Science Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development: Nature Of In-Service Training And Its Implementation

. Poor performance of Malaysian students in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMMS) and Program for International Students Assessment (PISA) indicated that more efforts are needed to be carried out for improvement. Past studies have shown that the students’ performances in the subjects are strongly associated with teachers’ content knowledge, pedagogical skills as well as pedagogical content knowledge, implying that teachers play vital roles in ensuring the effectiveness of teaching and learning in the classroom. Recently, many issues related to teachers’ attitudes, knowledge and skills have come to light. The fundamental aspect that needs to be addressed is teacher’s continuous professional development. This study was conducted to identify the nature of in-service training that Malaysian science teachers attend. A descriptive qualitative research design was employed whereby interviews and document analysis served as the primary means of data collection. The objectives were to find out the nature of in-service trainings offered, the impact of those trainings and the actual training needs that Science teachers require for their professional development enhancement. The findings revealed that there exist mismatch between the in-service training courses that have been carried out and the teachers’ actual needs. The repercussions include wastage of time, money and other resources as well as the poor perception of school-based in-service training as being insignificant and of little benefit. However, there were also courses valued by science teachers and have had positive impacts towards improvement of pedagogical skills, knowledge in ICT, and understanding of new policies. There is also an emerging need for ICT-based instruction courses as requisite to approach millennial students in more creative and appealing manner. A guideline to assist school management in planning for impactful continuous professional development courses was also put forward.