ABSTRACT
This study aimed at identifying the effectiveness of webinars in equipping teachers with all the skills required of them to have at all extents by looking into the gaps and gains of varied online teacher professional development and pieces of training. A descriptive research design was employed and a simple random sampling technique was utilized. This was conducted at all public high schools in Guimba District involving 141 teachers as respondent-participants during the academic year 2020-2021.
Results revealed that the teachers at Guimba District were diverse and multigenerational with the millennial ones being the majority. The study was found to be dominated by men. Most of the respondents were already married. The study has proved the existence of disparities in the number of teachers in each subject, while as to position, most teachers were still at the entry level with only a few who have advanced in their careers. Likewise, in terms of years in the service, there were more teachers who were “newbies” in the field. Teachers had attended a vast number of webinars most of which were multidisciplinary and multilevel with lengths varied as to topics taken and the number of resource speakers.
The gain and gaps of the webinars attended by the respondent-participants were investigated in the following areas: instructional practices which included teaching skills, classroom management, and student assessment and evaluation, all of which were found to have been significantly improved the teachers’ pedagogical skills; teachers’ knowledge of their subject matter as had been found to have fostered and enriched; and teachers’ perception of themselves specific to empowerment, self-efficacy, self-confidence, professional ethics and behaviors, and human relationship. Generally, the findings revealed that the webinars attended by secondary school teachers who took part in the study posted both gains and gaps, hence, the basis for the proposed context-appropriate teacher-development programs.
Keywords: Webinars, Gains, Gaps, COVID-19, Context-specific Teacher Trainings
I. INTRODUCTION
Training is imperative among all human resources in any organization. As human resources viewed as assets, investing in their growth and development has always been an effort exuded by most administrators. With trained employees, the organization’s goals are expected to be realized without compromise, and quality service is ensured. According to Rahman et al., (2011), teachers must be abreast with the rapid scientific and educational developments to be efficient and effective.
Relatively, improving teacher quality has been a longstanding interest in educational policymakers and practitioners. Promoting teacher quality has also been an acknowledged vital element in improving the general educative process. With this, it is encouraged that teachers must fully immerse themselves in the subjects that they teach and equally develop among their students advanced thinking and problem-solving skills. Ultimately, teachers’ training and development focus on correcting and modifying the deficiencies apparent among all practitioners. Dunne, (2002) noted that educators should be provided with scaled-up and high-quality professional learning experiences. Education officials believed that to augment the subject knowledge and pedagogical skills of teachers as well as to better teach their students, teacher training programs are of great cost-effective help (Zhang et al., 2013).
It is generally accepted that there exists a relationship between and among teachers’ competencies, their pieces of training and the students’ achievement as proficient teachers have been thought of being equally efficient, thereby makes learning almost at the best as it should be, meeting the standards set by the agency or organization. In developing countries like the Philippines, teacher development programs are given prime importance by most policymakers. It is considered tantamount to gaining proficiency in the subject-content, having the appropriate pedagogies to communicate such contents, and developing a positive attitude towards the teaching profession, and improving students’ learning. However, teacher training programs should be carefully planned and implemented to be effective and beneficial to both the teachers and the students. Zhang et al., (2013) concluded that for teacher training to have an impact on teachers’ performance, there must longer sessions for their training programs. Teachers must have enough time to digest the knowledge and skills learned from the training sessions and apply them to their teaching routines. When training programs run only for short and one-shot time teachers might forget the content and skills learned during the training program.
Teacher training programs, according to Mary & Florence (2017), helps both the teachers and the students’ outcomes. They facilitate the teachers’ skills in communicating and delivering the curriculum to the students. Thus, a deficiency among the teachers’ skills equally causes a deficiency among students’ learning behaviors and outcomes. Opportunities for teachers’ professional development help them to address and cater to the diverse needs of the students. As Craig World Bank & Kraft (n.d.) noted that an appropriate and relevant type of teacher training programs that are put in place can make a difference to student achievement. Failure to address deficiencies with the teachers’ and students’ performances becomes the shortcoming in overall organizational performance.
Indeed, the need for upgrading and equipping teachers with the essential pedagogical skills is perpetual since change is constant. The trends in education change as the demands of society and the market also change. That being said, teachers must be abreast of the means and ways to cope up with what the present time demands and foresees.
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