Exploring the role of Ngotsha District Teacher Development Centre in supporting teachers’ professional learning.
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Date
2018
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Abstract
In KwaZulu-Natal DTDCs have been established to support teacher professional development. The study explored Ngotsha DTDC as a space to support teacher professional development. The aim was to explore in what ways the activities and
resources provided by this centre support teacher professional development.
This study was located within the interpretive paradigm and a case study research design was adopted. Semi-structured interviews, observations and document analysis were used. I interviewed seven teachers instead of the eight initially recruited and four centre employees (one could not be reached due to some commitments). All teachers interviewed were black African History teachers. In addition to these I interviewed a retired circuit manager who was sought out for very critical information regarding the
history of the centre. This study was based in one district and the findings cannot be generalized.
The findings of the study indicated that teachers were enthusiastic in attending the workshops organized by the DoE and hosted at the centre. Teachers engaged in different learning activities like discussions, collaboration, working in small groups and
in so doing gaining a lot of information, content knowledge and procedural content knowledge. This improved their classroom practice. Another finding was that teachers could not access certain resources like the computer centre which, according to them, was due to poor marketing of the centre. Centre employees also expressed their frustrations over unrepaired equipment which hampered the proper functioning of the centre. This resulted from the centre not being given power to manage their finances.
Key words: professional development, teacher learning, teacher learning activities, resources.
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Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.