(introduction...)

Janet S Stuart

July 1999

MUSTER
Multi-Site Teacher Education Research Project
sponsored by DFID

Centre for International Education
University of Sussex Institute of Education

Ghana
Lesotho
Malawi
South Africa
Trinidad & Tobago

Address for Correspondence Centre for International Education University of Sussex Institute of Education · Falmer · Brighton · Sussex BN1 9RG · UK
T	+44 +1273 678464
E	cie@sussex.ac.uk
F	+44 +1273 678568

MUSTER Discussion Paper 3

ISBN 0 905414 26 8
© Janet S Stuart

Multi-Site Teacher Education Research Project (MUSTER)

MUSTER is a collaborative research project co-ordinated from the Centre for International Education at the University of Sussex Institute of Education. It has been developed in partnership with:

· The Institute of Education, University of Cape Coast, Ghana.
· The Institute of Education, The National University of Lesotho.
· The Centre for Educational Research and Training, University of Malawi.
· The Faculty of Education, University of Durban-Westville, South Africa.
· The School of Education, The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine’s Campus, Trinidad.

Financial support has been provided for three years by the British Department for International Development (DFID).

MUSTER is focused on generating new understandings of teacher education before, during and after the point of initial qualification as a teacher. Its concerns include exploring how new teachers are identified and selected for training programmes, how they acquire the skills they need to teach effectively, and how they experience training and induction into the teaching profession. The research includes analytical concerns with the structure and organisation of teacher education, the form and substance of teacher education curriculum, the identity, roles and cultural experience of trainee teachers, and the costs and probable benefits of different types of initial teacher training.

MUSTER is designed to provide opportunities to build research and evaluation capacity in teacher education in developing countries through active engagement with the research process from design, through data collection, to analysis and joint publication. Principal researchers lead teams in each country and are supported by three Sussex faculty and three graduate researchers.

This series of discussion papers has been created to provide an early opportunity to share output from sub-studies generated within MUSTER for comment and constructive criticism. Each paper takes a theme within or across countries and offers a view of work in progress.

Acknowledgements

This analysis has benefited greatly from discussion and contributions from other members of the MUSTER team, notably Kwame Akyeampong (Ghana), Alison Croft (UK), June George (Trinidad & Tobago), Demis Kunje (Malawi), Pulane Lefoka (Lesotho), Michael Samuel and Labby Ramrathan (South Africa)

Abstract

This paper compares primary teacher curricula using examples from Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago, to show similarities and differences, to seek out trends, and to raise general issues. First the contextual frameworks are sketched, describing the five programmes and showing how they have developed over recent years. Then the curricular structures and strategies are analysed from available documents, and compared in terms of aims, objectives, content, pedagogy and assessment. Findings include the following:

· In general, teacher education appears to lag behind other educational sub-sectors both in terms of curriculum development and of the professional development of the teacher educators.

· Although in all but one of the countries initial teacher training is in transition, the changes are in different directions and follow different rationales. There seems little consensus on either the aims of initial training or on how best to achieve them.

· With the exception of South Africa, the curricula still reflect traditional types of organisation and content, often borrowed from the North with little adaptation to make them relevant to local needs or to the lifeworlds of the trainees. Pedagogy and assessment methods also follow traditions patterns; few textbooks are written or published locally, and many are outdated.

· Some of the differences found seem to relate to levels of economic development, but others may be more deeply rooted in historical, social and cultural factors, such as views of knowledge, or the relations between the generations.

· Further exploration is needed to understand how the curriculum as documented relates to the curriculum as understood by the tutors, delivered in the classroom, or experienced by trainees. There may be wide gulfs between all these.

(introduction...)

This paper relates to the Curriculum Strand of the MUSTER project, which examines how new teachers acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for professional practice. It reports the first stage of the analysis, focusing on the curriculum as designed, drawn up, and set out by the curriculum developers in various curricular documents, such as syllabi, course outlines, discussion papers, and sometimes handbooks. One purpose of such analysis is to provide a baseline against which to examine the ‘curriculum in action’ - how it is delivered, enacted and experienced in practice. Here is it also used comparatively across the five case studies to show similarities and differences, to seek out trends, and to raise general issues. First the contextual frameworks are sketched, describing the five programmes and showing how they have developed over recent years. Then the curricular structures and strategies are analysed and compared. Final emerging issues are discussed and areas pinpointed for the next phase of the study.

1.1 A note on methods used

The framework for analysis is adapted from Eraut’s (1976) model (set out in the Appendices) and is based on two main ideas. Firstly, a coherent curriculum strategy involves consistency among aims, objectives, content, pedagogy and assessment patterns. Secondly, teacher preparation and development programmes cannot be understood outside of their context; influential factors include systems for governing and financing the programmes, the quality of entrants, the types of schools for which the new teachers are destined, and the historical and cultural matrix in which the whole process is embedded.

For the present analysis, the main source has been documents; we assumed these would be full and explicit, but this was not always so! In none of our sites did we find full and explicit documentation about what was to be taught and learnt during the programme. This paucity of documentation for on-going programmes invites certain questions:

- is it a symptom of the neglect of teacher education at higher levels?
- how far does the curriculum in action deviate from that which was originally designed?
- on what do tutors, especially new ones, base their teaching?
- what effect do the adaptations and changes have on the teaching and learning of trainees?

These questions, along with others, will help guide the next stage of research, which will look at how the curriculum is delivered, by gathering data from students and tutors, and by observation.

1.2 Primary Initial Teacher Preparation Programmes (ITPPs) in a state of flux

The last major comparative studies of such curricula in developing countries took place in the 1980’s (Dove 1986, Lockheed & Verspoor 1991, Rust and Dalin 1990) and these gave an impression of stasis and neglect; much attention was focused on primary education in schools, while the preparation of primary teachers was ignored. However, in the current decade there seems to be much rethinking, restructuring or even reconceptualising (Wideen & Grimmett 1995) taking place and all our case study countries are in a period of transition. Here is a summary of the present position.

Ghana: a new restructured 3-year Certificate programme began in Sept. 1998; the major change is to focus Year 1 on upgrading the trainees’ subject knowledge; only after passing exams in all core subjects may they proceed to Years 2 and 3, where curriculum studies are taught, integrated with methods, and linked to school experience.

Lesotho: At the National Teacher Training College (NTTC), a 3 1/2 year Diploma in Education (Primary) (DEP) also began in Sept. 1998, to replace the old 3-year Primary Teachers Certificate (PTC). The main changes are higher entry qualifications, a one-semester bridging course in core subjects, an overall greater emphasis on academic subject content, and a two-stage practicum.

Malawi: One- and two-year residential training programmes were replaced in January 1997 by the 2-year mixed mode Malawi Integrated Inservice Teacher Education Programme (MIITEP), whereby unqualified serving teachers spend 3 months at college followed by 20 months distance learning under supervision in their schools; they return to college for a month’s revision and examinations. Graduates receive the same Teachers’ Certificate as before.

