MIAMI UNIVERSITY The Graduate School
Certificate for Approving the Dissertation
We hereby approve the Dissertation of Precious Muni-Wathu Gawanani
Candidate for the Degree: Doctor of Philosophy
______Director Dr. Dennis L. Carlson
______Reader Dr. Lisa Weems ______Reader Dr. Denise T. Baszile
______Graduate School Representative Dr. William Boone
ABSTRACT
EXPERIENCES OF MALAWIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS WITH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY by Precious Muni-Wathu Gawanani Malawian primary schools are challenged by very low student performance. Despite the unsatisfactory student achievement, teacher continuous professional development (CPD), an important strategy in improving student achievement, faces challenges in implementation. This dissertation study investigated the experiences of teachers in Malawian primary schools with CPD programs. The goal was to get a deeper understanding of the nature and meaning of lived experiences of teachers participating in CPD programs. Through such meanings we get the opportunity to understand what is preventing CPD programs from changing the way teachers teach and manage their classrooms, thereby failing to improve students’ achievement. I used postcolonial theory that provides a unique lens to understand challenges that the Malawian education system is facing as it places this issue in a historical and sociocultural context. This is a phenomenological study that explored experiences of teachers with CPD programs. Phenomenology was chosen to enable the researcher understand the meaning that teachers attach to the CPD programs. Following the tenets of phenomenology, I had in-depth interviews with 10 teachers from Dowa education district. Each of these teachers was interviewed twice. Teachers were carefully selected to ensure that they had experienced CPD. As part of triangulation I observed CPD sessions that my research participants participated in; this informed interviews I had with the teachers just as the interviews informed the observations. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. I presented and discussed data in the form of tropes and cultural narratives that were part of the way the participants explained their experiences with CPDs. Tropes and cultural narratives provided rich information in the experiences of teachers with CPD programs. The findings indicated that teachers were dissatisfied with the nature of CPDs available to them. The common themes shared among teachers include; narratives of the ignorant teacher, disempowering pedagogy, neocolonialism and neoliberalism, disorganized CPDs, the need for umunthu themed CPDs, and insufficient and infrequent CPDs. It is also important to note that the teachers valued CPDs and expressed interest in being actively engaged in planning for CPDs.
EXPERIENCES OF MALAWIAN PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS WITH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL STUDY
A DISSERTATION
Submitted to the Faculty of
Miami University in partial
Fulfilment of the requirements
for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy
Department of Educational Leadership
by Precious Muni-Wathu Gawanani Miami University Oxford, Ohio 2015
Dissertation Director: Dr. Dennis L. Carlson
© Precious Muni-Wathu Gawanani 2015
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION…………..……………………………………………………………………….iv
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………v
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ...... 1
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW………………………………………………………...11
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY………………………………………………………………………………39
CHAPTER 4: A POSTCOLONIAL ANALYSIS OF EDUCATION IN MALAWI…………....51
CHAPTER 5: RESEARCH FINDINGS……………………………………………………...... 59
CHAPTER 6: SUMMARY, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………………………………………………..88
REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………. …..101
APPENDECES…………………………………………………………………………………108
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DEDICATION
I dedicate this dissertation to my family and friends. To my parents and siblings who sacrificed so much for me. To my late paternal grandmother who believed in me. I also dedicate this work to Dr. Raymond Terrell, who believed in me when we met in Malawi and encouraged me to consider graduate school at Miami University.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to all the people who helped me in this journey. I am very appreciative for the wonderful support that I received from my family, friends and colleagues.
My gratitude goes to my advisor, Dr. Dennis L. Carlson, who has been very supportive in the process. Dr. Baszile, Dr. Boone and Dr. Weems thank you very much for taking your time to read and review my work. I greatly appreciate your comments, you made me trouble the concepts I was exploring in the study thereby making me clearly present experiences of Malawian teachers.
I also want to thank research participants who took their time to share how they have experienced professional development programs in Dowa education district. I am very appreciative for your lived experiences that you shared and suggestions you made on how professional development programs could be improved and therefore improving the quality of education in Malawi.
I would also like to acknowledge the support I got from faculty, staff members and all graduate students I had an opportunity to interact with in the EDL department. You were more than colleagues, you were family.
Kaboni W. Gondwe thank you very much for your support. You were always available when I needed someone to proofread my work. Thank you for being a great friend.
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Chapter 1: Introduction This chapter provides a context for the rest of the dissertation. This is a study inspired by my experience in Malawian public schools where I attended and taught briefly. I am still connected to these public schools because my colleagues and friends still work in these schools and they share with me their experiences which, interestingly, are not very different from my experiences when I was in these schools. This chapter, therefore, starts off by giving a brief background about the education system in Malawi, an overview of the study, a statement of problem, research questions, significance of the study, purpose of research, theoretical lens, study delimitation, research ethics, researcher’s perspective, definitions of terms, conclusion and organization of the study. Brief Background of Malawi Education System Malawi is a Southern African nation that shares borders with Tanzania, Mozambique, and Zambia. It is a former British colony that got political independence on July 6th 1964. This information is important for this study because the education system in Malawi is greatly influenced by the British (Banda, 1982). In Malawi, Christian missionaries established formal western forms of education in the 1800s. The purpose for establishing schools was to evangelize the local peoples (Banda, 1982). They knew by teaching the people of Malawi how to read and write they would spread Christianity by allowing the new ‘converts’ to read the Bible on their own. Because of the close ties between the Christian missionaries and the colonial government, it is not surprising that after the introduction of colonial administration, these schools were expected to provide skilled laborers to serve the colonial administration (Phiri, 1970). The colonial government started financing schools in 1963, which could be considered as the birth of public schools in Malawi (Banda, 1982). After independence in 1964, the newly formed government just inherited these schools and continued running them as the colonial government had with minor changes in their structure. Education in Malawi is generally categorized into four: pre-school, primary school, secondary school and tertiary education. Pre-school is relatively a recent phenomenon in Malawi; many students do not have access to it because most pre-schools are found in urban centers and cities in a country which is predominantly rural (World Bank, 2010). This study focused on primary school section, because I was studying the experiences of primary school teachers with professional development programs. Organization of Education in Malawi Starting from the time Malawi got political independence from Britain in 1964, the government of Malawi took a leading role in the provision of education. The government 1
through the Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST) is in charge of all education activities in Malawi from pre-school, primary school, secondary school up to tertiary education. These sections are usually categorized into two departments: pre-school, primary and secondary fall under basic education, while tertiary education falls under higher education. The focus of this study was on basic education and I narrowed it further to primary education. So, the discussion on the organization of education in Malawi in this study will be limited to primary education. The government of Malawi acknowledges the important place primary education has in the whole education system arguing: Good primary education is valuable both for those who leave school at the end of primary, and for those who continue their education. Only if the primary sector functions well can students gain the basic knowledge to progress to secondary, while research world-wide shows that people who have a good primary education are likely to be more productive in life than those who have not. However, it is the same primary structure which harbors most of the challenges in the entire education system in Malawi due to increasing enrollment without adequate funding and management. (MoEST, 2008, p. 11) This observation is important considering that not many students complete a full primary school course and continue their education. In terms of structure arrangement, the MoEST through the department of basic education is in charge of primary education. Malawi as a country is divided into four educational divisions, each headed by an official called Education Division Manager. It is this official who takes down the instruction from the MoEST headquarters and implements in his or her division. In the education division we have education districts under the leadership of District Education Managers. These take instruction from the division managers and implement it in their respective districts. From the educational district managers, we have education zones which are under the leadership of Primary Education Advisors (PEAs). These are in charge of primary schools within their zones, and as will be explained later, an education zone usually comprises 20 schools chosen based on their proximity to each other. From the zones we now have school administrators, who are in charge of schools. As can be seen this is a very hierarchical structure with some officials like the school administrators having little to no voice on real issues affecting their respective schools. Figure 1.1 below shows this organizational structure.
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ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN MALAWI
Ministry of Education Science and Technology (MoEST)
Department of Basic Education
Educational Divisions
Educational Districts
Educational Zones
Primary Schools
Primary school education in Malawi comprises eight years of schooling, locally referred to as standard 1 to standard 8 (an equivalent of grade 1 to grade 8 in the US education system). The official primary school age group in Malawi is 6 to 13 but it is not uncommon for students of varying ages to attend primary school because many students tend to repeat classes (World Bank, 2010). Primary school students learn a variety of subjects, and take a standardized examination in English, Chichewa (a local Malawian language), Mathematics, Science and Social Studies. Students must earn a Primary School Leaving Certificate (PSLC) based on their Standard 8 standardized examination in order to progress to secondary school. With a pass rate of less than 70%, this is a high stakes examination (World Bank, 2010), leaving many students with shattered dreams of progressing to secondary school.
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Primary school education is provided mostly by the government, and is tuition free to all students in Malawi. However, it is important to note that there has also been a tremendous growth of private primary schools (Chimombo, 2009). Free primary school education was introduced in Malawi in 1994, and in the first year after the policy change, primary school enrolment tripled (Kadzamira & Rose, 2001). As the primary school enrolment increased, there was a national shortage of classrooms and qualified teachers to deal with the sudden increase in students. Some scholars argue that although more students now have access to education in Malawi, the quality of education has decreased (Chimombo, 2005; UNESCO, 2011; World Bank, 2010). Directly related to this study is how the problem of shortage of teachers and teacher quality is addressed or could be addressed with a special interest in professional development. Statement of Problem Malawian primary school teachers have been involved in different forms of continuing professional development (CPD) programs (Ministry of Education Science and Technology, 2011; Selemani-Meke, 2013) and there seems to be a consensus among many scholars on the importance of CPD programs for teachers (Barth, 1991; Ministry of Education Science and Technology, 2011; UNESCO, 2014). In spite of this, it is sad that Malawi continues to have the highest dropout rates and repetition rates amongst primary school students in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region (World Bank, 2010). The repetition rate in Malawian primary schools is at 20% and only 35% of the students graduate from primary school (UNESCO, 2011). It is also estimated that less than 1% of all 6th graders reach the required reading grade level, and only 20% reach the minimum reading grade level (World Bank, 2010). The percentage of students passing grade 8 national standardized examinations-- which enable them to join secondary school-- has been less than 70% for the past five years (UNESCO, 2011; World Bank, 2010). It is also estimated that less than 20% of children who complete a primary school course achieve minimum learning standards in Mathematics (UNESCO, 2014). These numbers suggest that there are high levels of inefficiencies in the system. It would be a bit naïve to push all the blame on teachers for the low student achievement; however, I think teachers can make a difference if they are well prepared and continue to be involved in CPD programs which have been conceptualized differently. Ucheche (2011) reminds us that “no system of education can be qualitatively higher than the quality and commitment of its teachers” (p. 31). UNESCO (2014) notes that countries that achieve highest and most equal learning outcomes are those that invest the most in their teachers through pre-service and in-service training. It is against this background then that this 4
research was conceptualized to provide a deeper understanding of what it means to go through professional development programs by the primary school teachers in Malawi. Teacher professional development is known to boost student achievement, which generally play a bigger role in reducing grade retention and dropout rates (Sparks, 1999). So, the question becomes what is preventing the teacher professional development programs in Malawi from improving students’ achievement? Therefore, exploring the experiences of Malawi primary school teachers with professional development programs that they have been involved in was needed to understand the gaps and challenges with CPD. From the meaning that they make of the professional development programs, we can come to an understanding as to why these programs are not working to address the challenges Malawian education is facing. There is a need for professional development programs that are relevant to teachers’ lived experiences and that take into account the input from these teachers. Another important aspect of this study is the use of postcolonial theory to frame Malawian education challenges. This is important because a lot of scholars have not attempted to understand or explain problems in Malawi’s education system from a postcolonial perspective. More importantly, there are no studies (at least to my knowledge) as of now that have used postcolonial theory to study teacher professional development. Seeing this gap, I saw a necessity to design a study that addressed this problem. Malawi being a postcolonial space is still being influenced by the legacy of colonialism and the new forms of colonialism, also known as neocolonialism (Loomba, 1998). As such, it is important to understand this concept, which comes clearly in the postcolonial theory in order to have a good grasp of what is happening in Malawi especially with regards to teacher professional development. Postcolonial theory provides opportunities for scholars to put education issues in historical and sociopolitical contexts that result in a meaningful understanding unlike taking issues out of their context. Review of Methodology Phenomenology as a methodology was chosen to enable the researcher to get an understanding of the meaning that teachers attach to the professional development programs that they are involved in. The phenomenological approach was appropriate to capture the lived experiences of the participants by describing their experiences (Creswell, 2007; Moustakas, 1994). These authors also continue to argue that phenomenology usually involves the study of a relative small number of participants who experiences the phenomenon, usually 5-25. This study involved 10 participants, all of whom had been involved in teacher professional development programs. Phenomenology involves in-depth interviews and significant 5
immersion and interaction with the research; thus ten participants was considered a sufficient group size. Theoretical Framework Overview This phenomenological study is grounded in postcolonial theory and seeks to understand how Malawian primary school teachers describe their experiences with continuing professional development programs. The idea of situating the study in postcolonial theory comes from an understanding that the Malawian education system, like that of many African countries in Southern Africa, is a product of colonialism (Shizha, 2006). Postcolonial theory, therefore, provides a unique lens to promote understanding of the challenges that the Malawian education system is facing as it places it in a historical and sociocultural context. Postcolonial theory is concerned with issues of power, economics, politics, religion and culture and how these issues work in relation to colonial hegemony (Loomba, 1998). Colonial hegemony is a term used to refer to how western colonizers continue controlling the colonized (Mudimbe, 1988). In my thinking this could be extended to new native elites controlling their fellow natives who are not in privileged positions. Postcolonial work also takes the form of authors that critique Euro-centric hegemony. The term postcolonial is used to cover all cultures affected by the imperial process form the moment of colonization to the present day (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 2002). Postcolonial theory helps to frame Malawian teacher education as a colonial institution, and teacher professional development is also part of the colonial institution. It is important to decolonize the teacher education and teacher professional development programs if we are to achieve an education system that works for and serves the Malawian people. Teachers are a marginalized group of workers in the education system in Malawi; we might as well consider them a ‘colonized’ group of people that is marginalized.
