SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES
PD programmes should revolve around the acquisition of content knowledge, pedagogic content knowledge, and conceptual and procedural knowledge which is essential to effective teaching (Department of Education, 2006). Teachers use their knowledge to make important decisions about mathematical tasks, how to sequence them so as to enhance the development of concepts, classroom resources, assessments, and when and how to intervene when learners struggle or when to support learning by reducing the complexity of tasks (Anthony & Walshaw, 2009). Therefore, PD programmes should focus on ensuring that participants’ content knowledge is strongly rooted, and that attention is also given to development in terms of assessment and when and how to support learners. Teachers should assess learners’ performance regularly, that is, assessment should form an integral part of teaching and learning, because it helps to ascertain learner performance (Vandeyar & Killen, 2007: 103). Learning can be supported by using the learners’ ideas, and by means of questioning, structuring and probing which are vital support mechanisms (Killen, 2010: 142). The value of this would be to challenge learners to think (Magano, Mostert & van der Westhuizen, 2010: 45). This implies asking open- ended questions which require learners to express their views instead of providing one-word answers. However, what takes place in the classroom should be planned in advance in order to complete the syllabus timeously. In this regard, written lesson
51 plans are needed for every lesson conducted. They should describe what the teacher plans to do in the classroom (McKay, 2010: 1). As Killen (2010: 84) observes, “You cannot expect individual lessons to be successful if they have not been planned thoroughly and integrated carefully into medium and long term plans”. The preparation of daily lesson plans contributes largely to a teacher’s sense of organisation; and, the more organised the teacher is, the more effective teaching and learning will be (Adedeji & Olaniyan, 2011: 52). Hence, lesson plans help teachers to plot out the curriculum content. They are also used by education officials to ensure that teachers are doing what they are mandated to do (Dunn, Craig, Favre, Markus, Pedota, Sookdeo, Stock & Terry, 2010: 194). It is also claimed that one of the reasons teachers teach entire classes in the same way is because of the way they designed the lesson plans (ibid). Therefore, PD should also include the development of teachers in terms of lesson planning so as to make the participants aware of the need to teach in ways that include every learner in the class. The development should emphasise the fact that teachers should first consider the purpose of the lesson, decide on the learning outcomes, select their teaching strategies, choose the learner activities that will take place, and determine how learning will be assessed after the content has been decided upon (Killen, 2010: 68, 87-89). Lesson plans should also link the content with the learners’ real life context (Nel, 2009: 34) to ensure that they keep learners interested. Relating what is learnt in the classroom to learners’ real life not only enables them to see its relevance to them, but also stresses the importance of understanding the world at large (Killen, 2010: 29).
However, although teachers should be monitored and frequently visited by the subject advisor and other district officials to assess whether they operate within the frameworks of the education requirements, rural schools are less likely to be visited (Adedeji & Olaniyan, 2011: 49). This implies that rural schools are not monitored as regularly as they should be, keeping in mind that monitoring and evaluation are important in ensuring that an institution delivers good results (Adedeji & Olaniyan, 2011: 78). It is therefore difficult to ensure quality in teaching and learning in rural areas.
52 It must be noted that adult learning is selective in that it filters information, whether consciously or subconsciously (Huber, 2011: 839). However, it is more sustainable when practical application is attached to what has been learnt (Steyn, 2009: 127). So, to enhance new competences, the theory learnt should be followed by practice, feedback, and reflection (Huber, 2011: 839). Indeed, if themes are not linked to existing cognitive systems, they may remain abstract and will be quickly forgotten. Hence, the current context and experiences of the participants, as well as their needs and problems should be the reference point when selecting the content and methods of interventions of a PD programme (Huber, 2011: 840; Bansilal, 2012: 242). A teacher who finds the PD programme responsive to his/her real needs and relevant to his/her context will be more determined to apply what is learnt through programme.
Huber (2011: 840) identifies demand orientation, practice orientation, and sustainability orientation as the most important aspects that PD should focus on. For a PD to be effective, it should meet two important requirements:
• Integrate diagnostic means into PD training and development programmes so that prior knowledge, existing attitudes, motivation, expectations, and goals can be used to plan the PD and its approaches to learning.
• Focus on the sustainability of learning by translating theory into praxis.
Besides course attendance, the increased awareness of the value of other forms of professional development is important. This includes the sharing of expertise between teachers in the same school, the sharing of skills and knowledge with teachers in other schools, and the use of consultants to run in-school programmes to support teachers who are grappling with specific needs (Boyle et al, 2005: 3). Makgato and Mji (2006: 264) also recommend school-based PD as well as PD initiatives that create an environment where teachers can share strategies that work, knowledge, problems, and challenges. Thus, PD programme developers should keep the above in mind when developing programmes aimed at increasing the impact of PD on the participants.
53 The “scaffolding” of PD opportunities for teachers, with different levels of content and skills, is suggested by Desimore, Smith and Ueno (2006: 108). They believe that it would alleviate the repetition of PD programmes for the same audience (Steyn, 2009: 127) and thus avoid boring the participating teachers. This implies that PD programme developers should do a thorough analysis of the participants’ prior knowledge, to determine what kind of training they were involved in earlier. With the differences in content and skills knowledge in mind, PD developers should plan in such a way that participants are challenged in areas where they need individual assistance. This implies that a programme may commence with a certain portion of the targeted participants and, as the “scaffolding” progresses, more participants would be included or, at the same time, different activities would run for different groups of participants, depending on their current skills and knowledge.