Professional Development of Women English Language Teachers: A Narrative Inquiry

Abstract

Men and women are created equally; they are companions to each other. They both have equal contributions to make this world a beautiful place to live in. Education is one of the key components of the civilization of human kind. If teachers, both men and women, develop their professional skills, it will benefit the nation's educational system. However, women have to perform a variety of responsibilities i.e. from the biological responsibility of bearing children to the social responsibility of rearing them and familial responsibility of domestic crafts in the context of Nepal. As a result, it certainly impedes their ability to advance professionally for women teachers. This negatively influences their profession. Despite this, women teachers play a significant role in improving Nepal's entire educational system. This research aimed at exploring the understanding and experiences of women English teachers on professional development and the challenges that come their way. This study was conducted with women English teachers teaching at the secondary level in community schools in Rupandehi district. It is a narrative study. I collected the data using interviews. I used interpretive research methodology to give meaning of the participants’ responses. The findings revealed that the participants have a good understanding of professional development. Professional development entails upgrading professionalism, learning and sharing the skill of teaching through formal and informal TPD activities and events, and improving students' overall performance. Apart from formal training; they are involved in professional development activities on their own. However, they think that the existing TPD of the government is not sufficient and context-sensitive because these are not designed based on real needs identified by the teachers in their day-to-day activities in the classroom. A few women English teachers are facing problems with the recent adaptation of EMI in public schools. Public schools have adopted EMI without any plan and training for the teachers and students. All of the participants began their teaching jobs early and pursued their studies simultaneously. This enhanced their professional empowerment. They viewed in-service education, in-service training, and participation in PD activities as opportunities, but social and biological responsibilities and workplace discrimination were regarded as barriers in their career path. Despite all these, these women English teachers are found to be goal-oriented and independent decision-makers about their education, career and reproduction in comparison to the women teachers a few years back in Nepal. The main reason for this was that these women teachers began their careers before marriage and were financially independent. Financial independence led them to empowerment. Therefore, the study also concludes that it is very important for girls to get educated and settled down in careers prior to marriage in the Nepalese context. The study has implications for policymakers, curriculum developers, syllabus designers, administrators and teacher educators. TPD of the government should be made adequate and context-sensitive. It should also provide special training for teachers who are having difficulty coping with EMI in public schools in recent years. The study further suggested conducting online training opportunities for women English teachers because they are beneficial for them as they can attend it from home without being bothered by lodging and travel. The study also proposed that training institutes undertake gender related training for female teachers in order to raise awareness about gender issues. As a result, they learn about workplace rights and advocate against gender discrimination in educational institutions. Motherhood was identified as one of the barriers to the women teachers in the study. However, the study concluded that reproduction is biological, but motherhood is not, therefore, parenting can be done by either a man or a woman. This should not be a consideration when nominating women teachers to jobs. Furthermore, teacher education programs should also include women English teachers’ professional development in their course, so that the pre-service women teachers get aware of their professional enhancement from the initial phase of their career in our context. Education is a great weapon for creating a bias-free society; therefore, texts need to cover gender-related issues from the very grass root to higher level education for creating respect for all types of gender.