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
We have started short in-service training sessions for teachers
using volunteers from Norwich institutions. This was piloted by Roy
Gilbert, a maths lecturer at Norwich City College. Roy went to Dedza
for three weeks in August 2007 which is a school holiday period.
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.
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. This worked well and there were compliments from the
teachers, headteachers and the Education Manager.
In 2008, Sue Eagle, a recently retired Primary School Head, went to
Dedza. She visited schools and met the Primary Education Advisors, who
carry out inspections and training of school staff. They discussed the
education topics where training would be useful. Sue is planning to
return in 2010 to carry out this training.
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.
|