Current Status of TVET Teachers’ Continuous Professional Development Practice in Case of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia ()
1. Introduction
Continuous professional development (CPD) is defined as activities that develop an individual’s knowledge, skills, expertise, attitudes, and other characteristics as a teacher. TVET teachers’ CPD is identified as the most important for determining students’ success and learning.
Currently continuous teacher professional development has many challenges in developing countries like Ethiopia. Teacher professional development required in the classroom practices has wider gaps, such as accommodating learners’ diversity, episodic teachers’ professional development practices, poor competency-based curriculum practices, weak participation of teachers in curriculum development, absence of workshop training, conference, and summer training, absence of internship and review processes, and fragmented implementation of active learning methods and formative assessment techniques. Thus, poor quality of classroom instructional system is related to teachers’ professional development quality in addressing learners’ diversity in their classroom teaching.
In order to improve teachers’ CPD, updating and upgrading teachers’ knowledge and skills through professional development is one of the most key solutions for effective quality of education [1]. According to [2], teacher CPD targets to improve TVET teachers and their practice by adopting a holistic approach to developing the TVET teacher as a professional practitioner.
According to researcher [3], teaching practice comprises a range of areas, each of which can be targeted by CPD activities. He also stated that, in the TPACK model, three overlapping areas exist: content knowledge, pedagogical, and technological. TCPD activities could hence specifically aim for subject content knowledge or instead focus on subject-specific pedagogical knowledge (the overlapping areas of pedagogical and content knowledge). Any activity that supports TVET teachers to reflect, learn, and then act to improve their practice can be identified as TCPD, and such activities can occur in a face-to-face learning or online environment.
Teachers’ self-initiated professional development enhances teachers’ self-reflection, whereby teachers control their professional experiences and teachers should be engaged in problem-solving activities [4]. Moreover, [5] argues supporting academic staff in the area of new and improved ways of teaching and to deepen their understanding of how students learn is a challenge for educational developers. According to this researcher, educational developers should rely more on facilitating the intellectual and professional growth of TVET teachers.
As Awol stated, teaching is a profession that is a mom of all occupations, and he or she is a sort of potter who delicately shapes our impressionable minds and molds them into a vessel. So applying CPD for teachers has no other choice.
Teacher’s personalities should include the satisfaction of helping others, gathering and sharing information, pertinent command over written and oral communication skills, team skills, and a positive attitude to bring valuable change in society.
2. Research Design and Methods
The study employed mixed methods of both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The mixed method describes an emergent methodology of research that advances systematic integration [6]. According to them, the research design is the set of methods and procedures used in collecting and analyzing measures of the variables specified in the research problems.
This study is directed by constructivism and positivism. Positivism is the view that all right knowledge is persuaded by scientific method, and constructivism claims that this means it no longer exists on its own, alternatively adjusted through human beings [7]. A descriptive study was used as quantitative research, whereas phenomenology was used as qualitative research.
In this study, a closed-ended questionnaire was used as a quantitative instrument to collect information from the TVET teachers and institute. According to [8] Closed-ended questions limit respondents’ answers to the survey. The participants are allowed to choose from a pre-existing set of dichotomy answers such as Yes/No, Agree/Disagree. The most common ranking scale for questionnaires is called the Likert scale. Closed questionnaires and their question types are critical for collecting survey responses within a limited frame of options; closed-ended questionnaires are the foundation of all statistical analysis.
A Likert scale can help respondents to understand easily and respond for a larger study [9]. Accordingly, the questionnaires were gathered from 204 respondents.
2.1. Population and Sample of the Study
In statistics, a population is an entire group about which some information is required to be determined. In a descriptive study, it is customary to sort out a study population and then make observations on a sample taken from it [10]. A population sample is any part of the fully defined population. The sample has to be representative. A target sample is one in which every and each member of the population has an equal and mutually exclusive chance of being selected [11].
The 3 TVET colleges and 1 FDRE TVI were Addis Ababa Polytechnic College, General Wunget Polytechnic College, Gofa TVET College, and FDRE TVT Institute. In this study, the target population is 442 to which the researcher wishes to generalize the study. However, the accessible population 210 is used as a subset of the target population to which the researcher has reasonable access. To determine the sample size, the following statistical formula [12] is used in line with the context of this study.
n = Sample Size
N = Population Size (442)
e = Margin error e = 0.05 based on the research condition
A Likert scale is an individual statement or question that asks an individual statement or question that asks a person to indicate the extent to which they agree by choosing one of several ranked options.
