The present study aimed to identify the extent to which the program of General Diploma in Education at Najran University could accomplish its aims from the perspectives of students enrolled in the program in the current academic year and the perspectives of a sample of graduates in previous years. To do so, a two-dimension questionnaire was developed. Items in the first dimension measured the accomplishment level of participants’ cognitive and cultural side while items in the second one tested the participants’ skill and professional aspect. Results showed that the program’s aims were achieved in a moderate extent and such result required, of course, a thorough review of the entire program, particularly strengthening the cultural aspect. Performance evaluation with regard to practicum or field training and enhancement of the skill aspect regarding scientific research and self-learning were important, too. Furthermore, negative issues that were not of a fundamental benefit for the teacher joining the program should be reduced, whereas it was very crucial to promote the program’s positive aspects and practices.
Technological, social, cultural, political and economic challenges and developments that globalization produced have affected the educational environment all over the world in general, and particularly the Arab world. They have been continual pressures on school to reevaluate its aims, roles and practices to harmonize requirements of current reality for the sake of developing its outcomes and be an educational environment that can graduate responsible students towards themselves and others. Graduates should be also equipped with a set of knowledge and skills that help them go on in their educational process at university or join the labor market, which looks for highly trained and qualified manpower which is capable of creation innovation and adaptation to increasing variables. Therefore, there should be a continuous renewing process of all elements within the school environment to keep pace with rapid development qualitatively and quantitatively. Success of all these things depends on the impact power resulting from the interaction and interdependence of a number of factors such as curriculum, conditions of educational environment including the concrete means and the potentials, and equipment available for the education process. The teacher, on the other hand, who is the main pillar in the educational process should be affected by this success and should create the desired change in education quality and output. Dewey, cited in [
Teacher preparation programs regardless perfection and precision they have will not be able to provide the teacher with solutions for all problems that meet him within the educational process and keep his teaching competency. The rapid scientific evolution in creating better teaching ways and the consequent findings of psychology need a teacher continual training program that promotes his permanent growth. In addition, diagnosis of difficulties facing scholars in the educational programs is an entrance to evaluate the effectiveness of these programs and consider their problems. The aim should not be punishment as much as a search for better alternatives in the delivery of services in more efficient ways [
Universities bear the responsibility of developing and training in service teachers by designing integrated programs for those who wish to join the teaching profession, or those who joined it without having an educational qualification. However, it is observed that there is a shortcoming in pre and in service teacher preparation and training that leads to a traditional stereotype dominated by repetition of previous programs. The impact of these programs is rarely reflected on the educational situation and what educators and researchers have detected regarding the lack of echo of the impact of these programs on teachers in educational contexts emphasizes this hypothesis. Arab teacher is still in the traditional stereotype despite the fact that these training programs have emerged for decades in the Arab world. School outputs of students are still of the same cognitive level. In other words, there is no good movement regarding this aspect, which raises a problem like “the ability of teacher training programs to contribute to the creation of a model teacher in the 21st century. Such programs should help enrolled students acquire the required skills and powers in a modern spirit. Hence, some important concepts related to teacher training and the requirements of teaching profession should be seriously discussed. Track and survey processes of the general diploma in education at Najran University reveals that it is consisted of two academic years and (32) credit hours among which are (4) hours for practicum. Having a look at the program’s mission and aims, one can claim that mission is centered on teachers’ high-level rehabilitation in accordance to educational and professional knowledge and skills that fulfill the needs and requirements of their community. In addition, the program aims were:
1) Allow university graduates of various disciplines to join teaching profession.
2) Provide students with educational and psychological knowledge, concepts and theories.
3) Train students on different skills of communication through Knowledge resources.
4) Develop leadership skills and promote self-reliance and responsibility.
5) Prepare students to use computer technology and applications in the educational process.
6) Build the character, which is capable of self-learning and continuing education.
7) Develop the skills of scientific research to meet the educational problems.
8) Train students on various teaching skills and learning styles.
9) Develop the moralities of profession.
Reconsidering the program of the general diploma in education offered by Najran University, it is seen that it provides the enrolled teacher with various developmental aspects, i.e. cognitive, cultural, skills and professional. Therefore, the present study will try to answer these questions:
1) To what extent does the program of General Diploma in education at Najran University accomplish its aims from the perspectives enrolled students?
2) Are there any statistically significant differences between participants’ views regarding aims achievement of the General Diploma in Education regarding the state of participants whether graduates or non-graduates?
