To improve educational outcomes through improvements in teaching standards, the Ministry of Education has stepped up efforts aimed at providing continuous and lifelong learning among Ghanaian teachers. However, the impact of the recent emphasis on a comprehensive framework for the professional development of teachers on teaching and learning outcomes has not been adequately studied. Despite the growing body of literature suggesting that professional development and professional knowledge may be associated with student outcomes, these relationships remain an open question. This study, therefore, sought to determine the impact of teachers’ professional development on academic performance in senior high schools in Ghana and the mediating role of teachers’ professional knowledge. A survey was conducted, and valid questionnaires were retrieved from 4,102 teachers in selected public senior high schools from four regions (including 77 districts and 97 public senior high schools) across the Southern, Middle, and Northern belts of Ghana. The results of the study showed that professional development has a significant positive relationship with professional knowledge (γ = 0.26, p < 0.001). Also, professional development and professional knowledge were positively related to academic performance (γ = 0.08, p < 0.001) and (γ = 0.04, p < 0.001) respectively. Finally, the results of the study showed that professional knowledge partially mediated the relationship between professional development and academic performance. The study, therefore, concluded that professional development leads to improvements in the academic performance of students through improvements in teachers’ professional knowledge and other characteristics of teachers that were not accounted for by this study. Among other things, the study recommends that teachers should be encouraged to engage in diverse professional development activities that respond to the inadequacies in their professional competencies.
The aim of this study was to investigate the factors that affect quality service provision and students’ satisfaction at Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development. Descriptive survey research was used for the study. Simple random sampling was used to select third and final year undergraduate students in Kumasi and Mampong campuses.The total population of the study was 1642. Parasuram’s SERQUAL instrument type of questionnaire was adopted as a research instrument for data collection. The internal consistency of the 32-items yielded a Cronbach Alpha value of 0.91. The data gathered were quantitatively analysed with the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study showed a statistically strong and direct relationship between quality in commitment, social and financial bonds, communication, general academic conditions and administrative support and students’ satisfaction which in turn influenced institutional image and students’ loyalty. This indicates that students had high expectations in the five-dimensional variables that stood as proxy for quality service provisions by the University. It was recommended that university management should appoint competent academic and administrative staffs to positions, provide them with adequate professional development programmes to improve their commitment in teaching and learning, communication and other service provisions. More so, management should be proactive towards adequate infrastructural provision for students in order to improve their academic work in a conducive learning environment. Lastly, the study will benefit other universities in Ghana to identify cost effective ways of improving service quality provision.
The study examined the sustainability of distance education in the context of finance, management and availability of support services in Ashanti region of Ghana. Data for the study were obtained from five groups of respondents namely; centre coordinators, educational administrators, facilitators of distance education programme, potential and current students pursuing distance education. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics. The results revealed that current management and support services are adequate and sustainable. In the case of finance management, it is believed that financial resources generated by the programme through students' fees would sustain the programme. However, potential, and current students pursuing distance education viewed the private cost involved as high. Hence for sustainability of the programme, it is important that school fees charged are reviewed in order not to negatively influence students' access to distance education.
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