Time for professional learning: An empirical study about timing and duration of teacher training

Abstract

Research on teachers’ professional development suggests that time constraints often prevent teachers from participating in in-service trainings. In particular, a time conflict between work and in-service training seems to be an obstacle for many teachers. However, little empirical evidence exists that investigates effects of temporal variables such as timing and duration of the training session on teachers’ participation rate. The present study aims to describe time and duration of professional development activities and its relationship with the number of attendees in the respective courses. The data of the study were provided from the electronic database on teachers’ professional development activities in the state of Brandenburg during the academic year 2016–2017. The data set comprises 1330 professional development activities provided by state agencies. The results show that both time and duration significantly predict the participation rate in the training courses. The findings broaden the scope of the discussion about conditions of teachers’ professional learning and provide implications for a well-fitting in-service training schedule.