Abstract
Based on a questionnaire survey and using hierarchical linear modeling, the aim of this study was to empirically investigate factors influencing the levels of professional development of science teachers in elementary schools at both the individual and the school level. The study found that seniority of teachers, academic diplomas, and job title were the three main individual factors influencing the professional development of science teachers. Schools played a key role in motivating the level of professional development of science teachers, and the levels of professional development varied greatly between schools. Differences between schools was one factor influencing the unevenness of science teachers’ professional development. The mechanism by which school teachers were evaluated provided the opportunity for teacher development; teacher training was another important factor in the uneven levels of professional development. Some measures to reduce differences in levels of professional development and to strengthen the ranks of science teachers would be to develop multi-evaluation mechanisms, carry out school-based teaching and research, and further improve the training of science teachers.
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Lin, Cc., Shou, X. (2014). An Empirical Study of Factors Influencing the Professional Development Levels of Elementary Science Teachers. In: Zhang, B., Fulmer, G., Liu, X., Hu, W., Peng, S., Wei, B. (eds) International Conference on Science Education 2012 Proceedings. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-54365-4_10
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