The Role of Teachers’ Professional Development in Facilitating the Adoption of Modern Methodologies in Teaching History in Iraqi Secondary Schools

Abstract

In the Iraqi secondary education system, which has been shaped over decades by centralized curricula and prolonged conflicts, the teaching of history has often relied on traditional methods based on memorization and rote learning. Contemporary global standards, however, call for teaching history through inquiry-based approaches, critical analysis, and the interpretation of sources, with the aim of fostering active citizenship. This mixed-methods study investigates the effectiveness of targeted Teacher Professional Development (TPD) programs in enabling Iraqi secondary school history teachers to adopt and sustain modern, student-centered pedagogies. A quasi-experimental design was employed involving 100 teachers (50 in the intervention group and 50 in the control group) from three major Iraqi provinces. Pre- and post-training surveys were administered to measure effectiveness, alongside classroom observation checklists. The findings reveal a statistically significant increase in teachers’ perceived self-efficacy (p < 0.01) and a strong positive correlation (r = 0.72) between the duration and contextual relevance of TPD programs and the frequency of implementing inquiry-based activities (such as document analysis and historical debates) as observed in classrooms. The study concludes that teacher professional development programs constitute a critical catalyst for pedagogical change, provided they are continuous, locally contextualized, and supported by systemic mechanisms.