THE PRACTICES AND CHALLENGES OF CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM ON TEACHERS' PEDAGOGICAL SKILLS IMPROVEMENT: THE CASE OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN DANDI WOREDA
Creators: name: BEKELE MERGA AGA
Publisher: name: National Academic Digital Repository of Ethiopia
Year: 2019
Subjects: Practice and challenges, Continuous Professional Development, Pedagogical Skills Improvements

description: <em>The main purpose of this study was to assess the practice and challenges of continuous</em><br> <em>professional development on teachers</em><em>’ </em><em>pedagogical skills improvements in primary schools</em><br> <em>in Dendi Woreda. </em><em>The study was designed to understand the present practices of </em><em>continuous</em><br> <em>professional development </em><em>that have been in place in primary schools, the extent of its</em><br> <em>implementation and where the challenges are. </em><em>To achieve this purpose, descriptive survey</em><br> <em>research design was employed. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used for</em><br> <em>data analysis. The sample size of 66 teachers, 20 school leaders, 1 Woreda education office</em><br> <em>expert and 1 Zone education office expert were involved in the study. Teachers were selected</em><br> <em>using simple random sampling technique, while school leaders and experts were include in</em><br> <em>this study using purposive and availability sampling respectively. The data gathering tools</em><br> <em>were questionnaire, interview and document analysis. Questionnaire was employed to collect</em><br> <em>data from school leaders and teachers and interview was used to gather information from</em><br> <em>woreda expert and Zone education department. Then, the information gathered through</em><br> <em>closed-ended questionnaire was analyzed using percentage, mean score and t-test. While the</em><br> <em>information gathered through interview and open-ended questions were narrated</em><br> <em>qualitatively. The findings of the study indicated that the extent of teachers practices of</em><br> <em>professional development activities such as mentoring, portfolio development, facilitating</em><br> <em>group discussions and peer observations, and evaluating the overall successes and failures</em><br> <em>of the implementation processes were inadequately implemented. The school leaders</em><br> <em>(principals, cluster supervisors, professional development facilitators), woreda and zone</em><br> <em>experts were providing insufficient support for the teachers. Thus, teachers were not</em><br> <em>benefited much from the present continuous professional development program. The major</em><br> <em>challenges identified were, lack of training manuals, irrelevance of the training contents to</em><br> <em>the need and interest of teachers, lack of trained facilitators, insufficiency of supports</em><br> <em>provided for teachers growth at all level, insufficient allocation of budget to run school</em><br> <em>programs were some of the challenges. To overcome the challenges encountered creating</em><br> <em>teachers awareness in advance with the overall CPD aims and its contribution for teachers</em><br> <em>pedagogical skills improvements, motivating teachers to willingly take self-initiative and</em><br> <em>responsibilities in the implementation process, assigning competent and trained facilitators</em><br> <em>and supervisors, and allocation of sufficient resources are pertinent and vital to effectively</em><br> <em>achieve the intended goals of continuous professional development program were</em><br> <em>recommended.</em><br>