The relationship between professional development and professiona

University of Kentucky UKnowledge Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences College of Education 2018 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CAPITAL: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN ASIA Dana Specker Watts University of Kentucky, danawatts@uky.edu Author ORCID Identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3508-7129 Digital Object Identifier: https://doi.449 Right click to open a feedback form in a new tab to let us know how this document benefits you. Recommended Citation Watts, Dana Specker, "THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CAPITAL: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN ASIA" (2018). Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences.edu/edsc_etds/44 This Doctoral Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Education at UKnowledge. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations--Education Sciences by an authorized administrator of UKnowledge.

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Dana Specker Watts, Student Dr. Richardson, Major Professor Dr. Margaret Bausch, Director of Graduate Studies THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CAPITAL: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN ASIA _____________________________________ DISSERTATION ____________________________________ A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the College of Education at the University of Kentucky By Dana Specker Watts Lexington, Kentucky Director: Dr. Richardson, Associate Professor of Educational Leadership Studies Lexington, Kentucky 2018 Copyright Dana Specker Watts 2018 ABSTRACT OF DISSERTATION THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CAPITAL: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN ASIA The goal of this study was to investigate the interaction between professional development and professional capital within international schools in Asia.

The researcher employed a multi-site case study to inform the research goals. A conceptual framework based on Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) professional capital theory was used to guide the study’s methods and data collection. The data were collected in two phases. The first phase consisted of a digital survey that was distributed to ten international schools associated with the East Asia Regional Council of Schools (EARCOS) and the Office of Overseas Schools (OSS).

The survey was analyzed to identify the experiences and perceptions of professional development within international schools. The second phase was comprised of semi- structured interview data from twelve international educators to explore the relationship between professional development and professional capital. The findings of this study helped outline themes of how a professional development fosters professional capital within the international schools. Specifically, international educators use professional development to increase human capital through their experiences to improve personal practice, while developing, retaining, and attracting educators to the international schools.

Social capital is impacted through the amount of time international educators allocate to collaborative and networking experiences with other international educators within their field through professional development. By increasing decisional capital, international educators develop expertise with effective professional development guided through the support of mentors by increasing decisional capital. The findings suggest professional development within the international schools studied is connected to an increase in professional capital. The findings also suggest international educators need to maintain a level of autonomy in regard to decision making to continue to increase professional capital within international schools.

Suggestions for a refinement of the theory of professional capital leadership include a balanced approach to professional development where teachers use their human capital and school leaders use their social capital collectively to make professional development decisions. KEYWORDS: Professional Development, Professional Capital, International Educators, International Schools, EARCOS Dana Specker Watts November 20, 2018 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PROFESSIONAL CAPITAL: A CASE STUDY OF INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS IN ASIA By Dana Specker Watts Dr. Richardson Director of Dissertation Dr. Margaret Bausch Director of Graduate Studies 11/20/2018 Date To my family – past, present, and future For those international educators who continue to invest in building the professional capital of others.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, my never-ending gratitude is extended to my children, Ethan, Dylan, and Avery Watts. It is because of you that I strive to be the best person I can and help you see that resilience and purpose help guide you through life’s ups and downs. Education has opened so many doors in my life and helped me become a better human being. Thank you for your never-ending support and for encouraging me to continue even when I wasn’t sure if I could carry on.

Thank you to my family and friends who have encouraged me along the way and helped me get to this point in my career. Although there are far too people who have aided me along this journey (as I have taught in three schools and lived in three countries over the course of this journey), I would like to take this opportunity to draw attention to a few standout human beings that have helped me along this journey: the entire Specker family, Dr. Marie Alcock, Dr. Rachel Allen, Robert Appino, Linda Anderson, Jennifer Faber Barry, Dr.

Justin Bathon, Dr. Natalie Bolton, Dr. Lars Bjork, Brent Brayko, Katrina Brown, Elisa Chan, Graeme Deuchars, Don Drake, Betsy Fitzpatrick, Suanne Forrester, Lauren Fine, Mary Gilmer, Sarah Gilmer, Chadwick Hamilton, Justin Hardman, Dr. Erica Hollis, Dr.

Todd Hurst, Dr. Jill Janes, Sarah Jones, Hamlet Lin, Dr. David Lovelin, Dr. Scott McLeod, Gena Newburg, Mary Dee Mulligan, Todd Norton, Adam Pecher, Curt Rees, Dr.

Beth Rous, Ben Sheridan, Dr. Barbara Sirotin, Stacy Stephens, and Janet Tan. Thank you to all those who participated in my study. I have the highest regard for educators and the professionalism and love for learning that teachers exemplify each and every day to students.

