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

为莱索托的小学教师提供教育和激励农村儿童的装备

• 批准号: ES/V001116/1
• 负责人: Nicola Ansell
• 金额: $ 5.76万
• 依托单位: Brunel University London
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2021 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ES%2FV001116%2F1
• 关键词: Equipping; Lesotho; primary; teachers; educating

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.

布鲁内尔大学领导的关于“偏远农村地区的教育系统、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有用（教师、护士、警察、士兵等）。只有少数学习者能够从事这类职业，因此，许多青年人的理想破灭，脱离了学校教育。在莱索托，尽管新的综合课程明确寻求使儿童掌握知识和技能，以适应不同的未来，但情况仍然如此。问题的部分原因是农村学校的教师也把教育看作是为正式部门职业生涯做准备，他们自己并没有完全接受综合课程。接受过新课程培训的教师相对较少，莱索托教育学院目前也没有在教师初始教育中采用新课程。此外，无论是在新课程本身还是在教师教育中，在具体的农村环境中的教学问题或农村儿童的需要都没有得到重视，拟议的项目将设法使莱索托的小学教师更好地使农村儿童接受教育。它的目标是提供一种学校经验，使其与农村儿童的生活更有意义地联系起来，并为他们在未来可能不在正规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。将农村教师的准备引入LCE教育初级文凭我们将在为期一年的教学实践之前与学生合作，教授他们行动研究方法，并设计行动研究项目，以在他们的教学实践中进行。在附近的研究生教师的监督下，学生们将评估农村儿童的需求，在他们的学校进行改革，并产生有价值的知识，这些知识将用于课堂教师教育和以政策为重点的学术出版物。将对农村背景的反思引入在职教师方案LCE为那些没有资格的小学教师开办了远程教师教育方案;莱索托国立大学（NUL）为那些已经完成教育文凭并希望在职业生涯中取得进步的教师开办了教育学士课程。我们将与这些方案的实施者合作，在课程中鼓励教师反思农村环境给学习者带来的挑战，探索使农村儿童的学校教育更有意义的方法。为农村教师举办在职培训讲习班长期以来，继续专业发展（CPD）主要由教育和培训部（MOET）负责，特别是监察局和国家课程编制中心。有计划说，今后检查局应确定继续专业发展的需要，但这应由地方教育委员会和全国大学提供。我们将与教育和培训部、教育学院和国立大学合作，为那些已经在农村学校任教的人设计和试验讲习班。这些可能侧重于与社区的外展以及与学校学习者的合作。4.为了努力确保政府的师范教育政策和框架关注农村儿童的需求，已经起草了一项涵盖师范教育的新的《全面教师政策》，目前正在讨论一项新的基于能力的教师培训框架模式。这些文件是在多个利益攸关方的投入下编写的。我们将召集教育和培训部、地方教育局和全国大学的代表，确保他们适当关注农村儿童的具体需求，确保教育对偏远地区的儿童有意义和价值。