Teacher Professional Learning as an ‎Approach for Enhancing Student Learning in ‎the Sultanate of Oman: A Prospective Study ‎

Abstract

The study aimed to propose indicators for teacher professional learning (TPL) in the Sultanate of Oman, as well as identify the support that teachers in Omani schools require to efficiently activate the proposed TPL practices and link them to improving student learning. The study utilized the Delphi technique for future studies in two rounds over three weeks with an electronic questionnaire. The sample of experts included 27 male and female experts representingthe general office of the Ministry of Education, educational directorates in the governorates, and the Specialized Institute for Professional Training, in addition to some experts from the school principals and teachers. The results showed that the five main aspects of TPL (Reflection, Experimentation, Collaboration, reach out to the Knowledge Base Inquiry, and Constructive Engagement) included a set of main criteria consisting of several suggested indicators for TPL and in each aspect there are a set of indicators that achieve them. The study concludes that there are four requirements to activate TPL practices in Oman, including consolidating a culture of TPL, stimulating, and enhancing TPL practices, policies, legislation, and mechanisms for activating TPL, and organizational support for TPL. Results are discussed, recommendations and suggestions for future research are presented