Your Cart

• Log in

• Related Products
• Parent
  • • The International Journal of Learning
• Associated
  • • Contract and Effectiveness of Web Based and Web Supported Course Delivery for An Upper Division Management Information System Course
  • • The Social Construction of Gender Role Identity
  • • Age Discrimination and the Disabled Child in the Educational Context
  • • The Musings of a Young and Curious Mind
  • • Humanizing the Changing Face of Distance Learning
  • • No Creative Child Left Behind
  • • Perceptions of Canadian Native and Non-Native Teachers on Assessment and Special Education Service Delivery
  • • Developing a Sense of Community in an Online Environment
  • • The Impact of Information Systems on Knowledge Culture in Management Education Institutions
  • • Resonant Teaching
  • More →

Continuous Professional Development: A Strategy to Enhance Quality of Teaching at the School level

By Kofi Poku Quan-Baffour.

Published by The International Journal of Learning

Teaching, the art of imparting knowledge and skills, is a specialised and unique profession. Through teaching people, especially the young, are equipped with knowledge and skills they may require to play both socio- economic and political roles in their respective communities. In view of the unique role of teaching children prospective primary and secondary teachers usually undergo an initial training of between 3-4 years before entering the teaching profession. However in the wake of knowledge explosion in the contemporary society the initial training of teachers is unable to equip them with all the knowledge and skills they would require to provide quality teaching which may lead to the realisation of good performance among learners. We live in an era when teachers are often blamed for poor learning output among learners. This situation makes it imperative for every school to provide its teachers with continuous professional development programmes in order to keep them abreast with current knowledge and practices in their areas of specialisation (e.g how to impart such knowledge and skills to learners).This paper argues that in view of inadequate knowledge and skills most teachers in the developing world receive during their pre-service training and the fact that new knowledge makes what was learnt few years ago obsolete the need to provide teachers with continuous professional training at the school level to enable them teach effectively for the realisation of higher learner achievement is crucial. Although at the district or regional level the education department may organise in-service programmes for educators such programmes are usually generic in nature and do not cater for the specific needs of individual educators and their respective contexts. This paper reports the results of a needs analysis conducted on forty educators from five Junior Secondary Schools. The investigation revealed the educators’ pedagogical deficiencies. The result was used as a validation and basis for professional development programmes in the particular schools.

The International Journal of Learning, Volume 14, Issue 1, pp.183-190. Article: Print (Spiral Bound). Article: Electronic (PDF File; 517.952KB).

Dr. Kofi Poku Quan-Baffour

Senior Education Consultant, Institute for Curriculum& Learning Development, University of South Africa, SOUTH AFRICA