Assessing the Impact of in- Service Training on Primary School Teachers.
ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF IN- SERVICE TRAINING ON PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS.
DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM
Okumbe (1998) said that ‘teachers are probably the most important resource that any country has.’ Justifying his claim, he said ‘an efficient human capital development depends on the quality and effectiveness of teachers’. (p. 235.) There is growing concern by section of the general public over the falling standard of education most especially in public schools as it has become topics in any educational fora attended. Also the performances of teachers as a whole have been questioned as this impact greatly on academic performances of their pupils. Every new educational reforms come with challenges and some of these challenges are syllabi and unaccompanied new text books in line with changes, changes in methodologies and skills of teaching as well as changes in the educational curricula; With these, some of the teachers are at times overwhelmed by these changes and these affect their teaching methodologies and hence the poor performance of their pupils. The education reform brings a number of challenges and we need to train specialist, increase access and at the same time improve quality in teacher education to meet the demands. Also, there is the need to empower teachers to participate in curriculum development, assessment and providing right training and retraining so that teachers could help the nation realise the purpose for the current educational reform. It is in view of the above that, this study seeks to assess the impact of in-service training on primary teachers in the Kwahu West Municipality to find out whether in-service training can be a solution to the above problems.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY In Curzon’s (2008) statement that the attitudes of teachers toward classroom integration of exceptional children have not adequately been explored, he is suggesting that the theory should be substantiated with research finds. Knowledge without experience is
DEFINITION OF THE PROBLEM
Okumbe (1998) said that ‘teachers are probably the most important resource that any country has.’ Justifying his claim, he said ‘an efficient human capital development depends on the quality and effectiveness of teachers’. (p. 235.) There is growing concern by section of the general public over the falling standard of education most especially in public schools as it has become topics in any educational fora attended. Also the performances of teachers as a whole have been questioned as this impact greatly on academic performances of their pupils. Every new educational reforms come with challenges and some of these challenges are syllabi and unaccompanied new text books in line with changes, changes in methodologies and skills of teaching as well as changes in the educational curricula; With these, some of the teachers are at times overwhelmed by these changes and these affect their teaching methodologies and hence the poor performance of their pupils. The education reform brings a number of challenges and we need to train specialist, increase access and at the same time improve quality in teacher education to meet the demands. Also, there is the need to empower teachers to participate in curriculum development, assessment and providing right training and retraining so that teachers could help the nation realise the purpose for the current educational reform. It is in view of the above that, this study seeks to assess the impact of in-service training on primary teachers in the Kwahu West Municipality to find out whether in-service training can be a solution to the above problems.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY In Curzon’s (2008) statement that the attitudes of teachers toward classroom integration of exceptional children have not adequately been explored, he is suggesting that the theory should be substantiated with research finds. Knowledge without experience is