STATUS OF CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN SECONDARY SCHOOLSOF EAST HARARGHE ZONE, OROMIA

Abstract

Themainpurposeofthisstudywastoassess thestatus ofschool-based teachers’continuousprofessionaldevelopmentin secondary schoolsofeast Hararghe Zone.OromiaRegionalState.Tothiseffect, inthestudythree basicquestionswere raised.The research design employedinthe study was descriptive survey.The research methodwasbothquantitativeandqualitative approacheswereemployed.The sampling techniques employedwere purposive,availability andsimple randomsampling.Thesample sizewere180 teachers,60departmentheads,12principals,12CPD facilitators,12viceprincipals,7 School supervisory and 7 woredaexpertswiththe totalof290participantsoutof580studypopulations.Thedata gathering tools were questionnaire, focusgroup discussionandinterviewas wellas documentanalysis.The xi participantsofinterviewandfocusgroupdiscussionwereSchool supervisors, woreda experts, vice principals, departmentheads, and. CPD facilitators. Questionnaires were prepared and distributed for180 teachers and 12 Principals. Therefore, the total numbers of questionnaires distributed was 192.From the distributed questionnaires 187 (97.4) were completed and returned. However, five (2.857) questionnaires were not returned because there were problems of clarity, and werenot filled properly.Then,theinformationgatheredthrough closed-endedquestionnairewasanalyzed using percentage, standard division andmean score whilethe information gathered through interview and open-ended questionswas narratedqualitatively. Results ofdocumentanalysiswere also described.Thefindingsofthe studyindicatedthatthe extentofteachers practicesof professionaldevelopmentactivitiessuch asmentoring,portfoliodevelopment,conducting actionresearches,facilitatinggroupdiscussions andpeerobservations,andevaluatingthe overall successes and failures of the implementation processes were inadequately implemented.Theschoolprincipals,professional developmentfocalpersons,headteachers, woreda andschool supervisorswere providinginsufficientsupportforthe teachers.The major challenges identified were, lack of training manuals, irrelevance and UN clarity of the availabletraining manuals, lack of trainedfacilitators,insufficiencyofsupportsprovidedfor teachers growth, insufficient allocation of budget, and school systems werenot in the waythat cansatisfythetrainingneedsofteachers.Toovercome thechallengesencountered, recommendations havebeen forwardedTheseincludeorienting teachers in advancewith the overallcontentsoftheprofessionalgrowth, motivatingteacherstowillinglytakemore responsibilities inthe implementationprocess, employing trained facilitatorsand supervisors, and allocation of sufficient resources to effectively achievethe intended goals