Does Teacher Engagement Matter? Exploring Relationship Between Teachers' Engagement in Professional Development and Teaching Practice

Abstract

Professional Development (PD) for teachers in China, as in many other countries worldwide, is receiving increased attention. Within the research context, a gap has been identified for teachers’ engagement in PD which may play a mediating role between PD and classroom teaching practice. Therefore, this small-scale research was conducted to explore the relationship between teachers’ engagement in PD and teaching practice, and further, the potential PD programme contributors to teachers’ engagement in PD. This study employed a mixed-method methodology: a survey (n=124) and interviews (n=14) with Chinese English Language Teaching (ELT) teachers from primary and secondary schools. Results indicated that there was a reciprocal relationship between teachers’ engagement in PD and their teaching practice. In addition, based on teachers’ different individual PD needs, four types of teacher engagement emerged.

Keywords

• teacher engagement
• professional development
• teaching practice
• individual needs