Teacher Professional development is considered as an important vehicle to improve teacher competencies, particularly given the changing dynamics and development in education. There are many previous studies that have explored the relevance and the importance of teacher professional development in various educational contexts, however research in Bhutan, in this field is extremely rare. The purpose of this study was to explore teacher perceptions about the professional development in relation to Teacher Human Resource Policy (2014) in four schools of Thimphu district. Using the objective sampling technique, a total of 23 participants comprising of 12 male and 11 female teachers were recruited for the study. Within the qualitative research framework, the data obtained was analyzed using thematic and descriptive analysis. The study generated rich in-depth information from the respondents on the current PD programs, challenges and expectations. Findings from the study suggest that School Based In-service Program (SBIP) is widely used as a form of teacher professional development in Thimphu district schools. Based on the results of the study, the number, accessibility and quality of the in-service trainings should be enhanced. The study also concludes that the school based professional development program seemed ineffective to impart continuous learning platform for Bhutanese teachers.
In the recent years, all over the world, there has been a huge growing concern raised towards the delivery and dissemination of quality education by the schools, Stiefel et al. (2005). Research has found that Teacher Professional Development (PD) has gathered sufficient momentum as a significant predictor of quality of learning (European Union, 2010; Forte & Flores, 2014; Mizell, 2010; Petrie & McGee, 2012).
To this effect, quality of teaching and learning has been a focus for many governments and educators alike all over the world, European Union (2010). Teacher quality matters and the only way out is to continuously learn to keep abreast with the changing needs of any schooling system. The findings of the international study of high-performing school systems by McKinsey & Company, sufficiently captures and simply states that 'the quality of an education system cannot exceed the quality of its teachers' Barber and Mourshed (2007, p.37). It has been further suggested that 'what students learn in schools depends primarily on the knowledge and skill of their teachers' Shannon and Blysma (2007). Furthermore, similar views are expressed by the European Union (2010. p.33) study that 'student outcomes depend greatly on teacher quality.’
Over the recent years, there has been a general agreement on the importance of teachers' professional development and thus many studies have reported the need for teachers to continuously engage in professional development (Bills et al., 2017; Hickey & Schmidt, 2019).
According to the Ministry of Education (Ministry of Education [MoE], 2014) in Bhutan, “Every teacher shall receive or acquire a minimum of 80 hours of need-based PD program in a year organized at the school, cluster, District/Municipality,Teacher Resource Centre (TRC), national and international levels” (p. 37). The Teachers' Human Resource Policy (THRP) in Bhutan was officially endorsed in 2014 and is a sole policy document that “Every teacher gets adequate professional development opportunities to … and skills for quality teaching and learning” (MoE, 2014, p.VI). Since then, the MoE in Bhutan had been studying on ways to improve the professional development capacity of teachers over the years. For instance, in July 2016 a nationwide PD on transformative pedagogy was provided to all teachers in Bhutan.
Subsequently in July 2017, MoE initiated and provided 'English for effective communication' workshop again to all teachers in Bhutan.
Finally, in July 2019, a nationwide PD for teachers in 'Neuroscience-based Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence and helping skills to enhance professional skills and the wellbeing of teachers' was conducted by the MoE.
The program was designed with research-based concepts and practices on neuroscience-based mindfulness and emotional intelligence and orientation on basic helping skills for teachers targeted to enhance the knowledge, understanding and skills of the teachers in dealing with students to care, guide and support in matters of students' health and wellbeing as they learn in the schools (Sherig Bhutan, 2019).
Thus, MoE had achieved its mandate of providing 40 hours of PD in a year. However, the remaining 40 hours of PD is to be provided by the district/cluster/schools which remains to be a staying problem in many Bhutanese schools across the country.
Findings from the study on Bhutanese Education system conducted by Laird et al. (1999), the only study available in this field reported that the School Based In-service Program (SBIP) in the Bhutanese schools were encouraged as a form of staff development at the school level. However, according to Chhetri et al. (1995) Bhutanese teachers in general found it difficult to accept that they [teachers] could gain from sharing their ideas with each other from SBIP. The study by Chhetri et al. hence raised questions on whether the impact of professional development program based on SBIP on teacher beliefs and practices were effective.