Moreover, documents were checked by interpreting mission statements, semester and annual reports, strategic plans, and other teacher-related information in the university [13] and [14]. According to [15], document analysis is a form of qualitative research method in which documents are interpreted by the researcher to give voice and meaning around continuing professional development.
2.2. Methods of Data Analysis
The researcher analyzed the data by using both quantitative research methods. Quantitative data was done by using SPSS Version 27.00 to calculate frequencies, percentage, mean value, and standard deviation. Qualitative research data were organized by using document analysis.
3. Results and Discussion
The purpose of this study is to investigate the current status of TVET teachers’ continuous professional development practice in Addis Ababa TVET College (Addis Ababa Tegbaried Polytechnic College, General Wunget Polytechnic College, and Gofa Industrial TVET College) and the Federal TVET Institute. This is dedicated to the presentation, analysis, and interpretation of the results. The analysis is based on sorting out the extent to which the TVET teachers reacted to the current status of continuous professional development practice.
3.1. Teachers’ Participation in Types of Continuous Professional Development Practice
Continuous professional development is a continuous process that helps a teacher refine his or her skills, adapt to new educational paradigms, and, ultimately, make a lasting impact on your students. You should actively look out for CPD courses to stay up-to-date and relevant in your field.
Continuous professional development practice can include training courses, workshops, certifications, etc., or even connecting with a mentor who can help teachers navigate their careers.
Even if professional development for teachers is not new in Ethiopia, there is no structured implementation of TVET TCPD in colleges and institutes [16]. And the TVET plan strategy aims to put this structure in place. The Ethiopian Ministry of Education [16] stipulates that all teachers are expected to develop and improve their practice by participating in CPD activities each semester.
Table 1. Participation of TVET teachers in CPD Practice Participation in types of TVET TCPD training result.
| No. |
Variables |
No |
Percent (%) |
Yes |
Percent (%) |
| 1 |
Courses or workshops training (like on subject matter or methods and/or other education-related topics) |
155 |
76% |
49 |
24% |
| 2 |
Education conferences or seminars (where TVET teachers and/or researchers present their research results and discuss educational problems) |
144 |
70.6% |
60 |
29.4% |
| 3 |
Observation visits to other college or Institute or Industry |
140 |
68.6% |
64 |
31.4% |
| 4 |
TVET Teachers summer training |
131 |
64.2% |
73 |
35.8% |
| 5 |
TVET Teacher participation in Curriculum development |
132 |
64.7% |
72 |
35.3% |
| 6 |
TVET Teacher participation in Policy and career structure Improvement |
129 |
63.2% |
75 |
36.8% |
| 7 |
Engaging in informal dialogue with your colleagues on how to improve your teaching |
145 |
71.1% |
59 |
29.1% |
| 8 |
Mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching, as part of a formal college or Institute arrangement |
147 |
72.1% |
57 |
28.9% |
| 9 |
implementation of active learning methods and formative assessment techniques |
148 |
72.5% |
56 |
27.5% |
| 10 |
Participation in a network of teachers formed specifically for the professional development of teachers |
140 |
68.6% |
64 |
31.4% |
| 11 |
Reading professional literature (e.g. journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers) |
152 |
74.5% |
52 |
25.6% |
In Addis Ababa TVET College and Institute, most of the teachers have participated in the listed types of continuing professional development practices. As indicated in Table 1, more than 69% (69.6%) of teachers are not participating in the any of Continuous Professional Development listed, which has a negative impact on their teaching practice. For example, 76% of TVET teachers respond that, they are not participated on Courses or workshops training (like on subject matter or methods and/or other education-related topics) which is followed by Reading professional literature (e.g. journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers) 74.5%. Only 36.8% of teachers participated on TVET Teacher Policy and career structure Improvement and followed by TVET Teachers summer training, 35.8% of teachers responded.
