The Role of Distance Teacher Education in Increasing the Supply of Primary School Teachers in Sub-Saharan Africa
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Date
2011
Authors
Sifuna, D.N.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Center for the Study of International Cooperation in Education
Abstract
This paper attempts to show that a sustainable supply of qualified teachers required
to provide quality education for all children in Africa faces very serious challenges
which have not been met by the conventional approaches to teacher education.
The current need in the supply of teachers has arisen from the upsurge in school
enrolments since the 1990s as a result of the commitment by many countries to
meet EFA goals, contributing to the recruitment of high percentages of untrained
teachers. Compounding the low teacher numbers is the high toll on the teaching
force by the HIV/AIDS pandemic. All these factors have a contributing role in
the low levels of pupil achievement and low rates for pupil completion of primary
schooling in many parts of the continent. It has therefore become increasingly
evident that if Africa has to meet the challenge in the supply of adequate teachers
required to provide quality education for all the children, it has to emphasise
a shift in the conventional approaches to teacher education to distance teacher
education which will reach larger numbers of student teachers. There is need for
governments to adopt implementation strategies in line with their national policy
on education to set up pre-tertiary distance education institutions to increase access
to educational programs. The development of national DE policy frameworks is a
crucial step in teacher training/retraining in the light of the changing challenges of
distance education, the rise of civil societies and the expansion of trans-national
education. Donor funded DE programmes need to ensure their sustainability by
being made time-bound and are institutionalized. Furthermore, they ought to be
carefully planned to meet urgent demands and need to begin with the necessary
initial investment in infrastructure or building capacity through the system rather
than operating in a crisis mode.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Distance teacher education and increasing supply of primary school teachers
Citation
Journal of International Cooperation in Education, Vol.14 No.2 (2011) pp.205 ～ 220