Teachers’ professional development and teaching performance in Kinondoni secondary schools, Tanzania.

This study examines the teachers’ professional development and its influence on teaching performance in Kinondoni Municipality. Specifically, the study examines the extent to which teachers’ development contributes to betterment of their performance in teaching. The study was guided by 3specific objectives namely: (1) to examine the forms of teachers’ professional development programs prevalent in schools (2) to examine the extent to which teachers are supported to undertake professional development in Tanzania, and (3) to examine whether or not teaching practices would be influenced by teachers’ engagement in teachers’ professional development. The study was conducted in Kinondoni Municipality using a mixed methods approach, with a sample of 116 respondents, comprising of heads of schools (n=5), school teachers’ (n=50), students (n=60) and a District Education Officer (n=1). Data for the present study were collected using interview guide, questionnaires, documentary review and focused group discussions. The qualitative data from this study were analyzed by using content analysis, where as the quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive statistics through SPSS version 20.0. The findings with regard to the forms of teachers’ professional development programs, suggested that some of the commonest forms of professional development schemes included mentoring programs, in-house training programs and long-term professional development programs. The findings with regard to establishing the extent to which teachers’ professional development was supported, suggested that only a limited support were in place for teachers’ professional development. Finally, the findings with regard to the extent to which teachers’ professional development contributes to quality teaching performance among teachers, revealed that teachers who attended professional development had relatively higher levels of performance compared to their counterpart teachers without professional development training. The study concluded that teachers’ professional development was a key to improving teachers’ work performance. Hence, it is recommended that, the Ministry of education, science and Technology and other stakeholders should ensure that there is a robust teachers’ professional development schemes and a policy that would guide the provision and the outcomes of teachers professional development programs.