Enhancing Teacher Capacity for Social-Emotional and Character Development in an Islamic School: A Mixed-Methods Study

This mixed methods action research explored how teachers at an Islamic school facilitated their students’ acquisition of social-emotional and character development (SECD) competencies. More specifically, it investigated participating teachers’ perceptions regarding existing SECD implementation challenges in their classrooms, which were used to inform a research innovation designed to meet those needs. The professional development aimed to support teachers’ capacity to implement SECD with increased consistency and fidelity. It led participant teachers through cycles of training and coaching informed by diffusion of innovation theory. Insights from implementation science studies were also utilized as a guide to purposefully design and implement the innovation. Participants were elementary and middle school teachers tasked with teaching SECD to their students. Data collection included pre- and post-innovation interviews and surveys, observation checklists, and reflection and feedback checklists, which were analyzed with descriptive statistics and paired samples t-tests for the quantitative data and content analysis for the qualitative data. Findings indicated participants benefited from participating in the innovation; significant changes were observed in their classroom practice. Overall, the study increased participants’ consistency, fidelity, and delivery of explicit SECD instruction in their classrooms.