Effectivenes Of Teacher Advisory Centres In Teacher Professional Development In Kenya

ABSTRACT

Teacher Advisory Centres (TACs) were established in Kenya in the early 1970s

to provide primary school teachers professional support in their classroom

instruction for improved learning outcomes. However, there were reports of

teachers’ inability to access teacher professional development activities. There

were also reports of poor learning outcomes and teachers’ use of teacher centred

teaching learning approaches. This study aimed at establishing the effectiveness

of TACs in teacher professional development in Kenya. The objectives of the

study were to determine the effectiveness of TACs in conducting in service

courses and holding professional meetings for teachers with invited guest

speakers to address identified teacher professional needs; establish the

effectiveness of TAC tutors in conducting classroom observation and

demonstration lessons; determine the extent to which TACs facilitate teachers to

use teaching learning resources to enhance instruction and to find out the extent

to which teachers’ use learner centred teaching learning approaches. The

theories advanced by Desimone and Shulman that demonstrates that teacher

professional development influences teachers’ instruction and ultimately

improves students’ learning guided this study. Descriptive survey research

design was adopted and this study was conducted in Kisii, Nakuru, Bomet, Nyeri

and Kirinyaga counties. The sample size was five counties, 35 TAC tutors, 70

schools, 490 teachers and 12 DEOs. Cluster sampling was employed. Purposive

sampling was used to select counties and simple random sampling was used to

select districts then all the zones in the sampled districts were used in the study.

Public primary schools and teachers were purposively sampled. Descriptive

statistics, frequencies and percentages, were used to analyze data which were

presented in figures, charts and words. Effectiveness of TACs in teacher

professional development was found to be inadequate. A large percentage of

TAC tutors did not identify teacher professional needs before conducting TPD

activities. The majority of TAC tutors also rarely invited guest speakers. It was

recommended that sustainable in service courses for teachers and professional

meetings with invited guest speakers should be conducted regularly based on

identified teacher professional needs. Classroom observation should focus on

enhancement of classroom instruction. TAC tutors’ capacity should be

enhanced to develop and apply classroom observation skills and to develop and

use teaching learning resources to enhance instruction. Teachers should be

facilitated to develop and use teaching learning resources and to apply learner

centred teaching learning strategies. Further studies could be conducted on TAC

revitalization. The strategies used by Kirinyaga county to achieve sterling KCPE

performance between 2007 and 2012 could be investigated and

recommendations made whether other counties could emulate it.