Programmes of professional development of teachers: Estimated usefulness and educaional effects

Abstract

The system of professional development in Serbia presents the key mechanism for improving professional competencies of teachers. Programmes for professional development and improvement of professional competencies of teachers represent a special place in this system. The estimation of their effects is primarily based on studying of perception of teachers and their satisfaction with the programmes of professional development, so there are not thorough data about the other, significant determinates of the quality of the programme (knowledge and skills, changes in teaching praxis, achievements of students, etc). The perception of teachers about the significance and usage of programmes and students' achievement are represented as research in this paper. Three separate samples were studied for correlation between the teachers' estimation of usage of the certain programme of professional development and average result of the class at the mock and final test (Mathematics test, Serbian Test and Combined Test) during the school year 2014/2015. It was determined that there is no connection between the quality of the programme of professional development measured by teacher's perceptions and students' achievements measured by the results and the mock and final test. The authors interpret these results in the context of the existing systematic solutions and different organisational and conceptual restrictions which follow the exhibiting system of professional development in Serbia, concluding that it is necessary for the future research to widen the scope of the research topics so that knowledge of this filed should be fulfilled.

Sistem stručnog usavršavanja u Srbiji predstavlja ključni mehanizam za unapređivanje profesionalnih kompetencija nastavnika. Posebno mesto u ovom sistemu imaju programi stručnog usavršavanja. Procena njihovih efekata uglavnom se zasniva na ispitivanju percepcija nastavnika i njihovog zadovoljstva programima stručnog usavršavanja, tako da izostaju pouzdani podaci o drugim, važnim pokazateljima kvaliteta programa (znanja i veštine nastavnika, promena nastavnih praksi, učenička postignuća i slično). U radu je predstavljeno istraživanje koje je imalo za cilj utvrđivanje povezanosti percepcija nastavnika o korisnosti programa stručnog usavršavanja i postignuća njihovih učenika. Na tri zasebna uzorka ispitivana je korelacija između nastavni­kove procene korisnosti određenog programa stručnog usavršavanja i prosečnog rezultata njegovog odeljenja na probnom završnom ispitu (na testu iz matematike, srpskog jezika i kombinovanom testu) u 2014/2015. školskoj godini. Utvrđeno je da ne postoji nikakva povezanost između kvaliteta programa stručnog usavršavanja merenog putem nastavničkih percepcija i učeničkog postignuća merenog rezultatima na probnom završnom is­pitu. Autori dobijene rezultate tumače u kontekstu postojećih sistemskih rešenja i različitih organizacionih, ali i konceptualnih ograničenja koja prate postojeći sistem stručnog usavršavanja u Srbiji, zaključujući da je neophodno u budućim istraživanjima proširiti obim istraživačkih tema kako bi se upotpunila saznanja u ovoj oblasti.