The effectiveness of professional development programs (PDP) for kindergarten teachers in Hong Kong

Teachers are expected by various stakeholders to use and provide knowledgeable practises in their classrooms and stay up to date with the latest development ECE practises. There appears to be a lack of research into what kindergarten teachers actually think of the quality of the professional development made available to them.
An exploratory investigation was conducted with kindergarten teachers from private, government funded and international schools to evaluate what they thought of the professional development they have taken part in and how effective and impactful it is on their teaching practise. Qualitative data was collected and analysed using inductive coding and a thematic approach to examine their opinions.
Results show that there is a consistent variation in the quality of professional development received, with positive and negative experiences recorded. The common variables that effect the effectiveness of the professional development were the experience and knowledge of the lecturer and their ability to deliver information in a practically applicable way, the relevance of the subjects and scheduling of the professional development programmes.
The results also imply that teachers value and understand the importance of professional development, but more needs to be done to ensure relevant and useable subject matter is delivered in a practical kindergarten appropriate manner.