Secondary School Chinese Language Teachers’ Satisfaction with Online Training during COVID-19 Pandemic in Cameroon ()
1. Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Coronavirus (COVID-19) a pandemic in March 2020 (Miller & Brueck, 2020). As part of the WHO-mandated social distancing measures, all schools were closed in Cameroon and elsewhere. Two months later, the Prime Minister and Minister of Higher Education of Cameroon authorized the start of online courses and training (Agha-Ah & Chia, 2020). Baral (2020) study described the situation of COVID-19 as an unprecedented and unintended global pandemic which triggered a shift from a face-to-face to an online-based system of education. The rapid spread of COVID-19 in Cameroon significantly impacted schools, (UNESCO, 2020) and teachers’ professional development (Lockee, 2021). During the pandemic, most offline teacher professional development activities shifted online, and online teacher training expanded rapidly. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, many Cameroonian secondary school teachers had no prior experience with online training or teaching, as face-to-face learning was still the predominant teaching mode. Therefore, to ensure the continuity of the professional development of teachers and teaching in Cameroon, it was an urgent need for the Cameroonian government to take various measures, such as the creation of different online educational platforms to facilitate learning for students and implement activities that could assist teachers in expanding their knowledge of online education and make good use of technology to improve the effectiveness of online courses. Hence, the in-service training for secondary school Chinese language teachers in Cameroon has mostly shifted from offline training to an online training model, which continues till now (2022).
Previous research has shown that improving learning satisfaction can increase participation in the online learning environment (Chan et al., 2021). Similarly, improving teachers’ satisfaction with online training can encourage them to participate in online training environments. Teachers’ satisfaction with training is an effective way to evaluate and improve the quality of teacher training; it also represents an important indicator of its effectiveness (Morgan & Casper, 2000). The concept of teacher satisfaction with online training has not been fully unified in the literature. However, some scholars such as Wang & Ma (2014) defined it as a kind of teachers’ attitude and emotional experience towards the whole training process. Moreover, based on the concept of customer satisfaction, Lei (2017) argues that teacher’s satisfaction with online training is: first, the process of choosing a training course as a commodity that teachers purchase themselves online, and second, teachers’ evaluation of the training after it is completed as an experience of the commodity.
In this study, teachers’ satisfaction with online training is defined in terms of teachers’ evaluations, feelings, and expectations regarding the online training they have received. The current literature on teacher training satisfaction mainly focuses on Asian and European countries and less on African countries. Thus, it is of great significance to study the online training satisfaction of secondary school Cameroonian Chinese language teachers. Hence, the following research questions served as the basis for this study: What is the degree of satisfaction of Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers with the online training during COVID-19? Are there differences and correlations between different teachers’ groups and other variables? How to improve the quality of online training for Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers? To provide answers to these questions, this study, based on the Confucius Institute’s “Central and West Africa” training model, used questionnaires and interviews as methods of investigation. In addition, this study also used methods such as descriptive statistical analysis, Anova, bivariate analysis, etc., with the help of Spss 23.0, to determine the degree of satisfaction of Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers with the online training. Finally, this study also aims at identifying whether there are any differences and correlations between different groups of teachers and other variables; and provides recommendations to improve the quality of teachers’ online training.
2. Overview of the Literature
2.1. Teacher Satisfaction with Online Training
To address issues that emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic such as teachers’ lack of experience in using ICT in online teaching, teachers’ difficulty to easily interact and communicate with their students online in order to keep them engaged and motivated etc., numerous terms have been used to describe teacher online training, which is also a form of online professional development. These terms include teacher online education/learning, distance learning/education, and remote learning/education (Francom et al., 2021; Sahito et al., 2022). Therefore, Jung (2001) defined teacher online training as a form of online education that uses computer network technologies to organize, develop, manage, and administer in-service teacher training. It can be interpreted as teachers acting as learners in online learning through online platforms (Liu & Zhang, 2021).
