Situational Analysis of Continuous Professional Development for enhancing Early Child Care and Education in Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated the situational analysis of continuous professional development for enhancing early child care and education. Two research questions guided the studyand two hypotheses were tested at 0 descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study was 21,876, comprising 675 teachers and 45 headteachers. Multistage sampling was used to select 720 teachers and headteachers for the study. The instrument for data collection was 13-item researcher-developed questionnaire, titled Continuous Professional Development Questionnaire (CPDQ), which was validated by three academic experts.  Cronbach alpha was used for reliability test with coefficient alpha of 0.77. Data analysis was done using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while the null hypotheses were tested using t-test. The findings of the study revealed amongst others teachers within the private ECCE centres in Anambra State had fair awareness about CPD programmes and that the utilisation of CPD programmes among teachers was low. Based on the finding, it was recommended that there is a need for the Anambra State Ministry of Education to create awareness on the importance and the need for the introduction and implementation of periodic CPD programmes for teachers.