Field-based models of primary teacher training: case studies of student support systems from Sub-Saharan Africa

Improving distance education for student teachers: a guide for policymakers

By: Mattson E
Published by: Department for International Development (DFID), 2006
Via: Eldis

Field-based training is seen as a low-cost means to achieve meet the increased demand for primary teachers in Africa but, this paper warns, will prove ineffective without the serious investment and planning for local-level support and assessment for student teachers. The paper examines trends in field-based teacher training in Sub-Saharan Africa, and offers information and guidance for policy makers on three aspects of distance education for teachers: models of decentralised management; student support and assessment of classroom practice; and technology choice. It identifies and discusses several common weaknesses in the decentralised systems of student support and assessment for school-based students including:

• political pressure to go to scale ahead of capacity to support students at the local level
• a strong transmission view of education, which underestimates the importance of student support
• the difficulty of shifting from a tradition of centralised control and the tendency to underestimate the organisational demands of decentralised delivery, administration and support
• the complexity of managing partnerships with geographically dispersed agents and the training demands of new support cadres.

To avoid these problems, policy makers should:

• adopt a planning continuum and plan for the judicious, integrated use of distance education and face-to-face delivery in a flexible model
• make use of feasibility studies, audits and baseline studies to gauge existing capacity and identify development inputs
• take political dynamics into account – Encourage transparency about the budget, consult all stakeholders and negotiate the rational distribution of responsibilities, resources and incentives
• build the capacity of the entire delivery system and support network in a way that links the key stakeholders with one another
• pioritise student support as the key ingredient of success and take time to consolidate effective delivery. Devolve resources, capacity building and incentives to those responsible for support and assessment
• institute ongoing quality assurance, monitoring and evaluation.

An appendix to the report describes programmes from Kenya, Malawi, Zambia, Uganda and South Africa.

(http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/field-based-models-teacher-training-63.pdf)