The purpose of this study is to explore the current teacher professional practices and challenges of Thimphu District school teachers. The aim of this study was to find out if all the teachers in Thimphu District received adequate PD hours as stipulated by the Teacher HR policy, in the last three years viz. years 2017, 2018 and 2019. In most countries, Teacher PD in a year ranges from 40 hr (Lithuania, Slovenia, Finland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland) and up to 160 hours in Estonia (European Union, 2010).
Therefore, the key issues that this study proposes to address are:
The study findings bring out the advantages and challenges of current practices in teacher professional development in Bhutan. Therefore, these findings will be significant for the policy makers, the MoE, district education officials and to all school administrators within the country. The study will fill in the literature gap, as very less research is undertaken in this important field of inquiry.
In the recent years, teacher professional development has been a widely studied topic in the field of teacher education, around the world. Odden et al. (2002) define professional development for teacher as the professional development that produces change in teachers' classroom-based instructional skills and strategies which is instrumental in the improvement of students' learning. “Although there is agreement regarding the importance of professional development program, it is not clear what form of professionalization is most effective for teachers” (Gaikhorst et al., 2015, p.43).
However, numerous research studies increasingly point towards the need for teacher engagement in continuous professional development programs. It is widely accepted that professional development promotes improvement in teaching (Kennedy, 2016). For instance, teachers and continuous professional development cannot be separated as they are said to be closely linked. Furthermore, those teachers who engaged in continuous PD has been found to have significant positive relationships between teacher quality and student achievement (Caena, 2011). Bills et al. (2017) likewise suggested that PD provides teachers a robust and high-quality learning experience which again is associated with student's academic achievement and active engagement. Moreover, BIlls et al. (2017) study showed that the greater percentage of students whose teachers took professional development program for the specific subject scored highest in the achievement, thus, professional Development engagement for teachers is critical for maintaining continuous improvement in teacher quality and raising student achievement. On the other hand, professional development provides a new way of teaching deeper understanding of children's behaviour and how they learn and revitalize the outlook on teaching (Ashbook, 2010).
The result from the study by Hickey and Schmidt (2019) through the multi day workshop for music teachers showed immediate and long-term effect on the teachers. In countries like Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain, teacher attendance in PD is clearly linked with career development and promotions (European Union, 2010, p. 44). Initiating campus based professional development for the improvement of student's learning is a successful program (Fisher et al., 2012). Fisher et al. state that student achievement across 44 schools had improved when an instructional framework was developed and implemented.
While recognizing and acknowledging the role of teacher involvement in PD over the years, teacher PD, short- term, transmission models of PD that pay limited attention to the individual needs of the teachers or the specific school context have been criticized. To have an effective and successful PD program for teachers, it needs to be sustainably planned with time matching the needs of the teacher determined by the number of teaching years, subject content and individual requirements (Forte & Flores, 2014). Therefore, careful effort must be made to involve teachers in such activities over and again (Caena, 2011; Eley et al., 2013). Forte and Flores (2014) also pointed out that the teachers consider professional development relevant when it directly addresses their specific needs and concerns or when they see a connection between a learning experience and their daily responsibilities. Odden et al. (2002) emphasized that effective professional development should be school-based and workembedded rather than a long day workshop.
This study the first of its kind explored teacher PD in relation to THRP (2014) in Thimphu district schools. Thus, this study will fill in the literature gap in the important field of teacher education in Bhutan and subsequently contribute to scholarly knowledge.
The participants of this study were 23 Thimphu District school teachers (Table.1). Thimphu is the capital city of the small Himalayan kingdom, Bhutan. The participants were teachers with field experience ranging between 1-30 years. The ethical clearance for this study was approved by the District Human Resource committee. For the study, a purposeful sampling technique was used as it identifies the respondents who will be able to provide rich and in-depth data, compensating for small sample size (Creswell, 2013; Punch, 2014).
Table 1. Participant Demographic Characteristics
This study employed primary as well as secondary data. The primary data for the study was collected using a qualitative Focus Group Discussion (FGD) with a mix of semi-structured and structured interview techniques. According to Bryman and Bell (2011) a focus group discussion is the best way to bring together people from similar background to discuss on the common issues and generate insight from their knowledge, experiences and practices. Moreover, FGD was found to be appropriate for this study as it generates rich descriptions of data required to understand the underlying issues (Bryman, 2006). All the interviews were recorded, transcribed and coded for analysis. The secondary data School-wise average Professional Development hours' in Thimphu district was collected from Thimphu District Education office with permission.
