Perception of Teachers’ Professional Development Needs, Impacts, and Barriers: The Abu Dhabi Case

The article reports on findings from the TALIS (Teaching and Learning International Survey) 2013 study for Abu Dhabi which gathered teachers’ views on teaching and learning with a focus on professional development. The aim of this study is to better understand teachers’ perceptions of professional development needs and impacts as well as the barriers faced by teachers from secondary schools in Abu Dhabi. The study provides some insights into the variations of those perceptions relative to other independent variables such as teachers’ age and gender, and type of schools. With regard to the perceived need for professional development activities, the most significant variation is observed with regard to public or private schools. With regard to the impact of those activities, male teachers almost consistently assign higher perceived impact scores than female teachers. Public schools also assign higher perceived impact scores for all activities that they participated in. However, female teachers assign significantly higher perceived barrier scores to five of the seven listed barriers to participating in professional development activities. The research has implications for professional development providers to ensure the effectiveness of professional development opportunities for educators in Abu Dhabi.