Purpose of Study The goal of this study was to understand, based on what the teachers say, the meaning that these teachers attach to the CPD programs they are involved in. Through such meanings we can understand what is preventing CPD programs from changing the way teachers teach and manage their classrooms, thereby failing to improve students’ learning. It is from these meanings that one can come to understand what could be done to ensure that CPD programs achieve the intended purpose of making teachers grow, and improve students’ learning (Barth, 1991). This is also based on the insight we get from Fullan (1997) that teachers are both agents and objects of school reform. If we want to improve education quality in Malawi --which in
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my view is a necessity -- we have to engage teachers actively by listening to the meaning that they make of the current professional development programs. Significance of the Study I was interested in this study because I wanted to provide an opportunity to educational policy makers in Malawi to learn from Malawian teachers their experiences and the meaning they make of the professional development programs that they are involved in. This study is a contribution that is much needed in the postcolonial discourse in Malawian education. Although there are some postcolonial scholars in Malawi, they have not applied this discourse in a study of education in Malawi. And Malawi being a postcolonial space, a better understanding of issues affecting postcolonial spaces would help promote an understanding of challenges that the Malawian education system is facing. This study in general is a contribution towards education literature in Malawi. There are few studies that have been conducted in the areas of teacher education and professional development in particular. The study gives a voice to primary school teachers on issues that affect them directly. This is an important exercise because primary school teachers are not usually given platforms to explain their concerns and things that matter to them or things that can improve their work and professional lives in general. Study Delimitation The methodology used, phenomenology, delimits the study to the lived experience of Malawian primary school teachers. The research findings are therefore not representative of Malawian teachers in general, but they provide an informed understanding of the teachers’ experiences, revealing the underlying meaning and the taken-for-grantedness of their professional lives. Van Manen (1990) also cautions us from making generalizations as he says that in phenomenological research, making generalizations can lead the researcher away from understanding the uniqueness of the experiences. At the same time, research informed by a postcolonial theory shows us that the specific has relevance to our understanding of broader cultural phenomenon, in this case the phenomenon of teacher professional development. Research Question This research study used the following question to guide both the collection and analysis of data: What is your experience with professional development programs? This question ties in well with the paramount question for phenomenology which according to Patton (2002) focuses on exploring how human beings make sense of experience and transform experience into consciousness, both individually and as a shared meaning. The aim was to get
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thick rich descriptions from participants to illuminate the essence of the lived experience of teachers with regard to professional development. Definition of Terms In order to understand Malawian teachers’ experiences with professional development programs, I have provided the reader with terms and definitions as used in this study: In-service teachers: Practicing teachers Pre-service teachers: Students in a teacher education preparation program. Ministry of Education: An agency of government in charge of education in Malawi. Professional development: Continuing education of currently practicing teachers and school administrators. Primary school: These are grades 1 through 8, commonly known as standards 1 through 8 in Malawi. School administrators: Heads of schools; commonly referred to as head teachers/headmaster/ headmistress. Government schools: These are schools that are run and financed by the government, could also be referred to as public schools. Conclusion and Organization of the Study This phenomenological study explores the lived experiences of Malawian primary school teachers with professional development programs. It uses a postcolonial theory to get a deeper understanding of the meanings that these teachers make of their lived experiences. The use of this theoretical framework is justified considering that Malawi, just as many other formerly colonized countries, is still facing the impact of colonialism which has just taken a different form (Loomba, 1998). So, to have a better understanding of the Malawian education system it is imperative to understand the origin of formal education in Malawi and the forces behind educational policies in Malawi, both of which are well explained in this study through the postcolonial lens. In chapter four, for example, I provide a postcolonial reading of the education system in Malawi. This basically is an analysis of one of the major policy documents that greatly influences the direction of education in Malawi. As the reader will notice, a postcolonial reading of this document clearly unpacks how ‘colonial’ the education system in Malawi is, and how this is impacting policies for teacher professional development, which is the focus for this study. The use of phenomenology as methodology and postcolonial theory work well to empower teachers to tell their stories regarding their experiences with professional development. Postcolonial theory provides opportunities for people who are marginalized to share their stories, which tend to deconstruct the ‘hegemonic’ discourse. With phenomenology, 8
the use of in-depth interviews provide room for the teachers to share their experiences from their perspective, unlike very structured interview methods. I conclude this chapter by providing a brief outline of the remaining chapters. In chapter two, I present a theoretical framework for the study and other relevant literature that I engage in to provide a context for the dissertation. The theoretical study I engage in is postcolonial theory. As such I review literature related to the theoretical framework that I am using for this study, which is postcolonial theory. I also review literature related to teacher professional development across the world and narrow it to African countries and Malawi to be specific. In postcolonial theory I start with the works of Fanon and Said and progress to the most recent scholars in African contexts, like Mapara. For teacher professional development I provide a critique of different professional development programs that are provided in different parts of the world and I go on to focus on what is happening in Malawi. This provides a stage where I base my argument on what is possible in Malawian contexts as I frame my argument towards a more postcolonial teacher development approach. This is an approach that takes into account the Western ideas and appropriates them with the traditional/indigenous Malawian ideas and makes them work in a Malawian context with the aim of improving the education system. In chapter three, I present the methodology that I used in the study. To do this, I first explain my stance, which I call researcher’s stance. Here I explain my background and what got me interested in the topic. I explain my experiences in Malawian public schools as a teacher and continued interaction with primary school teachers in Malawi learning from them how they continued learning while on the job. I also explain my ontological and epistemological assumption that knowledge is socially constructed and this is reflected in the way I approach different forms of professional development programs. I specifically explain phenomenology, the methodology that I use in the study. I explain what it is and why it is appropriate for this kind of study. I go into the details explaining how I collected data in the field through mostly interviews and participant observations. There is also a section on how data were analyzed through tropes and cultural narratives. In chapter four, I provide a postcolonial reading/analysis of education in Malawi. This is important because it provides background information about the Malawi education landscape as seen from a postcolonial lens. This is important because it helps to make sense of the data presented and discussed in chapter five. Further, I produce a discourse analysis of teacher education and professional development policies that have been passed and are a basis for all the professional development programs that take place in Malawian schools. The document on which I base this analysis is the ‘Malawi National Education Sector Plan (NESP) 2008-2017’, 9
which is a document outlining the goals and targets that Malawi as a nation is trying to achieve in the decade 2008-2017. Chapter five discusses the data that were collected in the study mainly through in depth interviews and observations that were done when teachers were conducting professional development sessions in schools, clusters and zones. The data from these two main activities were interconnected and influenced each other. What I observed in the professional development sessions influenced the conversations I had with my research participants, and these conversations also influenced how I conducted my observations in the professional development sessions that teachers had. The data are presented and discussed in the form of tropes and cultural narratives that are part of the way the participants explain their experiences with CPD. The use of tropes and cultural narratives disrupt the ‘traditional’ ways of conducting phenomenological research. I use this method in this study because it gives a voice to the research participants and in some ways could be seen as empowering which goes in line with postcolonial theory. In chapter six, I provide a summary of the study and how data were collected, analyzed and problematized. I do this by reflecting on the purpose of the study and discuss the major findings in relation to teacher professional development in Malawi. I also discuss what the Malawi education system could do to improve the education system by getting some tenets from western forms of teacher development and re-appropriating them with traditional Malawian concepts like umunthu in order to improve teacher development.
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Chapter 2: Literature Review Introduction Teacher professional development is an area that has been studied extensively in the education sector across the world. However, what is new is the context that I have in this study, Malawi. There are a couple of studies that have been done in Malawi related to teacher professional development (World Bank, 2010 & Selemani-Meke, 2013). However, what is missing in these studies is the ‘voice’ of the people who are greatly and directly impacted by these professional development programs. The perspective these studies have taken has been mostly less critical, not troubling the structures of the professional development programs. This chapter, therefore, works to provide a review of literature that helps to set a context to the question guiding this study. As such I review literature related to the theoretical framework that I am using for this study, which is postcolonial theory. I also review literature related to teacher professional development across the world and narrow it to African countries and Malawi to be specific. In the process of looking for literature to review specifically research articles, I conducted the review using multiple databases like Academic Search Complete, EBSCO and ERIC. I used key terms like: postcolonial theory and education, indigenous knowledge, Malawi, teachers, teacher development, continuous professional development, educational change, teachers’ experiences, Africa. I also realized that many of the articles led me to more great articles and great books. But one thing that I learned from this process is that there is not a lot of literature on teacher professional development in Malawi especially that which has a critical perspective to it. It is my view that this study will contribute in some ways to this problem. Malawian education system is encountering numerous challenges and understanding experiences of teachers with professional development programs can be a step in the right direction as we seek for solutions to improving quality education. Theoretical Framework for the Study The theoretical framework guiding this research is postcolonial theory. This is a term used to cover all the cultures affected by the imperial process form the moment of colonization to the present day (Ashcroft, Griffiths & Tiffin, 2002). Postcolonial theory is concerned with issues of power, economics, politics, religion and culture and how these issues work in relation to colonial hegemony. By colonial hegemony it is mostly how western colonizers continue controlling the colonized and make their ways of knowing and habits to be seen and taken as commonsensical and natural (Loomba, 1998). There seems to be some disagreements among scholars on the period being referred to as postcolonial. Some argue the term postcolonial 11
should only refer to the period starting from the time former colonized countries gained their political independence (Gilbert &Tompkins, 1996), while others maintain that it should refer to the whole period starting from the first encounter of the colonizers with the colonized people up to now when the colonized peoples still have to deal with new forms of colonization in the name of neocolonialism and neoliberal policies (Subedi & Daza, 2008). In this study I use postcolonial theory as an examination of the impact European colonization and domination had and still has on the non-European peoples it was and still is imposed on. So, this entails that the definition is not limited to the time after the colonized peoples gained political independence. Gilbert and Tompkins (1996) support this line of thinking by saying; “a theory of postcolonialism must, then, respond to more than merely chronological construction of post- independence, and more than the discursive experiences imperialism” (p. 109). Loomba (1998) argues that the field of postcolonial studies critiques colonialism and its legacy. It is a discourse of resistance of formerly colonized peoples that challenge and deconstruct the alienating images that the colonizers have constructed (Young, 2001). Among some of the major scholars in postcolonial theory is Franz Fanon, through his book Black Skin, White Masks, 1967. In this book, Fanon talks about how colonization makes colonized people feel inferior and alienated from their own culture. They are made to hate their own culture, their ways of knowing and even hate themselves by hating how they look. This could also be considered as the most cruel and inhuman impact of colonization on the colonized peoples (Loomba, 1998). As noted in my working definition of postcolonial theory, the impact of colonization is still vivid among the ‘colonized’ peoples and societies. It makes sense, therefore, to have an understanding of the impact of colonization on the forms of knowledge of the ‘colonized’ peoples if one is to understand the education system of such a group of people. Fanon (1967) argued that colonized people should be aware that their education was and in our case is still based on the ideologies and beliefs of the colonizers, which are racist and alienating to the colonized peoples. Edward Said is another influential scholar in the postcolonial theory especially with his germinal text Orientalism, 1978. Said talks about how the West has created the Orient which is framed in a binary opposition to the Occident by referring to the Arab world and the Western world respectively. In this construction Said (1978) argues that the Orient is presented as inferior, irrational, bizarre, lazy and immoral while the Occident culture gets all the positive attributes. Although Said’s work addresses North African and Middle Eastern peoples and cultures, it could also be used to understand the legacy of colonization that some countries like Malawi experienced and continue to encounter. Sethi (2011) commenting on Said’s work 12
argues that Said discusses colonial representation and cultural stereotyping which happens anytime there is an encounter between the colonizer and the colonized peoples. The issue of representation is still very much applicable to Malawi and other African countries in the sub Saharan Africa. As well noted by Shizha (2006) in order for the colonizers to justify colonization they had to represent the colonized peoples as inferior, lazy, immoral, and denounce their forms of knowing, otherwise it could be almost impossible to ‘legitimatize’ colonization. So, to some extent all colonial peoples were and are still represented as the Orient with all the negative attributes that accompany such a concept. The concept of ‘colonial’ peoples as representing the Orient as argued by Said takes us to another important scholar Homi Bhabha who cautions us against ensentializing experiences of former colonial peoples (Bhabha, 1994). This is an important point to take into account because the colonizers themselves were different and had different approaches in the way they approached the colonized peoples. The French for example had assimilation policies that were different from the British (Appiah, 1992) and this meant the experiences of the colonized peoples could not be the same. There was also a lot of diversity amongst the colonized peoples themselves with some ethnic groups in the case of Malawi resisting and strongly fighting colonial domination while other ethnic groups did not resist that much and ended up being allies of the colonizers (Pachai, 1973). In his work, The Location of Culture, Bhabha (1994) argues against Western ways of seeing cultures of the colonizer and the colonized in binaries. This makes one to understand that the colonial experience made cultures to transgress and influence one another such that in my view there is nothing like a ‘pure’ culture and this is in line with Bhabha’s concept of hybridity (Bhabha, 1994). The concept of hybridity is very relevant in many countries that experienced colonialism and are still encountering it in the form of neocolonialism. In Malawi, for example, although the direct control of the country by the British ended with the gaining of political independence in 1964, we have a hybrid culture, which in my view is a mixture of the pre-colonial cultures with the colonial influence. In a globalized world it is almost impossible to find a culture or a society that is free from influence from other cultures. Why Postcolonial Theory in this study? Postcolonial theory provides an important lens to use in understanding education systems that have a colonial influence. In the first place, postcolonial theory is concerned with decolonizing knowledge and production of transformative knowledge (Assie-Lumumba, 2012). I find this to be a very important concept in a country like Malawi where we have a formal education system that was established by the colonizers and was inherited wholesale by 13
the Malawi government after gaining political independence and worse still it continues to be greatly influenced by the neocolonial policies from Western countries and organizations. If we are to indeed have a formal education system that ‘works’ for Malawians then it has to be rooted and grounded in the cultural and traditional practices of the people of Malawi and, therefore, this calls for decolonizing the current education system. Postcolonial theory is an important framework to understand teacher education in Malawi because it illuminates the relationship between imperialism that accompanied the introduction of colonialism in most African countries and the new form of colonization also known as neocolonialism (Mapara, 2009). This is important because to understand the policies that led to the establishment of ‘formal’ education and teacher education in particular in Malawi one has to understand the forces behind those policies and forces or agents behind the majority of policies in Malawian education system. When it comes to teacher education and teacher professional development in particular, imperialist and neocolonial forces with a neoliberal agenda are behind it in many African countries (Mapara, 2009). Postcolonial theory is concerned with the question of agency in relation to how marginalized people are capable of resisting and disrupting domination (Subedi & Daza, 2008). This is a very important attribute for Malawian teachers working in neocolonial institutions to have. Having a sense of agency is also important for Malawian teachers to have because that would help them deconstruct any form of domination that is imposed on them or on their students thereby being agents of change in the process of transforming schools into inclusive and democratic spaces. Sense of agency is one aspect that many critiques of postcolonial theory have hit on, there is an assumption that postcolonial theory encourages passivity among the colonized peoples by blaming everything on the colonizer or former colonizers (Young, 2001). As explained in here, postcolonial theory encourages colonized peoples to speak up and authentically represent themselves. This is in line with Spivak’s seminal work in postcolonial theory, ‘Can the Subaltern Speak?’ (Spivak, 1988). Young (2003) also argues that postcolonialism involves a politics and philosophy of activism that contests disparity and exploitation thereby continuing anti-colonial struggles of the past. Postcolonial theory acknowledges heterogeneity of identities (Subedi & Daza, 2008), this is a very important aspect in Malawian education system and is therefore one of the reasons for using this theoretical framework. The colonizers framed their culture in a binary opposition to that of the colonized peoples and this continued after the colonized peoples gained independence with the ‘dominant’ native cultures situating themselves in opposition to the minority groups just as the colonizers had done. This is reflected in Malawian schools where 14
some cultures like religions of dominant groups are privileged and those of minority groups are alienated and this applies to different forms of subcultures which are not well represented in the curriculum. With postcolonial theory, heterogeneity of identities is encouraged and appreciated and I argue that this is the direction that Malawian education institutions should follow if we are to have inclusive and democratic spaces for all students to learn and succeed. Rukundwa and Aarde (2007) provide a well summed up reason to consider using postcolonial theory by arguing that postcolonial theory provides means of defiance by which any form of exploitation and domination, regardless of time and place, can be challenged. I find this to be empowering to scholars who are interested in creating inclusive and democratic spaces in public schools. Young (2001) argues that the term postcolonial has a “radical agenda which demands equality and well-being for all human beings on this earth” (p. 7). This means that scholars in societies like Malawi where there are different forms of injustices towards minority social groups in schools can understand inequalities in their society better with the help of postcolonial theory and this is how I find myself using this theoretical framework. Julius Nyerere, the founding president of independent republic of Tanzania is also one of the great influences in postcolonial theory. His essay Education for Self-reliance gives details on how African countries with a specific focus on Tanzania had to make their education systems relevant to their societies. He argues that although pre-colonial Africa did not have ‘schools’, children were still educated and this education was more relevant to the society in which these children were growing up (Nyerere, 1968). He goes on to critique the colonial education in Tanzania, which he says was modeled after the British system but with a strong emphasis on subservient attitudes. So, in other words the ‘formal’ education that the colonizers had established was meant to make Africans passive and accept that they were inferior to the colonizers which was an important aspect to justify colonization. Nyerere also made some connections between colonial education and forms of inequality and domination of the weak by the strong. This however, in my view should be taken with a pinch of salt as it could easily lead to over-romanticizing the pre-colonial forms of education, which if analyzed critically could also reveal some forms of injustices. However, one cannot deny the huge impact of colonial education in justifying social inequalities and domination, which took forms of divide and rule having some ethnic groups ‘elevated’ to positions of domination over others if they happened to be supportive of the colonial initiatives (Pachai, 1970). Jomo Kenyattaa, the founding president of Kenya in his book, Facing Mount Kenya, discusses the education system of the Gikuyu people, one of the ethnic groups in Kenya, before their encounter with the British colonizers. Just like Nyerere, Kenyatta acknowledges the 15
