7 Initial teacher education for those who will teach mathematics in the basic phase of education

7.1 Introduction

School teachers in the basic phase51 of education clearly have a vital role to play in efforts to tackle the extremely low levels of numeracy and mathematical competence found across SSA. However, the recruitment, training and retention of such teachers remain serious challenges for many countries. UNESCO reports that nearly 7 in 10 countries in the region currently face an acute shortage of teachers and that the situation will be further exacerbated by a rising demand for school places and high rates of attrition in the teaching force (UNESCO, 2015b). It is estimated that “Sub-Saharan Africa … will need to create 2.2 million new teaching positions by 2030, while filling about 3.9 million vacant positions due to attrition” (ibid, Section 3). In response to this pressure, many countries have resorted to appointing contract teachers with no formal training or introducing alternative entry routes involving minimal training requirements. For example, UIS data reports that 50% or less of newly appointed teachers have received training to national standards in Benin, in Mali (46%), in Malawi (46%), in Angola (45%) and in Niger (37%) (ibid). When considered in conjunction with high student:teacher ratios an even more disturbing picture emerges. The 2015 EFA Global Monitoring Report estimates that “ratios of pupils to trained teachers are above 100:1 in Central African Republic, Chad, Guinea-Bissau and South Sudan, and above 40:1 in 38 other countries in sub-Saharan Africa” (UNESCO, 2015a, p.198). Whilst the priority must be to ensure that all teachers are trained, the quality of that training is also of concern. In this chapter we focus on the quality of the initial training that prospective teachers receive in relation to the teaching of mathematics.

In order to meet the great demand for teachers, some countries have introduced relatively short ‘accelerated’ training programmes for primary school teachers e.g. Liberia (9 months), Senegal (6 months) and Mali (45 days). However, most countries in SSA retain traditional, full-time college courses, typically of two or three years’ duration, as the main route of entry into teaching at the primary/junior secondary level. The curricula for the TTI typically cover three domains: subject content knowledge; teaching methods; and, ‘professional studies’ incorporating elements such as theories of child development and learning, and classroom management skills. In addition to taught courses, all trainees take part in a practicum although the duration and nature of this varies from country to country. Assessment is generally through formal examinations of both subject content and pedagogical knowledge. The language of instruction in the TTI tends to be in the dominant European language (e.g. English or French) or in a state language such as Kiswahili in Kenya - notwithstanding the fact that early grades are usually taught in local languages. (See Akyeampong et al., 2011). The use of a European language of instruction can also present barriers to trainees. For example, in Francophone West Africa initial training is typically in French yet “the data show that the mother tongue of over 98% of trainee schoolteachers is not French” (World Bank, 2005, p. 53 cited in Lauwerier and Akkari, 2015).

7.2 Issues related to the quality of initial teacher education

Entrants are not well qualified

Entry requirements for those enrolling on pre-service programmes vary from country to country. In some countries, e.g. Ghana, entrants must have a school-leaving qualification at the senior secondary level (i.e. senior school certificate, A-levels, or Baccalaureate) and in Zambia entrants are expected to have followed at least a short course at the tertiary level (UNESCO, 2015b). However, in many others, including Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria52 the minimum entry requirement is the successful completion of basic school (i.e. school certificate, O-levels or the equivalent). According to the 18 TTIs surveyed for this study, the entry requirement implicitly includes the need for a ‘pass’ in mathematics at the junior secondary level or above. However, it is not clear what this means, in absolute terms, for the levels of mathematical competence that entrants can demonstrate. Indeed, most of the TTIs responding to our survey (56%) agreed with the statements “When they start their courses, most of our trainees have inadequate knowledge of the Mathematics curriculum” and “Our tutors have to re-teach the Mathematics content that our trainees should have learned in schools”. This is reflected in the way in which the content of the curricula of TTIs is organised with much emphasis being placed on the teaching of mathematical topics rather than pedagogical skills.

