Primary School Teachers’ Perceptions of their role in the Planning and Implementation of Staff Development in Hwange District of Matabeleland North Province in Zimbabwe (original) (raw)
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2018
DOI: 10.21276/sjahss.2018.6.3.39 Abstract: This study sought to explore challenges that hinder the effectiveness of staff development programmes in the primary school. The case study design under the qualitative research methodology was adopted and the case of five selected primary schools in Hwange District of Matabeleland North Province in Zimbabwe was used. The study population comprised senior primary school teachers and head teachers in the area under study. A sample of 30 (n=30) participants was Purposively selected from the population. Two research techniques, namely, Interviews and Focus Group Discussions were used with 5 head teachers and 25 senior teachers respectively. Verbatim data obtained from the participants was processed through use of the interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) approach and the findings were presented in text prose form. The major findings were that staff development in the primary school was faced with a host of challenges that hindered its e...
Scholars Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
The aim of the present study is to assess the way how schools are executing staff development programmes in Mutoko District in Mashonaland East in Zimbabwe. The population comprised all the 1800 teachers in the district. The sample was made up of 250 respondents. The study employed the quantitative methodology and used a questionnaire which largely had close-ended questions and two-open ended ones. The study revealed that school heads do not have adequate time to implement teacher professional development programmes and those schools were monotonously using poorly planned staff development sessions as the only modes for attempting to develop teachers. The study recommends that the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education should closely monitor the staff development programmes in the schools to make sure that they are implemented to benefit the teachers and ultimately, the pupils in the schools.
Sprin Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
This study explored the sentiments of educators on how primary school staff development programmes could be made more effective; in pursuit of educational excellence. The case study design within the qualitative research paradigm was adopted. A sample of 42 educators in Zimbabwean primary schools; comprising 36 teachers and 6 head teachers was used. Focus Group Discussions and Interviews were utilised to generate data. The major findings were that school management should consider teachers’ staff development needs as the major priority and that the relevant ministry should also support staff development programmes in order to promote their effectiveness. Accordingly, the researcher concluded that the efficacy of primary school staff development could be enhanced if all stakeholders would work together in order to ensure their effectiveness while educators should be made to realise the importance of staff development programmes as being part of their professional development.
Sprin Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
This qualitative case study was scrutiny of documentary evidence of the effectiveness of staff development programmes in selected primary schools in Hwange District, Zimbabwe. Its population comprised of primary school heads and a sample of 5(n=5); obtained through Purposive sampling was utilised. Interviews complemented by document analysis were employed as data generation techniques. The major findings were that staff development is being implemented at the studied schools considering the presence of staff development records particularly plans and minutes. However, these records were available at some schools while others did not have them. Based on the findings, the researchers concluded that staff development at the schools is reasonably effective though their effectiveness could be enhanced through improved recording of the programmes. The researchers recommended that concerned authorities should ensure that school staff development is properly documented in a way that fosters...
Greener Journal of Educational Research, 2016
This paper sought to explore the reasons why teachers and support staff resist staff development programs in the Binga District of Zimbabwe. Multiple case-studies were used. Questionnaires, Face-to-face interviews and secondary sources provided the required data. The sample of 25 primary school heads; 13secondary and High School Heads and 72 school teachers and 15 support staff revealed very interesting information. Findings pointed to disruption of school activities, unavailability of experts in some areas, lack of or poorly stocked libraries to support teachers' research, pressure from Public Service head-counts(personnel audits), lack of consultation of subordinates before the implementation of programs, passive roles of subordinates during staff development workshops, poor timing and lack of reviews of those staff development programmes. However, teachers generally agreed that staff development workshops somehow added to their knowledge and enhanced their skills, despite the negative attitudes towards them. The study mode recommendations are to boost the role, function and effectiveness of the staff development programs.
2005
Staff development (SD) is regarded as an important process, both for the professional growth of teachers and the organizational development of schools. The literature on SD uses the concepts of 'SD', 'professional development' and 'in-service training of teachers' interchangeably. The purpose of this study is to investigate the teachers' experiences and perceptions of SD practices in a Namibian secondary school. This qualitative case study was carried out at the school where I am teaching. Two methods were used to collect the data, namely a blend of semi-structured and unstructured interviews with three teachers and one focus group interview with five teachers. The analysis of the data collected was carried using the method suggested by Taylor and Bogdan (1998) which includes discovery, coding and discounting. These concepts are discussed in Chapter Three. The main finding of this research regards SD at the school as mainly in line with the traditional view. The study also made three other unusual findings that differ from the traditional view of SD held at the school. First, the principal's role as a human resource manager of SD; second the pastoral role of a principal in SD and third the role of teachers' unions in SD. All these findings are important for SD practices in schools and for further research because little is known in the current literature on SD. Finally, this study proposes further research to develop an organizational development (OD) cycle of problem solving to help create an internal policy on SD, which is currently nonexistent at the school.
2018
DOI: 10.21276/sjahss.2018.6.2.20 Abstract: This study sought to explore teachers views on the significance of their professional development in two selected primary schools of Hwange district in Matabeleland North province, Zimbabwe. The study was conducted within the qualitative methodology and a case study design in the form of multiple cases was adopted. Purposive sampling was used draw a sample of twenty (n=20) participants who comprised of 2 head teachers and 18 teachers in equal proportion. Interviews were used (with head teachers) while Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were used (with teachers) as the research techniques to generate data. Verbatim findings generated from the participants were presented as text data and interpretive phenomenological data analysis (IPDA) was used. The major findings of the study were that most teachers indicated that staff development was important to them in that it helped them gain knowledge and skills related to their work. For them, it was es...
Staff Development in Primary Schools: A Survey from Tembisa, South Africa
Mediterranean Journal of Social Sciences, 2014
Educators are faced with the responsibility of ensuring that they broaden and update their knowledge so that they can cater for the social welfare of learners as well as for their academic needs. Therefore staff development plays a key role in the upgrading of educators' knowledge and skills. The aim of this article is to describe the current situation regarding staff development at primary schools in Tembisa, based on research done in this regard. In the research both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used in order to ensure data triangulation. During data collection the researchers came into contact with educators at primary schools in Tembisa. Questionnaires were distributed and individual interviews were conducted with some principals. Three main findings of the research was that staff development is not regarded as a priority in all the schools, schools are not supported financially by the Department of Education to allow staff to attend staff development programmes and some facilitators of staff development programmes are not well trained, which mean that educators attending workshops do not always benefit maximally in improving their knowledge and skills.
Educational Research and …, 2010
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.
The study examined the extent of teacher participation in different areas of decision-making in secondary schools in Bulawayo Province of Zimbabwe and the impact of this involvement on school improvement through organisational development. A survey using self-administered questionnaires with a Likert-type scale assessing teachers’ actual and preferred participation in decision-making was employed. The sample comprised 200 teachers and 20 school heads. Of the sample respondents, 78% were female and 22% were male. Data were collected through semi-structured questionnaires. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to interpret data. The study indicated that the actual teacher participation in decisions concerning learners was fairly high, but quite low in respect of managerial decisions. The difference between the actual and the preferred levels of participation showed high levels of deprivation. Greater involvement in issues concerning learners and the lower levels of participation in respect of managerial issues were attributable to such dimensions as failure to adopt new decisions, passive resistance by teachers, bureaucracy and lack of knowledge by heads. The significance of the results of this study lies on the implications for school improvement practice: heads of schools should enhance teacher participation not only in issues relating to pedagogy but managerial issues as well.