Investigating the Impact of Teachers' Continuous Professional Development on Students' Leadership.

Abstract

The continuous change in curricula, teaching approaches and learning needs necessitates teachers’ adeptness. In this regard, Continuous Professional Development (CPD) tends to be a significant appeal to gain the necessary qualification and expertise. Nevertheless, there is no straightforward use for CPD to cover students’ leadership. As well, the existing body of literature did not cover this aspect. In the light of the above, the conducted research aims to investigate the effectiveness of teachers’ continuous professional development on students’ leadership acquisition and development. In order to reach the objectives accurately, the methodological triangulation was opted. In this vein, we addressed one hundred questionnaires to second year master EFL students of Ibn Khaldoun University (Tiaret), semi structured interviews were conducted with six teachers, and class disguised observation was undertaken. As the findings suggest, CPD activities can help teachers developing their students’ leadership in different ways. It was found that teachers can use CPD to learn more about the concept of leadership; then transmit this knowledge to their students. Or use such awareness to analyze their students’ performance and use the learned strategies accordingly. In addition, they can develop their leadership as teachers through CPD and subsequently assume the role of model leader for their students. Surprisingly, it was found that the majority of EFL senior students have effective leadership skills by demonstrating the five practices of exemplary leaders. In brief, EFL students’ leadership remains an essential skill that needs more attention from the part of teachers. Since the research in this corner is few, we recommend further investigations in the future as many interesting findings might be revealed.