system of education that was in pre-colonial Africa which did not follow the institutionalized formal system that the colonizers established (Kenyatta, 1967). He argues “the striking thing in the Gikuyu system of education and the feature which most sharply distinguishes it from the European system of education, is the primary place given to personal relations” (p. 121). This cements the argument that the colonizers introduced an education system that is individualistic in approach, which rewards competition among students instead of cooperation and building a community of learners (Mapara, 2009). Kenyatta further argues about the importance of making education goals relevant to the needs of the society and in line with the culture of the students. This is where indigenous African education system and use of African languages in education are seen as very important because they could work to serve the communities in question without alienating children from their culture or making them look down upon themselves and their culture (Shizha, 2006; wa Thiong’o, 1995). In Malawi, there are a number of scholars who use postcolonial theory but the majority of them are in theology, political science and literature. There are no direct applications of postcolonial theory in the study of education issues affecting Malawi. One Malawian scholar who has applied attributes of postcolonial theory in his study of Malawian education system is Steve Sharra (2007) (although he has not explicitly referred to it as such) in his work, “Teaching lives: Autobiography, umunthu, peace studies and social justice education in Malawi”. In this work he uses umunthu an African epistemology to discuss how teachers could teach peace and social justice in their classes. Considering that this theoretical framework has not really been used much in studying education challenges that Malawi is experiencing I think it is time to use it to understand teacher professional development. There are some scholars who have studied teacher education and teacher professional development in Malawi, but none of them has framed it in a postcolonial theoretical framework. The majority of these studies have been framed in mainstream learning and motivation theories. These studies have just discussed on how to prepare teachers to work in Malawian schools. Teacher Preparation in Postcolonial Spaces Teacher preparation in postcolonial spaces is in need of serious reform, this comes from the understanding that student achievement in these places especially southern African countries is significantly low (UNESCO, 2011). To have a better understanding of this topic there is need to address the curricula and pedagogy of teacher education programs in some countries that have a colonial legacy plus the characteristics of people who join these programs to become teachers. This knowledge will help us get a better understanding of the shortfalls in 16
the system and how best they can be addressed. Countries like Trinidad and Tobego, Malawi, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Uganda share a similar history in the way Western forms of education were introduced. In all these countries it was mostly the Christian missionaries who brought in Western forms of education. As well noted by some scholars formal education was already in practice in many African societies through such programs as initiation ceremonies and apprenticeships for some vocational skills (Mapara, 2009). The type of education these missionaries brought was individualistic and the forms of pedagogy were mostly transimissional because the white missionaries placed themselves on higher moral grounds than the indigenous peoples. To the missionaries the indigenous peoples did not know anything and were supposed to be taught Western forms of knowledge to be considered ‘civilized’. Upon the attainment of political independence these countries inherited in totality the content and forms of pedagogy of the British system of education. Although some aspects of the curricular have changed the general structure is still the same. Now teacher education which was introduced by the British retained most of the colonial structure even after these countries gained political independence. The curricula of teacher education programs in many postcolonial countries are very ‘traditional’ and in many cases not relevant to the cultural needs of the students. This is because of the overreliance on non-African authors for instruction whose work is not very much related to the lived experiences of the students. The major courses in teacher education curricula include sociology of education, educational psychology, content specific, general pedagogy and professional studies. Although there have been efforts to change the teacher education curricula to make them culturally relevant, the major components of sociology of education, educational psychology and general pedagogy and professional studies have not changed much, they still reflect the colonial elements of celebrating Eurocentric ideals while dismissing indigenous knowledge. The current curricula in many postcolonial countries are directly affected by the influence of donor countries and organizations like World Bank, International Monetary Fund and other Western based institutions. These institutions have a great say in the direction that pedagogy takes in these teacher education programs because they are the ones that finance many programs like curricula development and professional development programs that teacher educators are involved in. Both pre-service and in-service teacher education programs have been dominated by the international organizations and in some ways this has been out of touch with the context in Malawi. The way teacher educators approach instruction affects what student teachers take to be accepted forms of instruction (Fullan, 1997) irrespective of what the teacher educators say. 17
In many cases teacher educators have approached their instruction in a top down and transmission model and at the same time expected student teachers to develop leaner centered pedagogies when they go to teach in their respective schools. The student teachers have not helped matters either by celebrating teacher educators who mostly lecture compared to those who try to initiate learner centered pedagogy (Coultas & Lewin, 2002). The characteristics of the people who join teacher preparation programs also has an impact on the content and pedagogies used. In many Southern African countries, teacher education is divided into secondary (high school) and primary (elementary school) teacher preparation programs (World Bank, 2010). The characteristics of students who join these two different teacher preparation programs are different because the entry qualifications are also different. In most of these countries to join the secondary education teacher preparation program one has to qualify for university education which is different from those who join primary school teacher education preparation programs which usually may not have performed well on the high school graduation examinations and in some cases they might not even have graduated. Coultas and Lewin (2002) noted that the academic qualifications of many entrants for primary school teacher preparation programs in countries like Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi and Trinidad and Tobego are not impressive. In this study I concentrate on primary school teacher preparation programs because my focus is on primary school teachers’ experiences with professional development programs. In most cases the people who join primary school teacher preparation programs in Malawi for example, are generally from low socio economic status and usually have not had very good grades at the end of their secondary education. This sometimes gives teacher educators a license to justify some of the disempowering pedagogies like transmission models. The understanding is that the teacher recruits are not intellectually prepared to engage in meaningful intellectual discussions. This is compounded by the big classes that characterize these teacher education programs which means the teacher education institutions might not have enough instructors to provide relatively smaller class sizes which would be very convenient for learner centered pedagogies. Teacher Professional Development Teacher professional development needs to be taken seriously if we are to improve the quality of education. There is a very interesting connection between professional development and school reform, and as well noted by Fullan (1997), teachers are both agents and objects of school reform. It means for some reform programs teachers are the ones taking action on what needs to be changed and at the same time they are the ones adjusting to the changes. This means 18
if we want to succeed in reforming our schools to improve students’ achievement and turning them into democratic and inclusive spaces we need to involve teachers in meaningful professional development programs. Barth (1990) noted that people who are interested in improving our schools should be very concerned with the stunted growth of our teachers. Postcolonial spaces are already facing serious challenges with education achievement, for example, they are struggling to raise education achievement amongst their students. This section provides a postcolonial reading of literature on professional development in postcolonial spaces with a special focus on Southern African countries. Doing this will help to understand what it means to be a teacher in a postcolonial space which requires transcending the boundaries of indigenous and western forms of knowledge thereby helping us get an understanding of what is happening in Malawi. Teacher professional development is part of the general concept of teacher education. In postcolonial spaces as already noted teacher education is a product of colonialism, and it is not very surprising that even teacher professional development has not changed much and still has traits of colonial hegemony. This is now compounded by the overreliance on funding and expertise from former colonial countries and institutions who in a lot of cases direct the policy and execution of teacher professional development programs. For example, an international organization like Save the Children Fund is responsible for different forms of teacher professional development programs in countries like Uganda, Trinidad and Tobego, Lesotho and Malawi (World Bank, 2010). Their involvement comes in the actual training of the teachers in skills that the organization thinks are important or providing funding for programs that are already run by the ministry of education. In either case the organization has a big say in the structure and direction of the teacher professional development programs. In the case of Malawi, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) runs a teacher professional development program known as Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support (MTPDS) to help primary school teachers especially those teaching in early grades to develop better skills for teaching numeracy and literacy but also targets leadership skills. As regards literacy skills, which is one of the content areas in the CPD curriculum being delivered to junior (grades 1 through 4) primary school teachers the focus is to help teachers be able to teach literacy skills effectively. They want the pupils to develop literacy at an early age so that they can advance in the education system characterized by high rates of grade repetition and dropout (World Bank, 2010). According to Namaona and Sharra (2013) under literacy some of the key skills that the CPD curriculum focuses on include; pre- writing, vowel identification, phonics and comprehension. No mention of some elements of 19
critical literacy is made, this makes the teachers to continue the traditional aspects of teaching without equipping the students at a tender age with critical lenses that they can use to read the world (to use Freire’s (1990) term). In numeracy, the goal is to equip teachers of mostly junior primary school grades to gain skills in teaching numeracy skills to their pupils (Namaona & Sharra, 2013). This comes from the results of many studies that show that many students in Malawi reach grades five and six with very limited numeracy skills (World Bank, 2008). Namaona and Sharra (2013) identify the following skills as key in the CPD numeracy curriculum for junior primary school teachers; making learning of numbers enjoyable, addition with regrouping, and numeracy games and fun activities. This content is taught to the teachers with an understanding that they will be able to implement it in their respective classrooms thereby improving students’ numeracy skills which is among the lowest in the southern part of Africa (Selemani-Meke, 2013). Leadership is another component of the CPD curriculum for teachers, although this mostly applies to teacher leaders like principals and key teachers or coaches who facilitate the CPD programs. Namaona and Sharra (2013) identify the following as key elements in the CPD leadership curricula; instructional leadership, continuous assessment, gender issues, community involvement and management of school based CPD. As can be seen from the foci of the CPD leadership curriculum, the goal is to prepare teacher leaders on how to address the proposed changes of the CPD program. The leadership curriculum does not really bring critical perspectives that could prepare school leaders to be transformative agents to challenge some of the social ills in their institutions and the community in general. Following examples of the CPD curricula that are facilitated by the MTPDS in conjunction with DTED, I would argue that teachers do not have much influence on what is included in the CPD curriculum (MTPDS, 2010). They are just expected to follow what some ‘experts’ have decided to teach them. Going with elements of social constructivist theory, this becomes problematic because learners are supposed to have a say in what they are expected to learn. In the same line, teachers being adults, are supposed to be treated as such in the learning process. Knowels (1980) noted that adults are a different group of learners’ altogether, therefore, the method employed in teaching them should be andragogy. In terms of definition Knowels argues that andragogy is a method and practice of teaching adult learners. In line with this I also employ some concepts from Freire’s brand of critical pedagogy which calls for learners being in control of their learning and being reflective (Freire, 1990). Following a number of examples of CPD programs in postcolonial space, it is time to reflect on what would be considered the hidden curriculum in these programs. Programs being 20
sponsored and controlled by international institutions usually have nuances and sometimes even overt elements of neo-liberal and neo-colonial discourse. Neoliberalism, as the worldview of global capitalism, is being re-territorialized into sub-Sahara Africa by groups such as the British’s Department for International Development (DFID), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank and it may be interpreted, in many ways, as colonialism in a new form: neocolonialism (Hardt & Negri, 2000, 2004). In some African countries this is seen through ideas of merit pay which are sometimes embedded in teacher CPD sessions and these cement elements of meritocracy as teachers begin to concentrate on students who are likely to yield better grades in order to be rewarded. Students who need much attention, mostly these are from underprivileged and marginalized backgrounds, are usually ignored. One way of trying to address the problem of having the education system being greatly influenced by the colonial legacy and is neoliberal is to follow what Kanu (2007) advises about re-appropriating pre-colonial forms of education with the ‘modern’ forms of education in what she calls a form of hybridity. She argues that this would ensure an education system that prepares students to be competitive and relevant in a global village and still be knowledgeable of the roots. Kanu notes that postcolonial countries cannot just go back to pre-colonial forms of education and put such forms of education into practice, there is a need to re-appropriate them to fit the new contexts that we find ourselves in. She uses the Akan’s (an ethnic group in Sierra Leone) indigenous form of knowing called Sankofa, which calls for a critical way of examining the present and recovering past traditions creatively. There is a need to go back to the past and learn from the best things that it has to offer and use them creatively in the present. Sadly due to colonialism African peoples were ‘forced’ to ignore and abandon everything that was indigenous and made to embrace Eurocentric forms of knowledge, which for the most part ended up being alienating. Kanu (2007) argues that with Sankofa people are urged to look at history as circular where you could go back to the past and benefit from the best practices instead of looking at history mostly as linear which is a predominant way of understanding in the Western forms of knowledge. Among the best practices that we can learn from the indigenous African traditions is the idea of communalism (Kanu, 2007) and re-appropriate it accordingly to work in our present context. Kanu (2007) notes that “communalism, demonstrated by a strong sense of solidarity and willingness to live and work together, was an active component and objective of indigenous education among the Mende in rural Sierra Leone” (p.75). In the case of teacher education and CPD programs in particular there is need to encourage team work in teachers as this would 21
encourage them to learn from one another and not be over competitive because team work comes with interdependence and cooperation. Communalism has its own challenges and this is where Sanfoka comes in so that we get the best practices from it and re-appropriate them for our current situations. Models of Teacher Professional Development across the World Teacher professional development is one of the most important aspects of the teaching profession and teacher growth in general. Day (1999) defines teacher professional development as “ all natural learning experiences and those conscious and planned activities which are intended to be of direct or indirect benefit to the individual, group or school, which constitute through these, to the quality of education in the classroom” (p. 27). Guyskey (2003) defines it as systematic efforts that bring positive change in the classroom practice of teachers. There are various definitions of teacher professional development but what most of these definitions have in common is that teacher professional development involves both formal and informal learning experiences that lead to a deeper understanding of the teaching practice and hence improving students’ learning (Fullan, 1997). There is a very good relationship between teacher professional development and educational reform. In fact Villegas-Reimers (2003) reminds us that most successful educational reform programs world-wide have included an aspect of teacher professional development. She cites an example of a successful education reform in Namibia which incorporated teacher professional development and ended up reforming the country’s education system into a democratic one after the country’s independence. In arguing for the importance of teacher professional development in relation to students’ learning Villegas-Reimers (2003) argues that successful teacher professional development programs have positive impact on teachers’ work both in and outside of classroom. This then becomes very important considering that in many areas especially in Sub- Saharan African countries many primary school teachers are not qualified or underqualified (World Bank, 2010). Professional development programs will be different in different contexts and it is not realistic to expect each model to work in all contexts. There are some countries where some models because of the culture and resources cannot be feasible. In a lot of countries education officials use a combination of teacher professional development models depending on the task at hand. I will therefore explain some of the models that have been prevalent in different areas across the world. Professional development schools is one of the models of teacher professional development programs that is prevalent in United States and other Western countries (Villegas- Reimers, 2003). It involves university faculty and teachers establishing symbiotic relationships 22
that also help improve students’ learning. In these kinds of partnerships university faculty learn from experienced in-service teachers and in-service teachers also learn from university faculty and at the same time university faculty provide opportunities for pre-service teachers from their institutions to have some experience teaching in ‘real’ classrooms under the mentorships of experienced in-service teachers. An example is given of the department of education at Toronto University and local schools in the province. In the US in the state of Maine and in South Africa similar partnerships have emerged (Miller, 2001). This is an important partnership that helps to reduce the gap between theory which university faculty have come to represent and practice which in-service teachers represent (Chance, 2000). There are however, still conflicting studies on the effectiveness of this model of professional development (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). One factor that could possibly ruin this partnership is power relations if not put in check. If university faculty feel they are very important than the in-service teachers and in-service teachers feel they are very important than pre-service then the partnership would be compromised There is need for mutual relationship based on trust and respect if this model of professional development is to be successful. A slight twist to professional development school model of teacher professional development is what Villegas-Reimers (2003) reports as a partnership between university faculty and their alumni. These faculty invite alumni for professional development sessions once a year so that they can both learn from each other. This is also one way of narrowing the gap between theory and practice for the benefit of students’ learning. The challenge with this approach is that it might not be convenient for all the teachers to go back to their alma mater for professional development. It could either be too far or they might be committed to other business. However, with the growth of online programs university faculty can still keep in touch with their alumni and engage themselves in meaningful professional development programs. Distance education has been used as a model of teacher professional development in different places across the world. Perraton (2002) defines it as “an educational process in which a significant proportion of the teaching is conducted by someone removed in space and/or time from the learner” (p. 25). The major reason for its common usage has been because it comes in different forms which can involve radios, television, written and recorded materials which generally can fit in different contexts depending on the availability of resources. So, in the long run it can be seen as model that is less costly and can be convenient in different contexts since teachers would not necessarily leave their duty station (or if they do it would not be for extended periods) to have access to professional development services. In Austria distance education has allowed teachers especially women to be promoted to higher positions that are 23