Research on teacher training satisfaction has focused more on teacher satisfaction with traditional forms of training (offline) rather than modern forms of training (online). Previous studies on teacher satisfaction with offline training have focused on the factors that influence teacher training satisfaction, and satisfaction with the overall training programme. Starting from factors influencing teachers’ training satisfaction, scholars such as Wang (2011), believed that the main factors affecting primary and secondary school teachers’ training satisfaction are teaching resources, training methods, content, opportunities, and time. In terms of satisfaction with the overall training programme, scholar such as Ruijgrok-Lupton et al. (2018) identified teachers’ satisfaction with different courses in the MPBs training programme, comparing the satisfaction of MBSR teachers with that of MBCT teachers, and concluded that the highest level of satisfaction in the participant group was due to the high knowledge level of the trainers. In Cameroon, Akongoh (2021), reported that Cameroonian English language teachers expressed different degree of satisfaction with the nationally established English teacher training programmes but that overall, they were “more satisfied”. Regarding online teacher training satisfaction, Sakulprasertsri et al. (2022), used quantitative and qualitative research methods to investigate Thai English teachers’ overall satisfaction and usefulness of online training and found that participants were “most satisfied” mainly with the content and format of the training.
In summary, while it is found that several researches have been conducted on teachers’ satisfaction with offline training, teacher’s satisfaction with online training remains poorly investigate. Therefore, this study draws on existing literature to provide a comprehensive understanding of research trends in teachers’ satisfaction with offline and online training and further investigates Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers’ satisfaction with online training during COVID-19 pandemic.
2.2. Cameroonian Secondary School Chinese Language Teachers Training
In recent years, since Cameroon is an important country along the Belt and Road Initiative, China-Cameroon cooperation has become an important opportunity for the country’s educational and socio-economic development. Educational cooperation between Africa and China has a long history and dates back to the 1950s (Gonondo, 2021). In cultural education and promotion, Chinese language and culture were first taught at the Chinese Language Training Centre, which was established in Cameroon (Yaoundé) in 1995 and then transformed into the Confucius Institute on November 7th, 2007 (Hulda & Gonondo, 2022). After the Confucius Institute of the University of Yaoundé II was officially established, the Chinese Language Training Centre “one institution, many points” model was also launched, which means that the main Confucius Institute is located in Yaoundé the capital of Cameroon, but there are many other teaching points in Cameroon, mainly in Douala, and Maroua. Since the end of 2008, the Confucius Institute of the University of Yaoundé II, in cooperation with the University of Maroua established a three-year Chinese language and culture teaching programme to train Cameroonian Chinese language teachers for secondary schools. In 2012, the Ministry of Secondary Education in Cameroon has integrated Chinese into the secondary education system. Simultaneously, the Cameroonian government dispatched the first batch of Chinese language teachers to teach in secondary schools, which means that more and more Cameroonians started to learn Chinese. By 2021, the Cameroonian government has trained over 350 Secondary school Chinese language teachers (Gonondo & Djiraro Mangue, 2021).
The quality of Chinese language education has always been a major concern of the Cameroonian government, and Secondary school Chinese language teachers are the main force of Chinese language education in Cameroon. Therefore, Improving the quality of their in-service training is an important indicator to ensure the quality of Chinese language education in Cameroonian secondary schools.
In response to the need to ensure the quality of Chinese language teaching in secondary schools in Cameroon, the Ministry of Secondary Education, in cooperation with the Confucius Institute of the University of Yaoundé II, established in August 2019 the first training centre for Cameroonian Chinese language teachers in Africa, namely the “Training Centre for Chinese language Teachers in Central and West Africa, abbreviated as (Centre)” which is the Confucius Institute “central and west” training model. This Centre aims to provide a continuous training programme for in-service Chinese language teachers, not only for Cameroonian Chinese language teachers but also for local Chinese language teachers from all over Central and West Africa, including Mali, Togo, Mauritania, Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone, Nigeria and Equatorial Guinea. The first training took place in Yaoundé on 18 January 2020. Following the sudden appearance of the pandemic (COVID-19), it has been transformed into online training until 2022.
