Meeting Teachers’ Needs Of Professional Development:a Case Of Primary Schools,Thakack District,Khammoaun Province,Laos

The purpose of this study was to investigate the teachers’needs of professional development in primary schools, Thakack district, Khammoune Province in Laos. The study was literature reviewed by TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey,2009) research about creating effective teaching and learning environments which focus on professional development of teachers.The study was conducted in24primary schools (Public schools), urban area of Thakack district. The sample of this study involved159respondents. This research study employed survey design which included questionnaires as the main instrument and interview was also used to get in depth information.48respondents were purposively selected to do interviews. The data collected were both quantitative and qualitative data. The quantitative data analysis involved descriptive statistics like percentage, frequencies and mean by using the SPSS. V.17.0(Statistic Package for Social Sciences) and the qualitative data were analyzed by using content analysis.The findings indicated that the majority of teachers need professional development on "Knowledge and understanding of the subject content which was the main professional development needs of teachers. The finding also revealed that, the extent of teachers was quite low involved in preparing the professional development programs/activities. The majority of teachers were never involved in preparing of research documents about professional development and decision-making about training. However, the finding showed that the extent of teachers were some substantially involved in preparing places for education conferences/seminar and preparation of meetings for professional development network.On the other hand, there are various challenges facing professional development needs of teachers which included "Not enough professional development programs offered which was the main factor/barrier that prevented meeting of teachers needs in their professional development. Other factors involve the lack of financial resources, unequal opportunities for teachers to participate in professional development programs/activities. The finding showed that the majority of participants’view regarding ways to encourage teachers to participate in continuous professional development programs which is the most important way that teachers’ view to satisfy their PD needs. Other ways is to provide appropriate incentive payments and give opportunities for teachers to share ideas about what they want or offer for their professional development needs.Therefore, the study recommends that the Ministry of Education and Sports, schools administrators and relevant agencies of Laos to provide more professional development program/activities, increasing the budget for primary teachers or school based for the implementation to learning in professional development program/activities in primary schools. Furthermore, Thakack District Education Bureau and school administrators in this area should encourage teachers to participate in continuous professional development programs/activities in systematic.