www.ijird.com July, 2018 Vol 7 Issue 7 INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INNOVATIVE RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DOI No. : 10.24940/ ijird/ 2018/ v7/ i7/ JUL18115 Page 258 Identified Effective Events and Activities of SBTD Programs in Sri Lanka 1. Introduction There are many teacher professional development programs are used in secondary schools in Sri Lanka and all over the World, Among these teacher professional development programs, School-Based Teacher Professional Development (SBTD) are very important, because they allows teachers to plan, organize and implement their own professional development programs, considering their particular needs, as well as those of students and school. School-Based Management (SBM) is a new concept for Sri Lanka and it was introduced in the late 1990s to the Sri Lankan education system. Through the School- Based Management (SBM) concept the power and authority were decentralized from central government to particular individual schools. Therefore, since the last decade principals and staff have had the opportunity to plan, organize and implement their own teacher professional development a school-based system (Bandara, 2010). This study focuses on investigate and identify effective events and activities which are applied in School-Based Teacher Development (SBTD) programs in secondary schools in Sri Lanka. 2. Literature Review Professional development for teachers is a key mechanism for improving classroom instruction and student achievement (Cohen & Hill, 2000). Nowadays, teachers’ roles have become complicated and broader in scope. Greenwood and Gaunt (1994) compares a teacher of a class to a chief executive, needing both to understand the ‘business’ throughout and the socio-political environment in which it operates, and to be able to help people (the students) to carry out their work effectively. Further, they have to work with children not only collectively, perhaps when explaining a goal or delivering information, but also individually, making judgments about how best to help each student on the basis of their subject knowledge and their knowledge of a students’ needs. Under such a situation, teachers should be given the opportunities to update their knowledge, skills and attitudes, because we are in a new era of teaching which is increasingly complex and demanding (Fullan, 1995; Hargreaves, 1997). Butler (1992b) believes that effective teacher development programs have three types of learning situations, and these are mentioned as function, process and product. Function is explained as using knowledge for learning, process is about what happens when people learn, and product is described as how participants in effective programs develop new knowledge and skills as teachers. Therefore, well designed, thoughtfully planned and adequately supported professional development is an essential component and an ingredient in the process of teacher professional development (Good et al., 2003; Christine, 2006). This means that teacher professional development programs should be well planned rather than poorly organized or ISSN 2278 – 0211 (Online) Dr . Senevirathna Bandara Senior Lecturer, Department of Humanities, Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, Mihintale, Sri Lanka Abstract : Professional development is an essential component in all professions and professional development leads to improve quality of outcomes in all professions. Teaching is a well-recognized profession and teacher professional development programs helps to enhance quality of students’ outcomes. Two Teacher development programs are could be found in Sri Lanka, these are School Based Teacher Development (SBTD) and Non School Based Teacher Development programs. School Based Teacher Development (SBTD) programs are planned, organized and implemented by the principal and staff of the school, other programs are planned, organized and implemented by different outside organizations of the school. Various types of events and activities are followed in these teacher development programs, this research seeks effective events and activities which used in SBTD programs in selected secondary schools in Sri Lanka. Qualitative research method has been employed and the research design was framed within a case study approach. Very important events and activities were recognized and finally, the conclusions and recommendations were developed from the findings. Keywords: Professional development, school based teacher development, secondary schools, school-based management