Sustainable professional development policies in Jordanian education: The mediating role of generational diversity in heritage knowledge transmission

Abstract

This paper analyzes how Sustainable professional development (SPD) policies influence heritage knowledge transmission (HKT) amongst teachers in Jordanian state schools with the generational diversity (GD) being tested as a mediating factor. Even though Sustainable professional development has become one of the most important factors in the instructional change and cultural preservation, there is still scant empirical research on the interaction between such policies and the generational dynamics that affect heritage-driven pedagogies in the Middle Eastern context. Quantitative research design was used, and 327 teachers were interviewed using structured questionnaires. Both measurement and structural models were assessed with the help of structural equation modeling (SEM). The findings show that SPD positively and significantly affects both GD and HKT, and that GD is a strong predictor of HKT. Moreover, GD partly moderates the relationship between SPD and HKT, which means that the cooperation between generations boosts the transfer of sustainable policy and professional development into practical heritage knowledge. The model accounts for 46% of the variance in HKT which indicates the significance of considering the generational aspects in professional development models. These results can be added to the existing literature on the topic of cultural sustainability in education and contribute to a more practical application of the ideas of the policymakers in reinforcing the heritage knowledge with the help of the teacher development strategies of the long-term character.