3.2. Positive Impact of CPD on TVET Teacher
The five-point Likert scale is applied as an interval scale. The mean is very significant. From 1 to 1.8, it means there is no impact; from 1.81 to 2.6, it means there is a small impact; from 2.81 to 3.41, it means there is a neutral impact; from 3.41 to 4.2, it means there is moderate; and from 4.21 to 5.0, it means there is a strong impact. So from table below (Table 2), from total respondents, 55.9% and 30.3% stated that reading professional literature (e.g., journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers) has a moderate positive impact and a strong positive impact on TVET teachers, respectively, which is followed by education conferences or seminars where TVET teachers and researchers present their research results and discuss educational problems, which has a 55.9% and 28.3% moderate and strong positive impact on teachers professional development. Similarly, more than 75% of the respondents stated all the listed types of teacher professional development have a positive impact on teacher professional development. In all types of teacher continuous professional development stated in the below table, the mean is greater than 3.41, which means they have a positive impact on teacher continuous professional development in order to improve students learning.
Table 2. Positive Impact of CPD practice on TVET Teacher.
| No. |
CPD activities |
NI (%) |
SI (%) |
N (%) |
M (%) |
StI (%) |
Mean |
SD. |
| 1 |
Courses or workshops training on subject matter, methods and other education-related topics |
3 (1.9) |
7 (4.5) |
21 (13.4) |
93 (59.2) |
33 (21.0) |
3.93 |
0.833 |
| 2 |
Education conferences or seminars when TVET teachers or researchers present their research results and discuss on educational problems |
3 (2.1) |
4 (2.8) |
16 (11.0) |
81 (55.9) |
41 (28.3) |
4.06 |
0.831 |
| 3 |
Observation visits to other college or Institute or Industry |
1 (0.7) |
3 (2.1) |
27 (19.1) |
58 (41.1) |
52 (36.9) |
4.11 |
0.837 |
| 4 |
TVET Teachers summer training |
3 (2.3) |
5 (3.8) |
20 (15.0) |
61 (45.9) |
44 (33.1) |
4.04 |
0.916 |
| 5 |
TVET Teacher participation in Curriculum development |
1 (0.8) |
4 (3.1) |
23 (17.6) |
68 (51.9) |
35 (26.7) |
4.01 |
0.799 |
| 6 |
TVET Teacher participation in Policy and career structure Improvement |
1 (0.8) |
5 (3.9) |
19 (14.7) |
76 (58.9) |
28 (21.7) |
3.97 |
0.770 |
| 7 |
Engaging in informal dialogue with your colleagues on how to improve your teaching |
2 (2.4) |
4 (2.8) |
22 (15.2) |
72 (49.7) |
45 (31.0) |
4.06 |
0.835 |
| 8 |
Mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching, as part of a formal college or Institute arrangement |
2 (1.4) |
3 (2) |
28 (19) |
73 (49.7) |
41 (27.9) |
4.01 |
0.823 |
| 9 |
implementation of active learning methods and formative assessment techniques |
3 (2.0) |
7 (4.8) |
25 (17.0) |
76 (51.7) |
36 (24.5) |
3.92 |
0.888 |
| 10 |
Participation in a network of teachers formed specifically for the professional development of teachers |
3 (2.2) |
5 (3.6) |
25 (18.2) |
68 (49.6) |
36 (26.3) |
3.94 |
0.889 |
| 11 |
Reading professional literature like journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers etc. |
2 (1.3) |
8 (5.3) |
11 (7.2) |
85 (55.9) |
46 (30.3) |
4.09 |
0.837 |
Key: NI-No Impact; SI-Small Impact; N-Neutral; MI-Moderate; StI-Strong Impact SD-standard deviation.
As Table 2 depicts, 36.9% and 33.1% of the respondent teachers, respectively, reported that observation visits to other colleges, institutes, or industries and TVET teachers summer training have a strong positive impact on teacher professional development, followed by engaging in informal dialogue with your colleagues on how to improve your teaching and Reading professional literature like journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers, etc., as 31.0% and 30.3%, respectively, have also strongly positive impacts on teacher professional development, as respondents answer.
Education conferences or seminars when TVET teachers or researchers present their research results and discuss educational problems, and mentoring and/or peer observation and coaching as part of a formal college or institute arrangement have a moderate positive impact on teachers professional development, which are identified by respondents as 28.3% and 27.9%, respectively.
Generally speaking, more than 80% of the respondent-trainees reported that courses or workshops training on subject matter, education conferences or seminars when TVET teachers or researchers present their research results and discuss educational problems, TVET teachers summer training, TVET teacher participation in policy and career structure improvement, and reading professional literature like journals, evidence-based papers, thesis papers, etc. have moderate positive impact or strong positive impact on teacher professional development.
