Abstract

Abstract

Rapid advancements in science and technology, along with emerging alternative technologies, have revealed to the world's educational systems the necessity of nurturing a generation capable of readily adapting to these changes. In today's dynamic world, educational organizations engage in a continuous and ongoing process of change to keep pace with global competition. This enables them to leverage opportunities within their complex and variable environments to mitigate shortcomings while simultaneously withstanding organizational challenges. Since the inception of education worldwide, all efforts have centered on ensuring educational equity, fostering equal growth of educational opportunities, and pursuing its quantitative and qualitative expansion. In this regard, a focus on educational quality has become a fundamental concept in macro-educational policymaking within most educational systems. Schools are considered a fundamental and critical element, significantly impacting a nation's destiny and its economic, social, and cultural development, as well as its sustainable progress. The optimal management of schools requires capable human resources. Given that teachers in schools have a direct impact on learners and play an essential role in developing the quality of student learning, their professional development is a critical necessity for the successful performance of their professional roles. Consequently, this study aims to utilize a qualitative approach to inform itself through the perspectives of experts, thereby taking a fundamental step towards discovering the dimensions and components of the present subject and answering the following questions:

1. From the perspective of specialists, experts, managers, and seasoned teachers, what are the dimensions and components affecting teacher professional development?

2. What is an appropriate conceptual model for teacher professional development?

This research was conducted with the aim of designing a teacher development model with a qualitative data-based approach. The statistical population of this study included expert teachers of academic courses, school principals, officials of educational departments of the Ministry of Education, and professors of Farhangian University, who were selected using a snowball, purposive, and theoretical sampling method, and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 of them. Content analysis and three-stage coding were used to analyze the data, and participatory feedback methods and the use of external observers were used to validate the data. The research findings led to the identification of dimensions and components affecting teacher development in 5 central categories and18 subcategories and 71 components extracted from the interview text, which were presented as a conceptual model. In this model, the central phenomenon of teacher development in four dimensions: individual, professional, educational and organizational is affected by the lack of programs, activities and rules and regulations for teacher development and the lack of feeling the need for this development, individual characteristics, social base, educational management, educational leadership, and organizational support. As one of the most critical social systems, education, in accordance with its mission and mandate to meet the needs and expectations of society, requires the optimal management of its resources, including its personnel. The efficiency and effectiveness of this endeavor are profoundly dependent on the development of teachers' capacities and talents. Consequently, the objective of the present research was to propose a model for teacher professional development. This was accomplished using a qualitative research method and the grounded theory approach based on the systematic design (Strauss & Corbin, 2017), resulting in the presentation of a comprehensive, process-oriented model.

a. Definition and Conceptual Scope of Teacher Professional Development: The proposed definition for teacher professional development in this study, based on the formulated model, is as follows: Teacher professional development encompasses all procedural activities that prevent neglect of teacher development. It involves attention to the specific conditions that imply development and the intervening factors that affect how the core phenomenon's interactions are controlled and managed. This is to utilize the identified strategies to subsequently bring about educational efficacy.

b. Dimensions of Teacher Professional Development: One of these dimensions is causal factors—those that impede the formation of the main phenomenon. The results of this study revealed that the absence of professional development programs and activities for teachers, as one of the categories in this dimension, indicates a lack of necessary programs and activities for teacher development, absence of medium- and long-term vision for teacher development within the education system, a bureaucratic and directive approach toward teachers, a lack of financial support for development programs, and the obsolescence of material and physical resources for conducting development programs and activities.

Another dimension is intervening conditions, which pertain to teachers' individual characteristics and social status. These characteristics relate to the existence of a professional perspective on teaching, a belief in a culture of continuous learning, possession of specialized knowledge and skills, belief in individual teaching abilities, creating social value and respect for teachers, implementing cultural programs and recognizing influential and developed teachers, promoting a culture of teaching and elucidating its status, rehabilitating and promoting the status of education, and the social standing of educators within the community.

Another dimension of this research is the contextual conditions, which comprise the categories of educational management, educational leadership, and organizational support and backing. In the presented paradigmatic model, teacher professional development is the core phenomenon placed at the center of the model. It is influenced by the aforementioned dimensions and is manifested in four categories: individual development, professional development, instructional development, and organizational development.

Strategies, as another dimension of these results, refer to specific actions or interactions resulting from the core phenomenon. These encompass the categories of individual empowerment, instructional empowerment, and organizational empowerment.

Finally, the consequences of teacher professional development, resulting from the full implementation of the strategies identified in the paradigmatic model, point to teachers' educational efficacy. This outcome, which is the product of an efficient teaching-learning process, knowledge enhancement and improvement of teachers' scientific capacity, and an increased inclination to join scientific and professional associations, leads to the qualitative enhancement of the educational system, satisfaction among learners and education officials, and the realization of educational goals. This, in turn, results in increased self-directed learning among students, deeper and more sustainable mastery of subject matter, heightened motivation to achieve good grades in all subjects, and enhanced ability and desire in students to pursue education at higher levels. Based on the research findings, the following recommendations are proposed:

1. The conceptual model proposed by this research should be used as a foundation for formulating policies, directives, programs, and activities aimed at teacher professional development.

2. Individual characteristics should be considered in the recruitment of teachers, and individual, professional, and organizational empowerment programs should be implemented for them.