Tutors have inadequate experience of teaching in basic education

There is evidence that teacher trainers in TTI rarely have experience of teaching at the basic level of education (Lewin and Stuart, 2002). In many countries, e.g. Uganda, Rwanda and Nigeria, the minimum requirement for new tutors is a Bachelor’s degree making it increasingly unlikely that primary school teachers will progress through the ranks to become teacher trainers. Currently, most tutors within TTI have been secondary school teachers at some point in their career (Akyeampong et al., 2011). The lack of personal experience of teaching mathematical concepts from the basic school curriculum, especially in the poor conditions that prevail in many classrooms, surely presents a barrier to guiding new entrants to the profession. This is a situation which is exacerbated by the reported disconnect between the curricula of TTI and current approaches to delivering the mathematics curriculum in schools.

The curricula of TTI are not well aligned with school curricula

Akyeampong et al. (2011) argue convincingly that the curricula of TTIs are not well aligned with the school curricula which their graduates will be required to teach. Reasons for this include the separation of responsibility for curriculum development in schools and TTIs, the lack of recent and relevant experience of TTI staff at the basic school level, and the startling revelation that “neither college tutors nor trainees are likely have access to the materials, such as teacher guides and textbooks used in schools” (ibid, p.18). One of the main consequences of this disconnect, particularly with respect to the teaching of mathematics, is that recent reforms in approaches to the delivery of the curriculum in classrooms are not reflected in TTIs. The general trend across SSA for some considerable time has been to promote active, child-centred teaching and learning in contrast to traditional passive, teacher-dominated approaches. Traditional content-based programmes have tended to be reformulated as competency-based curricula and implicitly, if not explicitly, constructivist approaches to teaching/learning have been encouraged. Whilst practice in the classrooms of SSA may not yet have shifted significantly in this direction, this is the aspiration of those responsible at the national level for improving the quality of education and raising achievement. However, TTIs tend not to reflect new approaches in either the content of their curricula or the way they model good teaching practice. This is particularly true in the preparation of trainees who will teach mathematics in the basic phase of education.

Many TTI programmes place a great deal of emphasis on developing the mathematical knowledge base of trainees who, in many cases, enter college with poor subject knowledge and weak skills. A significant amount of time is dedicated to mathematics (at least 5 hours per week in the TTIs surveyed for this study) with the content organised according to mathematical topics drawn from the basic curriculum. However, relatively little time is specifically dedicated to how those topics should be taught. For example, in the programme for primary teachers in Rwanda, a ten-hour module on the critically important concept of ‘number operations’ dedicates eight hours to teaching trainees about everything from “Writing numbers of up to 7 digits in words and vice versa” to “Carrying out operations in other bases (base five, base eight)” and “Writing numbers in expanded form with concepts of indices and bases”. However, the same module allocates a total of just two hours to “Identifying instructional materials to use in teaching operations on numbers” and “Teaching operations on numbers in the primary school”. This reinforces the view that TTIs place the emphasis on raising the subject knowledge of their trainees to such an extent that strategies for teaching key concepts to young learners are largely neglected. Certainly the vast majority of the teachers interviewed for this study had a positive view of this aspect of their training with more than 80% agreeing with the statement “My own mathematical skills improved a lot as a result of my training”. In reconciling this with the fact that assessments have repeatedly shown that teaching of mathematics in primary grades is largely ineffective we are led to conclude that TTIs do not equip their trainees with the profound understanding of fundamental mathematics that Ma (1999) suggests is essential for teachers. Perhaps part of the explanation for this rests in the way in which TTI tutors present mathematical concepts and teaching strategies to their trainees.

From the descriptions of observed teaching sessions given by Akyeampong et al. (2011) it appears that tutors in TTIs tend to replicate their own ideas as to what primary school teaching looks like but that this, all too often, fails to mirror best practice. For example, whilst tutors stressed the importance of using teaching and learning materials (TLM), their treatment of them was often superficial and/or uncritical (ibid). This, perhaps, is unsurprising if the tutors have never taught in primary classrooms and have little practical experience of how young people respond, or fail to respond, to various TLMs. This inability to take into account where young learners start from, the prior learning they have, and the misconceptions they hold is indicative of another deficiency – the failure of TTI tutors to model some of the key characteristics of the learner-centred, constructivist approaches advocated in curricula and supported by more modern TLM. Akyeampong et al. report that in Ghana “classroom interaction was organised around tutors posing questions and waiting for responses” and that in Tanzania “tutors tended to follow a standard approach to teaching: demonstration, practice, teacher assessment and home assignment” (ibid, p.39). These techniques are typical of the signature lessons we observed in six focus countries for this study (see Appendix A) and “very far removed from the contextualised, problem-solving approaches of the competence-based and thematic school curricula” (Akyeampong et al., p. 40).

