Given its importance and value in ensuring quality education, the Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of teachers draws significant attention from researchers. Research has thus focused on teachers’ CPD practices and the factors influencing those practices. However, a broad theoretical framework that relates teacher CPD participation factors to teacher characteristics and explains their interaction and the resultant CPD practices is yet to be developed. To address this gap, this article reviews literature on teacher CPD and synthesizes an empirically testable theoretical framework. The article begins by adopting a wide definition of teacher CPD as all learning that teachers undertake to improve their professional competencies, and proceeds to identify the essential aspects of teacher CPD and the factors that influence teachers’ participation in CPD. An analysis of the literature leads to the conclusion that teacher CPD is a context bound and goal-oriented learning activity, characterized by multiple aims, content, learning methods. By viewing teachers as adult learners and rational choice takers, principles of Adult Education Theory and propositions of the Rational Choice Theory are then used to explain the interaction of the factors and observed CPD practices. The article concludes by presenting several hypotheses and methodological implications arising from the framework.

The development of Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programs for vocational teachers in Africa has been hampered by a lack of relevant research on their CPD practices and learning needs. This study therefore investigated the learning needs of vocational teachers in Kenya based on the professional competencies vocational teachers identify as essential for their work and their self-perception of competence. Using a concurrent mixed methods approach, data was collected from 170 questionnaire respondents and sixteen interview participants from six Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions in Kenya. Despite TVET teachers perceiving themselves as highly competent, they were found to express a relatively high need for CPD. The need was most strongly expressed by teachers who had received Initial Teacher Education (ITE), which suggested that ITE has a positive influence in sensitising teachers on the need for CPD. New teachers were however found to have a lower perception of competence. Mentorship for new teachers is thus recommended. An unexpected finding was that while TVET teachers in Kenya identify good teaching skills as an essential competency for vocational teachers, they assume mastery of content translates to good teaching skills. It is thus recommended that the curriculum for TVET teachers in Kenya be reviewed to help teachers appreciate, identify, and develop subject-specific teaching skills.

The literature on Kenya's TVET teachers' paints a depressing picture of teachers infrequently participate in Continuing Professional Development. It is, however, possible that due to the demands of their work, teachers choose to participate in informal CPD because it is more flexible and less expensive. Unfortunately, the literature on informal CPD in Kenya is scant. According to the adult learning literature, this article presents the initial findings of a study investigating the everyday CPD practices of TVET teachers in Kenya. The study adopted a mixed-methods approach involving a questionnaire survey that profiled the learning practices of 40 TVET teachers from three Technical Training Institutes in the Nairobi metropolitan area. Collaborative learning practices were found to be infrequently practised, while individual and self-paced learning is more common. TVET teachers were desirous of learning methods that give them control over their knowledge, with a positive correlation seen between the frequency of using a particular way and how helpful the form is perceived to be. The everyday use of informal learning practices was attributed to the organisational culture within the TVET institutes and the over-emphasis on formal learning by professional and career guidelines. It is recommended that professional and career policies are reviewed to recognise and reward informal learning.

While vital for the social and economic development of Kenya and Africa as whole, Vocational Education remains hampered by a negative parity of esteem. Individuals and households continue to view vocational education as a second option. This is in contrast with the views held by both pre-colonial and post colonial governments. Each successive government has attempted to provide vocational education and made policies to effect widespread provision. This article reviews the history of these policies and identifies the source of negative views towards vocational education on the one hand to discriminatory approaches by colonial governments and on the other hand to the burdening of technical education with the task of employment creation.

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