THE INFLUENCE OF TEACHER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND ASSESSMENT STRATEGIES ON THE QUALITY OF CITIZENSHIP EDUCATION IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN CAMEROON / INFLUENCE DES STRATEGIES DE DEVELOPPEMENT PROFESSIONNEL ET D’EVALUATION DES ENSEIGNANTS SUR LA QUALITE DU COURS D’ÉDUCATION A LA CITOYENNETE DANS LES ECOLES SECONDAIRES AU CAMEROUN

Authors

  • Fedelis Lekeaka Alemnge Department of Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Faculty of Education, University of Buea, Cameroon

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46827/ejes.v7i11.3439

Keywords:

teaching, professional development, assessment, influence, citizenship education, secondary schools, syllabus, impact / enseignement, perfectionnement professionnel, évaluation, éducation à la citoyenneté, écoles secondaires, programme, influen

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of teaching, professional development, and assessment strategies used in the teaching of Citizenship Education in Secondary Schools in the Buea Municipality of the South West Region of Cameroon. The study sought to find out how these variables influence the quality of teaching. Two research questions guided the study. The first sought to determine the impact of teacher professional development on the teaching of citizenship education while the second assessed how the assessment strategies used influenced the quality of teaching of the subject. The multiple case study design was used to carry out the investigation. The sample comprised six teachers drawn from three schools. The purposive sampling procedure was used to select participating schools and teachers for the study. Instruments used in gathering data included an interview and observation schedules. Two teachers were interviewed, and one teacher observed in each sample school to find out the impact of teacher professional development and assessment strategies on the quality of teaching. The data from interview and observations were transcribed and coded thematically. The findings showed that teachers were not systematically participating in professional development activities due to the unavailability or high cost such activities and also due to the socio-political instability. Consequently, their assessment strategies leave much to be desired as they did not carry out formative assessment during lessons and relied on written tests administered after certain chunks of contents had been covered. L’étude avait pour objectif d’étudier l’influence des stratégies d’enseignement, de développement professionnel et d’évaluation mises en œuvre dans l’enseignement du cours d’Éducation à la citoyenneté dans les écoles secondaires de la commune de Buéa (région du Sud-Ouest du Cameroun). L’étude a entrepris de déterminer l’influence de ces variables sur la qualité de l’enseignement. Deux questions de recherche ont encadré les travaux. La première a visé la détermination de l’impact du développement professionnel de l’enseignant sur la didactique de l’Éducation à la citoyenneté, tandis que la seconde a évalué les modalités d’influence des stratégies d’évaluation utilisées sur la qualité de l’enseignement de la matière. Le modèle d’étude de cas multiples a été adopté dans la conduite de l’enquête. L’échantillon comprenait six enseignants provenant de trois écoles. La procédure d’échantillonnage par choix raisonné a été utilisée pour sélectionner les écoles et les enseignants qui ont participé à l’étude. Les instruments utilisés pour la collecte des données comprenaient un entretien et des programmes d’observation. Deux enseignants ont été interviewés et un enseignant a été observé dans chacune des écoles échantillons pour déterminer l’impact des stratégies de développement professionnel et d’évaluation des enseignants sur la qualité de l’enseignement. Les données issues des entretiens et des observations ont été transcrites et codées par thème. Les résultats ont montré que les enseignants ne participaient pas systématiquement aux activités de développement professionnel en raison de l’indisponibilité ou du coût élevé de ces activités et en raison de l’instabilité sociopolitique. En conséquence, leurs stratégies d’évaluation laissent vraiment à désirer, car ils ne procèdent pas à une évaluation formative pendant les cours et s’appuient sur des tests écrits administrés après que certaines portions du cours ont été couvertes.

Article visualizations:

Hit counter

Author Biography

  • Fedelis Lekeaka Alemnge, Department of Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Faculty of Education, University of Buea, Cameroon
    Dr. Fedelis Lekeaka Alemnge, was born on 16th October 1964 in Ekombe-Bonji, Kumba, in Meme Division of the South West Region of Cameroon. He studied and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern English Studies in 1986 from the University of Yaounde, Cameroon. He served as Administrative Assistant at the Regional Baha’i Centre in Yaounde, from 1989 to 1993, and as a volunteer at the Baha’i World Centre from 1994 to 2002. He obtained a Master of Arts degree in Educational Studies from the University of Sheffield in Britain in 2002, and a Doctorate degree in Curriculum Studies and Teaching from the University of Buea in 2015. He was recruited as an Instructor of Curriculum Studies and Teaching by the University of Buea in 2003, and as an Assistant Lecturer by the Ministry of Higher Education, 2008. He has been teaching in Department of Curriculum Studies and Teaching, Faculty of Education of the University of Buea and was promoted to the grade of Lecturer in 2016. He has served as the pioneer coordinator of the Distance Education programme of the Faculty of Education from January 2008 to March 2018, then as Head of Department of Curriculum Studies and Teaching from March 2018 to June 2020 and since June 2020, has been serving as Vice-Dean in charge of Research and Cooperation in the Faculty of Education of the same University. He is married and father of three children. He has published ten, and co-published three articles in international peer-review journals, and two book chapters in international book projects.

