Initial Findings on the Continuing Professional Development Practices of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Teachers in Kenya
Initial Findings on the Continuing Professional Development Practices of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Teachers in Kenya

Summary/Abstract: Technical and vocational education and training are vital for the social economic de-velopment of societies. This necessitates that the technical and vocation education and training (TVET) provided is of high quality and relevant to the learners and the wid-er society. However, quality and relevance of TVET in many parts of the world remains low despite the significant efforts to improve quality. In Kenya, challenges in TVET have been attributed, in part, to the lack of effective Continuing Professional Develop-ment (CPD) by TVET teachers. However, studies investigating actual continuing pro-fessional development practices by TVET teachers and the factors that underlie those practices are rare. This study therefore sought to investigate Kenyan TVET teachers Continuing Professional Development practices and the underlying factors that lead to the observed practices. The results of the pilot study presented in this article are part of a wider study to identify policy proposals to institutionalize effective CPD. An initial investigation of the current CPD practices is aimed at informing the development of the policy proposals. From the pilot study, TVET teachers were found to be desirous of CPD although only formal learning was viewed as legitimate CPD. Teachers mainly use newly acquired knowledge and skills to update their teaching content but rarely to change their teach-ing practices. While promotions are a common motive for CPD, this benefit is rarely attained. Costs and lack employer support were reported as the most significant chal-lenges. It is recommended that non-formal learning practices be rewarded to encour-age their adoption.

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