Projects - Education - Training

Many teachers in Malawi are not fully trained. The ending of fees for primary schooling and the large numbers of children created a huge demand for teachers and many were recruited without completing training. Shortages in some subjects in secondary schools means that sometimes staff are not teaching their main subject.

Teacher training

Volunteers visit Dedza to carry out short in-service training sessions. This was piloted by Roy Gilbert who was a maths lecturer at Norwich City College. Roy went to Dedza for three weeks in August 2007 which is a school holiday period. He carried out three day training sessions for groups of secondary school maths teachers at three locations. About 20 teachers took part in each session.

The work was organised by the Norwich- Dedza Partnership and the Dedza District Education Manager. During the planning, teachers were asked to identify priority topics that they wanted Roy to deal with. We brought the Malawi textbooks to Norwich so that he was familiar with the syllabus.

Sue Eagle, a recently retired Primary School Head who helps co-ordinate the school links visits Dedza. She visits schools and meets the Primary Education Advisors, who carry out inspections and training of school staff. They discuss the education topics where training would be useful. In recent years, other volunteers have carried out training in Secondary English, Literacy and Bullying Policy

If you are interested in undertaking this sort of project, please get in touch through any of the contacts on the website. Secondary school subjects such as English, maths and science are very similar to those taught in schools in the UK. Volunteers usually pay their own travel and other costs.