3. Methods
3.1. Data Description
Johnson et al. (2007) defined the mixed methods as “a type of research in which a researcher or team of researchers combines elements of qualitative and quantitative research approaches (e.g., use of qualitative and quantitative viewpoints, data collection, analysis, inference techniques) for the broad purposes of breadth and depth of understanding and corroboration”. Thus, this study employed mixed methods using quantitative and qualitative approaches. The purpose of adopting a mixed-method approach was to gain a deeper understanding of the degree and factors influencing teachers’ satisfaction with online training. It also allowed participants to provide their viewpoints to enrich the evidence and provide more comprehensive answers to the research questions.
The data for this study were collected via questionnaires and interviews. Since Secondary school Cameroonian Chinese language teachers are the main force of Chinese language education in Cameroon, the present study chose Secondary school Cameroonian Chinese language teachers as the research subjects. Hence, following the basic principle of simple random sampling, questionnaires were sent to in-service secondary school Chinese language teachers in Cameroon’s ten regions.
The questionnaire was distributed using the Hyperlink “Questionnaire Star”. Since some teachers have WeChat, the link was provided directly to them. However, most do not use WeChat; therefore, the author distributed the questionnaire via paper, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram. Before formally distributing the questionnaire, we sent it to five Cameroonian Chinese language teachers to check whether any items were difficult to understand or answer. After the pilot test was completed, the questionnaire was distributed officially. The author and two expert teachers contributed to the revision process during the preparation of the questionnaire and the interview outline.
The expert teachers checked whether the questionnaire’s content was adequate, whether there were any errors, and whether the number of questions was appropriate. After several revisions and a trial test, the questionnaire was finalised. A total of 116 questionnaires were returned, 105 of which were valid. After coding and processing the valid questionnaires collected, the data was analysed through SPSS 23.0 statistical software using independent sample t-test, ANOVA, and descriptive statistical analysis methods according to the purpose and needs of the study. A qualitative study of the interview data was conducted to produce more theoretically meaningful analytical results through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods.
Additionally, 23 Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers were interviewed. Each interview lasted approximately 25 minutes and was recorded and transcribed in full of the interviewees’ agreement for analysis. Before participating, all interviewees were provided with a full description of the research questions and a copy of the guidelines. They were informed that their comments could be used anonymously if they consented to participate. The first portion of the survey was designed to collect the demographic characteristics of the respondents. Only teachers who took a fully online training were asked to participate. Therefore, there were more female (51.43%) than male (48.57%) respondents. Most respondents were either 31 - 35 years old or 25 - 30. Among the 105 respondents, 42 teachers have more than six years of teaching experience, and only 23 teachers have less than three years of experience (see Table 1).
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Table 1. Descriptive statistics of sample characteristics.
3.2. Indicator Variables
This study is based on Kirkpatrick’s (1976) theory of satisfaction with the effectiveness of the training; it is a globally accepted theoretical model of training evaluation in corporate as well as in education, which is based on the main idea of understanding and evaluating participants’ satisfaction with their training. Therefore, based on the basic principles of this theory, the present study constructed a system of indicators of satisfaction with training for secondary school Chinese language teachers in Cameroon, considering the specific situation of online training.
The indicator system includes a primary and a secondary indicator to evaluate teachers’ satisfaction with online training. The primary indicators include 4 items; and the secondary indicators include 16 items. As for the 4 items included in the primary indicators, they are respectively: the training platform, training courses content, training instructor’s performance, training services and effectiveness. A Likert scale was used to measure teacher satisfaction, with a scale of 5, with 5 to 1 indicating: 5 = very satisfied, 4 = moderately satisfied, 3 = slightly satisfied, 2 = slightly dissatisfied and 1 = very dissatisfied.
