Studies show that teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) is essential for educational quality, and moreover, when it comes to reading, key for students' success in education and participation in our 21 st century society. Most of the research investigating professional development programs on improving teachers' self-efficacy for teaching reading and in particular on fostering students' reading motivation, however, fails to include clear and detailed descriptions of the design principles underlying the programs. Therefore, the present study provides a comprehensive description and operationalization of the design principles of a CPD program for primary school teachers focusing on promoting students' reading motivation combining Desimone's (2009) framework for effective professional development with Self-Determination Theory (Ryan & Deci, 2000). Consequently, the CPD program's core features as distinguished by Desimone (i.e., content focus, coherence, active learning, collective participation and duration) and the need for autonomy, competence and relatedness as put central in SDT are analytically described and elaborated on. In view of reporting on the implementation check of the CPD, we further provide insight into whether these operationalized design principles were also perceived as such by the teachers participating in a first iteration of the CPD intervention.
Background: Considering (1) that reading proficiency is fundamental for educational success, (2) the reciprocal relationship between affective aspects of reading (e.g., reading attitude and motivation) and reading behaviour and ability, (3) the alarming decline in students' reading attitude throughout primary and secondary education and (4) the rather large group of pre-service teachers starting teacher education with a negative reading attitude, this study used a person-centred approach to examine the development of pre-service teachers' reading attitude throughout teacher education and how it relates to their perceived reading ability and reading behaviour. Methods: In a sample of 128 pre-service teachers, cluster (movement) analysis was executed at the start of teacher education and near graduation to identify different reading attitude clusters and possible changes throughout teacher education. A distinction between purpose (recreational vs academic) and context (personally vs socially oriented) was made when assessing reading attitude components. Results: Three reading attitude profiles (i.e., personally oriented, socially oriented and low attitude) were corroborated at both measurement occasions. Cluster movement analysis identified that the majority remained in the same profile over time (53-62%). When pre-service teachers did switch profile, they most likely evolved towards the personally-or socially-oriented profile (reading as a mere personal activity vs willing to interact about reading, respectively). Convergent validity evidence was found in that pre-service teachers in the low-attitude profile (24%) were least likely to read and perceived themselves as least competent in reading. They further appeared to be least willing to invest in reading promotion in their future school(s) of all profiles.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.