Focus group interview questions were adapted from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS) 2013 study and Laird et al. (1999) study “INSET within Bhutan 1996-1998 and the INSET framework within Bhutan, 2000- 2004/6”.
The quantitative (secondary) data for this study were computed using the SPSS conventions (version 22) and MS Excel 2019. Data collected were subjected to descriptive analyses. Also, during the data analysis process, the interview transcripts were carefully noted and taperecorded. The conversation among the participants were moderated through modification of questions and leading the discussion.
The study was conducted in four schools in Thimphu district. All the four schools are situated in semi-rural settings. The study is exploratory in nature. A total of 12 male and 11 female teachers participated in this study and were all regular teachers. A majority of them were teaching at lower secondary school and maximum of the respondents (57%) were between 20-50 years of age. There were teachers from Primary School (PS: N=6), Lower Secondary School (LSS: N=8), Middle Secondary School (MSS: N=4) and Higher Secondary School (HSS: N=5). At the same time the majority of them hold Bachelors in Education (B.Ed) qualification (52%) with varied teaching experience.
Questions in Table 2, 3, 4 and 5 were structured. These questions were presented as power point presentation using a projector. During this time, each question was read by the researchers and respondents using non-verbal responses with hand raise was carefully noted as frequency count in all the four interview clusters [places].
As suggested in Table 2 under the theme nomination, 100 % of the participants considered attending national level PD as an incentive.
Table 6 shows the number of PD hours received by 12 schools in Thimphu district. The data shows that three schools namely Wangbama Central school, Hongtsho Primary school and Genekha Lower Secondary School teachers did not meet the required 80 hours of PD in all three years (2017, 2018 and 2019) comparative statistics. While comparing the results within these schools who did not meet the requirement, the least hour of PD was in 2018 for Genekha Lower secondary school (42 hours) and the highest within this group was recorded for Wangbama Central School (78.8) hours.
Table 6. School-wise Average Professional Development Hours
Qualitative data analysis was employed to gain an in depth understanding of the current PD issues in Thimphu district schools. The sample size generated a large, in depth and rich information from the respondents on the current PD programs and challenges. The use of semistructured questions not only guided the moderator but also gave flexibility to the participants to discuss their opinions and understanding of the issue.
The focus group discussion reiterated the importance and necessity of PD programs at every stage of a teacher's life. Teachers need to update their knowledge and teaching skills. It was brought to attention during the focus group discussion that all teachers inclusive of new teachers, veteran teacher and teachers who are resourceful need to continuously update their skills, knowledge and expertise in teaching (European Union, 2010). According to MoE (2014) the recognition of professional development as an important aspect of teachers' development and leadership by MoE has been received positively by teachers. All the participants voiced out that PD can enhance their knowledge and skills and update one's practice in the teaching field. The discussion revealed that some of the schools observed one teaching day (mostly Saturdays) as PD day as an initiative to meet the 80 hours PD requirement. Teachers who have completed National Based In-service Program (NBIP) take the lead role in promoting PD culture in the school through School Based In-Service Program (SBIP). By means of such initiatives in the schools, teachers learn from each other and cultivate the learning culture.
Chapter 5, Section 5.1.2: ‘MoE shall ensure that teachers receive adequate opportunities to enhance and upgrade their professional and academic qualifications’. This section in the THRP recongnises the need and importance of professional development of teachers, which is urgent and required. However, feedback from the teachers indicate that the opportunities for professional development and up-gradation of academic qualification is lacking. The discussion with teachers revealed that not all the teachers, in any given academic year have received the required amount of PD as mandated by the THRP considering data for Thimphu district school teachers in the last three years (2017, 2018 and 2019) (Table 6).
The opportunity to attend NBIP other than nationwide PD for all teachers in 2016, 2017, and 2019 was very less. It has therefore resulted in majority of the teachers attending SBIP at the school level. It was brought to attention by a few participants that the “only popular form of PD program at the school level is SBIP.”
As a consequence, a lack of PD opportunities and further training may have resulted in teachers leaving the system. In the last five years, according to MoE, 2019, p. 44, as of May 2019, 480 teachers have left the system. On an average, 3.89% of teachers leave the education system from public schools. The reasons for leaving the system include voluntary resignation, superannuation, and expiry of contract, besides others. Lack of training and professional development opportunities both in-country and ex-country has negative impact on the teacher morale and performance and may subsequently lead to higher percentage of teacher attrition in the near future.