South Africa: The entire system of teacher development is being transformed. In this paper, we shall refer briefly to the new 4-year Bachelor of General Education and Training (BAGET) degree introduced in January 1999 at the University of Durban-Westville (UDW). This has been designed from scratch, with new ways of linking content and methods, and with a large element of school-based training. It is not typical of current South African practice, but will be used as an example of reconceptualisation.

Trinidad & Tobago: there have been no recent published changes to the 2-year post-experience Teachers’ Diploma programme. However, preliminary interviews in the two colleges show that the curriculum there is ‘in transition’; it has changed in practice though not at the official level. This will provide a good example of how curricula evolve and change. (See Table 1 below, p.10, for a summary).

The case study sites are all very different and serve perhaps to indicate a lack of consensus about ways to prepare teachers. Some of the background reasons for the variety will be explored in the next section.

(introduction...)

All teacher preparation programmes emerge out of, and are constrained by, their economic, political, social and historical conditions; their goals and structure can only be understood in terms of this cultural context. In our case studies, this often includes the aftermath of colonialism and continuing influences from the North through donor aid. So a brief description of some of the most recent developments are in order, looking at how the programmes developed, what rationales are given, the roles played by internal and external stakeholders, and the kind of teacher that is to be produced.

2.1.1 Ghana

There are presently 38 Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) which offer a 3-year Certificate training programme for both primary and junior secondary schools combined. Lack of impact of the 1987 basic school education reforms drew attention to the teacher training programmes, which were criticised as ineffective. From 1989-93 a British-funded project - Junior Secondary School Teacher Education Project (JUSSTEP) - helped the Teacher Education Division of the Ministry of Education to review the curriculum and to write materials for training; nearly one hundred college tutors went for further study in the UK.

A Strategic Planning Group (SPG) of overseas consultants and local educationists set out a theoretical framework for re-organising the curriculum which highlighted four themes: Communication across the curriculum, caring for pupil progress, assessing pupil achievement, and reflecting on practice. However, this reconceptualisation was not reflected at policy and planning level, nor is it closely linked to the Ghanaian educational culture at classroom level. It was realised that the newly qualified teachers were not applying the methods.

The new model of the curriculum that emerged was strongly influenced by the performance and competency models such as those recently introduced in UK, rather than the ‘academic’ or ‘applied theorist’ models which had underlain previous Ghanaian teacher education. It stressed what the beginning teachers should be able to do, rather than what they know, and sought to provide opportunities for more work in schools. The goal seems to be to produce a ‘technical practitioner’, one attuned to the realities of Ghanaian classrooms.

2.1.2 Lesotho

Most ITPPs evolve out of what was there before - few start afresh. But in 1975 the Government of Lesotho closed down the seven church-affiliated TTCs and opened one ‘National Teacher Training College’ (NTTC) to replace them. Set up as a UNESCO/UNDP ‘project’, it had ample funds, an American director, and an international team of tutors (very few Basotho having the necessary qualifications) who developed a completely new curriculum, based on the behaviourist model of teacher training then current in the US. Primary trainees entered with Junior Certificate (JC); content and methods were given equal emphasis; the first and third years were spent in college, with an intervening internship year in school, supervised by field-based trainers.

When the ‘project’ ended, the NTTC took its place under the Ministry of Education, and gradually Basotho staff replaced expatriates. Although to this extent local ownership was established, local funding sources were so inadequate that for most of its life NTTC has depended for new initiatives on donor support. Notably, USAID funded a ‘Basic and Non-formal Education Support’ project and Irish aid set up a Secondary Technical Teacher Certificate programme.

The Primary Teacher Certificate internship was replaced in 1986 with one semester of teaching practice, on the ground of expense. Growing dissatisfaction with the perceived quality of graduates led in 1994 to the introduction of a 3-year inservice Diploma in Primary Education (DPE) to upgrade curriculum specialists and train headteachers. Meanwhile other PTC graduates were upgraded by the National University of Lesotho (NUL) through a 2 or 3 year B.Ed. programme. Thus it was taking 5-6 years to produce a quality primary teacher.

After a review in 1994 by two Irish consultants (Burke & Sugrue 1994) the decision was taken to rationalise this structure by replacing both PTC and DPE with a new Diploma in Education (Primary). The entry requirements were raised to 4 Cambridge Overseas School Certificate (COSC) credits, and the academic content was considerably strengthened. Part of the rationale was to raise the status of primary teachers, looking eventually to an all-graduate profession.

The curriculum was developed by working parties of the College Staff, with some assistance from the Irish consultants. It is not very clear from the published document how far the programme has taken on a new guiding philosophy, and how far it is an attempt to restate and reshape the same principles of teacher education as have informed the NTTC since its inception. The overall aims and objectives of the new Diploma are couched in terms of a reflective ‘extended professional’, stressing both depth and breadth, while the intentions of the subject syllabi are phrased in more technicist terms.

2.1.3 Malawi

The MIITEP programme shows both continuities and discontinuities with the past. Due to the increasing pressure to produce more qualified primary teachers more quickly, ITPPS in Malawi have undergone a number of structural changes in the last ten years, all in the direction of shortening and condensing the formal period of college-based training. The number of colleges has been reduced from 12 in 1972 to 6 in 1998.

Since Independence in 1964, the ‘normal’ training programme has been the two-year residential college course, taking entrants with either a Junior Certificate (JC) or a Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE), who qualified respectively as T3 or T2 teachers. In 1987 a ‘crash’ one-year inservice initial course was instituted in one college, to train unqualified but experienced teachers. As this did not suffice to meet the demand, the Malawi Special Teacher Education programme (MASTEP) was set up in 1989 to train teachers on the job through a combination of short residential courses, local seminars, and distance learning methods. This was discontinued after 3 years, and replaced by a programme of one year’s field training followed by one year’s residential course in a college (Hauya 1997).

A substantial revision of the primary school curriculum began in 1987, and in 1990 the curriculum of Primary Teacher Training was revised to ensure that teachers were trained to teach the new subjects. How far the methods were also revised to take account of the espoused emphasis in schools on pupil-centred, activity-based, and community-relevant teaching (ibid), is not clear.

After the multiparty elections in 1994, the new government introduced free Primary Education and recruited 17,000 untrained teachers to cope with the influx of pupils. Consultations with donors, notably the World Bank and GTZ, led to the setting up of MIITEP in January 1997. All other teacher education programmes were suspended, so that the six teacher training colleges could be used for the residential blocks. It was planned that six cohorts, each of 3000 students, should be trained over the three years.

