Professional Development for Novice Teachers in the Rural Area

As professional development (PD) is regarded as a crucial process to develop
qualified teachers which in turn brings about quality education, this study aims to
understand how novice teachers in the rural area of Thailand go through professional
development process in order to continue to improve themselves. A narrative inquiry
approach was employed to unfold the story of three novice teachers who were purposively
selected to participate in the three-phase semi-structured interviews. The findings reveal
that the participant’s taking part in formal and informal PD, either related or unrelated to
the English language subjects they are teaching because they have additional tasks assigned
by the school. The study also reveals that the participants take self-initiation to further
develop themselves based on their needs to improve themselves from various PD

activities to work more effectively in class. The participants also reported the
benefits of PLC and the problems they face in relation to PD. They were concerned more about
the knowledge learned from the training would benefit the students even though it does
not help with career advancement. Evaluation and the mentoring process were also reported as a
link to the PD. The recommendations from this study include considering the needs of 
novice teachers when designing PD training, encouraging community of practice using PLC,
and providing quality online training programs.