Abdusyakur, Ikhsan; (2023) Evaluating professional development programmes aimed at promoting Classroom Action Research: Perspectives from teachers in Indonesia. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

This is an exploratory study which focuses on exploring teacher perceptions on the impact of professional development (PD) programmes aimed at promoting Classroom Action Research (CAR) that teachers followed in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Indonesian government by means of its education reform policy has been taking measures in promoting CAR to teachers as a way of improving its teacher quality, having one of its measures organising PD programmes about CAR for teachers and providing guidelines for PD programme providers. However, difficulties arise in the implementation as my research found that the quality of PD programmes available to teachers has been poor and without any evaluation process. While it is acknowledged that PD programmes need to be evaluated to ascertain the quality as well as to assess its impact on teachers as the participants, research on the impact of PD programmes that is specifically about CAR is fragmented and an integrated view on such evaluation is still missing. My literature review of this study reveals a gap in the existing frameworks for the evaluation of PD programmes specifically about CAR, resulting in the development of the conceptual framework. This framework suggests four research questions in this study, focusing on four levels of impact on PD programmes: teacher experience, teacher learning, teachers’ change in practice and influencing factors. This study tries to answer the research questions by applying a multiple-case study design in three different groups of teachers as participants of three PD programmes about CAR in Jakarta, Indonesia. The data were generated over a period of three months through an observation of all three programmes; a survey of one hundred teachers; interviews with the three programme providers, eleven heads of schools and sixteen teachers; and document analyses. This study demonstrates how the conceptual framework was deductively discussed through the application of case studies and inductively extended through the findings of teachers’ perceptions on the impact of the PD programmes about CAR. The result of the study generates an extended evaluation framework having all four levels of impact in the conceptual framework thoroughly elaborated and expanded in detail. First, there are eight main features of the programme which are highlighted to be effective in the discussion of teacher experience on the programme. For example, the features ‘sustained duration’ and ‘quality of mentor’ are revealed to be effective in helping teachers during the implementation of CAR. Second, the discussion highlights nine specific knowledge and skills in conducting CAR and three specific attitudes towards CAR as the impact of the PD programmes on teacher learning. For example, the findings reveal that several teachers were able to reflect on their previous CAR cycle and to trust the importance of CAR after following the programme. Third, there are three kinds of change in classroom practice, two kinds of change in personal level and two kinds of change in interpersonal level which are highlighted as the impact of the PD programmes on teachers’ change in practice. For instance, the findings reveal that a teacher had strong will in using CAR and, consequently, sought more effective teaching method and shared the result with the others. At last, the findings highlight the importance of teacher characteristics as well as organisational support in hindering or helping the impact accounted for as influencing factors. For instance, the characteristic of open-minded and progressive heads of schools provides support for teachers in conducting CAR. On the other hand, the characteristic of a new teacher lacking professional experience and motivation in following the programme limited his expectations of the programme, and, consequently, the implementation of CAR

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