Assessment of professional development of primary school teachers: a case study of Oxfam’s teacher professional development Shinyanga, Tanzania

Professional development of primary school teachers is currently globally advocated by the majority of development agencies and governments of national states. Despite all these efforts, investigating the ongoing professional development programmes of primary school teachers in Tanzania has been of little attention. Taking into account the need for quality education that can be achieved through professional development, this study aimed at investigating the professional development of primary school teachers provided by both government and development agencies to enhance teaching and learning improvement. The specific objectives were to: assess the strategies of the provision of teacher professional development and the provision of teacher professional support; to identify the influence of professional development on students’ participation and performance, and the extent to which teacher professional development incorporates cross-cutting issues in its curriculum. The study was conducted in Shinyanga Municipal Council. Non-experimental research design was adopted, whereby the mult-stage sampling technique was used in combination with simple random and purposive sampling methods to obtain a sample of 60 respondents. A semi- structured questionnaire was used to collect data, which were statistically analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The study revealed that professional development of primary school teachers has a significant impact on raising the potential of teachers and students. Some problem such as the lack of stability of the curriculum and training incentives for primary school teachers were observed. It was recommended that policymakers and curriculum developers should involve teachers in planning any professional development for successful teaching and learning process.