Professional Development and Mentoring Supervision as Predictors of Teachers’ Performance in Anglophone Secondary Schools in South West Cameroon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65150/EP-jsshrs/V2E7/2026-11Keywords:
Instructional supervision, professional development, mentoring supervision, teachers’ performance, secondary education, CameroonAbstract
Teachers remain the cornerstone of educational quality, and their professional competence largely determines students’ academic achievement and the overall effectiveness of school systems. In many developing countries, however, persistent concerns regarding instructional quality, classroom practices, and learners’ outcomes have renewed interest in instructional supervision as a strategy for strengthening teachers’ professional capacity. While instructional supervision encompasses several supervisory practices, professional development and mentoring supervision have increasingly been recognised as two of the most influential approaches for promoting continuous teacher learning and instructional improvement. Despite their acknowledged importance, empirical evidence on how these supervisory practices influence teachers’ performance within Anglophone secondary schools in Cameroon remains limited. This study therefore examined the roles of professional development and mentoring supervision in enhancing teachers’ performance in public secondary schools in Fako Division of the South West Region of Cameroon. The study adopted a concurrent embedded mixed-method research design involving quantitative and qualitative approaches. Three hundred teachers were selected through stratified random sampling, while six principals were purposively selected for interviews. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and semi-structured interview guides. Quantitative data were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson Product–Moment Correlation, whereas qualitative data were analysed thematically. The findings revealed that professional development has a strong positive and statistically significant relationship with teachers’ performance (r = .929, p < .05). Teachers who participated regularly in professional learning activities demonstrated improvements in lesson planning, instructional delivery, classroom management, learner assessment, and professional commitment. Similarly, mentoring supervision exhibited a very strong positive and statistically significant relationship with teachers’ performance (r = .964, p < .05). Qualitative findings further demonstrated that experienced teachers who provided coaching, instructional guidance, emotional support, and continuous pedagogical feedback significantly enhanced the competence and confidence of novice teachers. The study concludes that sustainable teacher improvement cannot be achieved through periodic inspection alone but requires continuous professional learning opportunities and well-structured mentoring systems embedded within school leadership practices. The study recommends that the Ministry of Secondary Education institutionalise structured professional development programmes and formal school-based mentoring frameworks to strengthen instructional quality and improve teachers’ performance across Anglophone secondary schools in Cameroon.
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