It is unclear how much influence was exercised by GTZ and the World Bank on the design; once the outline decision was taken, the programme was worked out, staffed and implemented by Malawians, with only one or two German consultants. A ‘Teacher Development Unit’ was set up within MOE, and it would appear that Malawi ‘ownership’ was established. MIITEP’s main aim is to turn the unqualified recruits into certified and ‘effective’ teachers, capable of delivering the current primary curriculum, as quickly as possible.

2.1.4 UDW

During the apartheid years in South Africa (1948-1994) all parts of the education system were divided along racial lines and teacher education was no exception. While White students were reasonably well provided for, Black students were scattered in over a hundred mainly small, often rural, colleges, whose quality was extremely low. Many students entered such colleges merely to get a college diploma, with no intention of teaching; academic subjects were given priority and taught with very little reference to professional studies; teaching practice was two weeks per years, much of which was unsupervised. In addition, teachers were prepared within a particular theoretical framework known as ‘fundamental pedagogics’, which derived from a mixture of Calvinist theology and Idealist philosophy, and was part of the racist ideology of the government.

The new government elected in 1994 set out to transform all aspects of education and training. A National Qualifications Framework (NQF) was set up, under which the emphasis was on the outcomes rather than the content of courses - in this they seem to have been influenced particularly by developments in Australia, the Netherlands and UK. For the schools, Curriculum 2005 (the new school curriculum) is being developed around pupils’ ‘learning outcomes’, and organised in eight ‘learning areas’ which incorporate both traditional school subjects and newer skills.

A Committee on Teacher Education Policy (COTEP), representing both government and professionals, was set up to review Teacher Education. In late 1998, after much consultation, it published guidelines in the form of ‘Norms and Standards for Educators’. It was also decided that Teacher education should become part of the Higher Education sector, and that universities should validate college courses.

Like all NQF learning programmes, ITPPs must include ‘critical cross-field outcomes’; these include skills in communication, problem-solving, critical and creative thinking, information gathering and evaluation, and working with others, and also stress the development of self-responsibility, environmental awareness and civic participation.

More specifically, educators are to be prepared to play five generic roles:

· mediator of learning
· interpreter and designer of learning programmes and materials
· leader, administrator and manager
· scholar, researcher and life-long learner
· community, citizenship and pastoral role

And a specialist one, in a subject/discipline, or in a particular phase of schooling (early childhood, intermediate, senior or further)

The actual programmes should be planned backwards from the outcomes, which are described in terms of three forms of integrated and applied competences:

Practical: the demonstrated ability to teach, including consideration of alternatives, decision-making, and implementation

Foundational: demonstrated understanding of the underpinning knowledge and concepts

Reflexive: demonstrated ability to integrate action and understanding, to reflect on practice, attempt to improve, and explain the underlying reasons.

The Faculty of Education at UDW, working within this context, started with a clean board, saying: ‘if you wanted to create a quality professional teacher, what kind of individual do you want this teacher to be? what would this person need to be able to think, do, act, feel, in relation to the current South African context?’ They saw the practicum as central to the teacher’s development, and decided to form partnerships with local schools in order to realise this. About one third of the course is spent in schools, including a final internship year. The aim is to produce teachers who are ‘curriculum activists’, capable of adapting the government’s framework to the needs of the particular pupils they are teaching and if necessary to critique that framework.

(introduction...)

Over our five sites, we have found few common patterns or trends; the changes seem largely in response to local conditions. When there is dissatisfaction with the schools, the teacher training programmes are criticised and solutions sought in reforming them. But there is no consensus on how to do this. Each country builds on its recent - or not so recent - past experience, and responds to their own perceived problems. I shall highlight four issues here: the lack of policy, international influences, the different views of the teacher, and problems of change.

2.2.1 Policy

The picture suggests a general lack of concern for teacher education among policy makers. In none of our countries did it seem a high priority for the Ministry of Education. Teacher education institutions do not seem to have high profiles or political significance. At an international level, donors have until recently paid little attention to this sector; the Jomtien Declaration, for example, made only passing reference to training the teachers needed to provide ‘education for all’.

2.2.2 International influences

While there does not appear to be a ‘donor conspiracy’ to impose particular models of training, there are undoubtedly international influences. In this era of globalisation, people will naturally look outside their own country for new ideas. This cultural borrowing, however, may be constrained by the international donor network; to examine many options, as South Africa did, takes time and resources. Ghana found itself with JUSSTEP, Malawi with GTZ, Lesotho with Irish Aid. This is not to say solutions were imposed; in every case the work of curriculum development was done by local teams. But the donor may influence which of the various ideas around locally get adopted. An interviewee remarked of the external consultants: ‘They only said what we had been saying all along, but people listen more to a foreigner’. Which of the local voices get heard and taken up by the outsiders? Who decides which ideas are actually relevant and useful in the local context? Further in-depth enquiry would be necessary to answer such important questions.

2.2.3 Views of the teacher

Another finding from this preliminary comparison is the lack of agreement about what kind of teacher is desired, not only across the sites, but within them. There is evidence in all our examples of competing approaches and visions - perhaps symptomatic of different underlying ideologies. There are of course political implications as well as professional ones about the teacher’s role: most states like to control teachers while insisting they deliver the curriculum effectively, while many educationists argue that only teachers who are prepared to exercise their own professional judgement can offer high quality teaching in the modern world (Stuart and Tatto, forthcoming).

2.2.4 Change processes

These accounts point to some of the difficulties in effecting change in teacher education. Countries very seldom make a fresh start, and the new philosophies and conceptual frameworks thought desirable have to contend with the weight of established traditions and vested interests. Few college tutors are given opportunities for professional development, yet they are expected to design and implement new courses based on different premises from those they grew up with.

2.3 Governance and Control

Another important contextual point concerns the locus of control, and this differs among the case study sites. In many countries, Colleges of Education fall directly under the Ministry of Education, which awards the Certificates, so their curriculum and assessment are controlled by various bodies external to the college, although there may be degrees of consultation. In South Africa, however, colleges are being moved into the Higher Education Sector, and linked to Universities for validation and certification, which will establish a more arms’ length relationship to the policy-makers.

These relationships have implications for the conditions of work, status and perspectives of the tutors. Their relevance here has to do with modes of assessment, and also with the perceived freedom of the tutors to adapt and develop the curriculum out of its documentary form.

2.4 Requirements for students on entry

The general requirement is some kind of secondary school leaving certificate. In Ghana, Lesotho and Trinidad & Tobago, four or five subjects must be passed, preferably with credit, at the local equivalent of the British O Level. In Malawi, MIITEP also recruited candidates with only a Junior Certificate (2 years secondary school). In South Africa, candidates need university entrance (matric, between O and A level).

It is common knowledge, however, that many students applying to Teacher Training Colleges do so as a second choice, having failed to get into university or more prestigious colleges, and their grades are often weak or in the wrong subjects, which has implications for the curriculum itself.

