How can continuous professional development (CPD) actually be continuous? Within developing contexts, opportunities for scaffolded, sustained professional teacher development are often curtailed by the fluctuating budgets and... [ view full abstract ]
How can continuous professional development (CPD) actually be continuous? Within developing contexts, opportunities for scaffolded, sustained professional teacher development are often curtailed by the fluctuating budgets and priorities of governments and external donors. Teacher associations have long sought to provide a teacher-sourced model of professional development, with a content-specific incarnation, English language teacher Associations (ELTAs), as one possible solution in response to the paucity of CPD opportunities. ELTAs position themselves as incubators of “democratic” professionalism, free from the imposed and often contextually irrelevant priorities of donors or governments, and providing language teaching pedagogy, often missing from more general in-service trainings. Within this model, teacher members are viewed as experts within their classrooms and thus capable of not only advocating for the forms of CPD they require, but by providing it through the membership and resources within the association. At least on paper, this model presents as a self-sustaining cycle: the desired redundancy of “sustained continuous.”
This paper seeks to critically consider the potential of ELTAs as a model for sustainable CPD in East and Central Africa, using currently-operating associations from Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Kenya, DR Congo, Cameroon, and Ethiopia. Data on these associations was obtained through surveys, interviews, and participant observation from a 2016 ELTA leadership conference organised by the U.S. Department of State’s East Africa Regional English Language Office and held in Kigali, Rwanda. My investigation focuses specifically on the patterns of CPD offerings, considering their type, frequency, host institutions, partners, organisers, and participant response as reported by ELTA leadership. This analysis foregrounds the context and challenges implicit in voluntary organisations in order to identify lessons learned to indicate successful engagement strategies. Finally, I consider the required conditions for expanded application and best practices towards nurturing democratic professionalism, and ultimately, sustainable CPD.