The table also shows that implementation of active learning methods and formative assessment techniques by 17.0% of the respondent teachers may or may not have a positive impact on teachers’ professional development.
To conclude, the majority of the teachers reported that types of professional development have a positive impact on teachers’ professional development. As to the mean values, it is found that describing specifications of things like observation visits to other colleges, institutes, or industries (mean score = 4.11), TVET teachers summer training (mean score = 4.04), and engaging in informal dialogue with your colleagues on how to improve your teaching (mean value = 4.06) are perceived to have the most positive impact on the professional development of teachers.
3.3. Current Need of TVET Teacher Continuous Professional Development
The five-point Likert scale is applied to an interval scale. The mean is very significant. From 1 to 1.8, it means there is No Impact; from 1.81 to 2.6, it means there is small impact; from 2.81 to 3.41, it means there is Neutral Impact; from 3.41 to 4.2, it means there is Moderate and from 4.21 to 5.0 it means there is strong impact.
As indicated in Table 3, 42.6%, 42.2%, and 37.7% of the participants considered knowledge and understanding of instructional practices (knowledge mediation) in my main major subject field(s), knowledge and understanding of my main major subject field(s), and student evaluation and assessment practice as the high level of needed skills by teachers, respectively. Generally speaking, more than 88% of the respondent teachers frequently need knowledge and understanding of instructional practices (knowledge mediation) in my main major subject field(s), knowledge and understanding of my main major subject field(s), and student evaluation and assessment practice (
) for three levels of Continuous
Table 3. List of current need of TVET TPD.
| No. |
Current need of TCPD |
NN (%) |
LLN (%) |
N (%) |
MLN (%) |
HLN (%) |
Mean |
SD. |
| 1 |
Knowledge and understanding of my main major subject field(s) |
3 (1.5) |
2 (1) |
19 (9.3) |
93 (45.6) |
86 (42.2) |
4.26 |
0.787 |
| 2 |
Knowledge and understanding of instructional practices (knowledge mediation) in my main major subject field(s) |
1 (0.5) |
4 (2.0) |
19 (9.3) |
96 (47.1) |
87 (42.6) |
4.26 |
0.748 |
| 3 |
ICT skills for teaching |
1 (0.5) |
4 (2.0) |
24 (11.8) |
103 (50.5) |
72 (35.3) |
4.18 |
0.750 |
| 4 |
Teaching students with special learning needs |
1 (0.5) |
4 (2.0) |
21 (10.3) |
110 (53.9) |
68 (33.3) |
4.19 |
0.733 |
| 5 |
College or Institute management and administration |
2 (1) |
3 (1.5) |
28 (13.7) |
109 (53.7) |
62 (30.4) |
4.10 |
0.759 |
| 6 |
Content and performance standards in my main major subject field(s) |
2 (1) |
1 (0.5) |
23 (11.3) |
125 (61.3) |
53 (26) |
4.12 |
0.692 |
| 7 |
Student counseling |
2 (1) |
1 (0.5) |
23 (11.3) |
122 (59.8) |
56 (27.5) |
4.13 |
0.697 |
| 8 |
Pedagogical competencies in teaching my subject field(s) |
0 (0) |
2 (1) |
19 (9.3) |
132 (64.7) |
51 (25) |
4.14 |
0.604 |
| 9 |
Knowledge of the curriculum |
0 (0.0) |
3 (1.5) |
31 (15.2) |
94 (46.1) |
76 (37.3) |
4.18 |
0.737 |
| 10 |
Student evaluation and assessment practice |
0 (0) |
1 (0.5) |
26 (12.7) |
100 (49) |
77 (37.7) |
4.24 |
0.685 |
| 11 |
Student behavior and classroom management |
0 (0) |
1 (0.5) |
29 (14.2) |
108 (52.9) |
66 (32.4) |
4.17 |
0.674 |
| 12 |
Approaches to individualized learning |
0 (0) |
0 (0) |
37 (18.1) |
128 (62.7) |
39 (19.1) |
4.02 |
0.603 |
| 13 |
Teaching in a multicultural or multilingual setting |
0 (0) |
1 (0.5) |
38 (18.6) |
119 (58.3) |
46 (22.5) |
4.03 |
0.661 |
| 14 |
Teaching cross-curricular skills (e.g. problem-solving, learning-to-learn) |
0 (0) |
1 (0.5) |
31 ()15.2 |
103 (50.5) |
69 (33.8) |
4.18 |
0.694 |
| 15 |
Approaches to developing cross-occupational Competencies for future work or future studies |
0 (0) |
1 (0.5) |
22 (10.8) |
119 (58.3) |
62 (30.4) |
4.18 |
0.652 |
| 16 |
New technologies in the workplace |
1 (0.5) |
0 (0) |
31 (15.2) |
99 (48.5) |
73 (35.8) |
4.19 |
0.721 |
Key: NN-No need; LLN-Low Level of need; N-Neutral; MLN-Moderate Level of need; HLN-High Level of need; SD-standard deviation.