more often occupied by men (Villegas-Reimer, 2003). In Malawi, this has been used to upgrade teachers who did not have initial teacher qualifications when joining the profession (Kunje & Stuart, 1999). The Common Wealth Learning an organization of Common Wealth Countries supports distance-education projects in a number of countries like Nigeria, Ghana and Kenya (Villegas-Reimer, 2003). One of the challenges is that in many cases distance learning is more theory oriented than practical. Many programs do not seem to balance the too. On the positive side distance learning develops a culture of independent study which is very much needed for teachers to continue growing in the profession. The presence of new technology in some countries is making distance education to be affordable and interactive. The challenge is with many developing countries where most teachers still have no access to internet and other technological gadgets. Supervision has been used as a model of teacher professional development for some time. The traditional form of supervision has not been really helpful to teachers and could not really be considered a form of professional development these days (Villegas-Reimer, 2003). A lot of teachers resist it because they have had bad experiences with it. These evaluations also just concentrate on classroom practice without taking into consideration all the general aspects of teaching and learning. Wilson (1994) noted that the effect of ‘traditional’ forms of teacher evaluations have been negative because they do not offer feedback to the teacher being evaluated. Considering the limitations of traditional supervision as a form of teacher development, scholars suggest the use of clinical supervision as a form of teacher professional growth and development (Wanzare & da Costa, 2000). This form of teacher development really helps the teacher being supervised to grow instead of just being judgmental (Wanzare & da Costa, 2000). Most effective clinical supervision involves a pre-observation conference followed by observing teaching then analysis of the data gathered through the teaching process and ends with a post-observation conference (Villegas-Reimer, 2003). In Malawi, clinical supervision is used as a form of professional development during pre-service teacher development when the pre-service teachers are involved in teaching practicum but almost never used with in-service teachers. Workshops, institutes, seminars and courses according to Villegas-Reimer (2003) belong to a traditional form of teacher professional development that has been used and is still being used in most parts of the world. This form of professional development works for certain programs of professional development but not all. Unfortunately some education systems rely on this model for all their teacher professional development programs. The challenge with this form of professional development model is that in many contexts it is usually one-shot and 24
mostly unrelated without having a well-organized follow up (Fullan, 1997). It should be noted that this model of teacher professional development is not completely bad, it can actually be improved and made to work for the benefit of teachers and their respective students. If teachers are consulted in the planning and development of curricula for these workshops and making the workshops part of continuous professional development then they could yield positive results. Another important model of teacher professional development that is unfortunately not used in many countries is action research. O’Hanlon (1996) argues that action research involves reflection and action with the aim of improving learning and the general knowledge of the education community. This is an important model as it empowers teachers by making them generators of knowledge and not just consumers. This then works to bridge the theory-practice gap. If teachers are empowered with knowledge to conduct meaningful research this could be a very sustainable form of teacher professional development. In some contexts teachers have used action research to establish strong partnerships with university faculty to benefit from their expertise in research and the university faculty also benefit from learning firsthand information from people who are directly involved in teaching primary or secondary school students. One similar effective collaborative action research between school teachers and university faculty is reported by Villegas-Reimer (2003) in Namibia. Day (1999) noted that action research as a model of teacher professional development is highly collaborative, an important attribute in trying to establish strong education communities where teachers can learn from each other and grow. The major setback of this model is that it requires a significant amount of time, a resource that is not easily available amongst teachers. This could not be an excuse though for teachers not to be reflective, if school administrators are supportive this could easily be accomplished. Many primary school teachers, especially in developing countries like Malawi, some of whom might not even be qualified, do not have the capacity to conduct meaningful research because they are not well prepared on how to conduct research in their classrooms or around the school community in general. In Malawi, for example, most primary school teachers have not been exposed to research methodology. Professional learning communities is another model of professional development that is used in different countries like the United States of America. Schmoker (2006) states “professional learning communities have succeeded to improve instruction where typical professional development and workshops have failed”. Schmoker (2006) explains the fundamental concept of professional learning communities as follows: (1) Professional 25
learning communities requires teachers to establish a common, concise set of essential curricular standards and teach them on a common schedule; (2) Teachers use state assessment guides and other documents to help them make decisions about what to teach; (3) Teachers meet regularly to help one another teach the selected standards and plan lessons; (4) Teachers analyze lessons created and consult with one another on effective research-based practices that has led to improved instruction; (5) Teachers make frequent use of common assessments. Schmoker (2006) states, teachers in professional learning communities share the best of what they know and explore research-based practices to replicate it in their respective classrooms. The fundamental difference between typical professional development given to teachers in the form of workshops and the concept of professional learning communities is that professional learning community approach focuses on collective follow-up, assessment and adjustment of instruction (Schmoker, 2006). Schmoker (2006) cites many examples of schools that have made considerable gains. One example is Adlai Stevenson High School who in a five-year period made has made great achievement gains with the expertise of the teachers from the school. Apart from more formally organized teacher professional development models, which are usually coordinated by either the school, school district or the department of education depending on the context, there are some models of teacher professional development which are organized by the teachers themselves as a group or as individuals. This is mostly self- directed learning. It might involve teacher networks where they meet and share ideas on how best to improve their practice. This could also take the form of teachers taking courses to upgrade themselves or just reading to advance their knowledge in a field of their interest which in most cases is going to improve their performance as teachers. With the advent of Internet it is becoming easier for teachers from distant places and now even internationally to form communities where they can share ideas on how best to improve their teaching. In Malawi, for example, there is a Facebook online forum called “Teachers Tikambe” which literally translates “Teachers Let’s Talk”. On this forum, educators from different places across the country some even from the diaspora share ideas on how to improve their teaching. This is an important site that if well managed with the diverse skills and knowledge of the members it can actually improve some of the teachers’ approaches towards their teaching and how they relate with their students and colleagues. The major challenge with these online forums, in the case of Malawi, is that many teachers especially those teaching in remote areas of Malawi do not have access to the internet or if they do it is through very simple phones which can limit them on how much they can contribute to the forum or learn from the forum. 26
The other challenge is the cost of Internet services in many developing countries. Considering the low salaries that primary school teachers receive it would be expecting too much for these teachers to be paying for internet service to access professional development programs in cases where internet is not available in schools where they work (which is the case in 99.9% of public primary schools in Malawi). Teacher Professional Development in Southern African Countries In many African countries just like all countries across the globe, there is some form of education reform taking place (UNESCO, 2014). In countries south of the Sahara in Africa education reform is very much needed than ever before. This comes from studies that show that students in most sub Saharan African countries are underachieving if compared to their colleagues in other countries like Finland, China, Japan and Norway. Scholars have reminded us of the important connection between teacher professional development and student achievement (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). Cohen and Hill (1998) present a study that supports a strong relationship between teachers’ practices and the increasing levels of students’ achievement. A study conducted by the National Commission on Teaching and America’s Future (1996, 1997) shows that the more professional knowledge teachers have, the higher the levels of student achievement. So, as can be seen from these studies calls for teacher professional development in areas where student achievement is very low becomes justified. This section therefore provides a brief overview of the types of teacher professional development programs taking place in southern African countries with a focus on South Africa and Namibia. Namibia has been a poster country in southern Africa on issues of teacher professional development and education reform (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). After gaining political independence Namibia worked to reform its education system into a democratic one that served all students in the country irrespective of their different social conditions. To achieve this there was a special attention given to teacher education. There were changes made to teacher preparation programs so that they are ready to implement the education reforms envisioned. Namibia provides lessons to southern African countries about education reform and teacher professional development in general. In countries like Malawi where issues of education inequality are prevalent (Chimombo, 2005) could borrow a leaf from Namibia on how to address the rural and urban achievement gap. South Africa is also a good example of a country that has made some great progress in teacher development because of different programs that have been implemented. South African universities and colleges have collaborated with different schools to develop professional 27
development for teachers. Rand Africans University in Johannesburg is an example of a university that developed a program for teachers and teachers could use credit obtained from this program for further studies if they wanted (Villegas-Reimers, 2003). The program combined, school-based training, distance learning and systematic assessment f prior learning. So it was made in such a way that it was flexible and pretty convenience for the teachers. Importance of Teacher Professional Development The importance of teacher professional development on teachers’ professional knowledge and student achievement cannot be overemphasized. Villegas-Reimer (2003) notes that “ apart from the individual satisfaction and financial gains that teachers may obtain as a result of participating in professional-development opportunities, the process of professional development has a significant positive impact on teachers’ beliefs and practices, students’ learning, and on the implementation of education reform” (p. 19). This explains why there is a growing campaign on meaningful teacher professional development in most areas of the world (UNESCO, 2014). In Malawi the government acknowledges the importance of teacher professional development and this is reflected in dedicating a department under the ministry of education to be in charge of this (Kunje, 2002). It is argued by many scholars that successful teacher professional development programs have positive impact on teachers’ work (Fullan, 1997; World Bank, 2010; UNESCO, 2014). However, there is no agreement on what constitutes successful professional development and the relationship between participating in a professional development program and students’ achievement. Villegas-Reimer (2003) referencing (National Report on Teaching and America’s Future, 1996, 1997; Falk 2001 and Education Testing Service, 1998) argues that the more professional knowledge teachers have, the higher the levels of students’ achievement. This to some extent explains why many countries are investing in teacher professional development. This observation, however, needs to be taken with caution because teachers participating in a professional development session does not always translate into implementing what they have ‘learned’ in those programs. Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) noted that “the impact of professional development depends on a combination of motivation and opportunity to learn” (p. 326). A similar observation is made by Selemani-Meke (2013) who found that in Malawi there are some factors that demotivate teachers from implementing what they learn in professional development programs. The influence that teacher professional development has towards education reform is a factor that has been studied in different parts of the world and it justifies the primary place that teacher professional development has in different countries. The UNESCO (2014) report does 28
a good job referencing case studies of successful educational reforms and all these have incorporated teacher professional development. As noted by Fullan (1997) ignoring professional development in educational reform is a recipe for failure because teachers greatly influence educational reform by putting into action the proposed reforms. Teacher professional development works to motivate teachers by providing opportunities for their professional growth and promotion within the system (Opfer & Pedder, 2010). When one is assured of a career path that can easily be achieved through some forms of professional development whether self-initiated or arranged by school administrators or other education officials this would likely make them to be motivated and committed to their work. Why are Teacher Professional Development Programs not working? Although there has been a growing interest in teacher professional development and there seem to be an agreement on its importance not all programs have been successful or yielded their intended results. Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) noted that “professional development, one of the most promising and powerful routes to growth on the job, to combating boredom and alienation, to school improvement, and to satisfaction, has gotten a bad name” (p. 318). This is because in some contexts professional development has not provided meaningful results and has at times been an outright waste of time and resources (Fullan, 1997). In trying to sum up reasons why some professional development programs have not worked out well Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) referencing Fullan (1979: 3) provide the following points that cause failure: 1. One-shot workshops are widespread but are ineffective. 2. Topics are frequently selected by people other than those for whom the in-service is intended. 3. Follow-up support for ideas and practices introduced in in-service programs occurs in only a very small minority of cases. 4. Follow-up evaluation occurs infrequently. 5. In-service programs rarely address the individual needs and concerns. 6. There is a profound lack of any conceptual basis in the planning and implementing of in-service programs that would ensure their effectiveness (p. 316). The reasons that Fullan provides show that teachers are most often treated as mere consumers of knowledge as they are not engaged in the development of the professional development programs. Villegas-Reimer (2003) also mentioned about lack of follow up on professional development programs which Fullan called ‘one-shot workshops’ which are easily ignored by the teachers because they are not reinforced with follow up workshops. In addition, follow-up workshops do not take place often and efforts to evaluate the progress of these 29
programs are not put into consideration in the majority of cases. Another concern that teachers have about professional development programs in many areas is that some programs are initiated and implemented without a well-researched theory behind it such that when implemented they do not really address the concerns they were meant to address (Vonk, 1995; Opfer & Pedder, 2010). Professional development programs should be based on well-grounded theories and should be based on thorough research. Guskey (2011) noted that “it is an ill- designed, pedagogically naïve, demeaning exercise that often leaves participants more cynical and no more knowledgeable, skilled, or committed than before” (p. ix). I think this is a great way of summing up the major six points that Fullan argues are at the forefront of hindering the success of teacher professional development programs. Another important factor that scholars like Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) have provided for the failure of professional development programs not being successful has to do with the failure to incorporate elements of change management in the programs. Teacher professional development programs, they argue, involve teachers changing some of their pedagogical styles and even how they relate with students, which is not going to happen smoothly if they are not supported in this change process. Guskey (2011) argues that professional development for teachers should have elements of organization life and change. Change usually brings anxiety and elements of insecurity in the people being affected (Fullan, 1997), so, if this is not taken into consideration when designing and implementing teacher professional programs those programs are likely to fail. People usually resist change Fullan and Stiegelbauer (1991) and it is the responsibility of the officials developing and implementing the professional development programs to ensure that teachers are confident to initiate change processes embedded in professional development programs. Teacher Professional Development in Malawi Teacher professional development has been conceptualized differently by scholars based on their ontological and epistemological orientations. Fullan, (1997) defines teacher professional development as the sum total of formal and informal learning experiences throughout one’s career from pre-service teacher education to retirement. However, in this study I focus much on formal and informal learning experiences that teachers get while they are already on the job. This is referred to as in-service teacher professional development or continuing professional development (CPD) for teachers (Ministry of Education Science and Technology, 2008). Selemani-Meke (2013) referencing Guskey (2002) captures well the definition of CPD programs by arguing that these are systematic efforts that are meant to bring positive change in the classroom practices of teachers. 30
CPD for teachers in Malawi is acknowledged and valued as one of the important variables in an effort to achieve quality education (Ministry of Education Science and Technology, 2008). The government of Malawi facilitates CPD for teachers both off-site and on-school site based (Selemani-Meke, 2013). Considering the centralized nature of education system in Malawi, CPD for teachers is controlled by the department of teacher education and development (DTED), which is under the ministry of education, a central controlling body of education in Malawi. Through DTED, the CPD for primary school teachers is delivered through a national network of 315 Teacher Development Centers (TDCs), which are staffed by Primary Education Advisors (PEAs). In these TDCs, the PEAs are responsible for organizing CPD programs for teachers, which usually take the form of workshops or seminars (Kunje, 2002). This arrangement is similar to what MacNeil (2004) calls cluster-based teacher professional development. Under cluster-based teacher professional development, teachers from neighboring schools meet together and attend different CPD programs, which in the case of Malawi are administered by PEAs in TDCs. Delport and Makaye (2009) in their study of Zimbabwean schools argue that cluster-based teacher professional development is very important in the developing countries that are faced with a problem of unqualified and underqualified teachers, because the arrangement promotes strong teacher professional communities which can help to mentor these groups of teachers. They go on to argue that cluster-based teacher professional development is cost effective, since mostly teachers attend the professional development sessions in TDCs that are closer to their schools, thereby saving on some costs that would be incurred if they were expected to go to distant places for the same programs. Another form of CPD for primary school teachers in Malawi that is currently taking place is a program that targets untrained teachers in rural schools and delivers teacher training to them directly instead of the regular or traditional campus-based cohorts in teacher training colleges (Carrier, Daniel-Finholt & Sales, 2012). This program was established with the aim of reducing the teacher to pupil ratio which is still high especially in the rural areas (Carrier, Daniel-Finholt & Sales, 2012). This is a program that works to provide a quick training that these school leavers should have gotten if they had gone to teacher education colleges for pre- service training. It is justified because of the acute shortage of teachers especially in rural schools (World Bank, 2010). So to some extent the curriculum they have is mostly for pre- service teachers and they just modify it to suit the context of people who are already on the job.
