Teachers’ Attitude towards Teaching Following In-service Teacher Education Program in Kenya

Abstract

This paper assesses the extent to which teachers’ attitude towards chemistry teaching changes following a needs-and participatory-oriented in-service teacher education program in Kenya. Thirty six (36) randomly selected veteran teachers from 36 schools who attended a ten-day in-service program in Kenya. Teachers actively participated in formulation of session objectives and training sessions that involved practical and peer-teaching sessions, and made reflections on each training session. Data were collected using validated questionnaire before start of workshop sessions and at the end of training sessions. Data were analyzed using means, standard deviations, comparison of means using two-sample t-procedures, and effect size based on Cohen’s guidelines. From the study findings, there is sufficient evidence to conclude that teachers appear to have a positive change in attitude towards: teaching objectives; teaching strategies; lesson planning; ability to overcome teaching limitations; conducting practical work; and overall teaching of chemistry following in-service program focusing on teaching enhancement. The findings have implications on curriculum for pre-service teacher preparation and in-service professional development of science teachers. The findings also have implications on teachers’ classroom practices and instructional supervision in schools.