References

Angelo Tand Cross P. (1998). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A handbook for College Teachers. John Wiley & Sons Incorporated, 2005 - Education

Barlett, L. (1990). Teachers’ perceptions of the impact of professional development on learning and teaching in a developing nation. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 42(11), 18-33. doi:10.14221/ajte.2017v42n11.2

Geoff, P. (2004). Citizenship Education. Canadian Education Association. http://www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk/main/page.php.p.1.13/11/2008.

Haney, C. (1997). Portfolio assessment: A guide for lecturers, teachers and course designers. Perth, WA: Praxis Education.

Kena, G. (2016). Estimating teachers’ impact on students’ achievement: An experimental Evaluation (No. w14607). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Loughran, D. (2002). Doing reflective supervision with student teachers in a professional development school culture. Reflective Practice,2(2), 125-154.

Merill, M. D. Reigeluth, C. M. and Faust, G. W. et al (1979). The instructional quality profile. A curriculum evaluation and design tool. In O’Neil, H. F. (Eds). Procedures for instructional systems development. New York: Academic Press.

Astrid N. P. and Maria F. T. (2015). Reflection on Teachers' Personal and Professional Growth Through a Materials Development Seminar. http://dx.doi.org/10.19183/how.22.2.151

Nenez and Tenez (2009). “Becoming and effective teacher by reading”. Wisconsin State Reading Association Journal 40.2 (spring/summer 1996): (1-7).

OAS (1998). Training, support and management of sessional teaching staff. Final report to the Australian Universities teaching Committee. (University of Queensland Teaching and Educational Development Institute).

Patricia, K. (1988). Classroom Assessment: Minute by minute, day by day. Educational Leadership, 63(3), 19-24.

Patricia, K. and Thomas, A. (1988). Assessment for Learning: putting it into practice. Buckingham, UK: Open Ramos, & Tellez (2006). Professional development as the pursuit of professional standards: the standards-based professional development system, Teaching and Teacher Education, 14, pp. 127–140. University Press.

Peter, W. & Peter, S. (1997). Promoting teacher’s instructional practices in alternative assessment through teacher collaboration. Educational Research, Policy and Practice, 15, 131-146. doi:10.1007/s10671-015-9189-9.

Pollard, A. and Tann, S. (1993). “Teacher to teacher” strategies for the elementary classroom. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Pratt, D. (1994). Curriculum perspectives. In curriculum planning: a handbook for professionals, (pp.8-22). Fort Worth, TX: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Reigeluth (1970). A Search for a better way to organize instruction: Elaboration Theory. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Charles_Reigeluth/publication/226373171_In_search_of_a_better_way_to_organize_instruction_The_elabortion_theory_05/links/02e7e5380ad946b3ce000000/In-search-of-a-better-way-to-organize-instruction-The-elabortion-theory-05.pdf

Reigeluth (1992). in Brent W. and Peggy C. A critical review of Elaboration Theory Educational Technology Research and Development. Vol. 40, No. 3 (1992), 63-79. https://www.jstor.org/stable/30220014

Russel, D. (1997). Perspectives on alternative assessment reform. American Educational Research Journal, 39, 69-95.

Tsafact, R. (2003). Realizing the of professional learning. London: McGraw-Hill Education

Viafara, J. (2005). Teacher collaboration and professional development in the work place. A study of Portuguese teachers. European Journal of Teacher Education, 37(1), 91-105.

Wallace, J. (1991) Teachers’ personal knowledge: what counts as personal in studies of the personal, Journal of Curriculum Studies,19, pp. 487–500.

Wink, J. (2006). “Consenting adults in private”- union and management perspectives on peer observation of teaching. Retrieved January 17, 2006, from http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources.asp?process=full_record&section=generic&id=26.

Downloads

Published

2020-11-25

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 11 (2020)

Section

Articles

License

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).