Arab Educational Information Network

Professional staff development is a major component of any step toward education improvement. Professional staff development provides the teacher with skills and knowledge for both their personal development and career advancement. It is required by the most states, districts and schools that teachers’ complete in-service professional development courses to renew their professional education certification. However, few teachers criticize mandatory professional staff development and believe it should be optional. This review of the literature explored the significance of professional staff development programs on teachers’ knowledge and skills and discussed the mandatory aspect of professional staff development for teachers. Most of the studies have found a positive relationship between teacher performance after attending professional staff development programs and students’ achievement. Moreover, studies have shown that professional staff development programs improve teacher confidence, effectiveness, teamwork skill, and leadership. Therefore, I believe that state, district and school have the right to mandate certain professional staff development courses for teachers to guarantee a high quality of education. (Published Abstract)