Continuing Professional Development (CPD) For Secondary School Teachers

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to explore and analyze the role of mentoring in improving teacher development as a tool of Continuing Professional Development in the achievement of vision 2030.This has been necessitated by the aim of Kenya vision 2030 that strives in making the country globally competitive and prosperous with a high quality of life. This aim can be achieved when the current education system realizes that the trial and era teaching and take it or leave it professional development programmes are no longer acceptable. This has been necessitated by the diverse compositions of student population, changing paradigms in teaching and learning together with the changing expectations about the quality of education that are occurring at an unexpected rates. Teacher training is more than the mastery of certain practical knowledge, pedagogical skills and techniques. Therefore, CPD through mentoring plays an important role in teacher improvement geared towards classroom practices. This paper has highlighted the plight of secondary school teachers and the need for teachers to be involved in CPD. The methodology involved a vertical case mixed study approach design that involved analysis of macro and micro aspects using quantitative and qualitative techniques in the collection of data. Twelve secondary schools in Kirinyaga County were sampled for the survey while six others were subjected to an in-depth casestudy. The data analyzed indicated the importance of mentoring and involvement of other stakeholders in provision of CPD as laid out by the education policies. As the study indicates, there are several challenges‘ that are experienced by teachers in their quest for mentoring. In the light of these findings, mentoring of teachers can play an important role in improvement of classroom practices and the school as a whole. For the attainment of Vision 2030 teachers should be supported at the school level so that they can participate in and complete the programmes of mentoring that take place especially where young and newly recruited teachers are involved.