Teacher’s Professional Development

Teacher’s professional development is one of the most important elements in educational discourse. Skills and competencies are built over time through formal education and other forms of training, but there are situational, personal, interpersonal, and contextual factors that affect teacher’s professional development (Furner and McCulla, 2018,13). These factors are dynamic and depend on the location where a teacher is teaching. African teachers work in diverse multicultural environments (Mokhele and Jita, 2012, 577). These environments affect how the teacher relates to vital stakeholders such as the children, the community, and fellow teachers. Understanding culture is the first step towards creating a healthy relationship with key stakeholders in educational environments. This will in turn influence a teacher’s professional development (Wear and Bickel, 2000,39). In Africa, indigenous knowledge is highly valued, and a teacher has to be well acquainted with this knowledge to improve on how scientific knowledge is shared or disseminated to pupils or students. Indigenous knowledge is not only vital to building a relationship with the community and students but also vital in integrating with scientific knowledge to create a better understanding by students. When teachers understand local beliefs, norms, and other cultural expectations, he or she will be in a better position to infuse culture with modern or scientific knowledge with cultural norms and disseminate the knowledge in a manner that respects these values and…

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