ABSTRACT
This study assessed principals' staff development pro gramlT1es for effective instructional delivery in Kogi state secondary schools. TI'"1e study was an attempt to find out how often teachers are provided development programmes and how effective these programmes are in enhancing the teaching and learning processes. Four research questions were answered and three hypotheses tested. A review of related literature was carried out on such areas as the goals of teacher development, trend in teacher development programmes", concept of teacher development programmes and types, and teacher development and strategies in Kogi state. The review of related literature provided a conceptual basis for the study. The study population consisted of all the 301 public senior secondary schools with their 5866 teachers in Kogi State. The opinions of 500/0 teachers from 10 schools in Lokoja were actually sampled for the study us il'"1g tl'"1e stratified random sampling technique. A four-point structured questionnaire was used to collect data for the study. The data collected were analyzed using mean scores, percentages, standard deviation and the t-test. The finding"1g of the research revealed that teacher development programmes are ava i lab 1 e but often provided for teachers in Kogi State Senior Secondary Schools and the provision of teacher development programmes often depends on the gender", 1 ocatiol1 of school and years of experience. It was recommended that all teachers sl'"1ould be given the opportunity to develop themselves educationally since tl'"1e k: knowledge and skill gotten from the programmes will enhance their performance at work.