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“Umunthu”: Using Indigenous Cultural and Linguistic Traditions in Teacher Professional Development. Umunthu is a Malawian concept that focuses on encouraging positive relationships amongst people (Musopole, 1994). This concept is not found in Malawian culture only; there are many other cultures in Southern Africa that have a similar concept. Gade (2011) referencing Roederer and Moellendorf (2004) says “the Nguni word ubuntu represents notions of universal human interdependence, solidarity and communalism which can be traced to small-scale communities in pre-colonial Africa, and which underlie virtually every indigenous African culture” (p. 4). Although Gade extends the concept to all African communities, I will be comfortable to limit it to sub-Sahara African communities whose languages fall into the Bantu language family. This distinction is important because in a lot of Bantu languages the root word for person is ‘-ntu’, and this plays a big role in defining the concept of umunthu. The general understanding is that umunthu promotes a sense of community, appreciating and respecting the diversity that is among the human race. In this section I explain the need to frame teacher professional development in the Malawian philosophy of umunthu. Diversity has been defined broadly by different scholars, but I will limit it to students’ differences that come as a result of ethnicity, religion, disability, socioeconomic status, gender and sexual orientation. Most of these issues are not discussed in teacher education programs and people who try to initiate these conversations are usually dismissed as being corrupted by Western and Eurocentric ideas. But the question that normally comes to my mind is who benefits when we do not discuss different forms of injustices that come as a result of not appreciating diversity among the students in Malawian public schools? Malawian public schools are pretty diverse, this diversity is manifested in forms of ethnicity, language, sexuality, religion, disability, and social economic status. From the analysis of the teacher preparation programs for both primary and secondary school teachers, topics on diversity are not discussed. It goes without saying that these teachers are underprepared or not prepared at all to deal with issues of diversity. I have a personal experience having gone through a four year Bachelor of Education degree program in Malawi. We did not discuss anything concerning diversity apart from random discussions on gender and how to work with students with special education needs in inclusive classrooms. In order to make sure that teachers now work well with students who are diverse, there is need to incorporate ideas of diversity and umunthu in the professional development sessions that they are engaged in. Fullan (1997) considers professional development as the sum total of formal and informal learning experiences throughout one’s career from pre-service teacher 32
education to retirement. In this case, the pre-service experience has not equipped the teachers with skills to work with diverse students, it is now up to these in-service education programs to provide the much needed conversations on diversity. The current form of teacher professional development programs in Malawi are more of top down approaches, whereby the ministry of education which is a central controlling body of education in Malawi prepares in-service education programs for teachers without even consulting them. With the philosophy of umunthu teachers will be respected and encouraged to be active participants in the development of the professional development programs. Here teachers together with other education officials will be able to identify some areas related to diversity and social justice education that they want teachers to learn and start conversations on. Teacher professional development programs in Malawi are very mechanistic, they do not empower teachers, and they mainly center on technical skills like; how to help students be proficient readers at a younger age, class management, and refresher courses on new material that has been included in the curriculum. The greatest challenge is that these professional development programs are ‘imposed’ on the teachers following what Freire (1990) would call a ‘banking’ concept of education. Freire argues that “In the banking concept of education, knowledge is a gift bestowed by those who consider themselves knowledgeable upon those whom they consider to know nothing” (p. 58). There are also hardly discussions on how teachers can work with students from diverse backgrounds and diverse identities apart from some band-aid discussions which are mostly framed in a deficit perspective on working with students with ‘special education needs’ in main-stream classrooms (Itimu, 2006). I am arguing for professional development programs that are rooted in umunthu concept, and programs that empower teachers through Freire’s concept of generative theme in deciding what professional knowledge teachers want. This would result in teachers taking ownership of the programs thereby making them feel empowered and making the programs sustainable (Fullan, 1997). Freire advises that “Educators must begin with the solution of the teacher-student contradiction, by reconciling the poles of the contradiction so that both are simultaneously teachers and students” (p.59). I argue that appreciating diversity is part of the Malawian linguistic and cultural tradition. We have no excuse to oppress groups of people just because they are different from the majoritarian ways of doing things. With umunthu, the Malawian people believe that one’s humanity is validated by respecting the humanity of others. If one does not treat others with respect and dignity then that person is said to be without umunthu. In my understanding positive 33
relations means people valuing the differences that are amongst themselves as assets and not deficits. For example, a teacher who has umunthu will validate the religious beliefs of all students even if they are different from the dominant Christian faith. School administrators who have umunthu will make sure that all students’ cultures are validated in the school and no culture is looked down upon. I argue, therefore, for professional development programs that are rooted in the philosophy of umunthu. I also argue for teacher education programs that prepare in-service teachers to appreciate diversity and learn to work with students and colleagues from different backgrounds. These should be programs that are not imposed on the teachers but programs that are co-constructed with the teachers to ensure that their needs are addressed. If teachers are given a chance to be in control of their learning, they will end up benefiting more than when professional development programs are dictated on them. There is also a concept of sustainability if teachers take charge of their learning. In situations where there are not enough funds, allowing teachers to take control of their learning is important because they can be facilitating their learning on their own in some cases instead of waiting for an external consultant all the time. Peer sharing of ideas among teachers is also an important aspect of teacher professional development but it is not utilized most of the time if people associate professional development with ‘outside’ personnel coming to a school to give a lecture or facilitate a workshop of some sort. So, when the school does not have money or enough resources to hire an outside person to facilitate professional development sessions then teachers could still continue learning amongst themselves. A lot of teacher professional development programs are funded by International Non-governmental Organizations and when these organizations pull out their funding these programs usually collapse. This is where it becomes imperative for teachers to take ownership of their learning. With umunthu there is an emphasis on community, teachers will work as a community, and this means learning from each other as equals in a democratic space and this is a very important attribute in successful professional development programs (Fullan, 1997). Critical Pedagogy, Umunthu and Anti-colonial pedagogy In line with social justice education, teacher preparation institutions should help in- service teachers develop important skills in critical pedagogy which if well conceptualized would generate anti-colonial pedagogy framed in the concept of umunthu. Critical pedagogy is mostly associated with Freire and invites critical interrogation to pieces of work and the society that one is in (hooks, 1994). Critical pedagogy works for change, it aims at deconstructing and 34
transforming unjust systems with the aim of establishing a more just system that works for all people (Giroux, 1989). In the case of Malawi teacher education programs, there is an urgent need to have courses grounded in critical pedagogy to allow student teachers have critical interrogations of the courses they are studying and the society in general in relation to how the underprivileged groups are treated. A critical pedagogy approach could also be helpful in teacher professional development programs as it could provide opportunities to critically reflect on their teaching styles, school culture and the general society to see who is being served by the current state of affairs. A critical pedagogy approach could not just be used in teacher education programs and teacher professional development programs alone, it could also be reflected in the teachers’ way of teaching thereby helping in preparing their students to be critical scholars. Critical pedagogy would even enable teachers to challenge the status quo that works to alienate marginal groups through what hooks (1994) would call teaching to transgress. It would be considered transgressions as they push against the boundaries that the society, in this case colonial legacy, has created as regards what should and should not be taught and how students should be taught with the aim of maintaining colonial hegemony. One way of helping students to be critical scholars is by teachers acting as what Giroux (1989) calls transformative intellectuals who help students notice and challenge forms of domination in their society. Embracing Umunthu: Teachers Controlling their Learning The current teacher professional development programs reflect a colonial legacy where white teachers placed themselves on a higher moral and intellectual ground thereby seeing Malawians as objects to be fed with ‘knowledge’. Umunthu philosophy challenges the idea of objectifying people which the colonial discourse is centered at, every human being needs to be respected and valued and this entails allowing them to direct and control things that affect them directly like their learning. Unfortunately, top down approaches continue even after the ‘colonizers’ have left, those who take positions of the colonizers place themselves way above the reach of the seekers of knowledge thereby justifying the transmission model in teacher professional development. The education system is highly centralized as such most of the decisions are made at the ministry of education headquarters which is a central controlling body of education in Malawi. For the most part it is the officials from the ministry of education through the department of teacher education and development who initiate and plan teacher professional development programs. As can be seen this is top down and teachers have no influence on what is planned in these programs and teachers are just there to ‘receive’ this knowledge from the knowledgeable others. They are put in a disempowered position such that 35
they are passive subjects without taking active roles in their learning, this is colonizing ‘knowledge’ in my thinking and is similar to what Freire (1990) calls ‘banking model of education’ which goes against the tenets of umunthu. The question of having student teachers start conversations on issues concerning diversity calls upon the need to reflect on the current teacher education curricula. It is important for teacher education programs to include social justice education course work, which will generally address concepts of diversity amongst students in Malawian schools and diversity in the Malawian society as a whole. This will be part of anti-colonial pedagogy because the colonial education ignored the diversity that was among the students and this continues even after Malawi got its independence. Most teacher education institutions offer courses in ‘Education Foundations’ such as Sociology of Education and Educational Psychology. The current content of such courses follows the mainstream discourse of ‘school culture’, which generally alienates groups of students that do not fit in the ‘normal’ school culture. Students with ‘special’ education needs are examples of the ‘unexpected’ guest in Malawian public schools and therefore not part of the normal school culture (World Bank, 2010). Students who identify with other religions apart from the celebrated Christian faith are also not part of the normal school culture as such their beliefs are not validated. Students who come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and from rural settings also find school culture alienating as it does not validate their ‘culture’ (World Bank, 2010). Gay and other sexual minority students also find their cultures always challenged and continuously told they do not belong to the school culture. I think all these forms of oppression could be minimized if teacher education curricula had courses to address them. Starting from college, teachers should be prepared to work with students and colleagues who are different from them with respect and this is part of what umunthu stands for. With the current situation where almost all the teachers have not had any preparation in social justice education, it becomes imperative to ensure that social justice discourse is part of teacher professional development programs. Freire and Professional Development
In line with critical pedagogy, it is important to employ some insight from Paulo Freire who also did some work that would be relevant to teacher professional development. Freire worked with adults in Brazil who were considered illiterate and helped them to learn how read and write within a short period of time. Teacher professional development involves working with adults just like what Freire was doing (although not of identical characteristics or demographics) and it is imperative that we draw some notes from his work.
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Freire (1990) argues that the oppressed have a duty to liberate themselves, they cannot wait for someone to liberate or give freedom to them. In Malawian context teachers are oppressed in the way professional development is presented to them. As oppressed people, they cannot wait for someone to come from outside in this case the ministry of education officials to liberate them. What the current PD is doing in regards to providing knowledge to the teachers is what Freire would call false generosity. The goal is to maintain the injustices that exist in the system which of course work in favor of those in privileged positions and not teachers. Teachers need to fight this oppression and as noted by Freire the praxis of struggle is only possible through awareness of oppression. So, teachers should be aware of their oppression for them to fight against it.
Freire (1990) argues that oppression is a form of domestication. In the context of Malawi education system, the education officials want to maintain a privileged position to that of teachers. False charity and false generosity become means to perpetuate oppression, in Malawi context this involves the ministry of education coming up with professional development programs that are presented as if they will work in the best interest of the teachers yet they are there to maintain different form of injustices that teachers are subjected to. These are professional development programs that do not take into account the unique needs of different schools and teachers who work there.
Freire continues to argue that with perpetual oppression the oppressed show docility to the oppressors and display some horizontal violence. In the case of Malawi, it could mean teachers being docile to oppressive structures that the ministry of education has in place and at the same time being hostile to the students or their colleagues. When teachers do not question the unjust laws and systems in their profession that is being docile and when they cannot act as one and be divided and fight one another that would be considered an example of horizontal violence which might even go down to the students. This in the end cements the social injustices that the system has. It could also work against community building which is important in student learning. Oppression results in self-depreciation (Freire, 1990). In the case of Malawi, teachers do not look at themselves as a source of knowledge or people who can generate valuable knowledge. They buy into the metanarratives of the ignorant teacher and therefore accept to be treated as such, they have been conditioned to distrust themselves. Although teachers are the ones who know their students better, they still doubt their abilities to make decisions that would benefit the students. They have been made to be dependent as Freire (1990) reminds us, dependence is a consequence of domination and this could be turned into 37
independence through reflection, critical dialogue and action. Teachers need to be involved in these three attributes in order to be liberated and be professionals.
