Effectiveness of Teacher Professional Development Programs in Church-Based Education Schools in Myanmar

Gum San Aung 1 Philippines , Nan Hkawn Nding 2 Philippines , Bernadette Lamsis Soliba 3 Philippines
1 Mathematics Education, School of Advanced Studies, Saint Louis University, Baguio City
2 Language Education, School of Advanced Studies, Saint Louis University, Baguio City
3 School of Teacher Education and Liberal Arts, Saint Louis University, Baguio City
Link Copied!
Published 2025-11-27
Vol. 5 No. 1 (2025) PAGES 30-44
DOI 10.51574/ijrer.v5i1.3950
Views / Downloads 507 212

This study investigated the effectiveness of Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programs in Church-Based Education (CBE) schools in Northern Shan State, Myanmar. This research primarily examined the impact and relevance of TPD programs on instructional quality and teacher performance, aiming to address contemporary challenges and the barriers to their implementation. This study employed a convergent parallel mixed-method design, with ten participants involved. The researchers integrated thematic analysis of the questionnaires and teacher interviews with descriptive survey analysis. The results highlighted that the existing TPD programs in the CBE context had a positive influence on teachers’ instructional practices and student learning outcomes, despite the challenges, such as resource limitations, financial constraints, a lack of contextual training, and restrictive governance. Thus, this study concluded that TPD programs must be tailored to the local context with adequate resource support to ensure sustainability and effectiveness. These findings provide practical implications for policymakers, educators, and teacher trainers to implement context-specific and well-resourced TPD initiatives in CBE schools to strengthen teachers’ professional growth.

Aung, G. S., Nding, N. H., & Soliba, B. L. (2025). Effectiveness of Teacher Professional Development Programs in Church-Based Education Schools in Myanmar . ETDC: Indonesian Journal of Research and Educational Review , 5(1), 30–44. https://doi.org/10.51574/ijrer.v5i1.3950
More Citation Formats
Download Citation

