Teachers’ perspectives on professional development for classroom implementation of the integrated curriculum in Lesotho

𝑬𝒏𝒈𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒉 Despite the fact that Professional Development (PD) programmes have been accepted generally as essential tools for the improvement of education, reviews of PD research constantly point out their ineffectiveness. Lesotho is currently in the process of implementing a new curriculum [integrated curriculum (IC)] in primary schools. Therefore, in the context of a relatively new curriculum such as the IC, it is important to understand teachers’ perspectives during its implementation and PD’s efficiency. This study explored primary teachers’ perspectives on professional development for classroom implementation of the integrated curriculum in Lesotho. This study used the Desimone’s comprehensive framework for evaluating the effect of Continuous Development (CPD). This study further followed sense-making theory (SMT) as a theoretical lens to explore primary school teachers’ perspectives on CPD regarding the implementation of the new IC, because sense-making suggests that teachers use their prior knowledge and experiences to interpret and enact their own meaning of reform. The study followed a qualitative approach and used multiple case studies. Semi-structured interviews, lesson observations and document analysis were used to collect data. The collected data were used to generate themes and the data analysis was guided by a five-featured conceptual framework for professional development as well as SMT. The first set of findings from the first article indicates that the participating primary school teachers’ perspectives were that they are inadequately provided with enduring CPD activities, guidance and monitoring to assist them in the implementation of the IC as required by the Curriculum and Assessment Policy (CAP). Inadequate skills and knowledge resulted in the teachers being less effective in implementing the IC, although they had attended the planned professional development workshops and training sessions. The findings suggest that teachers should be provided with more frequent training sessions by the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) and that there should be follow up activities and monitoring in schools after the teachers’ training. The second set of findings from the second article indicates that although teachers participated in workshops (CPD programmes), the participating teachers indicated that those programmes had limitations in preparing them to effectively navigate many contextual factors. These factors include lack of materials, lack of the appropriate skills to facilitate/implement learner-centred approaches and limited use of ICT and Continuous Assessment (CASS) in the classroom. These findings point to the need for CPD programmes that comprise support, supervision and training for teachers to incorporate new knowledge into their daily lessons, rather than leave the burdens for them when they return to the classroom. The third set of findings from article three reveals that the participants’ perspectives vary, although they all participated in IC training workshops and regular cluster workshops (CPD programmes) for the implementation of the IC. The CPD programmes changed the teachers’ perspectives in different ways due to the different sense-making that the teachers acquired. That is, the participating teachers’ perspectives, attitudes, beliefs and the learners’ outcomes in the process of the IC implementation were differently shaped (positive for some teachers but negative for others depending on the difference in their sense- making) The findings suggest that CPD practices should, in addition, be focused on the shaping of teachers’ perspectives regarding the new curriculum rather than being focused only on instruction and assessment. ___________________________________________________________________