Advancing Professional Development Among Secondary Agricultural Education Teachers in Uganda

In 2020, Uganda's Ministry of Education and Sports implemented a Competence-Based Curriculum (CBC) for lower secondary education to equip students with practical skills for the 21st century. Despite its potential for socio-economic transformation, past research revealed that many Ugandan secondary agricultural education teachers lack the necessary pedagogical skills to successfully implement this curriculum and seldom participate in Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programs during their teaching careers. We sought to identify the CPD programs in which these teachers engage, assess their perceptions of available CPD programs in Uganda, determine their professional needs, and recommend strategies for providing high-quality CPD training. This mixed-methods study involved 52 participants, with 88% of the male majority having a bachelor's degree in agricultural education and an average of 3.7 years of teaching experience. Most participants attended 3 to 4 CPD trainings in an academic year and indicated the need for CPD training, particularly in subject content areas, preferably conducted in-person, infused with hands-on training, and conducted before the start of each academic term. We recommend the operationalization of the CPD Framework by the Ugandan government and the decentralization of CPD training programs to elevate the professional quality of agricultural education teachers and consequently enhance their students’ academic outcomes.