professional development. These were followed by ‘Knowledge of the curriculum development and ICT skills for teaching,’ which is a high level of needed by 37.3% and 35.3% of respondents, respectively. In general, they are needed by 84.5 respondents, that is
for two of teacher professional development.
Moreover, the mean scores in Table 3 indicate that almost all the professional development needed is found to be moderately needed (mean scores range from 4.02 to 4.26). Based on the mean values, knowledge and understanding of my main major subject field(s) and knowledge and understanding of instructional practices (knowledge mediation) in my main major subject field(s) are the most needed skills (mean value = 4.26) as mentioned above.
Lastly, professional development needed by teachers is, namely Approaches to individualized learning, teaching in a multicultural or multilingual setting, and college or institute management and administration are frequently needed by the teachers’ respondents (mean values of 4.02, 4.03, and 4.10, respectively).
The most high levels of need by TVET teachers are knowledge and understanding of the main major subject field(s), knowledge and understanding of instructional practices (knowledge mediation) in his or her main major subject field(s), Student evaluation and assessment practice, New technologies in the workplace, Teaching cross-curricular skills (e.g., problem-solving, learning-to-learn), teaching cross-curricular skills (e.g., problem-solving, learning-to-learn), and ICT skills for teaching.
4. Conclusions
Based on the findings of this study, it is concluded that types of continuous professional development of TVET teachers have a positive impact on their continuous professional development. In TVET College and Institute, the majority of the teachers have the luck of continuous professional development. As indicated in the result, they need different types of CPD in order to improve students’ outcomes. The TVET teachers are not involved with supporting and motivating their students if their continuous professional development is not captured.
Knowledge and understanding of instructional practices (knowledge mediation) in my main major subject field(s), knowledge and understanding of my main major subject field(s), and student evaluation and assessment practice as the high level of needed skills by teachers currently.
This research study, therefore, concludes that CPD activities should be presented based on the actual needs of teachers, focusing on teachers’ needs and the positive impact of continued professional development to bring sustainable improvement to students’ outcomes. From the results of the TVET college and Federal TVET Institute distributed questionnaires, the teachers’ responses to the questionnaires, and from teachers’ responses, it is reasonable to conclude that teachers’ need-based CPD activity is valuable in improving teachers’ CPD practice in order to improve students’ outcomes in Ethiopia.
5. Recommendation
CPD organizers and teacher educators should conduct a careful need analysis before designing and implementing continuous professional development programs for TVET teachers. The need analysis should focus on updating and upgrading types of CPD.
TVET Teacher educators must consider that knowledge and skills have a reciprocal relationship and both have a positive impact on TVET teachers and their teaching. As such, a CPD may include theoretical input responding to the needs, which has to be identified in the need analysis prior to starting a CPD program with appropriate provision of specific practices for teachers to discuss issues around theoretical underpinnings.
TVET teacher CPD activities may combine both knowledge and skills to address planning and implementing teaching ideas, and they may have follow-up sessions for reflection.
There should be close coordination between the teacher educators and the participants of a CPD to ensure a collaborative environment and active participation of TVET teacher.
The CPD objectives and goals may be aligned with the national and institutional policies. The institution needs to introduce a norm of experimentation permitting teachers to try on new instructional practices in their classrooms.
There should be discussion groups providing a chance for the teachers to share their ideas as a continuous support and follow-up activity.
Acknowledgements
Above all, the authors would like to thank God, the sovereign the great, for the guidance in the work of this research article. The authors would like to express gratitude to the advisors who gave their time and assistance to the completion of this article.
Conflicts of Interest
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.