Assessing the Challenges of Continuous Professional Development Among Teachers in Selected Districts of Central Province, Zambia

This study examined the implementation of Continuous Professional Development (CPD) among teachers in selected districts of Central Province, Zambia, with a focus on identifying key challenges affecting its effectiveness. Guided by a pragmatic paradigm and an exploratory sequential mixed methods design, qualitative data were first collected through interviews, observations, and document analysis involving head teachers, School In-Service Coordinators, Education Standards Officers, and a Provincial Resource Centre Coordinator, followed by a quantitative survey of 130 teachers. Descriptive statistics and thematic analysis were used to analyse the data. The findings revealed that while CPD is widely recognised as essential for improving teaching practice, its implementation is constrained by multiple interrelated challenges, including inadequate funding, time constraints arising from heavy workloads, lack of trained CPD facilitators and mentors, absence of structured and standardised CPD content, weak teacher involvement in planning, low teacher motivation, limited district-level support, donor dependence, and pronounced logistical barriers in rural and hard-to-reach areas. The study further found that CPD is often treated as a compliance requirement rather than a transformative professional learning process, with weak policy enforcement and limited monitoring of its impact on classroom practice. The study concludes that without deliberate institutionalisation of CPD through sustainable financing, strengthened leadership support, trained facilitators, teacher ownership, and context-responsive policy implementation, CPD will continue to fall short of its potential to enhance teaching quality and learner outcomes. The study recommends stronger alignment of CPD with career progression, improved funding and coordination mechanisms, capacity building for facilitators, and the localisation of CPD initiatives to ensure relevance, sustainability, and equity across diverse school contexts.