Social construction of knowledge through continuous professional development in public primary teacher training colleges in Nyeri and Murang’a Counties, Kenya

Abstract

Continuous professional development (CPD) for teachers is a critical area of teacher development globally and across various contexts. It has been advocated for as an intervention that improves teacher quality, education reforms, and subsequent quality in education. While CPD is good at retooling the teachers in the advent of the new education reform, the result of this retooling has not fully translated to the professional growth of teachers, given their inability to surmount many related challenges. The purpose of the study was to assess how tutors socially construct knowledge through Continuous Professional Development in Public Primary teacher training colleges in Nyeri and Murang’a Counties. The study objectives were: To explore tutors’ view on the social construction of knowledge acquired through CPD; to analyse the CPD training process on tutors’ social construction of knowledge; to evaluate the relationship between the nature and level of tutors’ involvement in CPD and their social construction of knowledge and lastly was to assess the association between the frequency and duration taken in CPD training and tutors’ social construction of knowledge. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological theory of human development and the Social Constructivist theory of knowledge construction by Vygotsky, Piaget, and Bruner guided the study. The study embraced an interpretivist philosophical paradigm. It adopted a qualitative approach using phenomenological design. With a target population of 92 respondents, a sample size of 38 was used. Purposive sampling was used to select study sites and key informants; which included the principals and resource persons from the Ministry of Education. Stratified, proportionate, and simple random sampling approaches were used to select the tutors. Data was collected through in-depth interviews and focus group discussions. Qualitative data was analysed thematically and then reported in narrative form. However, quantitative data from respondents' demographic information was analysed through descriptive statistics. The study findings revealed the following; the majority of the tutors interpreted CPD as a professional practice that helps them to upgrade their expertise; collaborative activities are the most effective method of tutor construction of knowledge; they were unhappy with being imposed on programmes without their participation; short and infrequent workshops are ineffective. The study concluded that: CPD is an important programme in furthering tutors’ professional capacity; cascade models of CPD training fail to provide a sustained and collaborative environment for tutors’ social construction; lack of involvement does not address tutors' training needs; inadequacy of time hinders effective knowledge construction. The study recommends that: The Ministry of Education (MOE) needs to enhance CPD training for retooling of tutors; the MOE to develop a more inclusive and tutor friendly CPD model based on their needs analysis; the MOE should involve tutors while devising CPD training; and the MOE should provide adequate duration for the CPD training for the tutors to realise the benefits of training.