The Impact of Professional Development on the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of the Mathematics Teacher

Abstract

Aim: The study Sought to explore the impact of professional development on the pedagogical content knowledge of the mathematics teacher in Ghana. Study Design: The study used a case study research design. Methodology: Three research instruments, namely; documents, interview and semi-structured open-ended questionnaires was used for the study. Twelve (12) teachers were sampled from a teacher population of forty-eight (48) mathematics teachers from nine (9) government assisted Senior High Schools in the Keta Municipality to respond to the questionnaire, while a Deputy Director of Education was interviewed to gather qualitative data for analysis. Results: This research study identified that professional development had positive impacts on the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of mathematics teachers. These findings imply that, professional development for teachers is important to ensure effective teaching for improved performance of students in mathematics. Conclusions: Teachers were of the view that they should be included in the planning process of the professional development programmes, realistic duration for the programmes, they also suggested teacher motivation for participation, called for consistency in the organization of the programmes, follow-up programmes and also provision of adequate learning materials.