Establishing Priorities for In Service Programs Through Participatory Decision-Making Using an Interpretive Structural Modelling Approach.

Overview & Synopsis

This paper describes a joint venture between the Queensland Primary Education Division and the Department of Education at the University of Queensland that has attempted to improve teacher inservice education through the use of participative decision-making processes. First stage of the program involved the collection of data from a representative sample of Primary Education Division personnel and analysis of those data to produce 64 working statements that summarized respondents' statements on inservice education. Those working statements were then grouped into four categories and the statements in each category were ranked into hierarchies by ten working groups of Primary Education Division personnel. The resulting hierarchies were then used as one basis for the formulation of policy guidelines on inservice education for the Primary Education Division. Following adoption of these guidelines by the Director of Primary Education, the planning and implementation of inservice education strategies for the division was begun. (JG)