3.3. Reliability and Validity of the Questionnaire
In this study, Cronbach’s alpha was used to test the reliability of the KMO and BARTLETT spheres. According to the KMO reliability criteria, it is known that KMO reliability over 0.9 is very appropriate; 0.7 - 0.9 is appropriate; 0.6 - 0.7 is relatively appropriate; between 0.6 - 0.5 is not very appropriate, and less than 0.5 is not at all appropriate. Bartlett’s test of sphericity value (i.e. sig < 0.05) is suitable for factor analysis. The Cronbach’s coefficient alpha for all subscales was larger than 0.7; The final result of this study was known to have a KMO value of 0.896, and Bartlett’s test sig = 0.000 < 0.05, which indicates good reliability. The data analysis methods used in this study were independent sample t-test, one-way ANOVA and descriptive statistical analysis in SPSS 23.0.
4. Results
4.1. Overall Satisfaction with Different Variables
In this study, Dimensions ABCD refers respectively to the training platform (A), instructor’s performance (B), training courses content (C), training services and effectiveness (D). Therefore, to better present the mean values of satisfaction for all variables, the final results obtained by descriptive statistical analysis in this paper are as follows: (see Table 2).
4.1.1. Teacher Satisfaction with the Online Training Platform Is Low
As shown in Table 2, the overall satisfaction of Cameroonian Chinese language teachers with the online training platform is M = 3.03. The highest mean score of the secondary indicators for the training platform is M = 3.42, “the
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Table 2. Teacher’s Overall satisfaction with online training.
platform is very stable and fast”, followed by a mean score of 2.90 and 2.74 for “Using WhatsApp as a platform for online training is very suitable” and “Can ensure effective interaction between trainer-trainee and trainee-trainee” which indicates a low satisfaction with the training platform. According to the interviews, teachers’ low satisfaction with dimension A is due to the fact that the use of WhatsApp as an online training platform did not ensure sufficient trainer-trainees and trainees-trainees interaction. Its features are very limited because during the training there was no live video interaction with the trainer, e.g. watching the trainer speak or demonstrate and being able to answer or ask questions simultaneously; and most teachers asserted that the use of WhatsApp for downloading media was not efficient in terms of data and space etc.
4.1.2. Teachers Are More Satisfied with the Performance of Online Training Instructors
For the secondary indicators under Dimension B, the mean score for “high level of professional knowledge of training material and subject matter” was 3.58, and the mean score for “active interaction with trainees and able to response to trainee questions and problems” “clear presentation and appropriate use of language and speed” was respectively 3.20 and 3.37, which was significantly lower than the score of 3.39 for the “Process skills: good time control, focus and able to explain all concepts very clear and in a simple manner”. This means that teachers were less satisfied with the instructor’s interaction with the participants and with the language and speed of the lectures. But overall, they were more satisfied with other aspects, such as professional knowledge, time control and focus.
4.1.3. Teachers Are Slightly Satisfied with the Content of Online Training Courses
Regarding the secondary indicators under dimension C, results indicate that the mean value of the indicator “relevance: clear objectives and well organised” (3.61) is higher than that of “The logic of the courses is well structured” (3.49). Furthermore, we can also observe that other indicators, such as “Practicality: the content of the training courses can be easily applied to the practical teaching” (3.10) and “The volume of courses is Appropriate” (3.37), are significantly lower. This suggests that the practicality of the courses content and the volume of courses are areas for improvement in online training.
4.1.4. Teachers Satisfaction with Online Training Services and Effectiveness Is High
As Table 2 shows, teachers are more satisfied with dimension D than with all the other dimensions. For example, the mean value of “I can recommend online training to other colleagues” is 3.53, “I look forward to attending similar training again” is 3.64, and “This training has enriched my knowledge, and I am satisfied with the quality of the training” is 3.64. This indicates that most teachers are satisfied with the online training services and look forward to participating in similar training again.
4.2. Satisfaction Differences Analysis between Variables
4.2.1. Gender Differences: Male Teachers Are More Satisfied Than Female Teachers
This section aims to evaluate whether there are significant differences in the satisfaction of different groups of teachers with different aspects of online training. Hence, the independent samples t-test revealed gender differences in teachers’ satisfaction with online training on the four dimensions A, B, C, and D (p < 0.05). As shown in Table 3, male teachers have higher mean satisfaction values than female teachers in dimension A (M = 3.31), B (M = 3.53) and D (M = 3.75). Female teachers were only more satisfied than male teachers with the content of the online training courses (C) (M = 3.64). This means that overall, male teachers are more satisfied than female teachers.
