The influence of professional development on quality teaching in Ghanaian pre-tertiary schools

Teacher professional development (TPD) has garnered increasing global attention and significant financial investments in recent years, yet empirical studies examining its direct influence on teaching quality remain scarce. Framed around the Theory of Performance, this study aimed to bridge this gap by exploring how TPD experiences influenced quality teaching at the second cycle level of the Ghanaian education ladder. The study employed a phenomenological design using 42 senior high school teachers selected from one region in Ghana through the purposive sampling technique. Participants took part in in-depth focus group discussions and follow-up classroom performance observations, after which data were analysed following a thematic analytical technique. The study revealed that while TPD experiences improved instructional delivery and classroom management aspects of quality teaching, their impact on the content knowledge aspect of quality teaching was less evident. Given that globally, prioritising teachers' content knowledge in continuous professional development programmes could help countries achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goal 4, which emphasises, among other things, quality education for all, the study recommended that TPD programmes in Ghana should place greater emphasis on improving the content knowledge aspect of quality teaching.