Investigating Saudi Secondary School teachers’ use of socialmediaforcontinuingprofessional development

Research Questions:

1. To what extent and in what ways do the participants use social media to assist their CPD?

2. What differences do the participants report between the use of social media for CPD and traditional CPD?

3. What aspects of CPD do the participants find benefit most from the use of social media?

4. What do the participants identify as the advantages and disadvantages associated with the use of social media for CPD?

Introduction

In Saudi Arabia, teachers' professional development is an area that has received a lot of attention from the government because the government has invested heavily in strategies for achieving a high level of quality in the education sector (Qablan, et al., 2015; Almazroa, 2013). The new curriculum adopted in Saudi Arabia focuses on a learner-centred approach with an emphasis on the constructive learning and teaching trends that promote inquiry among the learners. However, as indicated in Almazroa and Al-Shamrani (2015), a significant proportion of Saudi teachers still base their pedagogical approaches on the traditional models that do not align to the objectives of constructive teaching and learning pedagogies (Aljaber, 2018). This issue is critical and has played a major role in reducing the applicability of educational reforms. Professional teacher development is essential in Saudi Arabia as a strategy for supporting the new curriculum and the key elements of the education system in the country.

Theoretical Framework

Social media is widely used in different fields of life, including the field of education. Therefore, the literature review intended to start in a broader context and then narrows down to find out how social media is utilized for educational purposes, especially by Saudi Secondary School teachers for CPD.

Research such as Mallia (2014) indicates that integrating social media into the course of studies can enhance their potential as learning tools (Mansour et al., 2014). The views on the educational potential and benefits of social media are not uniform. For example, in Roblyer et al., (2010) focusing on social media use in a higher education context, it was found that students were more likely to appreciate the potential of social media in learning than their teachers. In the study, they concluded that for the highest benefits to be achieved for all stakeholders, the teachers and students needed to align their attitudes towards technology use in teaching and learning. These considerations are necessary in designing and supporting teaching interventions that are effective in meeting the needs of the students (Osborne & Connelly, 2015).

The challenges to professional development are highlighted in the literature review to indicate why there is a need to identify alternative strategies such as social media that can be used to enhance professional development.

Personal and Professional learning networks
A personal learning network is a resource using social media and technology, anywhere you want to gather, connect, work together, and build contacts with peers. Worldwide, participating educators can send requests and exchange resources. It can be looked at gathering of resources (such as training materials, notes of training and experience, etc) by adults and the effective ways of using and implications (Neubauer et al., 2013).

The key aspect of the approach is that it empowers the teachers to feel in charge of their professional development. Social network sites such as ‘Facebook’ and ‘Twitter’ have the benefit of enabling users to set up PLNs by playing a major role in enabling teachers to develop new networks that are cyber-enabled (Joosten, 2012).

A mixed method of quantitative and qualitative methods will be used to investigate the research objectives: Quantitative: The survey uses a semi-structured questionnaire such that the majority of the questions will be closed-ended, with few open-ended questions so that participants can elaborate on their responses. In Buraydah, the population is varied and vast. The rationale for using this city in particular is due to the higher possibility of gathering data from professionals, owing to personal networks. It will be easier to conduct a survey, which can be circulated among the participants using online media. It is less time-consuming and more convenient. The maximum sample size for the survey will be 100. Samples drawn from the population will be selected when they meet all the following criteria: Respondent is currently teaching the students of secondary school in Burydah. Respondent possesses a work experience of at least one year in the current role. (It is presumed that the teacher with some experience will be able to provide better insights about the CPD as compared to freshers in teaching). Timing: a total of 3 to 4 months will be needed to circulate the questionnaires and receive the responses of the respondents. Regular reminders will be dropped to the respondents. The average time to fill a questionnaire is expected to be around 8 to 12 minutes. Qualitative: 20 one-to-one interviews will be conducted with teachers who completed the questionnaire, by the following criteria: *The respondent is currently teaching the students of secondary school in Buraydah. *Respondent possesses work experience of at least one year in the current role. *Respondent uses social media platforms. The rationale for this research method is to gauge in-depth information from the respondents who completed the questionnaire. In Burydah, there are a few secondary schools which are around 50 schools. Therefore, I will interview teachers equally male and female. Timing: It is expected that each interview will last for about 30 to 40 minutes. I will need a total of 1-2 months to conduct them. Locations: I will visit the teachers at the schools after taking permission. I will use my university email address to send the survey link. Both methods will be conducted in the Arabic language. Thus, the results will be translated into English after analysis. The qualitative data will be analysed thematically with the assistance of NVivo. The survey data will be analysed using SPSS.

The issue of continuous professional development for teachers is an area that has received a lot of attention from policymakers around the globe. Governments have made efforts to develop training programs for their teachers to ensure that they can effectively deliver the required content to their students. The aspect of traditional PD programs has been criticized for its different weaknesses such as the time limitations and the need to be in the same physical location (Qablan et al., 2015). New technological tools such as social media provide opportunities to address these weaknesses by allowing teachers to act as creators and consumers of content (Gamrat et al. 2014). The perceptions about social media as a tool for CPD among teachers highlight the challenges of separating professional and personal usage. Additionally, some people are skeptical or cynical about social media and do not take the platforms seriously or as a professional development opportunity (Mansour et al., 2014). Recently, Saudi teachers' annual bonus was linked to obtaining a professional license. Teachers must obtain this license and it is valid for five years. In order to obtain this professional license, teachers must pass the Professional Licensing Test, which is divided into two parts, a specialized test, and the other a general educational test (Evaluation, E. T., Commission,2020). The uptake of social media for the professional development of teachers in Saudi Arabia has not been well researched.These outcomes include the need for teachers to better facilitate student learning, ultimately allowing teachers to act as creators and consumers of content effectively interact with their peers to identify the best strategies for delivering content to the students (Gamrat et al., 2014).

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