Freire (1990) argues that the dehumanization of the oppressed has occurred because of their objectification. Pedagogy must therefore be free of manipulation as manipulation is a tool of oppression and this entails that knowledge should be co-created. This means teachers need to be engaged in the development of professional development curricula. The banking concept of education is used to indoctrinate the oppressed into the world of oppression (Freire, 1990). There can be no liberation without the renunciation of the banking concept. The teacher-student contradiction must be dissolved if we are to achieve liberation. Freire advises that for liberatory pedagogy or problem-posing education to be achieved, knowledge should not be possessed but shared. He argues “problem-posing education affirms men as beings in the process of becoming an unfinished, uncompleted beings in and with a likewise unfinished reality” (p. 72). In the context of Malawi, the Ministry of Education (‘knower’) vs Teachers (‘Ignorant’) dualism should be deconstructed and dissolved in order to achieve a meaningful professional development that is going to work for the teachers.
In summary, it can be argued that the current form of teacher education in Malawi needs some restructuring to ensure that issues of diversity are incorporated. We need to have teacher education programs that prepare teachers to work effectively with diverse students in Malawian public schools. And considering that there are many teachers currently in schools working without enough knowledge on how to work with diverse students and promote issues of social justice and umunthu, there is need to initiate teacher professional development programs that have themes of social justice and umunthu. In order to ensure that teachers see that issues of diversity and social justice are part of Malawian linguistic and cultural tradition, there is need to ground both pre-service and in-service teacher education in the concept of umunthu which is an anti-colonial discourse.
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Chapter 3: Methodology Researcher Stance As a qualitative researcher I need to be explicit and acknowledge my stand and how it affects the study (Creswell, 2009). My experiences shape how I understand and approach the phenomenon under study in this research and that has to be taken into consideration. I was born and raised in Malawi, attended primary, secondary and undergraduate studies in Malawi. For my undergraduate studies I went to University of Livingstonia, a small Christian private university that had just opened and in fact our class, the class of 2007, was the first to graduate from this university. I studied Education and had English language and History as my two teaching subjects at secondary school level. Upon graduating I got a job at Mtendere Children’s Village where I was tutoring primary school students. As I worked with these students most of whom are orphans and had not been in school before coming to this village (orphanage), I had to make strong a partnership with teachers at a nearby public primary school where they attended. Through my interaction with these teachers I learned a lot about the challenges they faced related to working with students from underprivileged backgrounds and their work in general. One of the things that kept coming up in our conversations was lack of opportunities for professional growth and the need for meaningful professional development programs. As I came to Miami University for graduate school I maintained contacts with these teachers and their concerns are still the same. This then prompted me to start thinking a lot about teacher professional development in Malawi especially in terms of experiences of the teachers who work in primary schools. It is from this background that I approach the present study, and I do not want to hide how this has affected my approach. However, I will not allow my previous experiences to completely overshadow how the research participants experience the phenomenon of professional development and what the literature on the same is saying. Researcher’s Ontological and Epistemological Assumptions Inquiry discourses are the guiding frameworks for researchers when they want to conduct their studies. Researchers choose these inquiry discourses based on the ontological, and epistemological beliefs grounded in these different discourses and those which they align themselves with. Researchers who believe that knowledge comes from measurement and 39
observation, for example, tend to align more with the positivist inquiry and those who believe knowledge is not out there to be discovered but is socially constructed tend to follow the interpretivist discourse (Denzin & Lincoln, 2005). This section, therefore, explores the interpretive discourse by describing the ontological and epistemological assumptions associated with it and goes further to explain why this inquiry discourse resonates with my research study. I identify with interpretivism as an inquiry discourse; this discourse aims at understanding how people make sense of their world with an assumption that people construct their own worlds since ‘reality’ is socially constructed (Corbin & Strauss, 2008). Interpretivism as a discourse privileges subjective point of view generally knowledge is co-constructed with the research participants (Creswell, 2007). Knowledge is not seen as existing somewhere waiting to be discovered, but rather the researcher knows that together with the participants they will be able to construct knowledge (Richards & Morse, 2013). The researcher knows that his or her experiences together with that of the participants will affect the research process. So, there is no effort to claim objectivity but rather acknowledge that researcher’s biases affect the study and work to minimize but not completely eliminating them because such an effort is almost impossible (Creswell, 2007). Coming from an understanding that knowledge is socially constructed, the study in the interpretivist discourse is always put in the relevant context be it history, culture and politics because all these greatly influence the construction of meaning. This is what I have done by allowing the research participants have a voice in the research process. I allowed the research participants to share their experiences with professional development and together we made sense of these experiences in line with the tenets of phenomenology. We also used their experiences and troubled them using the postcolonial theory. So all in all, research participants’ voice was acknowledged and guided the inquiry process. Phenomenology I situate myself in phenomenological methodological framework. This is credited to the work of Edmund Husserl (Groenewald, 2004) although he got some influence from his predecessors on the same. I used this methodology following Moustakas (1994) argument that phenomenology helps one to search for meanings and essences of experience with a focus on its wholeness rather than solely on its objects or parts. Moustakas (1994) further argues that phenomenology seeks to describe the point of view of participants of the phenomenon being studied. Creswell (2007) says “a phenomenological study describes the meaning for several individuals of their lived experiences of a concept or a phenomenon” (p. 57). Kafle (2011) 40
referencing Grbich (2007) argues that phenomenology aims at understanding the hidden meanings and the essences of an experience together. In general terms, phenomenology involves understanding a phenomenon by bringing things to light some of which are usually taken for granted and therefore left unexamined. The most popular form of phenomenology that is credited to Husserl is transcendental phenomenology, which in empirical research calls for a researcher to put aside his or her experiences plus the knowledge from an outside world in studying a phenomenon, a concept also referred to as bracketing (Laverty, 2003). A researcher is supposed to put aside his or her experiences and understand the phenomenon under study from an uncorrupted stand point (Laverty, 2003). This is problematic in that no matter what researchers do to bracket their experiences, their choice of a phenomenon to study, interpretation and understanding of what they are studying will still be colored by their experiences. This then brings me to Martin Heidegger, a former student of Husserl, who argues for a different form of phenomenology called hermeneutic phenomenology, which acknowledges the lived experiences of the researcher (Annells, 1996), and therefore allows one to bring that experience to the research process. Heidegger argues that instead of trying to suppress one’s experiences, a researcher should be open about them and explain how they influence the study in question. Kafle (2011) sums it up very well by arguing that “hermeneutic phenomenology is focused on subjective experience of individuals and groups. It is an attempt to unveil the world as experienced by the subject through their life world stories” (p. 186). There is a focus on interpretation and this explains why this approach suggests the use of a hermeneutic cycle in data analysis, which involves reading, reflective writing and interpretation in a rigorous fashion (Kafle, 2011). I follow Heidegger’s perspective on phenomenology because I am vested in this topic, being a former teacher in Malawian public schools, I have experienced different forms of teacher professional development and it would be impossible to completely suppress my experiences. Laverty (2003) argues that Heidegger uses concepts of historicality and pre- understanding to emphasize the place that background information has in understanding a phenomenon. With historicality, Laverty (2003) notes “a person’s history or background, includes what a culture gives a person from birth and is handed down, presenting ways of understanding the world” (p.8). Laverty also argues that pre-understanding is a structure for being in the world and these are the meanings that are available before we understand and become part of historicality and it is impossible to completely step outside of this. With Heidegger’s hermeneutic phenomenology, I am supposed to openly outline my interest and prejudices. This however, does not warrant my interests and prejudices take control of the 41
research process to the extent of compromising its validity. I am also aware as Koch (1995) noted that it is almost impossible to make one’s background completely explicit. So, much as I try to explain my stand and my experiences in and with Malawian public schools there will still be some elements that I might not have captured but still influenced how I approached this study. The focus of this study was to investigate the phenomenon of continuing professional development among Malawian primary school teachers. This was in line with hermeneutic phenomenology because the goal was to understand the meaning that teachers make of their lived experiences with continuing professional development. Van Manen (1990) argues “lived experience is the starting point and end point of phenomenological research” (p. 36). And phenomenology as a methodology in general, as noted by Groenewald (2004) referencing Holloway (1997), gives room for a researcher to explore a topic without being confined to methods and rigid steps. However, I am still cognizant of the importance of outlining important guidelines that I followed as I conducted this study. Another reason for using hermeneutic phenomenology is that as noted by Laverty (2003) “hermeneutic research is interpretive and concentrated on historical meanings of experience and their developmental and cumulative effects on individual and social levels” (p.18). Data Collection Data were collected using two main ways, as will be explained later, and this helped to establish the validity of the research. As a phenomenological study the primary means of collecting data was through in-depth interviews (Kvale, 1996; Moustakas, 1994) with teachers who have experienced the phenomenon under study. I selected a sample of participants that I felt would provide an intense lived experience of continuous professional development programs in Malawi. In trying to get a good understanding of how the participants describe their experience of the phenomenon under study, some participants needed to be interviewed multiple times (Van Manen, 1990). I had in-depth interviews with 10 participants, this comes from a recommendation that Creswell (2007) referencing Polkinghorne (1989) gives that researchers interview 5 to 25 individuals who have all experienced the phenomenon under study. Effort was also made in the selection of participants to have a good and representative sample. I made sure that I utilized purposive sampling in identifying research participants. Lincoln and Guba (1985) in arguing for purposive sampling say that participants are chosen based on a match of a specific need. In this case the specific need was that the individuals identified must have experienced teacher continuing professional development program. Being 42
a purposive sampling I made sure that participants were well represented based on gender, years of service and subject specialization (the subject(s) they teach). This was an effort to ensure that I captured experiences of a variety of teachers with the phenomenon under study unlike learning from just a sub category of teachers in these contexts. Observing teachers as they talked about and participated in professional development was another way of collecting data. This helped me to get some idea on how they conceptualized their experiences with these programs, and helped to shade more light on different angles of the phenomenon. In support of observation as a method of collecting data, Merriam (1998) argues that observations provide a researcher with knowledge of the context and in some instances it can serve as a reference for subsequent interviews. In the case of hermeneutic phenomenology where some participants were interviewed multiple times, observations helped the researcher in designing some prompts that were used in follow up interviews. These observations were made in continuing professional development sessions that were going on in some Teacher Development Centers (TDCs) in this education district during the period of my research. There were a lot of these sessions across the district and I actually had to turn down some offers from head teachers to go and observe CPDs in their respective schools. Observations helped me to learn some concepts about the phenomenon that the research participants were a bit reluctant to talk about even during in-depth interviews. Recording Interviews With the permission of participants, I recorded the interviews. I bought two digital recorders just to be sure in case one misbehaves. The recorders were generally small as such they were unobtrusive allowing me and the research participant to focus on the interview. I followed Patton (2002) in being very particular with interviews because this is raw data as he calls it and therefore very precious to this study. So extra precautions were taken, like making sure that both recorders are working and checking them once in a while as the interview was in session. Recording provided opportunities for me to focus on facilitating the interview and making it as conversational as possible without worrying to write down too much detail for I knew I would review the interview later as many times as I wanted. But still I had a writing pad in which I wrote some notable quotes to supplement the interview. Patton (2002) says that note taking provides the participant with an assurance that what they are saying is important and worth writing about. In Malawi especially if one is being interviewed and the interviewer does not write down anything, it might be perceived by the participant that what they are saying is not important and this can be discouraging to them.
