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.