4.2.2. Differences in Teaching Experience: The Shorter the Teaching Experience, the More Satisfied Teachers Are
A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that there were significant differences in the satisfaction of teachers across the four dimensions according to their teaching experience (p < 0.01). A further LSD multiple comparison test revealed that the difference in satisfaction between teachers with less than three years (X) and 6 - 10 years (Z) of teaching experience on Dimension A had an F-value = 3.422** p ≤ 0.01, but the difference between teachers with 3 - 5 years (Y) and 6 - 10 years of teaching experience was smaller (P < 0.05). In terms of mean satisfaction values, teachers with less than three years of teaching experience (X) had a mean satisfaction value of 3.43, teachers with 3 - 5 years of teaching experience M = 3.36, while teachers with 6 - 10 years of teaching experience had a mean satisfaction value of 3.26. In summary, as Table 4 shows, XY > Z means that teachers with short teaching experience are more satisfied.
4.2.3. Age Differences: The Lower Teacher’s Age, the Higher the Satisfaction Level Is
A one-way ANOVA between the different teachers’ age groups showed a p = 0.026 < 0.05. It indicates a meaningful difference in averages in terms of age variables. Descriptive statistical analysis showed that teachers aged less than 24 years old were more satisfied than teachers in other age groups (M = 3.62). Post hoc tests using the LSD multiple comparison method on the four ABCD dimensions
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Table 3. Teachers’ satisfaction with online training by gender.
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Table 4. Teachers online training satisfaction by teaching experience.
showed that teachers less than 24 years old were more satisfied than 25 - 30 years old teachers, and 25 - 30 years old teachers, in turn, were also more satisfied than 31-35 years old teachers. 41 - 45 years old teachers were less satisfied than (31 - 35) - (36 - 40) years old teachers. This implies that with the increase in age, teachers were less satisfied. (See Table 5 for details).
4.2.4. Differences in Educational Qualification: The Satisfaction of Teachers Holding a DIPES 1 Degree Is High
In Cameroon, teachers’ educational qualifications are according to the certificate they obtained after their initial training programme, which includes the DIPES I (qualified to teach in secondary schools) that is equivalent to the Bachelor degree and DIPES2 (qualified to teach in high schools), Master’s and PhD. Thus, as shown in (Table 1), 53.33% of secondary school teachers hold a DIPESI as their highest degree. Descriptive statistical analysis and ANOVA revealed a significant difference in satisfaction between teachers holding the DIPESI and those holding a Master’s degree (F = 9.857) p = 0.023 < 0.05. However, none of the teachers participating in this research have previously completed a PhD degree or are doing a PhD. As a result, Table 6 further clarifies that the group of teachers holding a DIPES1 has the highest mean value of total satisfaction (M = 3.44), while those holding a Master’s degree are less satisfied (M = 3.26). Therefore, it is concluded that teachers holding a DIPES 1 are more satisfied with the online training.
4.3. Satisfaction Correlation Analysis
Bivariate analysis revealed that environmental factors, teachers’ motivation to participate in online training and family burden were significantly correlated with teachers’ satisfaction with online training sig (two-sided) = 0.000 < 0.01.
4.3.1. Training Environment Factors Are Significantly Associated with Teachers Online Training Satisfaction
Teachers’ adaptability to the online training environment plays an important role in successfully implementing the training. As shown in Table 7, the training environment of Cameroonian Chinese language teachers was correlated with the
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Table 5. Teachers online training satisfaction by ages.
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Table 6. Teachers online training satisfaction by educational qualification.
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Table 7. Correlation with other variables.
Note: *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01.
level of satisfaction with online training by a coefficient of 0.452**, p < 0.01. Environmental factors included the school where the teachers are located and the area where they live. The survey found that teachers living in urban areas were more satisfied than those living in rural areas. The interview results revealed that 78% of teachers living in rural areas mentioned facing numerous challenges, such as lack of internet access and school support; and some teachers do not even have smartphones with internet access.
