there progress regarding teachers skills, techniques, methods, and performance after the application of teacher-training strategies? Have the students of the trainees benefited from their teacher training?

Methodology

Method

The main method of the research proposed in this paper includes an analysis of the literary sources available on the issue of teacher training and professional development of teachers in the Middle East. Thus, it is necessary to review the literature that both advocates and opposes the introduction of educational programs that resemble the Western ones and the application of teacher-training programs to practicing professionals. It is important to analyze whether the teachers and students may benefit from such practices and what opportunities they may have in the future. In other words, the main method is secondary research. However, it is also possible to conduct research based on the survey of educators who currently practice their professional skills and evaluate their attitude toward the innovations that can influence their perception of their work and their duties.

Procedure

If the research is based on the review of secondary sources, it is necessary to collect information that contains many evidence-based studies. However, if the research is based on the survey, it is necessary to outline the scope of the research and limit the analysis to negative and positive perceptions only or enlarge on gender peculiarities of the attitudes.

Expected Outcomes

The expected outcomes include assumption about the positive perception of the teacher-training strategies introduced to the educational systems of the countries of the Middle East. The positive perception is expected due to effectiveness of the Train the Trainer practice introduced by the British Council. However, it is also possible to review the results of the introduction of educational reforms in different countries in the Middle East and analyse the relation between the perception of innovation and the political regime in the country or the time that passed after the last reform was introduced in the system of educations. Besides, review of the latest events in the political sphere of the Middle East can also be considered influential for the educational and cultural attitude toward the programmes aimed at professional development. In other words, positive results are expected regardless of the political regime and the age of the educational system.

Conclusion

The innovations are not always perceived positively, especially if these innovations are introduced in the countries where traditions mean a lot. The more the country spends on the development of its professionals, the more effective can be the education of future generations. In this respect, it is necessary to realise the importance of teacher-training programmes and professional development for teachers. Analysis of the attitude of teachers and students toward application of teacher-training programmes should include evaluation of the programme in terms of the benefits for teacher and students and possible costs of the teacher-training programmes with regard to hours spent at courses and possibility of online courses.

Reference List

Andersen, R. R., Seibert, R. F., & Wagner, J. G. (2011). Politics and change in the Middle East (10^th ed.). London: Longman.

Bahloul, M. (1994). The need for a cross-cultural approach to teaching EFL. TESOL Journal, summer, 4-6.

British Council UAE trains teacher development specialists from Madares Al Ghad Schools. (2010). Web.

Clachar, A. (2000). Opposition and accommodation: An examination of Turkish teachers attitudes toward Western approaches to the teaching of writing. Research in the Teaching of English, 35 (1), 66-100.

Development. (n. d.). In Cambridge dictionaries online.

Howard, R., & Brown, G. (1997). Teacher education for languages for specific purposes. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

Kárpáti, A. (2009). Teacher training and professional development. In: Fazekas K., KöllQ J., and Varga J. (Eds.), Green book: For the renewal of public education in Hungary (203-226). Budapest: ECOSTAT.

Roskin, M. G., & Coyle, J. J. (2010). Politics of the Middle East: Cultures and conflicts (2^nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Training. (n. d.). In Cambridge dictionaries online.

Tucker, G. R., & Corson, D. (1997). Encyclopedia of language and education: Second language education. Dordrecht: Springer.

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