Professional Development of Teachers, Action Planning and Utilizing 21st Century Skills in Nigerian Schools

Abstract

Professional development is essential for every individual irrespective of the profession. It should be noted that knowledge is not immutable in a world of change. The dynamic nature of the society demands that every human being will continue to improve and adjust himself or herself to the changing times in order to remain relevant. Teacher’s professional and personal development becomes a necessary proposition. Undoubtedly, teachers straight from training are clumsy and do not perform well on the job. They have simply learnt the elements of a very complex skill that with time, helped by professional and personal development, will make them experts. This paper, therefore, focuses on the need for continuous professional development of Nigerian teachers to enable them plan and utilize 21^st Century skills in teaching children at different levels of education. The renewed concern for the quality rather than the quantity of teachers stems from the fact that the training college/university programmes do not completely make one an effective teacher. A teacher who, therefore, does not strive to improve himself is falling behind...

Key words: Professional development, Teachers, Action planning, Utilizing skills