Teacher professional development and quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda

Abstract

This article provides an analysis of the influence of teacher professional development on the quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in Uganda. The study specifically examined the extent to which induction, coaching and training workshops explain variations in the quality of pedagogical practices. The study was prompted by the persistent criticisms about the deteriorating quality of pedagogical practices in public secondary schools in the country. The study employed a descriptive cross sectional survey design. A multi-stage sampling approach was used to select 95 public secondary schools from the four regions of Uganda. Data were collected from 76 head teachers, 934 teachers and six officials from Uganda’s Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) using survey, interview, observation and document analysis methods. Data collected from teachers was analyzed using descriptive statistical analysis and ordered logistic regression; while content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data collected from lesson observation, document analysis, head teachers and MoES officials. The findings suggest that teacher professional development positively impacts on the quality of teacher preparation, teaching methods and assessment of learners; and yet systematic induction and mentoring programmes for beginning teachers and institutionalized continuous professional development systems for serving teachers are lacking in most public secondary schools. The researcher thus concluded that teachers’ pedagogical practices are dependent on the manner in which they professionally developed, other factors notwithstanding. Therefore, the study recommends that in order to enhance the quality of pedagogical practices, the Ministry of Education and Sports should expedite the implementation of the secondary teacher development management systems (STDMS) programme in order to ensure continuous professional development of teachers.