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Immediately following each interview, I checked the audio recording to ensure there weren’t any problems with any of the recordings, for example, clarity. I also made some notes reflecting on the interview session, mostly brief notes on how the whole process went. This was following Patton’s advice who argues “reflect on these issues and make notes on the interview process while the experience is still fresh in your minds” (p. 384). I did the transcriptions on my own, and this was manually so it took some time but it was manageable. Data Analysis Like with any data analysis in a qualitative study, the process was not very much detached from the process of collecting data. In this process of data analysis I utilized insights from Creswell (2007) and Moustakas (1994). Creswell (2007) noted that in many instances data collection goes hand in hand with analysis. However, I still had to set aside some time to analyze data. I followed advice from Moustakas (1994) who argues that the first step in analyzing phenomenological data is a process that he calls horizonalization. This involved going through the data and highlighting important statements, sentences, or quotes that provide an understanding of how participants experienced the phenomenon (Creswell, 2007). The next step was to develop clusters of meaning from the important themes (Creswell, 2007). These themes came from all the data collected, in this case, data were mainly collected from the in- depth interviews and observations. After the themes have been identified Creswell (2007) advises that it is now time for what he calls textural description. This involved using the important themes to describe what the participants experienced. Immediately following this, is imaginative variation or structural description (Creswell, 2007) which is a description of the context that influenced how the participants experienced the phenomenon. Having established both textural and structural descriptions I put together a description that explains how the participants experienced a phenomenon. Effort was also made to ensure that unique and minority points of view are reported and taken on board and not silenced by general and common themes. Prior Empirical Work Done in this Area There is no empirical study that I am aware of that has been done on primary school teacher continuing professional development in Dowa Education district. One empirical study that I know addressing the concept of teacher professional development among Malawian teachers in general is one by Selemani-Meke (2013), the title is “Teacher Motivation and Implementation of Continuing Professional Development Programs in Malawi”. This study has Zomba Rural Education district as its research site. The study explored factors that impact
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negatively on teacher motivation as regards implementation of what they learn at continuing professional development programs. This study is different from Selemani-Meke’s work in that I approached the study from a postcolonial perspective while hers uses motivation and other ‘mainstream’ learning theories to understand why teachers do not put in practice or do not implement what they learn from continuing professional development programs. My study takes a holistic approach by trying to understand Malawian education system as part of the colonial institution. The research sites are also different, I conducted my study in Dowa Education district which is in central region of Malawi almost 250 kilometers from Zomba. The focus of my research is on the general experiences of teachers in this district with continuing professional development programs with the aim of gaining an understanding on how they experience the phenomenon of continuing professional development. Context Description of the Research Site The research site for this study is Dowa education district. This site was chosen because it is the most familiar to the researcher having been raised and attended both primary and secondary education and taught in the district. I am familiar with this education district and that made it easier to identify teachers that I had meaningful conversation with. Besides all that, this education district is close to my home so it was also economical to have my study in this area as I could not afford to travel to distant places considering the tight budget that I had and the amount of time that I had to collect data. There have not been a lot of studies done in Dowa education district and I thought it was important to conduct a study in an area that I have some close connection with. Dowa Education district is located in the central region of Malawi (see appendix 7). It has some clusters that are in the rural and others in semi urban centers. Just as any other education district in Malawi, it is divided into 19 zones which serve primary schools based on proximity and they are under the leadership of education officials referred to as Primary Education Advisors (PEAs). These PEAs are based at a central place known as Teacher Development Center (TDC), where teachers meet for CPD workshops and other important sessions. I identified the 10 research participants from different education clusters in this district (see appendix 10 for participant demographics). I conducted the study from May to August 2014, this is important because it is dry season in Malawi, this means some areas which are normally inaccessible during the rainy season were not a problem to access them. I ensured that I had research participants from both urban and rural clusters. The timing was also good 45
because for a good period of this time schools were in session and this gave me an opportunity to meet the participants in their respective schools. Although schools were on a three weeks break sometime in July where teachers were on holiday, it did not really affect me. I just followed up on the research participants with conversations that I had already established. One important step before the actual collection of data was to gain access to the research site before contacting the research participants. I had to follow appropriate steps concerning access and ‘entry’ into the research site. Groenewald (2004) referencing Neuman (2000) calls people with formal and informal authority to control access to a site as ‘gatekeepers’. Malawi public education being a centralized system, researchers are supposed to get permission from the Ministry of Education, which is a central controlling board, to conduct research in schools. I had already established communication with some officers at the Ministry of Education whilst in the USA, they checked my plan of study and pretty much accepted the plan but told me they would give me an authorization letter which I would take to different clusters and schools of my interest after arriving in the country. They indicated that they could only give me the permission letter in person and not through any other means of communication. So, I got the authorization letter (see Appendix 1) first thing once I got to Malawi. Although principals, locally known as head teachers who are school administrators, have some control on who goes into their institution, the letter of authorization from the Ministry of education made my entry into these institutions easier. Even with this arrangement, I still ensured that I established good relationships with head teachers and PEAs who are in charge of the clusters so that I could have a smooth working relationship with the research participants. This was also helpful with the observations that I planned to make both in schools and TDCs when teachers were having their continuing professional development sessions. In this research, the Ministry of Education, PEAs and head teachers were all ‘gatekeepers’ with whom I needed to establish and maintain a good relationship to ensure a successful research process. Timeline for the Project The timeline for the research process was May to August 2014, this was the time that I was on the research site (Dowa Education district in Malawi) collecting data. From September 2014 I was back to Miami University doing data analysis up to November 2014. From December 2014 up to February 2015 it was writing time. From March 2015 it was just editing, revising and formatting. I planned to defend and turn it in to the graduate school in April 2015. Challenges in the Research Process
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One major political challenge in this study was gaining access to the research site especially convincing PEAs and head teachers to observe CPDs in their zones and schools respectively. Education officials at the district and national level are most of the times suspicious of researchers who come from ‘outside’ the system to conduct their studies in schools. Taking this into consideration, I had to clearly explain the purpose of my study to the relevant education authorities in order to be given access and this was granted without problems. However, with observations PEAs and head teachers were not very comfortable to have me observe the CPDs at first because they thought I had been sent by the ministry of education officials to supervise and evaluate their programs. Being in a context where supervision has been punitive I understood their fears and concerns and I addressed them accordingly. Most PEAs and head teachers understood my work and were inviting me to observe their CPDs. On an ethical part, as noted by Van Manen (1990), it is important to explicitly put across the purpose of one’s study, like what it can and cannot do, to avoid raising unnecessary hopes or fears in the participants. This was an important challenge that I had to address. Some teachers thought I was there to solve all their ‘problems’ and I did not want them to end up getting frustrated when I did not address their concerns at the end of the study in the field. So, for teachers that I had in depth interviews with and those that I observed in CPD sessions I explained to them exactly what this study was all about. It was interesting to see teachers being supportive and willing to share their experiences without expecting too much. I also noticed that some education officials especially PEAs were suspicious that my study would encourage teachers to resist some professional development programs that the ministry of education offers. With a proper explanation of the purpose of my study through the letter of consent (see appendix 2) for my research participants and with the one-on-one conversation with these education officials all these concerns were addressed. Moral Issues/ Ethics When Conducting the Study Teachers involved in this study are referred to as research participants, this is mostly because they are involved in the production of knowledge. I value and cherish their input in this exercise, they are not just ‘subjects’, and their information is key to this study. Teachers generally are considered to be a group of workers who do not have a lot of ‘power’ in the Malawi education system. From this understanding, I ensured that this study does not marginalize them further or put them in ‘trouble’ with senior education officials like Head Teachers, Primary Education Advisors and District Education Managers.
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I made sure that the research participants got a good understanding of what the study is all about for them to give an informed consent. I did not engage in any deception, I explained to them the possible benefits of the study over the risks that could be there. The right to privacy, anonymity and confidentiality, which Creswell (2007) considers as important ethical attributes in qualitative research, were adhered to throughout the whole research process. The participants were told that they have the right to either participate or not participate in the study, and even after agreeing to participate they could choose not to continue for whatever reason or no reason without any consequences on their part. Informed Consent Informed consent is required in a research study. Thompson, Locander, & Pollio, (1989) indicated that the first step in the phenomenological interview is to get informed consent from those interviewed. I met with the interviewees in person and set up appointments for interviews. I told them the purpose of the study and audio taping procedures. Written consent indicating agreement to participate in my research study and be audio recorded was acquired from each research participant. The consent form (see appendix 2) included a statement indicating that all audio-recorded data will be kept in a location accessible only to the researcher and that audio recorded and written data will be kept for two years following completion of the study at which the data will be destroyed. Participants who indicated their willingness to participate in an interview received this during the face-to-face appointment sessions and were asked to sign it prior to the start of the interview. During the interviews, participants signed two forms in the presence of the researcher. One copy was for the researcher’s records and the other was given to the participant for their records. So, those who signed it were assumed to agree to share their experiences and no monetary compensation was provided to the participants. Supportive Environment To establish a good rapport with the respondents, I was conscious of creating an atmosphere of comfort, safety, and respect. Being respectful and non-judgmental are important concepts in establishing a good rapport (Patton, 2002). This comes from the understanding that the experiences they were sharing were personal and important and therefore must be treated with the respect they deserve. As an indication that I had a good relationship with my participants, one of them wrote me a note two months after leaving the field just trying to ask some suggestions on how best he could work with his students (see appendix 8). To me this meant that the participant was very comfortable with our relationship and I have maintained communication with most of the participants briefing them on my progress. They always wish 48
me well with my study and I help them with suggestions on how to address some issues they are encountering in their day-to- day work. Justifying My Claims In trying to justify claims I make in this study, there was need to address one of the important questions under trustworthiness that Glesne (2006) asks. Glesne (2006) encourages qualitative researchers to ask themselves how they know that their interpretation is the right one. To address this concern I shared the data with the research participants in what Creswell (2007) calls member checking. This helped me to ensure that I had represented the descriptions of my research participants correctly. To some extent this also gave a sense of respect and dignity to the research participants such it encouraged them to participate in follow up interviews which I had with most of them. Using multiple sources of data which Creswell (2007) and Glesne (2006) call triangulation of data sources, also helped establish validity of the claims that I make. Apart from interviews, I observed teachers talk about and participate in the professional development sessions. This helped to get some idea on how they conceptualize their experiences with these programs and helped to shed more light on different angles of the phenomenon thereby justifying the claim I make on the same. These two methods of data collection were complimentary in that what I learned through in depth interviews with participants was informing my observation and vice versa. In the process of establishing trustworthiness for my study, I am aware that a researcher is an important data gathering instrument in qualitative research and can influence a study in significant ways (Casey, 2007). I am open about my personal profile in the study and acknowledge how this has influenced the topic under investigation and how I address it. The use of critical friends to provide feedback on the research process, use of my research journal in which I reflected on the research process plus guidance from my dissertation committee make me assured about the trustworthiness of the findings from this study. Limitations The research study consisted of ten research participants and they were all drawn from one education district in Malawi. Considering the number of education districts and primary school teachers in Malawi this would be considered very small to generate a generalized understanding of the experience of all teachers in Malawi. This is not unique to this study, it is something that is expected when using qualitative studies and phenomenology methodology in particular (Van Manen, 2014). However, the study does provide an informed understanding of teacher professional development programs thereby revealing the underlying meaning and 49
what is taken-for-granted in their professional lives in this area. It therefore contributes to a more authentic understanding of teacher continuous professional development programs and a better understanding of why they are not working as expected and how the situation could be improved.
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Chapter 4 A Postcolonial Reading of Education in Malawi In this chapter I provide a postcolonial reading/analysis of education in Malawi. This is important because it provides background information about the Malawi education landscape as seen from a postcolonial lens. This becomes useful to make sense of the data presented and discussed in the following chapter. I do this by providing a discourse analysis of teacher education and professional development policies that have been passed and are a basis for all the professional development programs that take place in Malawian schools. The document that I base this analysis is the ‘Malawi National Education Sector Plan (NESP) 2008-2017’, which is a document outlining the goals and targets that Malawi as a nation is trying to achieve in the decade 2008-2017. This chapter goes further to examine and analyze some of the materials used in professional development sessions (Literacy training modules) reading them from a postcolonial lens. I also take time to explain the relationship between neocolonialism and neoliberalism, which I argue they are shaping the education landscape in Malawi and are the most important reason why the quality of education is not improving. Neocolonialism and Neoliberalism A postcolonial reading of societies and the education system in particular in Malawi flushes out how neocolonialism and neoliberalism play out in Malawi. Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, cultural imperialism, and other forms of hegemony to influence a country or a people instead of military or direct political control (Sartre, 2001). Ashcroft, Griffiths and Tiffin (2007) argue that “Neocolonialism meaning ‘new colonialism’ was a term coined by Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, and the leading exponent of pan- Africanism in his Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism (1965)” p. 167. This goes in line with the argument above that neocolonialism can be well understood if one has a good grasp of postcolonial theory. As presented above, postcolonial theory aims at deconstructing any forms of domination that postcolonial spaces were/are subjected to by their ‘former’ colonizers and institution that that are supported or represent these colonizers. As will be explained below, neoliberalism is greatly influencing education systems in Malawi and it would not be an overstatement to say neoliberalism is the new form of neocolonialism (Carlson, 2014) Neoliberalism is a political ideology that became dominant in the late 1980s to early 1990s that aims at reducing the role of government’s intervention in the economy (Harvey, 2005). Quantz (2015) notes that “neoliberalism is a form of liberal democracy strongly influenced by the work of Austrian economist and political theorist Friedrich von Hayek that 51
argues that individuals pursing their own individual private interests in an unregulated marketplace results in the greatest liberty for all” (p. 127). For neoliberalism the market place is seen as a solution to economic growth and achieving social equality. In many African countries, Western countries have pushed on the ideology of neoliberalism. The Regan and Thatcher administrations in United States of America and Britain respectively are seen as the ones that started pushing for this ideology in different countries around the globe (Harvey, 2005). These countries, that is Britain and United States of America, use the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to force developing countries to accept structural adjustment programs, based on neoliberal solutions to economic and political problems in exchange of financial aid. This is well summed up by Rutkowski (2008) who says: In recent years, international organizations (IOs) and more specifically, intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) have played an important role in education policy making at the national level. These organizations encourage world change and promote particular ideologies through a set of complex actions and policy recommendations that exploit growing world interconnectedness (p.230). Neoliberalism is gaining ground and establishing itself as a hegemonic force because it is presented as neutral and rational rather than ideological (Carlson, 2014). It is difficult to argue against neoliberalism when it is presented by influential international and multinational organizations who make it sound more ‘natural’ and as a ‘service’ to the challenges that different education systems are encountering. The language of efficiency which is at the root of neoliberalism (Giroux, 1989) has become very commonsensical and thereby making it go unchallenged most of the times. One thing that needs to be made clear is that much as neoliberalism is becoming a global commonsensical understanding of how institutions should be run (Apple, 2006), it is not translated in the same fashion in different contexts despite its major structure being the same. Ford (2013) notes that “Neoliberalism is in many ways a meta-narrative, but this meta-narrative is highly contingent upon the varied localized ways in which it is made manifest in policy and practice” (p.301). So, the way neoliberal policies are framed or implemented in Malawi is different from how they are done in a country like the U.S. for example, although the basic structure is the same which is trying to have the market control the education system and making education a commodity that can be sold and bought at a profit. In Malawi, education is an area that is greatly affected by neoliberal ideas as it has mostly been the role of the government to provide education to its citizens, and when neoliberal principles take dominance in government policies things start to take a different turn. 52
