Abstract:

This study aims at exploring some professional development activities and their usefulness at Batinah North schools in the Sultanate of Oman. (77) English teachers, both male and female, participated in the study, A questionnaire listing (21) professional development activities with some open ended questions was sat up. This study adopted a quantitative approach to answer the three research questions:
Question1: How often do English teachers say they engage in particular professional development activities?
Question2: Which professional development activities do English teachers say they find useful for their teaching?
Question3: Are there any differences between male and female teachers in using these PD activities at their schools?
Most English teachers who participated in the study considered professional development process as "Ways and programs used to develop teachers' methods, skills, strategies and ways of teaching" which suggest good perception in their understanding of this process. Also they said that they do sometimes most of the professional development activities listed in the study. For example "Post lesson discussion" activity was used more often at their school and this might be because the educational system in Oman considers visiting English teachers at their classes and discussing the lessons after the class visit as an important role of both the senior teacher and the educational supervisor at school. "Post lesson discussion" activity was also classified by the English teachers who participated in the study as the most useful one with "peer observations" activity for their teaching.
Moreover there wasn’t a big difference between the female and male teachers in their responses to the PD activities they do often at school but some differences were found between them on the activities they do rarely. For example male teachers travel to other countries for professional development purposes more often than female teachers do. This might be because of the society which doesn’t accept the idea of women traveling more often without her family.
In addition, the teachers were asked whether they are satisfied or not about the professional development activities they do at their school. The result shows that 66.7% of the teachers said" Yes", they are satisfied but 33.3% teachers said "No", they are not satisfied. The majority didn’t give reasons for their answer. A few from both sides gave some justifications. For those who are satisfied, (9) teachers said the professional development activities help them in their teaching and (2) teachers think that these activities help them to be up to date in language skills and at the same time (2) teachers from the other side said that they are not satisfied about the professional development they do at school because the activities don’t up date their knowledge in the teaching techniques. Also some of the teachers are not satisfied because of the few activities of PD at their schools and they ask for more opportunities.

Keywords:

Teachers' professinal development.