TEACHERS’ CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT POLICY AND ITS PRACTICES IN SELECTED GOVERNMENT SECONDARY SCHOOLS OF MEKELLE CITY ADMINISTRATION

Abstract

The main objective of the study was to assess policy and practice of teachers’ Continuous Professional Development Program (CPD) in selected governmental secondary schools of Mekelle City Administration. To achieve this objective, descriptive survey research design was employed. And, the study follows both quantitative and qualitative approaches. The study was conducted in 7 government secondary schools found in seven sub-cities of Mekelle City Administration. These 7 schools were selected out of 13 schools by using simple random sampling technique. In this way, one secondary school from each sub-city was selected to assure representations. In the seven selected governmental secondary schools, there were 501 teachers and from these the researcher selected 255 teachers using stratified random sampling technique. In addition, purposive sampling was used to select 21 school leaders out of 28 (i.e. seven vice principals, seven principals and seven cluster supervisors). Totally, 276 participants were selected for this study (255 teachers, 7 vice-principals, 7 principals and 7 cluster supervisors. Data was collected from both primary and secondary sources. The instruments used to collect the data were questionnaire, structured interview and document analysis. A questionnaire having a set of 36 close-ended items was prepared in a five-point rating scales to secure data regarding involvement of teachers in CPD activities, teachers’ perceptions on importance of CPD program, challenges in the implementation of teachers’ CPD program and school leaders support of implementation of CPD program. Structured interview was conducted with school leaders for issues related to implementation of CPD program in their respective schools. CPDrelated documents which show its status of implementation for two consecutive academic years, that 2018/19 and 2019/20 (2011 & 2012 E.C.) were collected. To analyze the data a combination of quantitative (descriptive and inferential statistics) and qualitative data analysis methods were employed. Descriptive statistics such as counts, percentage, mean and standard deviation; and inferential statistics such as One-way ANOVA, and Two-way ANOVA were employed. Findings revealed that, teachers’ involvement in CPD activities or practices is moderately low. Teachers perceive that CPD program have moderately low importance in helping and/or improving their teaching practice. Major challenges affecting implementation of CPD programs in schools are forwarded by both teachers and school leaders. School leaders’ support of CPD program is found to be low. These results are also confirmed by interview and document analysis. Creating awareness regarding research as responsibility of every teacher; giving training for the teachers on how to accumulate portfolios; coaching teachers on how best to support teachers as they engage in the collaborative work of CPD and creating and sharing clear CPD time and budget in discussion with teachers are some of the recommendations of this study.