Graduate Education in Teachers' Professional Development: Curriculum and Instruction Doctoral Program

Abstract

The aim of this study is to reveal the contributions of the doctoral education in Curriculum and Instruction (CI) field to teachers' professional development. In the scope of this aim, basic qualitative research design was employed. The participants of the study included 11 teachers who actively attend Anadolu University Institute of Educational Sciences Curriculum and Instruction doctoral program. The data of the study were collected through semi-structured interviews which lasted 17-30 minutes and analyzed with content analysis method. As a result of the study, the most important reason why the teachers chose CI doctoral program was found out to be the need of professional development. The contributions of the CI doctoral program to the professional development of teachers were gathered around the themes "contributions regarding curriculum and instruction", "contributions regarding testing and evaluation processes", "contributions regarding carrying out the learning process" and "contributions as an individual". Regarding CI doctoral program, teachers put forward various recommendations such as focusing more on practical studies, improving testing-evaluation skills and dealing with research processes more. Based on these findings, it is concluded that CI doctoral program has a very crucial role in serving for teachers' professional development.