STAFF DEVELOPMENT AS AN INTERVENTION STRATEGY FOR TEACHER PROFESSIONAL GROWTH IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE EASTERN FREE STATE OF SOUTH AFRICA

The Education System in South Africa has been undergoing major reform and innovation since 1994. One of these changes is teacher education and training which has taken on some metamorphoses since the demise of the apartheid education system. These changes have placed new external pressures on teachers to grow and improve their professional practices. How this should be done becomes a problem to most of the teachers in the Eastern Free State. Bangwandwena and Louw (1993: 71) point out that “…school staff which does not change and grow is destined to atrophy, to become obsolete and to be abandoned rather than a bulwark to us and to the communities we serve”. This paper proposes staff development as an intervention strategy for teacher professional growth and in the area of the Eastern Free State of South Africa.