I have always found teachers to be my favorite students because iii once a teacher learns something new, they share that knowledge with others to make the world a better place. Thank you to all of those who have helped me increase my own professional capital and who continue to increase the professional capital of others. The faculty from the University of Kentucky College of Education, especially my committee members, Dr. Tricia Browne-Ferrigno, Dr.

John Nash, and Dr. Alec Couros, thank you for your guidance and support throughout this entire process. Lastly, I would like to thank my dissertation chair, Dr. You stuck by my side and never once faltered in your belief that I could accomplish this lifelong goal.

Your patience and understanding, as life threw a handful of punches in my path, was beyond the call of duty. You continue to inspire me to be a better educator and all-around human being. -Nevertheless, she persisted. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements ……….iii List of Tables ……………………………………………………………………….…x List of Figures ……………………………………………………….xi Chapter 1: Introduction.

1 Growth of the International School Community. 2 Experience of International Educators. 3 Investment in Professional Development by International Schools. 7 Purpose and Significance of the Study.

7 Description of the Terms. 9 International School Educators. 10 International School Leaders. 12 Assumptions and Delimitations.

13 Chapter 2: Literature Review. 15 Founding of International Schools. 16 Governance and Accreditation. 17 Student Population and Community.

19 Recruitment of International Teachers. 19 Funding, Resources, and Potential Growth. 21 Types of International Schools. 22 Nonprofit and not-for-profit schools.

27 Goals of Professional Development. 28 Types of Professional Development. 33 Conference experiences in international schools. 34 Job embedded professional development.

36 Job embedded experiences in international schools. 38 v Online professional development. 40 Online professional development experiences in the international schools. 41 Professional Development in International Schools.

45 International School Leadership. 46 School Leadership and Decision Making. 47 Impact of School Leadership. 51 School Leadership and Professional Development.

55 International School Leadership and Professional Development. 56 Theory of Professional Capital. 61 Professional Capital and Professional Development in International Schools. 70 Phase I: Instrument development.

71 Phase I: Data collection. 75 Phase I: Data analysis. 77 Phase II: Interviews. 80 Phase II: Instrument development.

81 Phase II: Participants. 81 Phase II: Data collection. 83 Phase II: Data analysis. 87 Role of the Researcher.

88 Chapter 4: Professional Development Experiences. 89 Reliability of Experiences. 91 Conference Experiences of International School Leaders. 91 Conference Experience of International School Teachers.

92 Conference Experiences of Elementary School Teachers. 93 Conference Experiences of Middle School Teachers. 94 Conference Experiences of High School Teachers. 94 Summary of Experience with Conferences.

95 Job-Embedded Experiences. 95 Job-Embedded Experiences of School Leaders. 96 vi Job-Embedded Experiences of International School Teachers. 96 Job-Embedded Experiences of Elementary School Teachers.

98 Job-Embedded Experiences of Middle School Teachers. 98 Job-Embedded Experiences of High School Teachers. 99 Summary of Job-Embedded Experiences. 100 Online Experiences of School Leaders.

100 Online Experiences of International Teachers. 101 Online Experiences of Elementary School Teachers. 102 Online Experiences of Middle School Teachers. 102 Online Experiences of High School Teachers.

103 Summary of Online Experiences. 104 Summary of Professional Development Experiences. 104 Chapter 5: Perceptions of Professional Development. 106 Reliability of Perceptions.

106 Phase I: Quantitative Analysis of Perceptions. 108 Perceptions of Conferences. 109 International school leaders’ perceptions of conferences. 109 International school teachers’ perceptions of conferences.

110 Summary of perceptions of conferences. 113 Perceptions of Job-Embedded Professional Development. 114 International school leaders’ perceptions of job-embedded professional development. 114 International school teachers’ perceptions of job-embedded professional development.

115 Summary of perceptions of job-embedded professional development. 118 Perceptions of Online Professional Development. 118 International school leaders’ perceptions of online PD. 119 International school teachers’ perceptions of online PD.

119 Summary of perceptions of online PD. 122 Perceptions and Decision Making. 122 School leaders’ perceptions and decision making. 123 International school teachers’ perceptions and decision making.

124 Summary of perceptions and decision making. 127 Professional Development Experiences and Perceptions. 128 Summary of Phase I Quantitative Analysis of Perceptions. 132 Phase II Qualitative Analysis of Perceptions.

133 Increase of Capabilities of Educators. 133 Adult learning and international educators. 134 Strategies for international educators. 137 Commitment to Professional Learning.

139 Access to professional development for international educators. 139 Funding for international educators. 140 Increasing Culture in International Schools. 142 Challenges for international schools.

143 Learning communities for international educators. 146 vii Reputation of international schools. 147 Summary of Phase II Qualitative Analysis of Perceptions. 149 Summary of Perceptions.

149 Chapter 6: Professional Development and Professional Capital. 151 Professional Capital Results and Reliability .