Teachers’ perceptions of staff development programmes as it relates to teachers’ effectiveness: A study of rural primary schools in Kenya

Abstract

Results-based management has gained currency in Kenya. After pre-service training, teachers take various staff development progrmames to enhance their role effectiveness. Many studies which have associated staff development with employee productivity have not delved into the actual mechanisms in which staff development impact on teachers’ effectiveness. This study was a survey of 100 primary schools which brought on board 100 teachers as research subjects. Using the outlier approach schools in Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces were bifurcated into high performing and average performing categories. A modified Likert Scale type of questionnaire was administered after validation. The study revealed that the most popular staff development programmes are taking higher education and training, in-service courses and participating in workshops, seminars and conferences among others. During such programmes, teachers learn school management skills, evaluation techniques, academic achievement correlates and master wider content areas of their subjects. Teachers in the high performing schools were found to take more interest in staff development programmes compared to their colleagues in the average performing schools. Key recommendations include granting paid study leave and allocating more funds and time to serving teachers to enable them participate in staff development programmes. Equally imperative is retraining of teachers aimed at radical attitudinal change towards staff development activities related to their respective teachers.