Similar findings related to teacher attrition were reported by (European Union, 2010). This report further states that, “Some countries have difficulty retaining young teachers in the profession.” Similar study by Gaikhorst et al., 2015, p.43, also claimed that 'Teachers who participated in professional development program remained in the profession longer than teachers who did not participate in such program'.
Chapter 5, Article 5.1.3: ‘Every teacher shall receive or acquire a minimum of 80 hours of need-based PD program in a year organized at the school, cluster, District/Municipality, Teacher Resource Centres, national and international levels’.
The first step towards achieving 80 hours need-based PD program in the form of Pedagogy training is commendable. Though the rationale for 80 hours of PD have been highlighted clearly in the In-service Education and Training (INSET) plan and the THRP (2014) policy document, the issue of applicability in terms of quantitative coverage and quality of program at the school level has been left unanswered. According to the focus group discussion participants, the MoE did not carry out any consultative meetings at school level before endorsing it. Most of the schools in Thimphu district schools have recognized that 80 hours of PD is unachievable and unrealistic.
For instance, data in Table 6 sufficiently points that schools did not meet the 80 hours PD requirements. While comparing the overall PD hours within the 12 schools, in 2017 only five schools, namely Bjemina Primary School (106.4), Khasadrapchu Middle Secondary School (97.83), Lingzhi Primary School (80), Sisina Primary School (81) and Yangchen Gatshel Middle Secondary School (89) achieved the 80 hours of PD requirement by schools. Similarly, in 2018, seven schools could not meet the 80 hours of PD requirement. The least hour recorded is 27.8 by Wangbama Central School and Tshaluna Primary schools received the highest PD hour, which is 107. Further in 2019, again five schools could not meet the 80 hours of PD requirement. Data in Table 6 further reveals that the highest PD hour was received by Khasadrapchu Middle Secondary School with 135 and the least was Hongtsho Primary school with 143 hours. Teachers are aware that it will be very difficult for them to achieve 80 hours with limited opportunities besides NBIP and SBIP. Unlike other professions, teaching is a full-time job and particularly in the boarding schools with added responsibilities of administration, counselling, student welfare and discipline. Therefore, 80 hours of PD requirement, though initiated to upgrade their skills, might adversely affect the teaching hours.
To meet the requirement set by MoE, the schools have started conducting PD programs using their in-house focal teachers but are facing resource and facilitation challenges. Some of the participants pointed out that the teachers do not seriously take the SBIP conducted by inhouse teachers. Teachers also observed that some colleagues attend the SBIP for the sake of attending and not with the intent of learning. It is difficult for teachers to listen and learn from their colleagues with same qualification and experience level.
The teachers questioned the credibility of in-house focal teachers to deliver quality PD programs. The reception of SBIP is low highlighting the absence of external expertise in delivery of PD programs at school level. The PD programs at schools will be more effective if the delivery mode is improved through integration of external expertise with inhouse teachers. However, Mizell (2010, p.7) claims that “Professional development is most effective when it occurs in the context of educators' daily work". Mizell further pointed out that school-based professional development helps teachers to identify student learning weakness through conduct of series of need based analysis to provide solutions. For instance, in Finland, the teacher may also get financial support in the form of a study grant (European Union, 2010, p. 50). (Laird et al., 1999) further suggests that the SBIP should be made iterative and complex.
Identification of the individual needs of teachers is critical for the success of need-based professional development (Mizell, 2010). However, the challenge here is to measure the individual teacher's development needs. The study uncovered the lack of proper criteria for selection of any candidate for further training. The teachers were of the opinion that the selection process for NBIP lacked transparency, thereby demotivating teachers in general. Many teachers felt quite often that not the right and meritorious candidate get the opportunity for further training and education. Teachers have voiced out issues in the teacher meetings that some form of favoritism and corruption is prevalent, resulting in the nomination of underserving candidates. Some teachers believe that this could potentially lower down their motivation level.
Therefore, there is the need to incorporate good practices in the identification and selection of teachers for PD programs at all levels. All teachers should be given ample opportunities to upgrade their professional skills in both teaching method and subject matter.
