An investigation of teachers' professional development practices in a rural Fijian secondary school

Abstract

This research investigates teachers' professional development (PD) practices in a rural Fijian secondary school. Using a qualitative research design, data was gathered by means of document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 15 teachers of the case study school. The findings revealed that the teachers in the school were mostly engaged in traditional PD which involved a teacher-centred PD, top-down approach and PD being short-term and unconnected, which basically failed to meet teachers' professional needs. In contrast job-embedded collegial learning, even though not widely practiced, was found to be more beneficial. By providing information on teachers' PD, this study could be of interest to schools and the Ministry of Education.