Table 1 summarises some of the basic data about these five programmes.

Table 1: some comparisons between programmes

COUNTRY	GHANA	LESOTHO	MALAWI	T & T	UDW
Entry level	5 O level credits	4 COSC credits	JC or MSCE + 2 yrs work	5 CXC passes, On Job Training + 2 yrs work	Matric
Course length	3 years	3 1/2 years	2 years	2 years	4 years
Training Institution	Teacher T. College	Teacher T. College	TTC + schools	Teacher T. College	University
Qualification	Certificate	Diploma	Certificate	Certificate	Bachelor’s degree
Awarded by	MOE	NTTC	MOE	MOE	UDW
Donor support	UK	Ireland	Germany	-	-
Teacher should be:	a technical practitioner	well-grounded academically	an effective instructor	well-educated, knowledgeable	a curriculum activist

We shall now look at the programmes in more detail, how they are constructed, and how the different components of the curriculum fit together.

3.1 Structure

One obvious difference is between those programmes which take candidates straight from school - for 3 or 4 years full-time training - and those which offer a two-year course to trainees who already have experience. Malawi and Trinidad provide contrasting examples, related to the different economic and educational contexts. Trinidad offers on the job training for a whole year, and then a two-year fully residential course later on. Malawi offers a very brief orientation, and later a 3-month residential course followed by distance learning, with a short final residential block.

The timing, length and placing of the practicum is a key feature in teacher preparation. Both Ghana and Lesotho offer gradual introductions to teaching, and split the actual teaching practice into two blocks; these are more extensive in Lesotho, but still only comprise one semester out of seven i.e. 14% of the course. . It is interesting that Trinidad - although a ‘post-experience course’ - appears to keep up the old tradition of TP - also just 15%. But most striking is the UDW decision to make the fourth year one of internship, in addition to 3 earlier blocks of school or workplace practice. Is this the image of the future?

Table 2 shows how the programmes are structurally organised and gives an overview of the curriculum content.

Table 2: Different ways of structuring the programmes

GHANA

Coming from:

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Senior Secondary School

Education + 9 subjects (content only)

EXAM

Education + curriculum studies & methods in 9 subjects

Same + 8 weeks TP

LESOTHO

Coming from:

Bridge Course (1 semester)

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

High School

4 core subjects + study skills

Education + 7 subjects

Same +10 weeks TP

Same +5 weeks TP

MALAWI

Coming from:

3 months

20 months

1 month

2 week orientation, +3-4 yrs teaching experience

In College: Education + 11 subjects

Distance study at work: Same subjects:

In College: revision + exam

TRINIDAD & TOBAGO

Coming from

Year 1

Year 2

1 month orientation 1 year on the job training + 1-2 years experience

Education + 12 subjects 3 weeks TP

Education + 10 subjects 9 weeks TP

UDW

Coming from:

Year 1

Year 2

Year 3

Year 4

High School

Education, communications, 6 subjects, + workplace education

Educ, comms, 4 content/ method courses, + community service & school-based practice

Educ, comms, 4 content/methods. courses + school-based practice

Internship + conceptual seminars within schools

3.2 Subject Content

Table 3 (although incomplete) enables some further comparisons to be made regarding the subjects studied

Table 3: Proportions of contact time suggested for each subject area

Subject Area	GHANA*	LESOTHO	MALAWI	T & T	UDW**
Education		10.4%	16.3%	24.1%	30%
local lang.		13.8	8.4	-	5
English		13.8	13.9	22.4	15
Maths		13.8	12.3	10.3	15
Science		13.8	11.2	7.8	15
Social Studies	Env. & Soc. Stds.	R.E. & Dev. Stds. 10.4	Soc. & Gen. Stds 8.6	Soc. Studs. 6.7	5
Expressive Arts	Music & Dance	Art & craft, PE, music, drama 10.4	Music 4 Creative Arts 3.6	one from A & C, music, dance, drama 5.9	5
Technical/ Applied Science	Tech. Skills Voc. Skills	Agric., Home Econ., Health Ed. 10.4	Agric. 6.3 Home Econ. 6.1	Agric. 2.7	Econ. Ed. 5 ICT 15
Religious/ moral educ.	Religious. & Moral Educ.	-	R.E. 4.4	Family Life Educ. 6.7	Life Skills 5
Physical education			P.E. 4.6	Physical and Health Ed. 4.4
Electives	-	-	-	9	10
Study Skills	-	2.7	-	-

* Final decisions about proportions of time are still pending
** Students choose between certain subjects

All the programmes are closely linked to/dictated by the current primary school curriculum in terms of subjects. As in all these countries, except SA, primary teachers are class teachers and do not specialise, they have to be prepared for teaching all the subjects, which can lead to great overload and/or fragmentation. Lesotho and Ghana, in their respective recent rationalisations, have tried to deal with this by combining the smaller subjects into broad disciplinary areas: eight in Lesotho, nine in Ghana. Trinidad uses options and electives as a partial solution. The Malawi programme still tries to include everything, and the curriculum is divided into 12 different subjects.

As long as the primary school curriculum remains strongly framed in subject terms and primary teachers are required to teach all the subjects, so the ITPP is constrained to follow suit. However, there are differences in the ways training providers deal with the problem.

Everywhere education, language, maths and science form the core, taking up between half and two-thirds of class time. There are interesting differences in the proportions devoted to educational courses - nearly a quarter in Trinidad compared to a tenth in Lesotho - but one needs to see how much of this is theory as opposed to practical skills, and how far the subject courses include pedagogy. The proportions spent on language are not dissimilar, plus/minus a quarter, except that in three of the African countries this has to be divided between English and the local language, both of which may for part of the primary curriculum be used as the medium of instruction. For maths and science, Lesotho gives considerably more time (27.6%) than Trinidad (18.1%).

The literature on teacher education curricula often mentions ‘general education’ for personal development; there are few traces of that except in Trinidad. Here the expressive arts options, although pedagogically oriented, encourage students to develop their own skills in music, art and drama, and the electives permit them to pursue individual interests to a higher level.

Lesotho’s Study Skills course seems the only acknowledgement that students are often under prepared for post-secondary study. Also absent is explicit reference to developing the trainees’ proficiency in English as the medium of instruction; this is apparently left to the English courses. In view of the problems associated with teaching and learning in a second language, this is a very serious omission.

3.3 Relationship between Subject Content and Methods

Another key question is whether content and methods are taught separately or together, and what balance obtains between them. This is not always made explicit in the documentation, and it will have to be clarified by observing the curriculum in action. However, close scrutiny of topic lists, module titles, and defined objectives revealed that there are sometimes striking differences even within programmes between subjects with regard to the integration of content and methods, and to the weight given to each. This will be exemplified from the core subjects.

