Content and effectiveness of TVET teacher CPD in Kenya

Abstract

Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for teachers can improve teaching and wider school practices. However, within developing country contexts, research on the CPD practices of vocational teachers remains limited. This study therefore investigated the CPD practices of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) teachers in Kenya, focusing on the content, outcomes and effectiveness of their CPD practices. Adopting a questionnaire survey approach, data was collected from 170 TVET teachers drawn from six TVET institutes in Kenya's Nairobi Metropolitan Area.TVET teachers in Kenya were found to more frequently focus their CPD on subject content knowledge and less frequently on pedagogical knowledge. Their CPD activities are not always effective as the CPD activities often do not involve active learning and collaboration, and are not always of sufficient duration. Cluster analysis showed that for some teachers, CPD activities are rarely effective and result in limited impact on practice. However, Initial Teacher Education was found to encourage teachers to focus on broader content and to adopt more effective CPD practices.To improve the effectiveness of TVET teacher CPD practices in Kenya, it is recommended that TVET teachers in Kenya are supported to adopt active and collaborative learning activities that are spread over extended time durations.