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Teacher change from a short-term certification programme and its comparison with that of a comparable long-term programme: Cases from South Korea and the USA

Tae-Hee Choi (Department of Education Policy and Leadership, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong)

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development

ISSN: 2396-7404

Article publication date: 13 November 2017

262

Abstract

Purpose

Using teacher certification to induce educational change is a common practice in many countries. However, teacher change from these certification programmes, in particular, from the widely used “short-term” programmes, is not given due attention. Do teachers change on short-term programmes? Is teacher development (TD) on short-term programmes qualitatively different from that of long-term programmes? Answering these questions, the purpose of this paper is to address the identified research gap and contribute to the ongoing discussion on an effective teacher education provision.

Design/methodology/approach

This comparative, qualitative study mainly draws on a case study of an in-service certification programme in South Korea. It also draws on publications which report on TD on a comparable, long-term certification programme in the USA. In both contexts, semi-structured interviews, lesson observations, and document research were conducted and the data were analysed through thematic content analysis.

Findings

Participants experienced three major, interrelated patterns of cognitive change: capturing and repositioning their assumptions, gaining and seeking pedagogical implications, and inner conflicts and reconciliation in both programmes. The participants also found their learning an emotional process. TD on the short-term programme was not qualitatively different from that of a comparable long-term programme.

Originality/value

This is the first paper which systematically investigates TD from a short-term training, as compared to a comparable long-term programme. This research has significance as it has implications for effective design and management of TD programmes.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The author would like to express deepest gratitude to Dr Middendorf, the projects with whom considerably informed this paper. The author also acknowledges that this paper partly draws on Choi (2013).

Citation

Choi, T.-H. (2017), "Teacher change from a short-term certification programme and its comparison with that of a comparable long-term programme: Cases from South Korea and the USA", International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, Vol. 19 No. 4, pp. 207-218. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCED-06-2017-0009

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2017, Emerald Publishing Limited

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