An exploration of teacher continuing professional development (“CPD”) in Hong Kong primary schools: Impacts on teaching and learning, teachers’ attitudes and engagement

This study aims at exploring teacher continuing professional development (“CPD”) in Hong Kong primary schools. This study adopted quantitative approach. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the influences of teacher CPD on teaching and learning, teachers’ attitudes towards and engagement in teacher CPD. Eight in-service teachers from three different primary schools were invited to be the participants in this study.
The findings of this study show that participants generally held positive attitudes towards teacher CPD; they have more favorable instrumental attitude than affective attitude. Moreover, it is found that teacher CPD matches the needs of current trends, such as curriculum renewal and the application of multimedia and online assessment software to foster teaching and learning. This study also discovered that teachers’ personal factors (years of teaching experience and teachers’ rank) caused teachers to have different initiatives and considerations and hence affected their engagement in teacher CPD.