In Ghana, the new TTC curriculum is designed to a common pattern across all subjects. Year 1 is devoted entirely to the content of the main subjects; if the students pass the Year 1 exam they proceed into Years 2 and 3 where the focus is entirely on how to teach the primary curriculum in that subject.. The intended overall content: methods balance appears thus to be 1:2

Lesotho’s new DEP was deliberately designed to enhance trainees’ academic knowledge, and the desired content: methodology ratio was set as 70:30%. There was also a clear intention to separate the two, so that each module has to be labelled as one or the other. According to these labels there is little difference between subjects; English, maths and science signalled content for 70-75 % of the work. Education labelled just over half its modules as ‘content’ i.e. theory; the rest included micro-teaching and preparation for TP as well as general pedagogic knowledge and skills.

In spite of the imposed common format, there are some interesting differences between the courses. In the English course, there is a clear emphasis on improving trainees’ own English language abilities, through the study of grammar, and by paying attention to developing their personal communication and writing skills. English literature is foregrounded, with modules on novels, plays and poems, which are to be studied from two points of view: for enriching the trainees’ knowledge and understanding, and for teaching literature to primary pupils. The course is clearly linked to the primary syllabus, and includes both theories and practical approaches to ESL teaching.

By contrast, maths and science are more heavily oriented towards content, and while some pedagogic content knowledge and practical skills are included, neither course appears to offer any of the conceptual frameworks underlying the teaching of maths and science.

In Malawi, although the subject teams were given a common format for preparing ‘units’ for the Student Teacher Handbooks, they actually produced very different kinds of courses. For example, the Science course has a few introductory units about teaching science in general, but thereafter consists entirely of subject content knowledge - physics and chemistry during the college period, biology during the school-based period. The stated objectives confirm this, being phrased in terms of:

- explain meanings / applications of...,
- state examples, factors, uses for ....,
- perform activities.......

The student is given no guidance at all about how to translate this into pedagogic content knowledge or skills.

By contrast, the English course is focused almost entirely on how to teach aspects of the primary school curriculum. There is no literature or grammar content, and only 3 units on developing students’ own English skills. Objectives describe the skills to be achieved, such as:

- teach pre-reading activities
- use dialogues/pair work/ role play etc. for language practice
- make and use phonic charts for teaching reading
- construct different types of comprehension questions
- identify errors in pupils’ written work

In general the MIITEP course is focused on skills rather than content; it is assumed that trainees only need to learn enough content to deliver the primary curriculum.

Trinidad approaches the curriculum differently. It is heavily oriented towards giving student teachers the ‘knowledge base’ for teaching and indeed phrases about ‘students shall know / understand’ appear frequently in the specific objectives. Classroom skills and practical objectives are mentioned much more rarely. Only in the Language and Reading Education courses are classroom skills highlighted.

In some subjects - typically the ‘science’ ones - the teaching of subject specific or ‘content knowledge’ is clearly separated from the curriculum studies and methods of teaching (pedagogic content knowledge, knowledge of curriculum, practical skills). In other subjects - typically arts and humanities - the disciplinary knowledge and the pedagogic aspects are more likely to be treated within the same unit. This is most clearly seen in Literary Studies, where the student’s understanding of prose, poetry and plays is, according the objectives, closely interwoven with strategies for presenting these to children, or in drama, where students learn about drama in the context of learning how to teach it.

From the documentation available, well over half the modules appear to deal with straight content, pure methods comprise less than a fifth, and about a quarter of modules teach both together.

At UDW the BAGET programme proposes to integrate the teaching of almost all the content and methods. The main disciplinary courses are all labelled ‘Language Education, Maths Education, Integrated Arts Education’ etc. and are taught within the Faculty of Education. Students take only four ‘pure content’ courses, in a subject of their choice, which are taught in other faculties.

So the approaches are different. In broad terms, UDW, Malawi and Ghana in different ways try to integrate subject content and methods, Lesotho and Trinidad try to separate them. Current research into teacher thinking and into the nature of practical professional knowledge suggests that students need much help to bring both together effectively, and there may be dangers in teaching them separately for too long. At the same time, there is general agreement that to teach a subject well, the teacher needs to feel confident in her understanding, which requires in-depth study. There is no easy solution.

3.4 Professional Components

Key decisions for the professional component in any ITPP include:

· what kinds and amounts of ‘theory’ - conceptual frameworks, research findings, useful generalisations - to select

· how to make it relevant and meaningful to the trainees

· what practical, managerial and administrative skills can and should be taught in college rather than in school

· how to organise the practicum

· how to help the trainees bring the theory and practical elements together.

Brief descriptions will indicate some of the ways our case-study programmes approach it.

Lesotho: the Education course devotes just over half the time to ‘theory’ modules. These include the traditional ‘ologies’: psychology, sociology and philosophy of education, together with curriculum studies, guidance and counselling and educational administration. There are also modules on Early Primary and Special Education. The remaining seven ‘methodology’ modules cover methods, resources, testing, and micro-teaching; ICT and research skills are also included. Only four of the many sub-themes listed specifically mention Lesotho schools, and it not clear whether the content is drawn largely from Northern/Western sources, or whether it has been adapted to local conditions. The way the components are divided up suggest a view of knowledge as something fixed and given, to be parcelled and transmitted, rather than understanding to be developed in context.

A special module is devoted to Teaching Practice Preparation, which includes visiting local schools to teach one lesson and observe one’s peers. There is no indication of how the first practicum experience is to be reviewed and utilised for the second block practice.

Malawi: The residential course starts with the technical professional skills of writing lesson plans, formulating objectives, drawing up schemes of work and keeping records, as well as introductions to different kinds of teaching methods and how to improvise and use various kinds of teaching/learning aids. It moves on to child development, theories of learning, and testing. Back in school the units focus on management and administration of schools, keeping records, roles of head and PTA, school and community relationships, professional ethics and conditions of service, together with more classroom management skills.

This is clearly a very practically-oriented course, but information about the classroom tends to be stronger on rhetoric than on reality i.e. saying what should happen in good practice, rather than focusing on problems and how to deal with them. There is more on what to do than on how to implement it in real classrooms - which is strange as the aims of the programme are to produce effective classroom teachers in what are recognised as difficult conditions.

Trinidad: In the published documents, Professional Studies is divided into three: Education I and II are largely theoretical, and cover the traditional areas of sociology, psychology, social psychology and history of education, with some references to the local context. There are also sections on ‘contemporary issues in education’ and on gender. Education III is called Principles of Effective Teaching and is devoted to methods and micro-teaching. There seems to be separation between theory and practice and again there is no explicit use of the students’ previous experience in schools.

Ghana: Education Studies in Ghana take a more integrated approach, taking themes from the old ‘disciplines’ of psychology and sociology of education, setting them in the Ghanaian context - a number of modules are explicitly concerned with local issues - and linking them to practice via observation of pupils in local schools.

