Practice of Teacher Autonomy for Professional Development

Abstract

The title of this research is Practice of Teacher Autonomy for Professional Development. The main objectives of this study were to explore the practice of teacher autonomy at university level and to analyze the term teacher autonomy in relation with professional development. The research was based on narrative inquiry research design and qualitative method in nature. The participants of this study were four university level English language teachers who were selected purposefully. In-depth interview was used for the collection of data and thematic approach was applied for the analysis and interpretation of the data. The findings of this research suggest that teachers practiced autonomy in their teaching and learning behavior though the practices were confined in some of the areas. It is found that teachers involved in various autonomous activities such as conducting research, being responsible, self-learning, self-assessment and so on which helped them to move towards professional development. Thus, it can be concluded that there is observable significantrelationship between teacher autonomy and teacher professional development. This thesis consists of five chapters. The chapter one contains background of the study, statement of research problem, objectives, research questions,delimitations of the research, significance of the study, and operational definition of key terms. The chapter two deals with the review of the or eticalliterature, review of empirical literature, implications of the literature review and conceptual framework. Similarly, chapter three consists of the design and methods of the study, population, sample and sampling strategy, sources of data, data collection tool and technique, data collection procedures, data analysis procedures, and ethical consideration. Likewise, chapter four deals with the analysis of data and interpretation of the result. Finally, chapter five contains findings, conclusion and recommendations.