Professional development in sub-Saharan Africa: what have we learned in Benin?

Abstract

This paper explores the effectiveness of a technology education professional development (TEPD) program and factors impeding the implementation of such a program within the context of the Republic of Benin (West Africa). Professional development (PD) programs do not always take into account the specific disciplinary content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge teachers should learn to be able to reach the PD goals. The goals of the study were to identify effective design elements of TEPD for developing nations and to enhance secondary technology education teaching in Benin, as well as in similar developing countries. Within the context of Benin technology education, four all-day sessions of the TEPD were carried out with 51 secondary school science teachers. Qualitative data, comprising teachers’ after-session journals, after-session evaluation sheets, class observations and interviews with teachers and students, were collected during the PD program. Results indicated that participants’ technology education content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge were enhanced and that technology education lessons from the PD program were incorporated into teachers’ classroom practices.