Here an attempt has been made to relate the theories of child development, based on Western research, to the local context. If the activities with children are undertaken as outlined, there would be many opportunities for discussion and comparison, where the ‘knowledge’ could be seen as socially constructed, tentative and open to change.

The practicum takes place in Years 2 and 3. It starts with school attachment for observation, continues with on-campus teaching practice, and concludes with two separate 4-week periods of school-based teaching practice. These stages are designed to allow for reflection and review between each practicum.

UDW has broken with the traditional divisions and topics. BAGET sets out seven modules designed to integrate themes from a range of educational theories and apply critically them to the Durban context. The titles give a flavour: Teaching and learning, School and Society, Policy and Practice, Identity and Diversity, History and Administration of Education, Concepts, Ideas and Values, Teaching and Assessment. The practical aspects are presumably subsumed under the subject-oriented modules, or perhaps are to be learnt on the job, since the practicum takes up over a third of the course.

It is difficult to generalise, but from the evidence available so far, certain issues emerge for further investigation in the next phase of the study. For example, the educational theories seem to be largely drawn from Western sources of some decades ago (there is no mention, for example, of social constructivism): how far are these being subjected to critique in the light of local culture and conditions? The theoretical components are mainly taught separately from the practical and skills components: how do the student teachers bring these together? Ways in which the practicum is to be integrated with the rest of the course is not spelt out in the documents: how is this done in practice? Broader social issues, such as equity, access and gender relations, are not listed: is this linked to conceptions of the teacher’s role as ‘technician’ rather than ‘professional’?

An example from Malawi, where we have begun to look at the curriculum in action, will illustrate one problematic area. Lectures did not seem to relate the educational theories to Malawi generally, nor to the student teachers’ own experience either at home or in school. It was particularly obvious in the unit on child development; many of the students are married with children, yet there was no discussion of whether these ‘stages’ correspond to their own understanding of bringing up children. For example, do Malawian children, in the village, engage first in ‘solitary’ and then ‘associative’ play, as European children are supposed to do, according to Piaget and others? What happens when ‘the child becomes curious and asks questions’ in a culture where children are not supposed to ask adults questions?

It seems there may be two parallel discourses going on: a theoretical one largely drawn from Western conceptual frameworks, and another about the kinds of teaching / learning and socialising experiences that go on in the real communities, both home and school, which the trainees ‘know’ at a different, more practical level. It is these latter which they are likely to draw on when they get into the classroom, and this brings up such questions as: how relevant is this part of the teacher preparation programme? what understandings do the new teachers take with them into schools? what kinds of knowledge is being acquired here?

3.5 Pedagogy for the ITPP

This is always the most difficult to deduce from documents. The Ghana course outlines list a variety of interactive and participatory methods, in line with the espoused philosophy of the change agents; lectures are seldom mentioned. Similarly the Trinidad syllabi set out many recommended teaching methods; here ‘lectures’ are indeed the most frequent, but they are closely followed by ‘research’, along with demonstrations, discussions, groupwork, role-play, field-trips, projects, and many variations on these themes.

These lists certainly show an awareness of a wide range of different possibilities, but the documents do not set out any rationale for their use, nor are they discussed in the light of adult learning theories, which would be particularly relevant in the Trinidad case, where students come with several years of experience.

In Malawi the MIITEP project teams produced five excellent and detailed handbooks, which set out both content and how it should be taught in the form of hour-long ‘units’. These are in effect lesson plans for the tutors in the college component, and study guides for the trainees when back in school. There is a real attempt to model the espoused ‘interactive, participatory’ teaching approach here, which in some subjects, such as English, looks effective and consistent, but in others mixed messages are being conveyed. In education, for example, the most common instruction is ‘students discuss in groups’, but then the book lists all the points they ‘should come up with’; in other words, there is a transmission of knowledge model within an apparently constructivist teaching method.

It is often argued that trainee teachers need to experience the methods they are expected to use in class with their pupils, but apart from Malawi, there is very little mention of this. Only the Trinidad science syllabus lists this as an intention.

What the documents do not tell us is how teaching is likely to be constrained by group size. In all these countries student cohorts are large - 250 in Lesotho, up to 4-500 in Ghana. If tutors choose, or are told, to teach year groups together, lectures are going to be the most common method, with effective groupwork only possible when students have been taught how to study co-operatively. If staff are available, and time-tabled, to take smaller groups, then other methods become more viable. But where field trips (Trinidad) or research projects in schools (Ghana) are recommended, again there are obvious logistical implications if large numbers of students are all expected to carry out fieldwork.

Only in UDW is this problem overtly tackled, by limiting the maximum number of students to 50 per year, so that teaching can take place in small groups. This should enable an interactive and dialogical approach to be used, where both personal experience and theory can be reflected on and critiqued.

3.6 Teaching / Learning Materials

Only Malawi has specially designed textbooks for students. The documents from the other three college sites all include prescribed texts as well as books for further reading; sometimes the primary syllabi and textbooks are mentioned, most often in the English courses. In Ghana there are a number of subject-specific handbooks for tutors, circulating in printed or xeroxed form, which guide the tutor in both content and pedagogy, but nothing similar for students.

In resource-poor countries it is obviously difficult for colleges to buy up-to-date publications, and many of the books listed in the Ghana and Lesotho documents were published before 1990. No journals are mentioned. Very few, other than local school texts, are about Africa or by African authors.

All this suggests students are being offered limited intellectual horizons. The choice of texts can be criticised from two different directions: they do not have access to the latest Western ideas on teaching and learning; nor are they given opportunities to reflect on how appropriate these might be to the African context.

3.7 Assessment

All the documents set out assessment requirements and regulations, which are clearly seen as important. All programmes use a mixture of coursework and exams. Only in Lesotho and UDW do the tutors set and mark the exams; in other places external bodies exercise varying amounts of control. UDW has to conform to University regulations which stipulate exams at the end of every module, but the intention is to de-emphasise these.

The suggested coursework exercises set out in the documents, particularly in Trinidad and Lesotho, are varied and interesting, but in some cases large numbers of students would make the organisation, supervision and marking - e.g. of field-based projects - quite problematic. Library-based reports may suffer from inadequate resources and perhaps weak study skills among students. Almost all the assessment suggested takes a written form - though in science some practical work may be assessed - and this raises issues about the linguistic capabilities of the students, especially in Africa where they come from oral cultures and may be working in a second or even third language. Group projects are mentioned, but there is no indication of how these would be marked.

Apart from micro-teaching and the occasional peer lesson, none of the assessments are about actually demonstrating teaching competences, even when these appear among the aims and objectives. This is left entirely to the practicum. Few of the exercises even seem to be about applying knowledge; most of them require students to just show on paper what they know. This is at odds with many of the stated aims and objectives. To find out what level of cognitive skills were being required one has to examine the actual test papers. Preliminary findings from Malawi show that only quite low cognitive skills are being tested, mainly at the recall level.