4.3.2. Teachers’ Motivation to Attend the Training Is Significantly Correlated with Online Training Satisfaction
Teachers’ motivation to attend the training was significantly correlated with online training satisfaction p < 0.01. The survey found that the satisfaction level of teachers who considered online training important was relatively high. 29.6% of teachers considered online training very important; 40.3% considered it relatively important; 30.2% considered it generally important, and 0% considered it unimportant. It is clear from the survey results that most teachers consider online training to be “relatively important”, and no teacher considers online training to be completely unimportant.
4.3.3. Teachers’ Family Burden Is Significantly Correlated with Online Training Satisfaction
There was a significant correlation between teachers’ family burden and their satisfaction with online training with a coefficient of 0.343** (p < 0.01). This study showed that teachers with a lighter family burden were the most satisfied. The results of the data showed that 28.5% of teachers felt that their family workload was “very heavy”, 40.8% felt it was “relatively heavy”, and 30.7% felt that it was “generally heavy”. Further interviews revealed that female teachers were less satisfied than male teachers because they were not only very busy at work but also had to spend more energy and time on domestic workload and childcare.
5. Discussion and Recommendations
Almost all teachers faced the sudden shift from a face-to-face to an online training model during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, this led to changes in teachers’ professional development. This study attempted to evaluate the level of satisfaction of Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers with online training through the use of questionnaires and interview methods. The results showed that Chinese language teachers were “moderately” and “slightly” satisfied with online training, as the average of the four indicators is above M = 3.0. This study also found that teachers’ satisfaction with the online training platform is low, and this is because teachers asserted that the use of WhatsApp as the online training platform is not conducive to interaction between trainer-trainees and between trainees-trainees, as it is a relatively simple platform for exchanging information between friends, its functions are limited. Besides interviews, results also showed that the most challenging aspect of online training for Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers is the costly and unstable network, contributing to a low teacher attendance rate. In addition, teachers were “slightly” satisfied with the training course content because interviews revealed that training courses content was too theoretical and difficult to relate directly to the Chinese classroom teaching. As for the overall performance of the training instructors, most teachers were more satisfied, but some asserted that the instructors need to interact more with trainees and adjust their language and speed of lectures.
Furthermore, this study revealed that the mean scores for the four indicators of the training services and effectiveness ranged from 3.53 to 3.82, for the training courses content ranged from 3.10 to 3.61, for the instructors’ performance ranged from 3.20 to 3.58, and for the training platform ranged from 2.74 to 3.42. In addition, the findings also showed differences in teachers’ satisfaction with online training according to gender, age, teaching experience and educational qualifications. Male teachers were more satisfied than female teachers; the shorter the teaching experience, the more satisfied teachers were; the lower the teacher’s age, the higher the satisfaction level was, and the satisfaction of teachers holding a DIPES 1 degree was the highest. This study shows that training environment, teacher motivation, and family burden are also correlated with teacher satisfaction with the online training. Considering the abovementioned issues, this paper concludes with the following recommendations:
5.1. Cameroonian Chinese Language Teachers Should Take the Initiative to Participate in Online Training Actively
In Chinese language teaching, teachers should take the initiative to learn autonomously and actively participate in various kinds of in-service training to develop their professional knowledge and improve their teaching ability. This study believes that teachers’ satisfaction with online training is also closely related to passion. This is because when a teacher is passionate, he is always looking for ways to improve his teaching ability. Therefore, Cameroonian secondary school Chinese language teachers must develop this passion for teaching as a prerequisite for effective teaching. This study suggests that teachers should be aware of the importance of online and offline training, actively participate in online training, actively ask questions to the trainer and discuss with colleagues, as this will help them to improve their teaching ability and gain new knowledge in the process of communicating with the trainer and other colleagues.
