Model of Elementary Teachers Professional Development (Case study: Special Schools for Mentally Retarded Students in Tehran)

The aim of this study was to design a model of professional development for elementary teachers of special schools of students with mental retardation in Tehran. The Mixed method was conducted. In the qualitative study, the population was consisted of all the education experts. A purposive sampling of 15 experts were selected. The statistical population in the quantitative study was all elementary school teachers who were in Tehran (N=347). Cochran formula was used, and 200 teachers (n=200) were selected by simple random sampling. To collect data, semi-structured interviews and questionnaires were used. To analysis of qualitative data, thematic analysis, and for quantitative data partial least square method were used. The results showed that the model of elementary teachers professional development, includes three components of content, context and process. Content component with factor loading (.439) was in the first position, the context component (.309) had the second position and process component (.291) was in third rank. The indicator predictive (.631), showed that these components are strong predictors for teachers professional development.