Influence of Teachers' Professional Development Practices on Job Performance in Public Secondary Schools: A Case of Nyamagana District, Mwanza - Tanzania

Abstract

The study sought to find out the Influence of Teacher’s Professional Development Practices on their Job Performance in Nyamagana District, Mwanza Region. The study employed convergent parallel design under the mixed methods approach to help collect and analyze both quantitative and qualitative data strands. Stratified random sampling and simple random sampling techniques were used to sample public secondary schools and teachers while purposive sampling techniques were used to sample heads of schools and the District Education Officer. Data was collected through the use of questionnaires and in-depth interview guides. The quantitative data was analyzed with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) while qualitative data were analyzed through thematic analysis of the specific objectives. The findings revealed that training the workforce (teachers) has the most impact on different dimensions like; improvement of teaching strategies, reduces teachers’ burnout, stress and turnover, improves teachers’ effectiveness and improves overall teacher’s personnel. Henceforth, regular performance appraisals in schools enable teachers to improve themselves in classroom management, simplifies supervision, evaluation and assessment process, improves proper communication and it also ensures teachers’ discipline at work. At last the study recommended that the ministry of education, science and technology, education stakeholders in conjunction with school administrators (district educational officer and heads of schools) to regularly organize and facilitate formative in-service training for teachers to enhance their job performance.