ACCOUNTABILITY THROUGH CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT: PERCEPTIONS OF EDUCATORS IN UMGUNGUNDLOVU DISTRICT, SOUTH AFRICA
Many institutions have embraced professional development as a way of capacity building in response to external accountability imperatives. Predicated on an envisaged linear relationship between CPD and educational outcomes, which assumes that an improvement in teachers’ content and pedagogic knowledge would result in the improvement of educational outcomes, the Department of Basic Education devotes an enormous amount of resources to CPD. This paper sought to elicit the understandings of educators regarding the implementation and effectiveness of CPD in the South African Education system using a case study of uMgungundlovu District in KwaZulu-Natal. Using a mixed methods approach, the study conducted in-depth interviews with 15 purposively selected school principals and 100 questionnaire surveys with teachers. The study found that CPD is implemented as an accountability mechanism with much success. However, a significant number of respondents reported that they do not use what they learn from such CPD. The findings of this research provide profound insights for training and development in the public sector. Unless the public sector adopts a systematic CPD that is informed by needs analysis and facilitated by competent practitioners, quality education and efficient service delivery will not be attained.