Elementary Education and Language Teachers’ Professional Development Needs: The Context of Pakistan

Abstract

Teachers professional development is central to meet the ever-growing challenges at the elementary school level. In this article we describe the development and use of Teachers Development Scale at the elementary school level in Pakistan. An exploratory factor analysis (n=274) showed two basic dimensions of teachers professional development: community development, and individual development. Community-based developments included collaborative projects, participation in conferences, and system of educators for proficient advancement. On the other hand, individual developments related to improvement in course work, coaching, observation visits to other schools and qualification degree programs. The implication of the study identifies constraints and suggestions for educators, educationists and instructor mentors.