Staff Development Practices and Teacher Performance in Missionary Secondary Schools in Bayelsa State

Abstract

This study critically examined staff development practices and teacher performance in missionary secondary schools in Bayelsa State. Staff development and teacher performance in Bayelsa missionary secondary schools are crucial. These elements greatly influence students' educational experiences and results. Staff development exercises improve instructors' knowledge, skills, and capacities. Missionary secondary schools may keep its teachers current on teaching methods, topic knowledge, and educational trends by investing in continual professional development. This study was a correlational survey of the ex-post-facto design. The population of the study consisted of two hundred and eighty-seven school administrators and teachers in Bayelsa State missionary schools. All the population were used for the study since it was a manageable size, thus no sample was done. Instrument named Staff Development Practices and Teachers Performance Questionnaire was used to obtain information. The instrument was subjected to test to determine its reliability using missionary schools in Delta State and a coefficient of 0.81 was obtained revealing a high reliability index. Data obtained were coded and analysed using mean rating and SD to answer research questions while Pearson r was used to test hypothesis at a significance level of 0.05. Finding revealed that current staff development practices in missionary secondary schools in Bayelsa State include; professional conferences, job rotation among others. The study also revealed that staff development practices impact teacher performance since it fosters collaboration, address current challenges in teaching, contributed to teachers ability to meet the diverse needs of students. The study further revealed that staff development practices is significantly related to teacher performance. It was recommended that schools management should Recognize and celebrate teachers' accomplishments and milestones as a way to motivate and inspire them to continue their professional development efforts, among others. Other researchers could consider conducting similar study in private and public schools for holistic generalization.