It looks as though student teachers are frequently assessed, but that the assessment is not always consistent with the aims and objectives. We do not know how much this is perceived as a burden, nor how the assessment procedures affect the teaching/learning processes; this remains to be researched through the Curriculum in Action studies.

3.8 Assessment of the Practicum

The documents are remarkably silent on TP, and no assessment schedules are included. It has to be ‘passed’ but what this means differs between sites. Normally, percentage marks are given, and a grade awarded on this basis, but in Ghana a new system is being developed based on a competency model using ‘high, medium and low’ rather than grades. Lesotho used to have just ‘pass/fail’ but the DEP will use marks. The regulations usually set out a minimum number of assessment visits by tutors - between 3 and 5 - and the marks are averaged. In none of the countries do teachers assess the students, though all state that the views of the school will be taken into account, and Malawian headteachers are supposed to send in assessment forms as well.

(introduction...)

Only a limited amount of information can be gained from documents about initial teacher preparation programmes. However, this exercise has enabled us to note some important differences and similarities.

Each ITPP has its own identity and characteristics which have developed out of its particular historic and cultural context, but all these five are also marked by wider intellectual influences from the Anglophone world. All but one are undergoing structural changes, yet common trends are hard to discern. Given the need to combine subject knowledge with professional expertise, two (Lesotho and Trinidad) seem to emphasise knowledge and to teach it separately from professional aspects. The others try in various ways to integrate content and methods, with an overall emphasis on gaining professional competence, though these are based on very different visions of the teacher: the effective instructor, the technical practitioner, or the curriculum activist.

Only UDW appears to have a coherent and well-developed rationale that informs all aspects of the course. In the other cases one can usually detect elements of contending philosophies and epistemologies, some of which have been introduced - though in no case imposed - by donors. Although the new courses are often designed to a common format, substantial differences can be found between subjects and it seems that ‘academic tribes’ exist even within colleges.

All the programmes are linked closely to the local primary school curriculum, but they have different relationships with schools. MIITEP and BAGET embrace the schools most closely as sites for learning, though for very different reasons. The other three use schools as convenient places for short periods of practice, without integrating them into the programme as a whole.

With the exception of BAGET, it is not obvious from the documents how far the actual content and pedagogy of the programmes have been adjusted to take account of changes in schools, particularly where universalisation of primary education has created very different conditions from those experienced by earlier generations. Another big question mark is over the real needs of entering students. There is very little provision for academic support and development for those who enter with low qualifications or special needs of some kind, such as limited language skills. There is also very little about the personal development of the young teachers. Attitudes are often mentioned in the overall aims, yet the design of the programmes does not make clear how these are to be changed and nurtured.

But it may be that differences in how ITPPs are designed and documented do not matter very much. What matters is how those programmes are implemented, organised, taught and assessed, and what the students experience as they pass through them and on to the schools. Such studies form the next phase of the MUSTER curriculum strand.

4.1.1 Transition

In all sites the TEC is in transition - after a period of neglect, reform is high on the agenda, but does this lead to superficial restructuring or deep reconceptualisation?

4.1.2 Different directions

Different directions are being taken: the old dilemma between emphasising content or professional preparation is still alive: everyone would like to emphasise both - you must know your subject but also understand how to induct learners into that subject - but choices have to be made. How are those choices made, and why? Whose agenda operates here? Are they informed by the real needs of the new teachers in the classrooms, or by academic models of what someone in the past or in another country thought teachers ought to know and do?

4.1.3 What is the Curriculum?

It is becoming clear that the curriculum exists in different forms:

· in the printed documents
· in the minds of the tutors
· as delivered in the lecture room
· as experienced by the students

We have looked at the first, begun a dialogue with tutors about the second, just starting on the third and fourth. There are considerable differences! So which is the real Teacher Education Curriculum?

4.1.4 The relation of the curriculum to the life-worlds of the trainees

This is emerging as a very interesting and problematic area. Partly because of the ways these programmes have evolved, much of the material originated outside the countries concerned, and still does not seem to have been thoroughly adapted and integrated into the local context. We need to try to establish what kind of sense the student teachers make of what they are taught, and how it influences what they actually do in the classroom.

4.1.5 What sort of teacher?

When one looks at the overall aims of the teacher preparation programmes, they are quite hard to pin down. This is a contested area, and clearly aims relate partly to political issues - what sort of teacher does the government want in its schools? and partly to epistemological issues, like how is knowledge perceived? is it something to be transmitted or to be constructed? and this applies both to pupils in school and teachers in training.

For example, we identified

· Malawi’s effective instructor
· Ghana’s technical practitioner
· UDW’s curriculum activist

But in practice there is a great variety of ideas and little consensus about the ultimate vision, within a country or even within one training institution. Tutors and students bring very different images, expectations and experiences of the good teacher, and of good teaching and learning. These are not often acknowledged, unpacked or discussed, and it seems important that ITPPs should make space for such reflection and discussion.

4.1.6 Teacher Educators

This is linked to another emerging issue: the way tutors are prepared, or rather not prepared. It is quite rare for tutors to get professional development designed to help them. Most stumble into it and train in the way they were trained - sometimes using their university notes of 15 years ago!

In Malawi in the 80’s there was once a determined effort to do this: a Diploma in Primary Teacher Education ran for 3 years at the University, which trained a cadre of tutors who share certain knowledge, assumptions and practices - but sadly they have had no further refresher courses since. In Trinidad and Tobago options do exist for Masters’ level work in Teacher Training, but on the whole Teacher Educators are a neglected species.

4.1.7 Patterns of differences

Finally, how to analyse and if possible explain the differences? Looking at them historically, it is obvious that they are deeply rooted in what went before, and what emerges is the result of contestation among all sorts of influences, internal and external.

Some differences are resource-linked; the countries are economically very different, and scarcity of money and human resources severely constrain choices, though they do not determine them. This is clearest at the two ends of the economic development index: Malawi and South Africa. In Malawi the low level of resourcing in both schools and colleges, the sheer numbers to be trained as the system expands, coupled with the low entry level of students and the political necessity to certify as many as possible in the shortest time, leaves little option but to concentrate on curriculum knowledge and basic skills. In South Africa, with an over-supply of teachers, established higher education institutions, and a new political dispensation to encourage initiative, UDW can afford to design a course which depends on a low teacher: student ratio and on time for in-depth personal and professional development.