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.
  1. Akhan, O., & Çiçek, S. (2021). The opinions of secondary school teachers on being role models to their students. Journal of Education, Theory and Practical Research (Akdeniz University), 7(1), 123–131. https://doi.org/10.38089/ekuad.2021.52
  2. Amemasor, S. K., Oppong, S. O., Ghansah, B., Benuwa, B., & Essel, D. D. (2025). A systematic review on the impact of teacher professional development on digital instructional integration and teaching practices. Frontiers in Education, 10, 1541031. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2025.1541031
  3. Basma, B., & Savage, R. (2023). Teacher professional development and student reading in middle and high school: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Journal of Teacher Education, 74(3), 214-228. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871231153084
  4. Bentahar, O. (2015). A sequential and concurrent mixed-method research in project management. In V. Cassar (Ed.), Proceedings of the 14th European Conference on Research Methodology for Business and Management Studies (pp. 48–54). Academic Conferences International Limited (13)1. https://academic-publishing.org/index.php/ejbrm/article/view/1326/1289
  5. Byrne, D. (2021). A worked example of Braun and Clarke’s approach to reflexive thematic analysis. Quality & Quantity, 56(3), 1391–1412. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-021-01182-y
  6. Casanova, C. R., King, J. A., & Fischer, D. (2023). Exploring the role of intentions and expectations in continuing professional development in sustainability education. Teaching and Teacher Education, 128, 104115. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104115
  7. Choi, L. J., & Park, M. Y. (2022). Teaching practicum during COVID-19: Pre-service English language teachers’ professional identities and motivation. SAGE Open, 12(3). https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440221119472
  8. Creswell, J. W., & Creswell, J. D. (2018). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches. Fifth edition. SAGE, 2018. https://spada.uns.ac.id/pluginfile.php/510378/mod_resource/content/1/creswell.pdf
  9. Darling-Hammond, L., Hyler, M. E., Gardner, M. (2017). Effective Teacher Professional Development. Learning Policy Institute. https://doi.org/10.54300/122.311.
  10. Delgado, L. D. F., Moreno, I. O., & Ballesteros, A. C. V. (2020). The impact of role modeling on the professional identity of pre-service teachers. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 10(1), 143–152. https://doi.org/10.17509/IJAL.V10I1.25024
  11. Desimone, L. M. (2009). Improving impact studies of teachers’ professional development: Toward better conceptualizations and measures. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 181–199. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X08331140
  12. Dewi, A. E. R., Kalil, N. C., Hidayat, & Juniati, S. R. (2024). Exploring the relationship between teacher professional development and student learning outcomes. Jurnal of Pedagogi: Jurnal Pendidikan, 1(5), 109–116. https://doi.org/10.62872/k3d5gd27
  13. Din, J. H., & Lynch, R. (2022). A correlational-comparative study of grade 4, grade 5, and grade 6 students’ self-efficacy for learning and performance in integrated subjects with their academic achievement in a mother tongue-based multilingual education context in five SJN-CBE schools in Northern Shan State, Myanmar. Scholar: Human Sciences, 14(2), 186. https://assumptionjournal.au.edu/index.php/Scholar/article/view/5351
  14. Fantacone, D. (2021). Examining Adolescence Science And Mathematics Teachers’ Examining Adolescence Science And Mathematics Teachers’ Views Of The Characteristics Of Effective Professional Development: A Q-methodological Study. https://surface.syr.edu/etd/1306
  15. Grand-Guillaume-Perrenoud, J.-A., Geese, F., Uhlmann, K., & Hudelson, P. (2023). Mixed methods instrument validation: Evaluation procedures for practitioners developed from validating the Swiss Instrument for Evaluating Interprofessional Collaboration. BMC Health Services Research, 23, 83. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-023-09040-3
  16. Harjanto, I., Lie, A., Wihardini, D., Pryor, L., & Wilson, M. (2018). Community-based teacher professional development in remote areas in Indonesia. Journal of Education for Teaching, 44(2), 212–231. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2017.1415515
  17. Joshi, A., Kale, S., Chandel, S., & Pal, D. (2015). Likert Scale: Explored and Explained. British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, 7(4), 396–403. https://doi.org/10.9734/bjast/2015/14975
  18. Kohnke, L. (2024). Overview of teacher professional development (TPD). In Optimizing Digital Competence through Microlearning: Flexible Approaches to Teacher Professional Development (pp. 9-18). Singapore: Springer Nature Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-97-8839-2_2
  19. Lukman, Marsigit, Istiyono, E., Kartowagiran, B., Retnawati, H., Kistoro, H. C. A., & Putranta, H. (2021). Effective teachers’ personality in strengthening character education. International Journal of Evaluation and Research in Education, 10(2), 512–521. https://doi.org/10.11591/ijere.v10i2.21629