3) Are there any statistically significant differences between participants’ views regarding aims achievement of the General Diploma in Education regarding participants’ gender?
4) Are there any statistically significant differences between participants’ views regarding aims achievement of the General Diploma in Education regarding participants’ areas of specialty whether scientific or literary?
Importance of the present study is clearly seen because in-service teachers’ rehabilitation and training system is witnessing tremendous and rapid change all over the world. There has been a quantum leap in technology, cognitive mutation that has connected to the educational process and its development. On the opposite, we as researchers in the Arab world should check and evaluate the content of the rehabilitation programs provided for our teachers at our universities in light of all developments that take place in reality. We have to revise the reality and credibility of these programs to meet teachers’ aspirations and change their conduct, teaching methods, relations with students and quality of their out- puts.
The evolution in the educational process through the entry of technology, the revolution in communications and information, and scientific progress all have helped the great knowledge flow, where information is now available, more accessible more important that what teachers used to deliver in the past. There has been a change in the teacher’s role that was for a period centered on knowledge transfer and delivery to students. A new reality that needs the teacher to be highly and well-trained to cope with been created and imposed. The teacher’s role in information choice, gathering, saving, presenting, revising and contributing to its building has been wider and more comprehensive [
1) The learner has to produce knowledge rather than retrieving or listing what he has read.
2) The teacher has to use inquiry approach to build the meaning of what the learner has learnt.
3) The learner has to look for the production of meaningful knowledge and achievements and not only to pass at school.
Effective teaching refers to that kind of teaching, which requires learners to produce rather than retrieve what they have already learnt. Their achievements should be valuable and precious for their communities [
Teacher’s expertise and knowledge in his subject area, linguistic abilities and verbal fluency, knowledge of teaching and learning methods, teaching experience, and his perception of the nature of society and culture and their relation to all dimensions of the educational process play significant roles in making his impact more positive and significant [
Interest in the teaching profession has increased in recent decades. Private groups, institutes, and centers have paid attention to preparing teachers academically, professionally, and culturally. They have been creating programs that provide teachers with educational knowledge and professional skills to activate their abilities and talents for the sake of performing their role appropriately [
1) Teacher’s technical development and how to employ it in the learning environment,
2) Training him on survey and inquiry,
3) Empowering him of the skills of modern constructive pedagogy,
4) Raising his awareness of globalization challenges and emerging changes,
5) Developing him for his new roles as by changing it from of mere transmission of knowledge to an educator who cares about students,
6) Developing him culturally in the field of literature, humanities, science fiction, creative activities and aesthetic sense, and
7) Providing him with the skills that enable him to absorb and understand learners’ needs and educational dealing with them.
Technical and humanistic forms are of the models used to stimulate and improve professional development of teachers. Each of the two models reflects different interests, which aim to stimulate and support professional development. Both models seem to be integral rather than represent two different ways to improve the educational process.
The aim of teacher professional development is lead him to the stage of empowerment that means his ability to achieve quality in his performance regarding specific criteria. It involves external and internal dimensions. The external one requires the availability of qualitative elements in the in teacher’s supporting structure. The second dimension represents teacher’s continuing search to promote himself professionally. This promotion requires internal accountability, which refers to one’s internal control and sense of responsibility [
Many current trends believe that teacher preparation does not end at the organization that declares that it would train a teacher, the degree he has got to recognize his status in the future, or when he practices his role efficiently as the case in traditional school [
・ Rapid development of human knowledge.
・ The emergence of new trends in the field of education.
・ The speed of social, political, and economic changes that made it important for the teacher to recognize the quality of these variables and their effect on the learner.
・ The development of education technology.
・ The opportunity for professional growth and career promotion.
In-service training is also an opportunity to guarantee continuous improvement and progress for the teacher. It decreases the disadvantages of backwardness resulting from the weakness in preparation. In-service training can be of various forms. It can be integrative because of the shortcomings resulting from teacher preparation at his institute. It can be remedial to treat some weakness in one of teacher’s competences. It can be renewal to go along with scientific and educational developments. It can be training for business and new tasks when a teacher in nominated for another educational task outside the classroom. In addition, in-service training can be resuscitative, which is provided for in-service teacher to revitalize him with more knowledge and skills, as well as to develop his positive attitudes towards the educational work [
1) The importance for the preparation institutions to have a comprehensive view that proves the clarity of teacher’s vision,
2) There should be a set of evaluation procedures,
3) Implementing party should have all resources and physical and humanistic potentials,
4) Preparation institution should announce its criterion for learners’ graduation,
5) Preparation institution should be accredited by an outside independent institution,
6) Preparation institution should have qualified staff or faculty to teach all specialties,
7) Preparation institution should have a program for scientific research and means for its support and encouragement, and more importantly,
8) Certainty that makes it confirms that graduates will have a high level of performance.
