In-Service English Language Teachers’ Beliefs Related to Professional Development Engagement in Light of The Implementation of Professional Licensing Tests in The Saudi Context.

Abstract

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has always placed an emphasis on education and raising an educated nation, with citizens contributing to the country's success and prosperity. Several modifications and initiatives were implemented to improve education and education quality in the Kingdom. The Ministry of Education in KSA has always been keen on the professional development of teachers. Teachers’ professional licensing tests were one of the means used to push teachers to invest in their profession's development. This quantitative study explored the relationship between English language teachers’ professional licensing tests and their professional development training, along with their beliefs and intentions toward engaging in professional development workshops and activities. Moreover, achieving or failing to achieve the required scores in the professional licensing tests is related to the amount of professional development training teachers are engaged in, along with their control, normative, and behavioral beliefs, as well as their behavioral intention toward professional development engagement. Furthermore, the study adopted the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) as its theoretical framework. Multiple independent-sample t-tests were run using SPSS. The results showed that there is no significant link between teachers achieving or failing to achieve the required scores in the professional licensing tests and their professional development training, beliefs, and intentions to engage in workshops and activities for professional development.