Equipping Lesotho's primary school teachers for educating and motivating rural children

布鲁内尔大学领导的关于“偏远农村地区的教育制度、愿望和学习”的研究项目发现，莱索托、印度和老挝农村社区的小学生往往认为他们的教育只对正规部门的职业（教师、护士、警察、士兵等）有用。这样的职业只能由少数学习者实现，因此，许多年轻人的幻想破灭，脱离了学校教育。在莱索托，尽管有一个新的综合课程，明确地寻求让孩子们掌握未来的知识和技能，但这种情况仍然存在。部分问题在于，农村学校的教师也把教育看作是为正式部门的职业生涯做准备，他们自己并没有完全接受综合课程。接受新课程培训的教师相对较少，莱索托教育学院的初级教师教育目前也没有采用新课程。此外，在特殊农村环境下的教学问题，或农村儿童的需要问题，在新课程本身或在教师教育中都不太突出。拟议的项目将努力使莱索托的小学教师能够更好地使农村儿童接受教育。它的目标是提供一种与农村儿童的生活更有意义的联系的学校体验，并为他们在未来可能无法在正式部门工作的生活中取得成功做好准备。因此，农村儿童将更积极地参与学校教育。这种方法有四个方面：1。为农村教师准备初级教育文凭课程，我们将在学生一年教学实习的前一个学期与他们合作，教授他们行动研究方法，并设计他们在教学实践中进行的行动研究项目。在附近的研究生教师的指导下，学生们将评估农村儿童的需求，在他们的学校进行变革，并产生有价值的知识，这些知识将用于以课堂为基础的教师教育和以政策为重点的学术出版物。在在职教师课程中引入对农村环境的反思LCE为没有资格的小学教师开办了远程教师教育课程；莱索托国立大学（NUL）为完成教育文凭并希望在职业生涯中取得进步的教师提供教育学士学位课程。2 .我们将与这些项目的负责人合作，开展小组讨论，鼓励教师反思农村环境给学习者带来的挑战，探索使学校教育对农村儿童更有意义的方法。为农村教师开展在职培训讲习班持续专业发展（CPD）在历史上主要是教育和培训部（MOET）的责任，特别是督察和国家课程发展中心。有计划，在未来，监察局应确定持续专业进修的需要，但这应由LCE和NUL提供。我们将与教育部、LCE和NUL合作，为已经在农村学校任教的教师设计和试行讲习班。这些可能侧重于与社区的拓展以及与学校学习者的合作。4. 为确保政府的教师教育政策和框架关注农村儿童的需求，一项涵盖教师教育的新的综合教师政策已经起草，一种新的基于能力的教师培训框架模式正在讨论中。这些文件是根据多个利益攸关方的意见编写的。我们将召集教育部、LCE和NUL的代表，确保他们对农村儿童的特殊需求给予适当的关注，确保教育对更偏远地区的儿童来说是有意义和有价值的。

The Brunel University-led research project on "Education systems, aspiration and learning in remote rural settings" found that primary school children in rural communities in Lesotho, India and Laos tend to see their education as being useful only in relation to formal sector careers (teacher, nurse, policeman, soldier etc). Such careers can be achieved by only a minority of learners and, as a consequence, many young people are left disillusioned, and disengage from schooling. In Lesotho, this is despite a new integrated curriculum that explicitly seeks to equip children with knowledge and skills for alternative futures. Part of the problem is that teachers in rural schools also see education as preparation for a formal sector career, and have not themselves fully embraced the integrated curriculum. Relatively few teachers have received any training in the new curriculum and it is not currently introduced in initial teacher education at Lesotho College of Education (LCE). Moreover, issues of teaching in specifically rural contexts, or the needs of rural children, have little prominence either in the new curriculum itself, or in teacher education.The proposed project will seek to equip Lesotho's primary school teachers better for engaging rural children with education. It will aim to produce a school experience that connects more meaningfully with rural children's lives and prepares them for success in a future life that might not be in a formal sector job. Rural children will as a consequence engage more actively with schooling.There are four strands to the approach:1. TO INTRODUCE PREPARATION FOR RURAL TEACHERS INTO THE DIPLOMA IN EDUCATION PRIMARY AT LCEWe will work with students in the term preceding their year-long teaching practice to teach them action research methods and design action research projects to undertake during their teaching practice. Supervised by nearby graduate teachers, the students will assess the needs of rural children, institute change in their schools and generate valuable knowledge that will feed into classroom-based teacher education and policy-focused and academic publications.2. TO INTRODUCE REFLECTION ON RURAL CONTEXTS TO PROGRAMMES FOR IN-SERVICE TEACHERS LCE runs a Distance Teacher Education Programme for those teaching in primary schools without a qualification; the National University of Lesotho (NUL) runs a Bachelor of Education programme for teachers who have completed a Diploma in Education and wish to progress their careers. We will work with those who run these programmes to build in sessions that encourage the teachers to reflect on the challenges that rural settings pose to learners, to explore ways of making schooling more meaningful to rural children.3. TO DEVELOP IN-SERVICE TRAINING WORKSHOPS FOR RURAL TEACHERSContinuing Professional Development (CPD) has historically been largely a responsibility of the Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), particularly the Inspectorate and National Curriculum Development Centre. There are plans that in future the Inspectorate should identify the need for CPD but this should be delivered by LCE and NUL. We will work with the MOET, LCE and NUL to design and trial workshops for those already teaching in rural schools. These might focus on outreach with communities as well as working with learners in school. 4. TO WORK TO ENSURE THAT GOVERNMENT POLICY AND FRAMEWORKS FOR TEACHER EDUCATION PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEEDS OF CHILDREN IN RURAL CONTEXTSA new Comprehensive Teacher Policy has been drafted which covers teacher education, and a new competency-based framework model for training teachers is under discussion. These documents are being produced with input from multiple stakeholders. We will bring together representatives of MOET, LCE and NUL to ensure that they give appropriate attention to the specific needs of rural children, to ensure that education is meaningful and valuable to children in more remote areas.