INTRODUCTION
Professional development refers to many types of educational experiences related to an individual’s work.
•Doctors, lawyers, educators, accountants, engineers, and people in a wide variety of professions and businesses participate in professional development to learn and apply new knowledge skills, values and attitudes that will improve their performance on the job.
• Many fields require members to participate in ongoing learning approved by the profession, sometimes as a requirement for keeping their jobs. Professionals often also voluntarily seek new learning
Purpose of professionalism
To enhance participants’ knowledge, skills, attitudes and values related to teacher professional development and building a culture of reflective practice as a requirement for professional development
Learning Outcomes:
Upon completion of this chapter, the participant will be able to:
a.Demonstrate understanding of the linkage between TPD and their career growth
b.Demonstrate understanding of TPD process.
c.Identify professional gaps based on their competencies.
d.Identify mitigation measures to address the identified professional gaps.
Teacher Professional Development Programs in Kenya
•Professionalism’ is commonly understood as an individual’s adherence to a set of standards, code of conduct or collection of qualities that characterize accepted practice within a particular area of activity.
• Teacher Professional Development refers to the process of improving and increasing the capabilities of an employee.
•It is the continuous updating of professional knowledge and improvement of personal competence throughout one’s teaching life.
•Due to the dynamic environment in which teachers work, professional teacher development is a prerequisite for effective teaching and learning in the classroom
•Professional development involves the career long processes and related systems and policies designed to enable educators to acquire, broaden and deepen their knowledge, skills and competences in order to effectively perform their work roles.
Rationale for TPD in Kenya
•The TPD program is designed to cover the pre-primary, primary and secondary school teachers and Instructional leaders in both public and private primary and secondary schools and teachers in colleges.
•Teacher Professional Development provides opportunities for teachers to explore new roles, develop new instructional and leadership techniques, refine their practice and broaden their outlook as educators and as individuals.
Legal framework for TPD
- The Constitution of Kenya
The Constitution of Kenya (2010) established the Teachers Service Commission as a constitutional Commission through Article 237 (1) with an exclusive mandate on teacher management.
TSC Act, 2012 sections 11(e)
TSC Act, 2012 sections 11(e): mandates TSC to: “facilitate career progression and professional development for teachers in the teaching service including the appointment of head teachers and principals”
TSC Act 2012 Section 35(1) : mandate on teacher professional development is amplified in of the Act that state that:
•The Commission shall take all necessary Compliance with teaching steps to ensure that persons in the teaching service comply with the teaching standards prescribed by the Commission under this Act.
TSC Act 2012 , Section 35(2) (a) and (b) of the Act state that the Commission shall:
(a) require every registered teacher to undertake career progression and professional development programmes as may be prescribed by regulations made under this Act;
(b) require every registered teacher to take out a teaching certificate as prescribed by regulations made under this Act;
- The Code of Regulations for Teachers (2015) Section 48 states that
•(l) Every teacher shall undertake the professional teacher development programmes prescribed or recommended by the Commission from time to time.
•(2) The Commission shall approve training institutions to conduct teacher development programmes.
•(3) The approved institutions shall issue certificates to teachers upon completion of the programme.
- CORT Section 49:
• (l) Every teacher who successfully completes a professional teacher development programme under regulation 48 shall be issued with a teaching certificate by the Commission
•(2) A certificate issued under this regulation shall indicate the effective date and shall be valid for five years or such other period as may be prescribed by the Commission.
TPD frame work
•TPD is a life-long learning programme organized in six hierarchical competency levels where each level takes five years to complete.
•At the end of each module, successful teachers will have their teaching certificates renewed after every five years,
•TPD Programs shall be undertaken as follows:
–Teacher initiated/school based Teacher Professional Development programmes and
–TPD prescribed modules.
•At the school level, the instructional leaders are expected to plan a school initiated TPD under their supervision.
•At the national level every teacher is required to undertake the Teacher Professional Development Programmes as prescribed by the Commission from time to time.
•The Commission shall accredit service providers to conduct Teacher Professional Development Program.
•Upon commencement of the programme, a teacher will be required to acquire a certificate, which is renewable every five years while subsequent applicants for certificate of registration will be issued with both certificates.
•After completing a Teacher Professional Development module level, teachers will be eligible for re-certification and promotion; as the TPD modules have been anchored in the Career Progression Guidelines (CPG).
•The training will also enhance the teacher’s knowledge and skills in order to address gaps in the Teacher Performance and Appraisal Development, TPAD.
•They will also keep teachers informed, enable them improve their pedagogical skills and acquire new, relevant, knowledge in their teaching areas.
Purpose, objectives, principle and outcomes of Teacher Professional Development programs
The purpose of Teacher Professional Development
i.The purpose of TPD programs is to continuously equip and improve teachers’ skills. Competencies and knowledge for enhanced learning outcomes in Kenyan schools
ii.Broad objectives of TPD
iii.To improve the quality of learner achievements
iv.To revitalize the teaching profession and foster renewed commitment to the profession’s inspirational role in economic development.
v.To contribute to the autonomous responsibility and confidence of the teaching profession
vi.To enable the profession to re-establish its professional standing and role in advancing societal needs
vii.To keep in touch with current educational thinking in order to maintain and develop good practice
viii.To give critical consideration to educational policy, in particular how to raise teaching standards and quality of education
General Outcomes of Teacher Professional Development
Studies have suggested that the general outcomes and beneficiaries of teacher professional development are the teachers themselves, their learners, heads of institutions and the entire education system. The general outcomes of teacher professional development should:
i.Result in a wide range of professional education and learning opportunities available for teaches to foster their individual and collaborative professional growth
ii.Provide a range of professional learning opportunities for teachers, which have the potential to enhance learning and performance
iii.Re-affirm teachers’ commitment to the teaching profession through furthering the development of their professional knowledge, skills, attributes an values
iv.Result in teachers. Engaging in ongoing professional learning, reflection on practice, and professional growth
Specific Outcomes of TPD
These include:
i.Inculcating a culture of lifelong learning of teachers and instructional leaders
ii.Fostering personal and professional growth of teachers and instructional leaders
iii.Building capacity of teachers and instructional leaders as action researchers in their practice
iv.Developing the capacity of teachers to be reflective practioners
v.Enabling teachers to enhance knowledge, skills and attitudes in their subjects and pedagogy
vi.Enhancing teacher’s knowledge, skills and attitude in their roles as instructional leaders
vii.Building capacity of teachers’ and instructional leaders’ competencies in the 21st century skills
