Investigation of the relationship between teachers 'participation in professional development and the attitudes toward professional development, readiness for self-directed learni̇ng and supportive school characteristics

The purpose of current study is to investigate the relationship between teachers' participation in professional development, their attitudes towards professional development, their readiness for self-directed learning and their perceptions of supportive school characteristics. In addition, to determine the variation of these variables according to some demographic characteristics (gender, seniority, branch etc.) of teachers. Research is designed in both correlational model and casual comparative model. The sample of the study consists of 542 branch teachers working in secondary and high schools in the city center of Elazığ. To collect the data in the research, the personal information form formed by the researcher, the scale of professional development activities developed by Kwakman (1999) and adapted by the researcher, the scale of attitude toward professional development developed by Torff and Session (2005) and adapted by Özer and Beycioğlu (2010), the scale of Readines for self-directed learning developed by Fisher et al. (2001) and adapted by Şahin and Erden (2009), the scale of supportive school characteristics developed by the researcher. Percentage, frequency, mean, independent samples t test, one-way anova, multiple regression analysis and simple mediation analysis is used in the analysis of the research data. The following results are obtained in the research. The level of participation of teachers in professional development is partly high. But, their participation in collaboration activities is low. Participation of teachers in professional development differ significantly according to gender, marital status, seniority and branch variables. Teachers' attitudes towards professional development are partly high. Teachers' attitudes towards professional development differ significantly according to marital status and seniority variables. Teachers' level of readiness for self-directed learning is high. Teachers' readiness for self-directed learning differ significantly according to the branch variable. Teachers' perception of supportive school characteristics is low. Teachers' perceptions of supportive school characteristics differ significantly according to the variables of school level, seniority and branch. Teachers 'attitudes towards professional development, readiness for self-directed learning and perception of supportive school characteristics significantly predict teachers' participation in professional development activities. These variables explain 34% of the variance. The most variable explaining the variance is the readiness for self-directed learning, while the least explaining is the attitude towards professional development. In addition, readiness for self-directed learning is the only variable that significantly predicts all sub-dimensions of professional development. Readiness for self-directed learning is found to be a mediator both between participation in professional development and attitude towards professional development and in the relationship between participation in professional development and supportive school characteristics. The results show that teachers' readiness for self-directed learning, supportive school characteristics and attitude towards professional development are important in the participation of teachers in professional development. According to these results, it is suggested to increase teachers 'readiness for self-directed learning, to take teachers' self-directed learning skills into the basis of pre-service and in-service training curriculum, to transform schools into professional learning communities supporting teachers' professional development, and to increase the quantity and quality of in-service trainings and other professional development activities. Key words: Professional development, readiness for self-directed learning, supportive school characteristics, professional learning community, attitude towards professional development, adult education.