Teaching practices and professional development in a private learning context: an autonomous teaching perspective
Date
2026-01
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Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla
Abstract
"In recent years, autonomy has been associated with greater self-governance capabilities in students, not only when learning a new language but also in all educational areas where individuals can take control of their own learning (Pavia & Braga, 2021). As autonomy is highly linked to reflection and innovation in terms of continuous teacher development, this study aimed to determine the close relation between professional development (PD) and autonomy in teachers who work in a private language institute in Mexico. However, in a Mexican context such as this one, formative processes in teachers tend to be limited and in other cases, institutional programs are repetitive and not focused on a real teaching setting in a classroom. This qualitative case study adopted a thematic analysis with elements of content analysis to examine teacher autonomy by using the six dimensions of autonomy proposed by Smith and Erdoğan (2003) and its relation to PD. The results indicated that autonomy is a dynamic, contextual and reflective process that is manifested when making decisions, adapting teaching practices, improvisation, reflection and the integration of PD. Such findings highlighted that autonomy is not only link to reflection but can be manifested in socioemotional matters. Besides the results obtained, this study presented limitations such as the reduced sample size, the duration of the study, and the virtual format of the class observations".
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