Page 81 - Innovative Professional Development Methods and Strategies for STEM Education

A Paradigm Shift for Teachers’ Professional Development Structure in Turkey

support activities within the project on bringing about change in teachers’ pedagogical practices and
epistemological beliefs and on students’ learning outcomes. The findings point out that the structure of
in-service activities was highly effective in terms of promoting pedagogical development and a strong
understanding about learning, teaching, and argument-based inquiry approach (Mutlu-Pehlivan, Yesildag-
Hasancebi, Tanriverdi & Gunel, 2013). Furthermore, the participating teachers emphasized the value
and importance of the on-site support mechanism as well as co-teaching, and reflection-in-action and
reflection-on-action framework.
In Tanriverdi et al. (2013), one of the significant findings was how the teachers’ interacted with their
peers. In their study, teachers expressed their appreciation, awareness, and willingness to continue the
professional interaction created among the teachers who participated in the training. While the teacher
community in the Turkish school settings is generally only framed around the social interaction base,
the project provided the teachers with an opportunity to create new dimensions for interaction that led
to the formation of a ‘community of practitioners’. This type of community provided a safe learning
environment for teachers to learn from each other and the project staff based on an ongoing discussion
concerning their beliefs, practices, and observations during PD activities and in-class implementations
(Gunel, 2013). On the other hand, other research studies conducted within the project framework high-
lighted the importance of students’ learning outcomes and teachers’ own learning, which is a salient
feature of in-service training programmes (Gunel, Yesildag-Hasancebi, Keskin-Samanci, Demir, Ozgur,
Gundogan & Akbay, 2012; Gunel & Tanriverdi, 2012).
The above-mentioned studies are based on teachers’ view and perceptions on the structure and impact
of the project from their own learning experience and epistemology. The qualitative findings of these
case studies emphasize the significance of PD practices in the project that bridge teachers’ beliefs, per-
ceptions, and day-to-day routines about teaching and learning, and the basics of student-centred learn-
ing and the argument-based inquiry approach. Similarly, in other studies where pedagogical changes in
teachers were evaluated through teaching observation protocols over the course of a project, changes
were observed over time.
Teachers’ pedagogical implementation levels were assessed using the RTOP as outlined in the
methodology section. The project staff and independent reviewers evaluated all the video recordings
from each school term. A brief explanation of the components in the competency scale is given below:

• Exploring: A low level implementation where the learning environment is highly teacher-centred
and can mostly be classified as a direct instruction.
• Developing: A moderate level implementation where the teacher questions his/her practices as
well as beliefs to move toward an inquiry-based and student-centred approach.
• Transitioning: A high level implementation where the majority of the basic characteristics of an
argument-based inquiry approach is evident.
• Implementing: An exemplary level of implementation where the teacher can successfully re-
vise and implement new curriculum topics and materials in line with the argument-based inquiry
approach.

Earlier studies that reported on the end of first-year implementation levels of the teachers showed
that around 90 percent of the teachers were in the exploring level, and while a third of the participating
teachers remained there, approximately two thirds moved onto the developing level (Gunel, Akkus &
Ozer-Keskin, 2011; Gunel, Akkus, Ozer-Keskin & Keskin-Samanci, 2012). This means that at the begin-

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