Colleges are not well equipped to use new technologies or train prospective teachers in their use

As explored elsewhere in this report, educational technologies are increasingly seen as having great potential for raising the quality of education and, in particular, student achievement. The relatively poor schools of SSA are not yet equipped to make this a universal reality but one might reasonably expect TTIs to be leading the way in this field and at least demonstrating how such technologies might be used to advantage in the classroom. However, evidence gathered for this study suggests that most TTIs are not well equipped in terms of hardware, software, or competent staff53. Even where colleges report that they have resources, it was extremely rare to find that this was available for regular use by trainees. For example, no TTI reported that trainees had access to video material for the teaching/learning of mathematics and none had computer software specifically related to mathematics instruction (see Appendix A). Similar deficiencies were found in a needs assessment conducted for a joint project between UNESCO and the China Funds-inTrust (CFIT) which aims to use Information and Communications Technology (ICT) to strengthen pre-service and in-service teacher training (UNESCO and CFIT, 2014). In the five countries surveyed for the project in 201454, all reported problems with unstable power supplies and inadequate and/or unaffordable internet services. In some countries, including Tanzania and Nigeria, TTIs are expected to be equipped with ICT resources – usually in the form of a dedicated computer laboratory. However, hardware and software are often outdated and trainee access to computer rooms may be severely restricted (ibid). There is little evidence to suggest that the tutors currently employed by TTIs have the knowledge, skills and experience necessary to deliver effective training in this area.

This may not constitute a serious problem in the short term because most graduates will start their teaching careers in schools where educational technologies are not available. However, in the not too distant future, technological solutions to the problems of raising educational outcomes are likely to be implemented in schools. TTIs will need to respond to this challenge.

Graduates of TTIs enter a non-supportive environment

Whilst not strictly a consequence of initial teacher training programmes, it is worth noting that newly qualified teachers (NQT) often find themselves teaching in schools where the environment is not conducive to using a range of TLMs or more sophisticated modes of engaging with learners. Pressure to cover an over-loaded curriculum leading to a high-stake examination often leads NQT to deliver lessons according to an inflexible structure and to use TLMs in a superficial way – if at all. There is evidence that NQT are sometimes discouraged by more experienced, and more cynical, colleagues who doubt the benefits of using, for example, teacher-made TLMs (Akyeampong et al., 2011).

7.3 Summary

Many countries in SSA face an immediate need to produce very large numbers of teachers to meet the growing demand for education. However, strategies for meeting numerical targets for newly qualified teachers must ensure that the quality of their training is not neglected. At present, there is evidence to suggest that graduates from TTIs are not well prepared to teach basic mathematics to young learners – they do not leave college with the necessary “profound understanding of fundamental mathematics” (Ma, 1999) and they do not develop the pedagogical skills associated with delivering a mathematics curriculum which presumes a constructivist or, at least, a learner-centred approach.

The problems facing TTIs are numerous and varied. Financial resources are limited, but there are three fundamental challenges which should be addressed without delay.

• There is a need for TTIs to develop and implement radically reformed curricula which reflect both the content and philosophy of the required curricula for schools.

• TTIs need to develop a cadre of tutors with the knowledge, skills and first-hand experience of classroom teaching necessary to deliver a reformed curriculum using active methods. First, tutors require training in how to teach prospective primary and secondary school teachers. Secondly, a recognised career path is required for those who wish to progress from successful careers in primary schools to posts within TTIs.

• TTIs need to acquire the resources and personnel necessary to train their trainees in the effective use of the educational technologies both in the classroom and for personal development.

If TTIs fail to meet these challenges there is a significant risk that they will continue to impede progress towards raising levels of mathematical competence in schools rather than being part of the solution.