Teachers’ perceptions of teacher professional development in Trinidad and Tobago: gaps between policy and practice

The Ministry of Education of Trinidad and Tobago offered professional development workshops to teachers during the school vacation period 2010-2018. This study investigated teachers’ perspectives on teacher professional development, based largely on their professional learning experiences in the workshops and other teacher professional development (TPD) activities. Four research questions were constructed to gain an understanding of teachers’ conceptualisation of TPD, the knowledge and skills developed, their perceived implementation of this knowledge and these skills, and subsequent improved student learning. The research methods used were face to face interviews, workshop evaluation forms, and electronic survey forms. Data were processed using matrices to identify comments frequently made by participants, to which thematic analysis was applied. The findings indicated participants’ perceptions of TPD and the benefits they derived. Teachers perceived that they developed skills and pedagogical knowledge but minimal increase in content knowledge. Improved student learning was reported in the areas of student engagement and student satisfaction; however, there was no reference to improved grades or test scores. Several teachers experienced constraints in their professional development and were unable to implement strategies due to lack of adequate or available resources. Given the generally positive feedback across cohorts of participants, I recommend that the inclusion of TPD should be stipulated in teachers’ job conditions, to allow for all students to have the opportunity to be taught by professionally trained teachers. The employer would be required to introduce systems and structures which would be appropriate for a postcolonial nation which inherited a colonial education legacy. Additionally, engagement in future professional development activity can be improved by rethinking its scheduling and providing institutional support.