Effectiveness Of Professional Development Practices For Primary School Teachers In Tanzania: The Case Of The School-Based In-Service Programme In Bagamoyo District

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of professional development

practices for primary school teachers in Tanzania, specifically, with a focus on the

school-based Inset-PST in Bagamoyo District. The study addressed three research

questions, namely: (i)What are the achievements of the school-based Inset-PST

programme in empowering primary school teachers in teaching and learning

approaches? (ii) What are teachers’ views on the relevance and benefits of the

school-based Inset-PST programme? (iii) What is the impact of school-based inservice-

PST programme for primary school teachers in improving the quality of

teaching and learning in schools? The study employed a mixed-method research

approach to obtain data from a sample of 60 study participants who included;50 primary

school teachers, 5 Head Teachers from five primary schools, 1 District Education Officer

and 4 Education officials from MOEVT and PM-RALG. Data were collected through

questionnaires, interviews, FGD and documentary review. The study findings revealed that

the Inset-PST programme was successful as teachers gained pedagogical knowledge and

skills on how to facilitate children’s learning by applying appropriate teaching and learning

strategies. The study revealed that the programme is useful in transforming classroom

practice as teachers who had attended the programme could organize better the

lessons and prepare well the teaching and learning materials required for specific

lessons in their class.The study concluded that the school-based Inset-PST

programme for primary school teachers is an important avenue for teachers to

improve their instructional strategies, hence improvement of the quality of learning.

. The study recommends the nationwide professional development programme for all

primary school teachers aiming at supporting them improve their pedagogic skills as

well as subject content mastery.