Reinventing teacher educators’ professional learning: Affordances of a context-based continuous professional development model in Kenya

Abstract

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is widely recognised as a critical mechanism for strengthening teachers’ and teacher educators’ capacity to respond to evolving educational reforms. However, many professional development initiatives remain episodic, externally driven and insufficiently connected to educators’ institutional realities, limiting their long-term impact on professional practice. This study investigated how a context-based CPD model influenced teacher educators’ pedagogical capacity, professional identity and implementation of competency-based education within a Kenyan teacher education institution. Guided by Transformative Learning Theory and Experiential Learning Theory, the study employed a qualitative research design involving 24 teacher educators who participated in a four-year workplace-based CPD programme. Data were generated through semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, reflective narratives and document analysis and analysed using thematic analysis. The findings indicate that the context-based CPD model enhanced tutors’ pedagogical competence, strengthened digital literacy, improved assessment practices, fostered reflective practice, promoted collaborative mentoring and increased confidence in implementing competency-based curricula. The workplace-embedded nature of the programme enabled participants to translate professional learning directly into classroom practice while simultaneously transforming their professional identities. Nevertheless, institutional constraints, including inadequate digital infrastructure, limited instructional resources and competing workload demands, constrained the sustainability of some innovations. This study contributes to the growing literature on teacher professional learning by demonstrating that context-based CPD extends beyond knowledge acquisition to facilitate sustained pedagogical transformation through reflection, collaboration and situated professional inquiry. It argues that effective CPD should be continuous, context-responsive, evidence-informed and institutionally supported if meaningful educational reform is to be realised.