Joyce & Showers [
Results of [
The study used the descriptive analytical approach to achieve the aims. A two-part questionnaire was developed for this sake. The first part included general information about the participants such as gender, specialty, nature of respondent whether a current student or a graduate. The second part consisted of two main aspects. The first one was referred to as cognitive and cultural aspect and involved (12) items, whereas the second one expressed the skill and professional aspect and consisted of (14) items.
To make sure of the questionnaire’s validity, it was presented to a set of arbitrators who were faculty members at the college of education. After revising their comments and views by modifying some items, the final version was developed and involved (26) items.
To check the questionnaire’s reliability, Cronbach-Alpha was used. It was applied to an exploratory sample of (15) students who were registered at the program. Two weeks later, application was repeated. Correlation coefficient was calculated and was (0.90) as shown in
Data were analyzed using the statistical program (SPSS). Means, standard deviations, T. test, and Cronbach-alpha were used to extract the findings and then analyze and explain them by reference to the theoretical framework and previous studies.
The study involved all students enrolled in the program of General Diploma in Education in the academic year 2016-2016. They were (25) males and (25) females. Their total number was (50). In addition, the study surveyed the views of (18) teachers who graduated in the academic year 2013-2014.
To judge the mean scores of questionnaire items and aspects, Likert Trio Scale was used to classify the participant’s response degree as shown in
N. | Aspect | Reliability Coefficient | Items No. |
---|---|---|---|
1) | Cognitive and cultural | 0.82 | 12 |
2) | Skill and professional development | 0.86 | 14 |
3) | The questionnaire as a whole | 0.90 | 26 |
Number | Mean | Degree |
---|---|---|
1) | 2.34 - 3.00 | High |
2) | 1.67 - 2.33 | Moderate |
3) | 1.00 - 1.66 | Poor |
To answer the first question “To what extent does the program of General Diploma in education at Najran University accomplish its aims from the perspectives enrolled students?” mean scores, standard deviations for each aspect were calculated. Mean score and standard deviation for the two aspects as a whole were also extracted.
Items | Rank | M. | S. D. | Agreement degree |
---|---|---|---|---|
1) General Diploma in Education increased my cognitive knowledge of theories and philosophies that orient the educational system. | 3 | 2.69 | 0.526 | High |
2) During the program, I had a look at international distinguished experience and models in the educational field. | 9 | 1.96 | 0.908 | Moderate |
3) The program empowered me to identify modern technological developments and the areas of their use. | 8 | 2.24 | 0.690 | Moderate |
4) I identified the terms, concepts, and new vocabulary in the educational affairs through program courses. | 1 | 2.74 | 0.582 | Moderate |
5) My study in the program raised my motivation towards deepening my specialization and enriching the teaching material I present to my students. | 7 | 2.33 | 0.793 | Moderate |
6) My study in the program raised my knowledge of the importance of teaching profession, its morals, and supreme mission. | 4 | 2.67 | 0.631 | High |
7) Studying in the program was useful for me because it helped me understand the integrative roles of teacher in the teaching environment. | 2 | 2.70 | 0.622 | High |
8) Feedback and continuous evaluation for my performance in practicum provided me with cognitive, cultural, and skill experience. | 10 | 1.84 | 0.911 | Moderate |
9) My study in the program developed my awareness of the problems and new developments of local and international communities. | 11 | 1.71 | 0.764 | Moderate |
10) My study in the program provided me with a clear vision about teaching and its aims, objectives, and mission. | 5 | 2.64 | 0.674 | High |
11) I could realize the impact of social, economic, political, management relations on the teaching process. | 12 | 1.53 | 0.756 | Poor |
12) My study of some courses in the program enhanced and promoted my understanding of humanistic nature and the determinants of its behavior. | 6 | 2.44 | 0.715 | High |
General mean | 2.28 | 0.234 | Moderate |
offers a qualitative and special addition about the education affairs. However, the program was less effective in accordance to the cultural aspect. Results showed that practicum was effective and did not reach the desired level as expressed by participants’ responses. Responses to the statement “Feedback and continuous evaluation for my performance in practicum provided me with cognitive, cultural, and skill experience” (M = 1.84) showed that participants were not satisfied with the program’s ability to provide them with something new or fundamental during the practicum course. This finding corroborates the findings of [