  20. Lwin, T. (2019). Global justice, national education and local realities in Myanmar: a civil society perspective. Asia Pacific Education Review, 20(2), 273–284. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-019-09595-z
  21. McKim, C. A. (2017). The value of mixed methods research: A mixed methods study. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 11(2), 202–222. https://doi.org/10.1177/1558689815607096
  22. Montoro, V. (2013). Professional development for Christian teachers: A mixed-methods study. The Journal of Applied Christian Leadership, 7(1), 55–56. https://www.andrews.edu/services/jacl/article_archive/7_1_spring_2013/04-featurearticles/jacl_7-1_montoro.pdf
  23. Murphy, T. R. N., & Masterson, M. (2022). Teacher learning communities and leadership: Insights from a DEIS urban second-level school. Societies, 12(4), 114. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc12040114
  24. Nemoto, T., & Beglar, D. (2014). Developing Likert-scale questionnaires. In N. Sonda & A. Krause (Eds.), JALT2013 Conference Proceedings, 108(1),1-8. Tokyo: JALT. https://jalt-publications.org/sites/default/files/pdf-article/jalt2013_001.pdf
  25. Njenga, M. (2023). Teacher participation in continuing professional development: A theoretical framework. Journal of Adult and Continuing Education, 29(1), 69–85. https://doi.org/10.1177/14779714221123603
  26. Oranga, J., Matere, A., & Njurai, E. (2025). The Mixed Methods Research Approach: An Overview. Postmodernism Problems, 15(1), 84–99. https://doi.org/10.46324/pmp2501084
  27. Salifu, I., Agyekum, B., & Nketia, D. (2024). Teacher professional development (TPD) in Ghana: constraints and solutions. Professional Development in Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2024.2351947
  28. Sims, S., & Fletcher-Wood, H. (2020). Identifying the characteristics of effective teacher professional development: A critical review. School Effectiveness and School Improvement, 32(1), 47–63. https://doi.org/10.1080/09243453.2020.1772841
  29. Surahman, E., & Wang, T. H. (2023). In-service STEM teachers professional development programmes: A systematic literature review 2018–2022. Teaching and Teacher Education, 135, 104326. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2023.104326
  30. Stratton, S. J. (2024). Purposeful Sampling: Advantages and Pitfalls. In Prehospital and Disaster Medicine, 39(2), 121–122. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049023X24000281
  31. Taherdoost, H. (2022). What are different research approaches? Comprehensive review of qualitative, quantitative, and mixed method research, their applications, types, and limitations. Journal of Management Science & Engineering Research, 5(1), 53–63. https://doi.org/10.30564/jmser.v5i1.4538
  32. Talafian, H., Lundsgaard, M., Mahmood, M., Shafer, D., Stelzer, T., & Kuo, E. (2024). Responsive professional development: A facilitation approach for teachers’ development in a physics teaching community of practice. Teaching and Teacher Education, 153, 104812. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2024.104812
  33. The jamovi project. (2023). jamovi (Version 2.4) [Computer Software]. https://www.jamovi.org
  34. Uche, O. C., & Udogu, P. A. (2022). The role of the church in promoting quality education in Nigeria. Nigerian Journal of African Studies, 4(1), 106–113. https://www.nigerianjournalsonline.com/index.php/NJAS/article/view/2544/2472
  35. Vadivel, B., Namaziandost, E., & Saeedian, A. (2021). Progress in English language teaching through continuous professional development—Teachers’ self-awareness, perception, and feedback. Frontiers in Education, 6. https://doi.org/10.3389/feduc.2021.757285
  36. Vermunt, J. D. (2014). Teacher learning and professional development. Teachers’ professional development (pp. 79–95). SensePublishers. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6209-536-6_6
  37. Visscher, A. J., Dmoshinskaia, N., Pellegrini, M., & Naizaque, A. R. (2025). (When) Do Teacher Professional Development Interventions Improve Student Achievement? A Meta-analysis of 128 High-Quality Studies. Educational Research Review, 100742. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2025.100742
  38. Voelkel, R. H., Johnson, C. W., & Nadeem, F. (2023). District office leadership supporting site-level teacher collaborative teams. Education Sciences, 13(11), 1092. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13111092
  39. Yunus, M. M., Hashim, H., Ishak, N. M., & Mahamod, Z. (2010). Understanding TESL pre-service teachers’ teaching experiences and challenges via post-practicum reflection forms. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 9, 722–728. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2010.12.224

Copyright (c) 2025 Gum San Aung, Nan Hkawn Nding, Bernadette Lamsis Soliba

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Most read articles by the same author(s)

Similar Articles

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 > >> 

You may also start an advanced similarity search for this article.

Dimension Badge

Downloads

Downloads
Crossmark Badge
Crossmark Badge
Section
Articles
Keywords
Church-Based Education School Effectiveness Instructional Strategies Learning Outcomes Teacher Professional Development