Influence of Teacher Professional Knowledge and Application on Pupils Academic Performance in Public Primary Schools in Suna East Sub-County Migori County, Kenya

An established tool for collating secondary teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (Loughran's CoRe) has been adapted for use by tertiary educators. Chemistry lecturers with a range of levels of experience were invited to participate in workshops through which the tool was piloted, refined and applied. We now present this refined tool for the tertiary teaching community to consider adopting. The teaching approaches of over 80 workshop participants were collected using the tool in a broad survey of tertiary chemistry teaching strategies. Participation in the workshops led to a significant gain in personal PCK for some individuals. Analysis of responses received in the workshops revealed that the consensus model of secondary teacher professional knowledge and skill is also applicable to the tertiary level, and that the CoRe is a useful way to gain insight into the knowledge bases and topic-specific professional knowledge of tertiary chemistry teachers. The data were aggregated and coded inductively to distil the types of strategies commonly found to be useful for teaching particular tertiary chemistry topics. This resulted in collation of over 300 teaching strategies for 19 different chemistry topics, representing significant topic-specific professional knowledge of tertiary practitioners. To share and sustain this collection of teaching strategies, a website was built that is searchable by either chemistry topic or by type of teaching strategy, making it immediately useful to practitioners. Usage analytics data for the website confirm that many users have accessed the resource, showing that this is a practical way to transfer information between chemistry educators.

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Teacher professional knowledge and classroom management: on the relation of general pedagogical knowledge (GPK) and classroom management expertise (CME)

ZDM ◽

10.1007/s11858-015-0705-4 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 48 (1-2) ◽

pp. 139-151 ◽

Cited By ~ 30

Author(s):

Johannes König ◽

Charlotte Kramer

Keyword(s):

Classroom Management ◽

Professional Knowledge ◽

Pedagogical Knowledge ◽

General Pedagogical Knowledge ◽

Teacher Professional ◽

Teacher Professional Knowledge ◽

Management Expertise

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HEAD TEACHERS' SUPERVISION OF PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN EMBU AND MURANGA COUNTIES, KENYA

International Journal of Educational Best Practices ◽

10.31258/ijebp.v4n2.p1-17 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 1

Author(s):

Jane Muchiri

Keyword(s):

Professional Development ◽

Academic Performance ◽

Teacher Professional Development ◽

Primary Schools ◽

Role Theory ◽

Policy Decision ◽

Public And Private ◽

Head Teachers ◽

Teacher Professional ◽

The Relationship

Supervision means overall duties performed by a head teacher which ensures teachers perform their expected roles in the transmission of knowledge and enhance academic performances. Academic performance in examinations has consistently declined in primary schools in Kenya and the world over. The objective of the study was to; assess the relationship between the head teacher’s supervision of professional development and academic performance in Embu and Muranga counties, Kenya. The study adopted the Role theory championed by Biddle. A descriptive survey research design was used. The Target Population was 14786 and comprised of head teachers and teachers. The researchers purposefully sampled 378 public and private primary schools. Simple random sampling was used to select 256 respondents. Data were collected using questionnaires, interviews, and observation. Reliability was ascertained by a pilot study which generated a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of 0.93. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics, precisely, correlation computations. The findings of the study informed that the highest percentage of supervision 87.4percentwas the head teachers’ permission for teachers to attend seminars, workshops, and conferences. The least facilitated activity was the training of teachers by subject panels 60.3 percent. There was a negative correlation between head teachers' supervision and teacher professional development in public and private primary schools, at r=-.069<0 and P=0.602>0.05. The relationship was not statistically significant. The Supervision of teacher’s professional development was not strongly linked to academic performance. There should be a balance between the supervision of teacher professional development. Governments should allocate more funds towards professional development. The findings of the study will inform policy decision making in the education sector in Kenya and worldwide.

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A New Model for understanding the Growth of Science Teacher Professional Knowledge

Understanding Science Teachers’ Professional Knowledge Growth ◽

10.1007/978-94-6300-313-1_12 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. 205-228 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Michel Grangeat ◽

Brian Hudson

Keyword(s):

Science Teacher ◽

Professional Knowledge ◽

New Model ◽

Teacher Professional ◽

Teacher Professional Knowledge ◽

Growth Of Science

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Personal journeys of teachers: an investigation of the development of teacher professional knowledge and skill by expert tertiary chemistry teachers

Chemistry Education Research and Practice ◽

10.1039/c8rp00187a ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (1) ◽

pp. 132-145 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Gwendolyn A. Lawrie ◽

Madeleine Schultz ◽

Chantal H. Bailey ◽

Bronwin L. Dargaville

Keyword(s):

Reflective Practice ◽

Professional Knowledge ◽

Total Content ◽

Immediate Feedback ◽

Chemistry Teachers ◽

Expert Teacher ◽

Tertiary Teaching ◽

Teacher Professional ◽

Core Questions ◽

Teacher Professional Knowledge

Several common characteristics of the journey towards tertiary teaching expertise have been deduced through a detailed analysis of transcripts that originated from interviews conducted with ten recognised excellent tertiary chemistry teachers. The interviews were structured around Loughran's CoRe questions and yielded deep insights into the topic specific professional knowledge and reflective practice of the participants. The interview participants offered their insights into changes that occurred in their teaching strategies and practices as they progressed in their expertise. They also reflected on changes that they undertook over time within their teaching contexts in terms of engaging students and assessment, and what advice they wish that they had been given as new tertiary teachers. We have identified signposts of expert teacher professional knowledge and skill that further expand on our previously published outcomes including: seeking immediate feedback from students; a tendency to reduce total content to a critical minimum; reflective practice; and a willingness and ability to modify teaching approaches. The outcomes support our previous findings that tertiary chemistry teachers had primarily developed their PCK through their own teaching experiences and awareness of their own students’ outcomes, filtered by their individual beliefs and backgrounds. In this study, we provide new insight into the nature of inherent reflective practice that has evolved by experience rather than through formal professional development.

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