DOI: 10.36347/sjahss.2018.v06i01.012

Pages: 61-69

This study sought to explore primary school teachers’ perceptions of their role in the planning and implementation of staff development programmes in Hwange District of Matabeleland North Province in Zimbabwe. It adopted the qualitative research methodology and the case study design where the case of five selected primary schools was used. The study population comprised senior primary school teachers in the area under study and a sample of 30 (n=30) teachers was considered to accomplish the study. The sample was obtained through the Purposive sampling method and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) were used as the data generation technique while FGD guides were utilised as the actual instruments to gather the data. Consistent with qualitative inquiries, the researchers were the primary research tools, hence, the moderation of FGDs was done by the researchers. Interpretive phenomenological analysis (IPA) of the generated data was done and the data was simply presented in prose form. The major findings were that teachers generally understood school staff development to involve the sharing of ideas on pedagogical and other school related issues in order to improve the teachers’ performance. Central to the study, findings revealed that the teachers played different roles in both the planning and implementation of school staff development programmes..............