Enhancing student achievement through high quality education is a common global concern across the nations. The research literature has constantly supported that teachers’ continuing professional development (CPD) is a critical component of teacher changes and enhancing student learning outcomes (Armour et al., 2017; Guskey, 2002; Yoon et al., 2007). Despite significant financial investment by the Korean government, there is little awareness of effective CPD in this context, and how this is framed by Korean values.
The purpose of this study was to examine characteristics of Korean secondary teachers’ participation in PE-CPD programs in terms of design, content, practitioner engagement and perceived effectiveness. Data were collected from online-based open-ended questionnaires (n=251) and in-depth interviews with secondary PE teachers (n=20). Quantitative data were analyzed SPSS 20.0 and qualitative data were analyzed thorough NVivio11 for content analysis.
Findings revealed that the local education authority and in-service teacher training center played a major role in providing PE-CPD programs, while the role of university/teacher education programs was limited to providing upper level teacher certificates. Secondly, PE teachers’ reasons for participating PE-CPD were centered on improving knowledge and skills, sharing issues and finding solution for their problems, and extending teacher network. Interestingly, beginning teachers got more pressure from administrators to participate in PE-CPD when compared with more experienced teachers. Thirdly, dominance of sport skills-centered content of PE-CPD was disconnected from changing trend of national curriculum. Finally, teachers’ perceptions of effectiveness of PE-CPD were determined by changes in teachers (i.e., knowledge, skills, and attitude), program characteristics (i.e., content, structure), and support from staff/facilitators.
The findings suggest that the PE-CPD in Korea should be re-designed and enhanced by reflecting characteristics of effective CPD (e.g., school-based, sustained, contextualized, autonomous), and expanding horizon of PE teacher professionalism beyond traditional notion of sport skills development.
