PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES FOR ACTIVITY-BASED LEARNING: CASE OF HIGH SCHOOL HEALTH AND POPULATION TEACHERS IN KATHMANDU, NEPAL

• Main Author: Milan Acharya
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Preschool Teacher Training College "Mihailo Palov" 2019-12-01
• Series: Istraživanja u Pedagogiji
• Subjects: activity-based learning; community schools; professional development; population education
• Online Access: http://research.rs/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/2217-7337_v09_n02_p143.pdf
• ISSN: 2217-7337; 2406-2006

In education reform movements, there is an emphasis on health and population education teaching through activity-based instruction. Teacher education is an important part in this process. In this context, this study aims to investigate the effect of activity-based professional development training on high school health and population education teachers’ beliefs and self-efficacy. . The data collection tools used was perceptions about activity-based learning strategies, activity-based teaching, self-efficacy and the teaching skills. A group of 30 high school teachers participated in the study. During two days short-term professional development training, the teachers attended four workshops that introduced the activity-based learning method. The analysis of the collected data showed that professional development training was effective in improving teachers’ perceptions (t = −5.39; p = 0.00), self-efficacy (t = −5.12; p = 0.00), and process skills (t = −4.99; p = 0.00). The results of the study suggest that provision of workshops ultimately can gear up to the improvement of teachers’ self-efficacy learning which transforms the belief system of teachers about teaching and learning by activity-based learning approaches.