Starting 2016, MoE in Bhutan had been providing 40 hours of nationwide PD to all teachers in Bhutan. As such, 'in many countries, governments are mandated to provide a certain number of days of professional development to teachers' Mizell (2010, p. 17). While in countries like 'Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom (England), teachers are required to enroll in paid professional developments and most teachers in these countries cited enrollment in PD being too expensive' (European Union, 2010, p. 171). Therefore, it is learnt that the facilitation role provided by MoE is critical for teachers' professional and academic development. The support and intervention from MoE may be extended to individual case merits.
It was clear from the discussions that the teachers had less opportunity to attend PD programs that offered the opening to upgrade their content and enhance their subject knowledge capacity. Research has it that PD that focuses on classroom practices has greater impact than those programs with non-classroom content focus (Van Veen et al. 2010 cited in Lisa Gaikhorst et al. 2015). Most of the PD programs conducted by MoE are general nonacademic focus such as nature clubs, agriculture, scouting, games and sports.
The content of PD programs conducted at school level is questionable. Most of the time, 10 days NBIP are condensed into a day or two at school level. This indicates a serious set back, and therefore SBIPs may not be very useful at a school level. With 80 hours of PD requirement imposed on the teachers, there is high risk of PD programs becoming exhaustive and redundant with low level of learning taking place. The current 80 hours PD requirement is compromising the quality of the programs over quantification.
Similar PD programs have been conducted over the years without addition of new contents. According to some teachers, the repetition of the programs has led to redundancy compromising the quality of SBIPs in the schools. The quality of in-house expertise is also questioned not because they lack the required knowledge and skills but because of the lack of opportunities to upgrade their knowledge and skills. It might not be as effective and at par with 21st century pedagogy at regional and international levels.
The discussion revealed that despite several initiatives undertaken by schools like Saturday as PD day and each department being responsible for PD, the schools are challenged by the limited ideas to put on the table. The programs initiated by the schools to meet the MoE's requirement is not enough and is plagued by exhaustion of in-house expertise and redundancy of the program. One teacher shared that the school initiatives started with a high energy level dwindled with time in the absence of new topics to share. The saturation of in-house expertise is the main cause of low success of school initiatives. From this observation, we conclude that in-house expertise is not enough to make PD successful. Therefore, there is a need for external expertise input to resolve the issue of redundancy and expertise exhaustion.
Though the THRP states requirement of lead teachers, there are schools especially in the eastern districts without school lead teachers who are responsible for delivery of PD in the school. Also, one of the key constraints faced by the resource teachers after attending NBIP is lack of resources to impart the workshop content to fellow teachers. Therefore, it impacts both the quantity and quality of PD programs at the school level.
The inherent challenge faced by MoE is the large number of teachers scattered all over the country. This unavoidable challenge has to be addressed with innovative and creative strategies with a common goal of improving the quality of teaching. The success of these strategies and programs is directly dependent on the sustainability of the funds allotted. However, the question that arises is, how efficiently will this budget be allocated to the individual schools.
Through the discussion, it was learnt that higher secondary and central schools have earmarked budget and therefore can organize and carry out need-based PD for their teachers at school level up to certain extent. Some of these schools also have budget provision to invite resource persons from other agencies such as Royal Education Council (REC). However, the teachers indicated inadequate funds in getting external expertise to carry out PD programs. On the other hand, some teachers shared that the schools may not be able to exhaust the allocated budget due to its inability to meet the 80 hours of PD requirement. The schools are already involved in other extra-curricular activities besides academic teaching leaving them no time to carry out PD programs.
Unlike the higher secondary schools, the primary and lower secondary schools have limited access to funds specially to carry out any type of PD programs. Therefore, it is very difficult for these schools to carry out PD programs to meet the 80 hours requirement. They tie-up their PD programs in collaboration with other schools facilitated by the District Education Office. It is a known fact the schools particularly in the rural region are faced with resource constraints. It will be a challenge for the schools to allocate limited resources for teachers' development activities. The key issue is the sustainability of such huge scale programs pertaining to budget and resource allocation. The continuity of such interventions from the MoE is critical to the success of PD programs at the schools.