Items | Rank | M. | S.D. | Agreement degree |
---|---|---|---|---|
1) I feel that my skills in school management and class control have developed after joining the General Diploma in Education. | 8 | 2.20 | 0.754 | Moderate |
2) My study in the program empowered me to use technology and its applications in teaching environment. | 11 | 2.03 | 0.798 | Moderate |
3) My study in the program empowered me to vary my teaching methods inside classroom. | 6 | 2.23 | 0.765 | Moderate |
4) My study in the program promoted my ability to cope with educational problems, in general and particularly, classroom ones. | 9 | 2.13 | 0.815 | Moderate |
5) Study in the program encouraged me to develop the scientific curriculum and contribute to enriching it. | 5 | 2.29 | 0.725 | Moderate |
6) My enrollment in the program fostered my scientific research skill and ways of its activation in classroom. | 14 | 1.50 | 0.717 | Poor |
7) My study increased my interest in looking for innovation aspects among students and trying to develop them. | 12 | 1.94 | 0.883 | Moderate |
8) My communication and relationships with profession partners like teachers, students, and managers improved after joining the program. | 3 | 2.75 | 0.753 | High |
9) My interest in taking into account spiritual, psychological, physical and moral aspects increased after joining the program. | 7 | 2.21 | 0.815 | Moderate |
10) My study in the program helped me to refine the skill of self-learning and cognitive structure of all types. | 13 | 1.83 | 0.761 | Moderate |
11) My ways of evaluating students inside classroom varied according to the different activities that were assigned to me. | 4 | 2.47 | 0.653 | High |
12) Joining the program fostered my self-confidence in front of colleagues and students. | 1 | 2.63 | 0.663 | High |
13) My study in the program diminished my negative attitudes towards teaching profession and developed the positive ones towards teaching profession. | 10 | 2.06 | 0.700 | Moderate |
14) My enrollment in the program in the program increased my sense of responsibility towards teaching profession and its supreme mission. | 2 | 2.59 | 0.732 | High |
General mean | 2.19 | 0.196 | Moderate |
in classroom. At the other end of the scale, the highest response degree (M = 2.63) was related to statement number (12) that revealed participants’ perceptions were high in accordance to the program’s ability to foster their self-confi- dence in front of colleagues and students. That is, participants were satisfied with the increase in the level of confidence they could get from the diploma program. This finding asserts the findings of other studies like, for instance, [
To answer the second question “Are there any statistically significant differences between participants’ views regarding aims achievement of the General Diploma in Education regarding the state of participants whether graduates or non-gra- duates?”, mean scores, standard deviations and T. Test for the significance of differences between the mean scores of participants’ responses regarding the achievement of the program’s aims were calculated. Results are shown in
Aspect | Means | Standard deviations | Accomplishment degree |
---|---|---|---|
Cognitive and cultural | 2.28 | 0.234 | Moderate |
Skill and professional | 2.19 | 0.196 | Moderate |
The whole questionnaire | 2.23 | 0.168 | moderate |
than the scores of students who were still enrolled in the program. These findings could be due to the irregular study in the academic year when the perceptions of students enrolled in the program were tested where attendance was not counted. Thus, there was a lack of students’ attendance and consequently a lack of gaining theoretical knowledge. Attendance in earlier years was obligatory and counted and so graduates had the opportunity to acquire grater theoretical knowledge.
To answer the third question “Are there any statistically significant differences between participants’ views regarding aims achievement of the General Diploma in Education regarding participants’ gender?”, mean scores, standard deviations and T. Test for the significance of differences between the mean scores of participants’ responses regarding the achievement of the program’s aims were calculated. Results are shown in
Aspect | Participant state | M. | S.D. | T. value | D.F. | Sig. (2-tailed) | Mean Difference |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cognitive & cultural | Student | 2.24 | 0.224 | −2.301 | 68 | 0.024 | −0.138 |
Graduate | 2.38 | 0.236 | |||||
Skill & professional | Student | 2.22 | 0.201 | 1.810 | 68 | 0.075 | 0.092 |
Graduate | 2.13 | 0.169 | |||||
The whole questionnaire | Student | 2.23 | 0.176 | −0.318 | 68 | 0.751 | −0.014 |
Graduate | 2.24 | 0.148 |