Decentralising and revitalising school-based teacher support and continuous professional development at primary school level: why it has failed

Decentralization was meant to facilitate the effective delivery of UPE in East Africa (EA). UPE and decentralization were expected to have a positive influence on primary and teacher education quality. However, despite the EA governments' commitment and the support of the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), decentralization is weak and primary schools throughout EA are facing challenges of quality owing to UPE. Why has decentralization failed to promote school-based teacher support and revitalize continuous professional development (SbTD) in EA? This article provides some answers through a critical review of the EA governments' programmes promoting SbTD and the evolution of the AKF's school improvement practice in EA. It argues that in the aftermath of UPE in EA, system-wide-scale implementation and the 'unconventional' bottom-up 'cascade' approach are emphasized. It concludes that any ' cascade' approach to SbTD that simply ' network schools' instead of ' schools networking is not enough.
From: Southern African Rview of Education, Vol 13 no. 2 (2007)