Exploring Chinese EFL pre-service teachers’ perceptions of self-directed professional development: The benefits and challenges disclosed

Abstract

Teaching has long been regarded as a demanding and complicated job, in which teachers play a vital role. To be effective and successful in this profession, they need to constantly engage in professional development programs. However, such programs are mostly externally driven with teachers playing passive roles. Against this pitfall, self-directed professional development (SDPD) has recently captured the attention of educational researchers. Yet, the benefits and challenges of SDPD in pre-service programs are unknown in EFL contexts. To fill this gap, this study used a semi-structured interview with 50 Chinese pre-service teachers regarding their perceptions of this mode of professional development. The findings of thematic analysis obtained by MAXQDA software (v. 2022) revealed that the most frequent benefits of SDPD were being “needs-based” and “self-directed”, which, in turn, produce “flexibility”, “autonomy”, and “professional knowledge development” in teachers. Concerning the challenges in implementing SDPD, “lack of professional interaction/assistance” from external forces and being “labor-intensive” for teachers were posed most frequently by the participants. Despite these complexities, most of the Chinese pre-service teachers (82%) preferred self-directed and self-initiated PD given their potential and effectiveness. The study encourages EFL educators to revisit their perspectives, plans, and strategies regarding professionalism and professional development.

La enseñanza se ha considerado como un trabajo exigente y complicado en que los docentes desempeñan un papel vital. Para ser efectivos y exitosos, los maestros deben participar en programas de desarrollo profesional (DP). Sin embargo, tales programas son principalmente impulsados con roles pasivos. El desarrollo profesional autodirigido (SDPD) ha llamado la atención de los investigadores. Los beneficios y desafíos del SDPD en programas de pre-servicio se desconocen en el contexto chino de EFL. Este estudio adoptó una entrevista semiestructurada con 50 futuros maestros chinos sobre el SDPD. Los hallazgos obtenidos por MAXQDA (Versión 2022) revelaron que los beneficios más frecuentes del SDPD eran ser “basado en necesidades” y “autodirigido”, lo que produce “flexibilidad”, “autonomía” y “desarrollo del conocimiento profesional” en los docentes. Con respecto a los desafíos en implementar SDPD, los participantes plantearon con mayor frecuencia la “falta de interacción/ asistencia profesional” de fuerzas externas y el hecho de que sean “intensivos en labor”. A pesar de estas complejidades, el 82% de los entrevistados preferían el DP autodirigido y autoiniciado debido a su potencial y eficacia. El estudio alienta a los educadores de EFL a revisar sus perspectivas, planes y estrategias con respecto al profesionalismo y el DP.