5.2. Optimise the Training System Jointly Organised by Confucius and the Ministry of Secondary Education
Given the fact that the Confucius Institute’s “Central and West Africa” training model is a joint training programme established by the Ministry of Secondary Education and the Confucius Institute in Cameroon, the following recommendations are made:
5.2.1. Diversify the Use of Online Training Platforms and Establish an Online Training System That Is Completely Integrated
Regarding the online training platform, the first step is to take full use of technology development to improve online training. To enhance the format of online training, it will be important to diversify the use of online platforms and test out more platforms such as Zoom, Google Classroom, and Ding talk, which are made for such purposes and can support multi-person conversations, video playback, and file sharing. Secondly, a fully integrated E-learning platform should be set up, which can be used to conduct live classes, share articles and various forms of texts, and have different evaluation methods after watching videos, so that trainees can learn online everywhere and will not be limited by place or time (asynchronous)and get better training results. In addition, in order to establish a complete online training system for Chinese language teachers, it is also necessary to conduct regular online training to increase the motivation of teachers to participate through assistance, coaching and feedback. It is also possible to transform the current short-term online training into long-term online training in the future, to build a strong online training management mechanism, and to focus more on the needs of teachers, in order to achieve the goal of filling in what is missing and constantly narrowing the gap between training and demand.
5.2.2. Enhance the Practical Aspect of the Content of Online Training Courses
The survey results showed that teachers’ satisfaction with the practicality of the online training courses content is relatively low. Further interviews revealed that teachers want training courses content to relate directly to their real teaching situation. Therefore, this study advocates that the content of the online training courses should be carefully revised and developed by expert teachers; for example, a training manual for in-service secondary school Cameroonian Chinese language teachers could be developed by the Confucius institute in cooperation with the Ministry of Secondary Education of Cameroon to make the online training a success. On the other hand, a survey could be conducted before and after the online training to find out what teachers’ training needs are and which courses are the most welcome and efficient. In addition, the results of the interviews indicate that teachers would like to receive more courses on the use of online media in Chinese language classroom teaching and the design of Chinese classroom activities. Establishing an effective training programme based on actual needs will help improve online training quality.
5.2.3. Improve Interaction between Trainers and Trainees
For online training interactions, the interaction between trainers and trainees is an important factor in the success of the training as it increases the participants’ motivation and influences their satisfaction with the training. This study showed that Chinese language teachers were less satisfied with the interaction with the training instructors. According to interviews, some teachers said that trainer-trainee interaction was inefficient and that more attention should be paid to this aspect in future training. Therefore, this study argues, first: there is a need to promote collaborative interaction. Trainers can develop collaborative or join activities in online courses to encourage teamwork. Second: the pool of online training support instructors should be strengthened so that they can usually assist in answering questions, solving problems, interacting, etc. Third: trainers need to raise their own awareness of interaction, guide participants and encourage them to participate in as many discussions as possible to increase the interaction’s effectiveness.
6. Conclusion
In conclusion, online teacher training has become increasingly important during the pandemic period, and this radical change could have a long-term impact on teachers’ professional development. Within the framework of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 4), the online teacher training proposed by the Ministry of Secondary Education and the Confucius Institute in Cameroon is in line with the objectives prescribed by UNESCO, which aims to provide lifelong learning opportunities for all, including teachers. The findings of this study demonstrated that Cameroonian Chinese language teachers are “moderately” and “slightly” satisfied with the online training, and male teachers are more satisfied than female teachers. Also, it is shown that the shorter the teaching experience, the more satisfied teachers are: the lower the teacher’s age, the higher the satisfaction level is. In addition, the results also revealed that teachers are less satisfied with the online training platform, the interaction with the instructors and with the content of online training courses. Besides, factors such as the training environment, teacher motivation, and family burden are also correlated with teacher satisfaction with online training. Finally, this study made some recommendations, such as the urgent need for Cameroonian Chinese language teachers to take the initiative to actively participate in online training, the need to optimise the training system by diversifying the use of online training platforms and to establish a fully integrated online training system, improve the practicality of the content of the courses and finally enhance interaction between trainers and trainees to improve the quality of the online training. The results of this study are not without limitations; therefore, factors such as “students”, “teacher self-efficacy” and others can be added in future studies.