Other differences seem to be linked to cultural values: to views of knowledge and to assumptions about the role of the elder vis a vis the child. Such views are changing, there is much cultural borrowing, and it is difficult to know how to evaluate this process. There might be two different sets of criteria here: conceptual and practical. In conceptual terms, should ITPPs keep up still more closely with the current educational discourses developing in the North/West - such as constructivist theories of learning, even when these do not fit well into their cultural world views? Or should they select aspects of international thinking that best fit local educational norms and practices? How best to bring together the local cultural experience of education, as lived by pupils and teachers, with universalist ideas about human development and learning, so that they illuminate each other?

In more practical terms, how can ITPPs adapt practices which have worked well for student teachers elsewhere - e.g. various forms of school experience - and make them work with large numbers of students in resource-poor environments - e.g. where schools can offer no support to trainees? Beeby’s stages theory, (1966) later reworked by Verspoor et al (1986) suggests that different aspects of an education system must move more or less in step with each other if change is to be effective and sustainable. Teacher preparation programmes, then, cannot and should not be too far removed from other parts of the education system. But at present they often seem to be the laggards - how could they become the fulcrum for change?

References

Beeby C.E. (1966) The Quality of Education in Developing Countries, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press

Dove L. (1985) Teachers and Teacher Education in Developing Countries: Issues in Planning, Management and Training, London: Croom Helm

Eraut M. (1976) ‘Some Perspectives on Curriculum Development in Teacher Education’ in Education for Teaching, No. 99

Hauya RJR (1997) The Question of Curriculum, Blantyre: Dzuka Education Foundations

Lockheed M. & Verspoor A. (1991) Improving Primary Education in Developing Countries World Bank/OUP [Chap.4]

Rust V.D. & Dalin P. (1990) Teachers and Teaching in the Developing World, N.Y.: Garland

Shulman L.S. (1987) ‘Knowledge and Teaching: Foundations of the New Reform’ in Harvard Educational Review, Vol. 57, No.1

Stuart J.S. & Tatto M.T. (forthcoming) ‘Designs for Initial Teacher Preparation Programmes: an international view’, in International Journal of Educational Research

Verspoor A.M. & Leno J.L. (1986) Improving teaching: a key to successful educational change. Education and Training Department Report No. EDT50, Washington: World Bank

Wideen M.F. & Grimmett P.P. (1995) (eds) Changing Times in Teacher Education: restructuring or reconceptualising? Falmer

Appendix 1: Analysing the teacher preparation curriculum from documentary sources

The analytical framework used is based on Michael Eraut’s (1976) ideas about curriculum design and development. As such curricula cannot be understood outside their context, a brief survey is first given of how the programme developed, the roles played by different stakeholders - government, professional/educational institutions, or outside agencies - and any particular political or economic factors that have influenced its shape.

Background information is then given, to provide answers to such questions as:

· where does this teacher preparation programme take place?
· how long is it and how is it structured in terms of time and place?
· is it modular or developmental?
· how is the practicum organised? (length, timing, links with rest of course, role of the school, logistic and financial arrangements, etc.)

and what are the entry requirements.

The programme is then analysed using Eraut’s model. This proposes a five-point ‘diamond’ frame, based on the assumption that decisions made about each of these five points - aims, objectives, content, pedagogy and assessment - together constitute a ‘curriculum strategy’. These decisions should be consistent with each other, so that the strategy is coherent, balanced and workable. The college-based and school-based parts of the programme can be analysed separately if appropriate.

An outline follows, showing the questions that guided the enquiry. See also Fig. 1 in this appendix.

Aims and philosophy

Typically they are very broad and general, but they may indicate:

¨ what kind of teacher is desired?
¨ what is the underlying ideology, or value/belief system?
¨ what epistemological assumptions are made e.g. about the kind of knowledge needed by new teachers?

Content

Although this varies it can generally be divided into four components:

· subject-related: content and pedagogy/method
· profession-related: education studies/foundation disciplines, and general pedagogic skills
· general education: for background, enrichment, attitudes, etc.
· practicum: practical teaching both in college and school

Questions that can be asked include:

¨ what principles appear to underlie the selection of topics and skills?
¨ what weighting/importance is given to each component?
¨ how are the components interrelated?
¨ how is the content related to the local school curriculum?
¨ are the written syllabi to be used as broad guidelines or prescriptive blueprints?

Link to aims: is the content relevant and appropriate?

Objectives and outcomes

These include aspirations and expectations; they may be stated either for the course as a whole or for specific components of it e.g. separately for the practicum. They may be holistic or specific; they may be phrased in the language of competence, knowledge, or skills. They may also be inferred from the assessment modalities. Questions to ask include:

Þ what knowledge, skills and attitudes are to be achieved?
Þ are specific components of the course linked to specific outcomes?
Þ what appears to be the underlying rationale e.g. behaviourist, constructivist, knowledge-based, skills-oriented, reflective professional, etc.?

Link to aims: how closely do these objectives match the overall aims?

Assessment and accreditation

A brief description is given in terms of type(s) of tests, exams, assignments, projects, etc. and then analysed in terms of dichotomies such as continuous / terminal, formative / summative, academic / practical and so on.

Further questions might include:

à how are the different components weighted for the final grading?
à who carries out the assessment, and what moderation processes are there if any?
à what certification do successful graduates receive and from whom (e.g. Ministry, college or university?)

Link to aims: how far do the assessment procedures encourage selection of the type of teacher described in the aims?

Pedagogy

a) Teaching/learning methods

These are the hardest to infer from documents. Certain methods may be recommended, but the college timetable, class size, physical space, and other types of resources may work to constrain choice, so data on all these is relevant, if available. But documents may show:

* what methods are recommended explicitly?
* what methods seem to be implied, by looking at the other aspects of the diamond?
* how practical and professional skills are taught?

b) Teaching/Learning Materials

These are often very scarce and/or inappropriate, with students largely relying on lecturers’ notes. What evidence is there for use of the following:

¨ textbooks for subjects, for pedagogy, for education studies?
¨ library resources, including relevant school textbooks, teaching aids etc.?
¨ audio visual resources?
¨ use of local resources, human or physical?

Link to aims: are the views of teaching and learning, and the relationships expressed in them, consistent with the aims?

Evaluation and comparisons based on the analysis

Such descriptive analysis from documents is a concrete and practical place to start. Further questions can then be asked, with the purposes of evaluating the curriculum against selected criteria, or comparing it with others. e.g.:

· is the curriculum strategy as a whole internally coherent? i.e. are the aims, outcomes, content, assessment, and pedagogy consistent?

· how relevant is it to what the new teachers will need in their jobs?

· what attention does it pay to what the trainees bring with them?

· how does it tackle values and attitudes?

· what are the gaps or silences within it?

· how is it embedded in its social context, how affected by history, by current social movements, by the economic system, by levels of national development etc.?

Appendix 2: The Curriculum Strategy in Context

adapted from Eraut (1976)

***

The discussion papers are downloadable from the following web address:

http://www.sussex.ac.uk/usie/muster/list.html