An evaluation of short earth science continuing professional development for trainee primary school teachers, 2009-2015

The comments from 1395 evaluation forms completed by 25% trainee teachers participating in earth science workshops were used to ascertain whether the workshops contributed to teaching practices and teacher confidence. The workshops took place in English teacher training establishments between 2009 and 2015. The background qualifications of the trainees, and their confidence at teaching science prior to the workshop were investigated. The evaluation responses of the participants were analysed thematically (Braun & Clarke, 2006) and it was found that these themes related very closely to Guskey’s (2000) categories as being important outcomes for effective Continuing Professional Development (CPD). The workshops provided informative, accurate subject content knowledge which could be used along with the pedagogical content knowledge for trainees and teachers with little science background. The trainees stated that they felt confident in using the workshop ideas; that they could adapt these ideas to their own teaching styles and that the simple but effective resources were easily available for use. The workshops provided the knowledge and understanding of the subject a teacher needed prior to offering it as a lesson, seen as being very important (Harlen and Elstgeest (1992). The workshops showed that they could indeed fulfil a need effectively in a short workshop providing confidence and reliable teaching content.

参与地球科学工作坊的25%实习教师填写了1395份评估表，本研究通过分析这些评估表中的反馈，旨在确定该工作坊是否对教学实践及教师信心产生积极影响。这些工作坊于2009年至2015年间在英国教师培训机构开展。研究调查了实习教师的背景资质，以及他们在参与工作坊前的科学教学信心水平。对参与者的评估反馈采用主题分析法（Braun & Clarke, 2006）进行分析，结果发现这些主题与Guskey（2000）提出的有效持续专业发展（Continuing Professional Development, CPD）重要成果类别高度相关。该工作坊为科学背景薄弱的实习教师及在职教师提供了丰富且准确的学科内容知识，这些知识可与教学内容知识（pedagogical content knowledge）结合使用。实习教师表示，他们对应用工作坊中的教学理念充满信心；能够将这些理念融入自身教学风格；且工作坊提供的简单实用资源易于获取和使用。工作坊提供了教师在授课前所需的学科知识与理解，这一点被视为至关重要（Harlen & Elstgeest, 1992）。研究表明，此类短期工作坊能够有效满足需求，为教师提供教学信心及可靠的教学内容。