Research Impact: This paper aims to contribute to TALIS corpus of critical research literature by exploring teachers’ voice through structural equation modelling, to challenge teachers’ professional development needs based on TALIS 2018. 153,674 teachers from 48 countries were included in the analysis. After performing an analysis of teachers’ professional development items as presented in TALIS 2018 through structural equation model, we found: (1) a lack of factorial structure (which question the validity of the instrument); (2) items grouped in three dimensions (what to teach, how to teach, and who to teach); and (3) prediction model showing that the dimensions what and how to teach, predicted the dimension who to teach. Yet, teachers voice regarding their needs for professional development is reduced to data gathered through an ontologically and epistemologically biased survey, that pre-packs professional development needs based on an instrumental conception of teaching and teachers, that does not prioritise, not even mention, the importance of teachers engaging in critical reflection and research literature as essential for effective professional development.
Meroño, L., Calderón, A., & Arias-Estero, J. L. (2023). Teachers’ professional development needs: a critical analysis of TALIS through structural equation modelling. European Journal of Teacher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2023.2296354
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