Need Assessment for the Professional Development of Teachers in Content Knowledge of Instructional Planning and Strategies

Sidra Rizwan, Rehana Masrur

Abstract

In 2009 the National professional standards were introduced for teachers
in Pakistan to determine a nationwide quality of teaching. These
standards focus on the quality of teacher preparation from this time
onwards; the present study was initiated to determine the needs of the
workforce who are already in the practical field and how they may
achieve the established standard. Therefore, in the light of the prescribed
standard “Instructional Planning and Strategies (IPS)”this article
investigated the levels of content knowledge of IPS possessed by the
teachers in secondary schools; it further determined the difference in the
content knowledge levels of urban & rural, male& female teachers
regarding IPS. It was a survey type quantitative study with a population
spread of secondary school teachers (SSTs) working in the four
provinces and Federal Capital. A multistage sampling procedure was
adopted to collect data from 400 SSTs belonging to the population area.
The need of the in-service teachers for acquiring content knowledge of
IPS was gauged through a questionnaire based on seven indicators of
content knowledge given in the professional standards; the teachers
further prioritized their training needs in these defined areas. Moreover,
data triangulation was done to ensure the validity of the study. The indepth analysis revealed that SSTs possessed different levels on each
indicator of content knowledge of IPS but a meager number was
competent in it. Independent sample “t-test” was applied to calculate the
difference between content knowledge of IPS possessed by the male&
female, urban& rural SSTs. Although there was no significant difference between the content knowledge of male & female, urban & rural SSTs;
they all fell back on each indicator of prescribed content knowledge of
IPS given in the standard. Therefore, professional development trainings
were recommended for the in-service SSTs according to their needs at
regular intervals to keep them abreast with the latest initiatives in the
field of education which may enable them to plan instructional strategies
accordingly