Exploring Factors Affecting High School Teachers’ Participation in Professional Development

Abstract

In the era of massive change in educational content and pedagogies, it is worth noting that teachers’ professional development (PD) plays a crucial role in determining the quality of educational system. Enhancing teacher quality through professional development activities should be a priority for any schools. This study examines factors that influence high school teachers’ participation in professional development (PD). 966 high school teachers took part in the survey. Results show that there are a number of factors influencing high school teachers’s participation in professional learning activities, namely (1) Content of PD, (2) Learning community, (3) Management and Leadership, (4) PD’s advantages, (5) teachers’ perception, (6) time and (7) finance. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied to figure out factors and their level of impact on high school teachers’ learning. Results can be used as foundation to propose solutions to encourage teachers participating in PD activities, with the aims at improving teacher quality in educational system.