Teacher Education and the Challenge of Development

Description

Everyone remembers a good teacher. But across the world, in developing country contexts, millions of children, seventy-five million at the last estimate, have no access to schooling and no opportunity to engage with any teachers at all. And of the lucky ones in schools the chances of meeting a teacher to remember are dropping. In some parts of the world qualified teachers are a rarity with millions of untrained adults taking over the role of teacher.

Schools and teachers in many parts of the world face significant challenges. Enrolment is expanding to meet the millennium targets to have every child in school by 2015. Yet the supply of good quality teachers is falling behind. Not the least because the image of the teaching profession is deterring many from entering the profession. Poor status, low salaries and inadequate working conditions characterise perceptions of teachers in many countries. There are strong critiques of the one dimensional, didactic approach to pedagogic practice. Despite this, millions of teachers are carrying out, often heroically, the task of educating a newly enfranchized generation of learners.

This book focuses on the teacher role. It examines the problems of finding and retaining teachers and also on how these teachers can be supported, trained and educated. The book examines the ways in which teachers can help in raising achievement levels and contributing to poverty alleviation. The main argument of this book is that existing policy structures around teachers, whilst barely adequate in the twentieth century, are not adequate at all in the twenty-first. The book identifies the global pressures on teaching and shows how these are particularly acute in developing economies.

In summarising the key policy and research issues and analysing innovatory approaches to teacher supply, retention, training, education and career enhancement, the book provides a key text for policy-makers, researchers and others working in this important development area.

Contents

Section 1: Understanding the Context of Teachers and Development 1. Teachers and the Development Agenda Nhlanganiso Dladla and Bob Moon 2. Pressures on Teacher Supply Systems Anne Storey 3 Understanding Teacher Needs: Female Teachers in Rural Communities Alison Buckler and Amani Ibrahim Section 2: Global Vontexts of the Teacher and Development Challenge 4. Brazil: Building National Regulatory Frameworks Freda Wolfenden and Ivany Pino 5. China: Strengthening the Quality of Education in Rural Communities Yan Hanbing and Bob McCormick 6. India: Committing to New Communication Technologies Frank Banks and Prema Dheram 7. Nigeria: Balancing Federal and Local Initiatives Bob Moon and Mohammed Ibn Junaid Section 3: Responses to the Challenges of Teachers in Development Contexts 8. Innovations in Teacher Supply and Retention Strategies Anne Storey 9. New Modes of Teacher Pre-service Training and Professional Support Jophus Anamuah-Mensah and Bob Moon 10. Exploiting the Potential of New Communication Technologies Abul Hasanet Mohammed Rezwan and Tom Power 11. Promoting the Research Agenda around Teachers Bob Moon and Goretti Nakaboyo Section 4: Reorientating the policy and Research Agenda 12. New Criteria for a Reform of Policies towards Teachers and Teacher Education in Developing Country Contexts Bob Moon

Author Bio

Bob Moon has published extensively in the fields of curriculum, teacher education, school reform and international education. Over the last two decades he has had direct experience of leading major projects in the field of teacher education, most notably in Sub-Saharan Africa. He has also acted as an advisor to many national governments and international organisations such as OECD, UNESCO and The World Bank.

Related Subjects

1. Development Studies
2. Education Policy & Politics
3. Teachers & Teacher Education
4. Education & Development
5. African Studies
6. Asian Studies