Exploring The Relationship of School Collegiality and Professional Development of Senior Secondary School Teachers of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Abstract

Education is the major channel of sharing and cooperation among all faculty members working inside an institute. Strong bonds of teamwork and active collaboration provide smooth and vital pathways for attainment of desired aims. Collegiality refers to professional relationship at workplaces. This relationship is considered vital for the professional development of colleagues in any field of life especially in the field of education. This study intends to explore the collegiality among senior secondary school teachers from the perspective of their professional development at secondary school level, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The objectives of the study were to explore the level of senior teachers’ collegiality, and to explore the role of their collegiality in the professional development of senior secondary school teachers. Following case study qualitative research design twelve study participants were selected through purposive sampling techniques and the data were collected through semi-structured interview protocols. The validity of the interview protocols was estimated through experts’ opinion and backward forward method was used for translating the interview protocols for the respondents. The collected data were analyzed following thematic analysis techniques. The results revealed that senior secondary teachers have highly positive collegiality from social perspectives, they respect each other, give space, discuss their professional problems. However, they were found reluctant in sharing the professional experiences for the purpose of learning and professional development. Furthermore, the results also showed that senior teachers were unable to explore each other’s professional strength for professional (pedagogical, classroom management and assessment) learning. Results of the study highlighted the dire need and recommended that collegiality among novice and senior teachers always help in resolving relevant issues and promotes friendly academic environment which make easy the achievement of aims. It was also recommended that it promotes team teaching, microteaching, and protocols of peers’ assessment involved in school discipline related decisions so that they may directly or indirectly learn from one another continuously in their professional career.