This study had explored the perceptions of four Thimphu district school teachers towards professional development in relation to THRP (2014). The PD data collected for the last three years, 2017, 2018 and 2019 showed that many teachers could not meet the 80 hour professional development requirement in respective schools. Therefore, huge differences and variations in the achievement of stipulated PD hours were noticed within the schools in Thimphu district. Identification of individual needs of teachers is critical for the success of need-based professional development.
The qualitative data conducted using semi-structured interviews revealed that the school based in-service program were not very useful for teachers. The findings also showed that there was a gap in the PD content or subject area requirement and delivery of the same. Development of teacher's knowledge and skills in the subject matter is equally important. Therefore, the development of a teacher needs to be holistic with equal emphasis on professional development and subject specialization.
This study also feels that the MoE in Bhutan deserves appreciation for providing 40 hour PD to all the teachers in the country. For instance, the 2016 PD on ‘Transformative pedagogy', 'English for effective communication' in 2017 and 'Neuroscience-based Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence and helping skills to enhance professional skills and well-being for teachers' in 2019 remains to be a huge success among teachers.
However, this study in its own right identified several areas of improvement in the delivery of PD programs to the teachers. Based on the focus group discussion analysis, recommendations have been proposed to make teachers' PD programs more effective and efficient in the coming years.
This study has implications to policy makers and the school administrators. The success of PD for teachers depend on a strong partnership between the teachers and the MoE. The key is identification and understanding of PD as a common goal by all the stakeholders inclusive of teachers and MoE. By doing so, there will be less resistance and more proactive participation from the teachers enhancing the quality of PD programs that will directly result in the student academic achievements.
The concept of PD should not be limited to workshops and training programs but extended to learning between two individual teachers through exchange of knowledge and skills in different teaching areas. However, due to the informal nature of exchange of learning, it may be difficult to add on to the PD hours. The MoE experts need to study on how to formalize this kind of informal learning to add on to the PD requirement. A feedback system on seeking professional assistance from one another is needed.
The key issue that was brought out during the focus group discussion with the teachers was the unrealistic goal of 80 hours PD set by the MoE. The MoE solely identified this requirement without consulting the teachers who are the key component of PD program to enhance the teaching and learning environment in the school. The absence of understanding of teaching ground realities in the schools has rendered this requirement unrealistic and unachievable. The study found enough evidence that 80 hours PD requirement is not practical and thereby ineffective in achieving the objective of THRP. Based on these findings, MoE is appealed to revisit the 80 hours requirement and come up with a realistic number in-line with the teachers' working schedule. The MoE needs to work together with the schools to identify a reasonable PD hour.
The success of PD also depends on the personal motivation and energy level of the teachers to upgrade their professional development. The THRP covers only the up gradation of professional and academic qualifications and licensing of the teachers, leaving out the emotional needs. The quality of teaching is directly proportional to the motivational level of the teachers. The professional development on its own may not be sufficient enough to enhance the quality of education in Bhutan. Therefore, a separate study on teachers' motivational requirement which can come up with strategies and plans to motivate teachers who impart knowledge to the future of Bhutan is recommended.
The policy has recognized the need and importance of professional development of teachers, which is judicious and required. The first step towards achieving 80 hours of need-based PD program in the form of 'Transformative pedagogy' in 2016, 'English for effective communication' in 2017, and MoE in 2018 and 'Neuroscience-based Mindfulness and Emotional Intelligence and helping skills to enhance professional skills and well-being for teachers' in 2019 is highly commendable. The general reception quotient has been high despite the teachers facing challenges in balancing their teaching commitments and PD. Teachers are equipped with relevant and effective teaching methods to impart knowledge and skills to the students. However, teacher views indicate that the opportunities for professional development and upgradation of academic qualification is lacking. The MoE has an important role in providing adequate opportunities to every teacher at the field in line with the THRP. There is need to have a consistent program in place to achieve this target. A tracer study to this end is recommended to study the impact of these three nationwide PD interventions in relation to the learning environment in the schools.
The sustainability and continuity of professional development of teachers will be determined by the budget allocated to each individual school. Though the INSET plan reflects budget allocation for PD at all levels, the question remains what percentage each school will receive to carry out PD activities. It will be a challenge for the schools to allocate limited resources for teachers' development activities. The gap between resource allocation and PD requirement of schools, in particular rural and lower secondary schools, can be addressed through intervention from the District Education Office. It needs to serve as a strong link between the schools and the MOE.