Process Factors of Elementary Teachers Professional Development in Special Schools

The aim of this study was identifying the process factors of professional development for elementary teachers of special schools of students with mental retardation in Tehran.
The Mixed method was used. 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.
Finding:The results showed that the process of teachers professional development consists of 7 factors (components). Among these factors, the factor of school-based teacher traininghad the highest factor loading (.86) and the factor of in-service training courses, had the lowest factor loading (.72).Totally, the process factors explained 90% of the changes in the teachers’ professional development.