Professional development of teachers for promoting teaching and learning in rural primary schools of Tshinane circuit

Abstract
Conditions in rural schools regarding learner academic performance are still categorized as below the expected level of performance based on national and international standards. Learners and teachers continue to underperform as evidenced by poor results in schools. The aim of this study was to investigate the extent to which teachers are professionally developed to promote teaching and learning in rural primary schools. The study was conducted through mixed methods approach. Simple random sampling was used to select teachers from twenty-four public primary schools. Purposive sampling procedure was followed to select participants who were interviewed face-to-face. Results showed that teachers find that teacher’s professional development programmes are too demanding. The training of teachers who are at work should be conducted during school holidays to avoid disruption of classes. The study concludes that if teachers are well developed, teaching and learning would be effective. The study recommends that the department should organise workshops for teachers in rural areas and train them taking into consideration the conditions in the rural areas.
Description
Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the Master’s Degree in Education in the Department of Foundations of Education in the Faculty of Education at the University of Zululand, 2019.
Keywords
Development of teachers, Teaching and learning
Citation