Exploring the Relationship Between Teachers’ Professional Development in STEM and the Academic Achievement of Students: A Comparative Study Across Urban and Rural Schools
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62843/jssr.v5i3.616Keywords:
Teacher Professional Development, STEM Education, Student Achievement, Urban-Rural Disparities, Educational Inequality, Teacher Confidence, Resources in Education, Academic Performance,, Rural EducationAbstract
This paper aims at seeking how professional development (PD) of teachers teaching in STEM (Science, technology, engineering and Mathematics) can positively influence the academic achievement of students in a school within an educational institution in comparison to the diversity that exists between the urban and rural schools. A survey based model was also taken and 200 teachers and 800 students were involved in the data collection of approximately 20 secondary schools in cities, and villages. The researchers explore teacher PD quality and frequency, access to STEM resources, the teacher confidence and its impact on mathematical and science performance in schools. Its findings reflected large dissimilarity in comparison with the urban-rural schools as far as PD access is concerned because teachers who work in urban schools are also more applauded to a PD program and adeptly implemented. It was due to this that the urban students were able to achieve higher in both math and science than those obtained by the rural students did showing clearly that PD, teacher confidence and availability of resources can be an important factor when it comes to student achievement. The paper mentions that there is the need to enjoyable access to PD opportunities and resources, which will assist in bridging the gap in the area of accomplishment between the urban and the rural school.
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