Perspectives of Senior High School teachers in Sekyere South District of Ashanti on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programmes organised for them

Abstract

This research explored the Perspectives of Senior High School Teachers in Sekyere South District of Ashanti Region on Continuous Professional Development (CPD) Programmes Organised for them. It was a qualitative research underpinned by interpretive philosophical thought which employed a case study approach to collect data using semi-structured questionnaire and semi-structured interview. In the first phase, Proportional Stratified Random Sampling technique was used to select 57 SHS teachers from the 5 public senior high schools in the Sekyere South District to respond to the questionnaire, while the second phase involved semi-structured interviews with 10 CPD providers selected using the Purposive Sampling technique. The data gathered was analysed thematically since the two instruments generated similar themes. The study indicated that, the CPD programmes were very useful to the teachers since they improve their professional skills, content knowledge and impact positively on students‘ performance. The research also indicated that teachers in the district access CPD in the form of workshops, mentoring, annual conferences, and study leaves however their access to these programmes was hindered by financial constraint, wrong timing, and inadequate resource materials. It further revealed that the main sources of the teachers‘ inspiration for accessing the CPD programmes were acquisition of professional skills and knowledge coupled with the correlation between the CPD programmes and classroom practice. The research concluded that CPD programmes in the Sekyere South district are irregular and are not well organised so the SHS teachers need further training in teaching methodology to help improve the quality of education in the district. Therefore, the study recommends that CPD should be made a policy in the schools and a budget should specifically be drawn for the CPD programmes by the School authorities in order to guarantee its regular organisation and improvement to ensure significant professional development of the teachers so as to enhance meaningful teaching and learning in the district. Besides, the study recommended that, teachers should select topics for the CPD programmes since they are the direct beneficiaries and are also fully aware of their CPD needs as well as that of their students.