Neoliberalism goes hand in hand with neocolonialism and in fact it would safe to argue that it is just a different version of colonialism. Therefore, the discussion of neocolonialism will be complete if it goes alongside a discussion on neoliberalism but most of the neocolonial ideologies are translated through neoliberal agenda. Neoliberal ideas in education in Malawi are seen in the way different programs are presented to align with the concept of free market. The narrative of lack of organization of the CPD programs, which comes usually because of insufficient funding as the government is reducing its support to the education sector rings true. CPD programs are planned in a market oriented sense as such consultation which is important is not done thoroughly leaving curricular development of CPD programs at the mercy of the ‘experts’. To engage in meaningful consultation with teachers on what matters to them is seen as costly and thereby going against the neoliberal platform on which these programs are based. CPDs are structured to run by any means necessarily that does not involve digging too deep into the government coffers. Not surprisingly, teachers are always complaining for not having enough professional development (Kadzamira, 2006). The excuse that the government does not have enough money to fund effective and meaningful CPDs goes along the rhetoric of neoliberalism of trying to limit government spending on such services as education. Postcolonial Reading of the Malawi National Education Sector Plan 2008-2017 This section presents a postcolonial reading of the Malawi National Education Sector Plan (NESP) 2008-2017 with the aim of trying to understand how the two concepts of neocolonialism and neoliberalism are manifested in this document and how they could be challenged to ensure that education in Malawi works to create a democratic society. With a postcolonial lens, one thing that one will notice in this document is that it has been prepared by the Ministry of Education in Malawi alongside international organizations and intergovernmental organizations like UNICEF, USAID, WFP, UNESCO, World Bank, GTZ, JICA, DfID, CIDA (Ministry of Education, 2008) just to name a few who are duped ‘Cooperating partners’. One thing that can be noted from just reading the foreword of the plan is that although the international organizations are considered cooperating partners, the relationship is not mutual. From the way acknowledgements are presented because of the technical and financial support the cooperating partners provided one can notice that the cooperating partners have a big say in the development of the NESP. This is also exactly what Rutkowski (2008) is arguing by saying that IOs and IGOs play a role in policy formulation in postcolonial spaces through financial and technical support. It is these ‘experts’ and the resources they bring that direct policies in different places and Malawi is one of them. 53
The NESP 2008-2017 is a document that outlines the government of Malawi’s education sector goals and objectives and how these will be achieved over the decade in question (Ministry of Education, 2008). The goals outlined in this plan generally center on; expanding equitable access to education, improved quality and relevant education, and improved governance and Management of education. A mere reading of these three goals would lead most people smiling, who would be against expanding equitable access to education? Who would be against an improved quality and relevant education? And lastly who would be against an improved governance and management of education? However, as the adage goes, the devil is in the detail. It is the way these goals are to be implemented that a postcolonial understanding would make one sense that these goals are all framed from a neoliberal platform, and as expected this is the framework that the so called cooperating partners operate from. So, the cooperating partners are providing expertise and finances to ensure that neoliberal ideas are implemented in postcolonial spaces until they become commonsensical. And I would argue they are doing a ‘good’ job because the majority of educators and the general populace have bought into these neoliberal ideas such that if one questions these policies he or she is seen as the one who has a problem. The NESP document is explicit on page 2, that it follows the Paris declaration on donor assistance, and as already noted this assistance is coming from the so-called ‘cooperating partners’ (See Appendix 3). One of goals that NESP document has is to improve quality of education that is provided to students. On page 11, under priority 1: Quality and relevance point number two, they talk about reducing class sizes. This is an important thing to do because the teacher to student ratio in Malawian schools especially rural schools leaves a lot to be desired. It is even argued that in some schools the number of students in class can go up to 120 (World Bank, 2010). Much as this is an area that needs attention to ensure that quality of education is improved, it is how this is implemented that leads to more questions. They propose introduction of preparing teachers through what is called ‘urgent program’ which calls for recruiting high school graduates as teachers and later train them while on the job (Ministry of Education, 2008). These band-aid approaches to education policy are not really helpful and it goes against the whole purpose of improving quality. How do you expect high school graduates who do not have any training in education to teach effectively and improve the quality of education? A postcolonial reading of such policies reveals that these policies reflect neoliberalism. They want to restructure the education system without ‘stretching’ the government coffers. These are policies that support government cuts on even important service like education thereby making it into a mere market commodity (Apple, 2006). And since even with the recruitment 54
of teachers under the ‘urgent program’, the quality has not really improved, quality education is now on market (through private schools) where Malawians who can afford it can buy. No wonder, starting almost the same time when Malawi started following neoliberal policies the number of private schools has skyrocketed (Chimombo, 2009). Malawians who are on the lower socioeconomic scale cannot afford the quality education and based on the neoliberal rhetoric this becomes their problem because they are offered a ‘choice’ The question of improving quality of education as presented in NESP could be done in my view effectively by ignoring the neoliberal ideologies that discourage the government from investing in education. It is also important to note that neoliberalism has manifested in different forms other than cutting spending for education programs. The emphasis on teacher and student accountability to standardized testing, and a rationalized curriculum are among other ways in which neoliberalism is exercised and all these could be noted in the NESP document. One way to challenge some disastrous effects of neoliberalism is to build capacity of higher education institutions so that they can prepare teachers at a degree level who are well compensated. However, this would not be seen as a viable option for a government that is working under neoliberal ideologies. Ochwa-Echel (2013) discusses how neoliberalism has worked to discredit and defund university education in Africa. He argues that policies directed by World Bank and IMF for example have ‘forced’ African governments not to pay much attention to university education on the argument that it does not really affect the ordinary people in these poverty stricken countries as basic education does. So, the argument is for African countries to focus on basic education without worrying about university education, which only works for the elite. It is not surprising therefore for Malawi’s cooperating partners to suggest band-aid policies in efforts to improve the quality of education in Malawi. In addition, Ochwa-Echel (2013) argues that university education is presented by World Bank and IMF as useful for individual benefit and not as a public good. This could be seen as an example of a neoliberal argument that higher education should be a market commodity which can be sold and purchased by those who can afford. Following such neoliberal rhetoric, universities in Africa have turned into elite clubs where people with the buying power can have access to and the poor people have limited access (Ochwa-Echel, 2013). Improving education quality as presented in NESP is not going to be achieved if neoliberal ideologies will continue to guide policies. In line with neoliberal policies teachers are always a scapegoat for policies that are not working to improve the education system. In Malawi teachers are not adequately compensated as compared to their colleagues in other professions (Kadzamira, 2006). Kadzamira (2006) also argues that “in Malawi teachers both at 55
secondary and primary school levels are grossly dissatisfied both with their pay and conditions of service” (p. 2). This usually leads to high teacher turn over as they go to other professions in search of greener pastures. So, the idea of having smaller class sizes will remain a dream if teachers continue to be paid meager salaries as many people will not be attracted to join teaching or will leave for better paying professions. And since neoliberal policies aim at cutting down government spending on services like education, it is unlikely that they will even consider that paying teachers decent salaries is a step in the direction of improving education quality. One of the ways neoliberal policies are explicitly outlined in the NESP is on ways of improving management and governance at all levels of education. At primary and secondary school levels improving management and governance is presented in trying to restructure their administrative systems to make them more efficient so that they can serve the students better. It is not as clear what efficient governance would entail apart from trying to engage the community in the management of school so that it is transparent and accountable to their communities. With university education, being efficient entails making these institutions money-making institutions that can survive without the support of the government. And as already noted this taps on the neoliberal agenda of making education a market commodity that can be sold to those with money. Ochwa-Etchel (2013) reminds us that neoliberal policies are turning African institutions into selling themselves to the corporate world in the name of being efficient and thereby not really working for the public good. As part of efficient management and governance public universities are encouraged to outsource a lot of their services like student accommodation and catering services to the private sector so that students are served better. This is in line with neoliberal policies of trying to put most public services in the hands of the private sector under the rhetoric of efficient management and better governance. A Postcolonial Reading of CPD Curricula Materials A closer look at the curricula of teacher professional development in Malawi shows that it reflects neocolonial and neoliberal ideologies. It is not surprising because the so called cooperating partners are the ones who provide the finances and the ‘expertise’ for these activities and we all know these cooperating partners are even explicit on the advantages of neoliberalism. The CPD curricula that teachers have reveal great elements of neocolonial ideas. The narratives of ‘ignorant teacher’, where teachers are seen as the problem and a disempowering pedagogy are well reflected. From the topics listed in the training module, (see appendix 4), one can notice the top down nature of the whole arrangement. One does not really 56
have to observe how this module is implemented to get an understanding that the process is disempowering. There is no room provided for the teachers to bring in what they think matters for their students. The training module that I will discuss in this section is the one used for teaching literacy (appendix 4). The introduction to the module argues that it is designed to help teachers address the literacy problems of their students. The understanding is that the current methods of teaching literacy are not efficient as evidenced by poor literacy skills amongst students and here we can notice the bash on teachers, which draws on the narrative of the ignorant teacher. Even the foreword for the Literacy module is very explicit on the narrative of the ignorant teacher, it argues that teachers are not well prepared to implement the new curriculum reforms effectively, so the manual is meant to address this deficit. And as can be expected from this narrative, teachers are placed in a disempowered position. They are put in a position where they need to receive knowledge from the knowledgeable other who will in turn make them into deliverers of a prescribed curriculum and this is according to Kim (2011) is very disempowering and cruel to both the teachers and their students. Teachers in the quest to meet the prescribed curriculum miss teachable moments that would be great opportunities for the students. Kim (2011) also noted that limiting teachers’ role to deliverers of curriculum perpetuates the social inequalities that are in education. Teachers and learners do not have room to address the social inequalities that different social groups are encountering. In a country like Malawi where issues of social class, homophobia, sexism, and ethnocentrism are not really addressed, when teachers are relegated to deliverers of curriculum only then they become what Kim (2011) and Giroux (1989) call “Clerks of the Empire”. Their duty becomes to grease the wheels of social inequalities and never to bring any friction to it by highlighting how some groups of people are alienated by the status quo. One thing that stands out in the Literacy module is the list of the contributors, who drafted and produced the module. As noted in acknowledgement section, these people were responsible for needs assessment, identification of priority topics, drafting, refining and editing. None of these people is a teacher, they are officials from the Ministry of Education, Malawi Institute of Education and Malawi Teacher Professional Development Support. This cements the narrative of the ‘ignorant teacher’, they are presented as the experts who know what the teachers need. Although it could be unrealistic to involve all the teachers, at least one of the primary school teachers should have been involved in some ways in the process of coming up with this module. A mention is made that they involved some primary school 57
teachers in piloting the module, this is commendable but as already noted this was after they had already decided what was important for teachers to know and skills to master. So, still teachers were not involved in the production of the module apart from the ones whom they piloted on and were asked to provide feedback. In summary, this chapter has presented a postcolonial reading of education in Malawi. I presented a postcolonial reading of the NESP, which is a document outlining the education goals the government of Malawi wants to achieve between 2008 and 2017. This is important as it prepares us for a better understanding of the data presented in the next chapter, which is framed in a postcolonial theory. A closer examination of this document shows that it is guided by neocolonial and neoliberal ideas and this is not surprising considering a big role that IOs and IGOs played in its development. When it comes to teacher professional development, which is guided by polices stemming directly from the NESP, it is not surprising that it embraces neocolonial and neoliberal rhetoric. This ends up cementing disempowering pedagogy narratives which work against the very goals of NESP or teacher development policies which is to improve education quality in Malawi.
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Chapter 5 Research Findings Introduction As anticipated in the proposal for this study, the process of analyzing data was not very much detached from the field experience of collecting data. This chapter, therefore, discusses the data that were collected in the study mainly through in depth interviews and observations that were done when teachers were conducting professional development sessions in schools, clusters and zones. The data from these two main activities were interconnected and influenced each other. What I observed in the professional development sessions influenced the conversations I had with my research participants and these conversations also influenced how I conducted my observations in the professional development sessions that teachers had. The data are presented and discussed in the form of tropes and cultural narratives that are part of the way the participants explain their experiences with CPD. In cultural studies and postcolonial studies tropes are rhetorical devices such as metaphors, similes, irony, satire, puns, hyperbole and other words and phrases that change the basic meaning of a word (Fortes, 2014). The experiences of teachers with CPDs are well explained and reflected on by the use of tropes that bring in the richness plus the nuances associated with the experiences. The use of tropes also help to trouble some of the complexities that the experiences have. For example, there are some experiences that on the surface would be seen as contradictory and yet by the use of these tropes their clarity is shown. The multiplicities in meaning of some of the experiences are also well reflected in these tropes. Just like postcolonial theory troubles identities of the colonized peoples by blurring the lines of identities, tropes help to challenge the binary ways of presenting the experiences because these experiences are not binary and in some cases as already noted they can be contradictory and yet so rich with insight. The use of tropes is not uncommon in Malawian culture just as it is in African cultures in general (Fortes, 2014). In Africa, people use tropes to enrich their day-to-day conversations (Fortes, 2014) and it was not different from the conversations I had with these teachers. Teachers also used cultural narratives to explain their experiences and I used the same in trying to make sense of their experiences in line with postcolonial theory and this proved very helpful. Cultural narratives are generally stories that people of a particular culture share (Delgado-Gaitan, 1994) and a mere mention of them or parts of them resonate with the people in question. Teachers are not exempt from this, they have narratives that run across their profession and they make sense of their experiences in the profession in line with these narratives. When it comes to professional development programs, teachers’ experiences are 59
linked to the narratives that run in this profession and in the Malawian society as a whole, narratives like the ignorant teacher and disempowering pedagogy. The lay out for the chapter begins with a presentation of the tropes and cultural narratives that teachers use. It discusses these tropes and narratives in relation to the experiences of teachers with professional development programs. Deliberate effort is made to trouble the tropes and cultural narratives in relation to postcolonial theory. The chapter also considers some major tropes and cultural narratives that provide a good insight and understanding on how teachers in Malawi experience professional development programs. A section on teachers’ resistance to professional development programs is included and a discussion on the example of CPD curricula that I observed is provided. The chapter winds up by addressing how female teachers and upper grade teachers (teachers teaching grades 5 to 8) experience professional development programs. While tropes and cultural narratives in literary studies are used as rhetorical devices to persuade the reader into buying an argument being presented (Quantz, 2015) in this study they are used to expound the experiences of Malawian teachers with professional development programs that they have been involved in. Tropes and cultural narratives are already common among teachers and trying to explain their experiences along these lines is not stretching their minds or imaginations, it is something that flows naturally. And again the theory guiding this study, postcolonial theory, uses tropes and cultural narratives to make sense of the lives of colonized peoples. Some of the tropes used in the postcolonial theory try to depict the oppression that colonized peoples were and are subjected to. For example, the work of Edward Said “Orientalism” could be seen as using the image of the “orient” or the “other” in depicting colonized peoples. The “Orient” is an image of oppression, where people or cultures referred to as such are usually seen as ‘inferior’ and therefore different from the ‘norm’. The ‘Orient’ has to be changed to be in line with what is considered ‘normal’. The image of “Orient” justifies the perpetual gaze and other dehumanizing treatments that the orient is subjected to. To deconstruct the oppression that colonized peoples are subjected to, there is a need to challenge and trouble some of the tropes in the form of images like “orient” that are forced onto the colonized people. Postcolonial theory goes further to deconstruct narratives that have been cemented about the colonized peoples. A narrative like “the uncivilized other”, which depicts colonized peoples and former colonized peoples as ignorant and in need of ‘civilization’ this is the narrative that justified colonization in the first place (Kenyatta, 1967) and in the time of postcolonialism the same narratives are just reframed to engulf ideas of neocolonialism and 60
neoliberalism. So, challenging narratives of neocolonialism and neoliberalism is an important aspect of postcolonial theory and this is what teachers in this study are doing as well as challenging disempowering cultural narratives and tropes that have been imposed on them and the teaching profession in general. Major tropes and cultural narratives that ran across the conversations (in depth interviews) I had with teachers and the observations I made are: the narrative of an ‘ignorant teacher’, poor organization of CPDs, disempowering pedagogy, neocolonialism and neoliberalism in CPDs, the absent discourse, need for umunthu in CPDs, and a historical belief that CPDs do not work or are impractical. The tropes and narratives discussed below are in two categories, some are neocolonial as they celebrate or justify different forms of domination while others are implicitly and explicitly postcolonial as the teachers tell stories of outright resistance of different forms of domination. There is also a discussion on what resistance looks like in line with the cultural narratives that teachers are employing. ‘Ignorant Teacher’ Narrative The conversations I had with some teachers through the in-depth interviews I conducted showed that teachers agreed that CPDs are very important for professional development and personal growth of the teachers. This however, comes from the image and narrative that has been pushed on the teachers and the teaching profession as a whole. Teachers have been made to believe they are ‘ignorant’ and therefore do not have the expertise to teach effectively as professionals. They need to be constantly ‘reskilled’ with techniques to deliver the prescribed curriculum in an efficient manner. They get reduced to deliverers of a prescribed curriculum (Kim, 2011). Freire reminds us how the oppressed groups sometimes buy into narratives that end up being very controlling. He argues: Self-depreciation is another characteristic of the oppressed, which derives from their internalization of the opinion the oppressors hold of them. So often do they hear that they are good for nothing, know nothing and are incapable of learning anything—they are sick, lazy, and unproductive---that in the end they become convinced of their own unfitness. (p. 18) It seems many teachers have bought into this narrative and identify with it without really troubling it on how controlling the narrative can be to them professionally. Teachers cite a lot of examples to show how they can benefit from these programs. However, they do not agree on what constitutes important or effective professional development sessions and if what they are getting now is effective. Some teachers argue for school based CPD, cluster based CPD while others argue for zone based CPD. On the different levels of CPDs, in the study area just as in all educational districts in Malawi, CPDs are normally conducted at three 61
levels; school, cluster, and zone. For school level CPD these are programs usually initiated by the teachers at a given school through a CPD committee. All schools have CPD committees that are in charge of organizing CPDs for the school. The committee usually has four members chosen among the teachers and depending on the school in question the chosen committee choses a chairperson amongst themselves. In other schools the chairperson of the committee is chosen by all the teachers when choosing the CPD committee. The chairperson is the head of the committee and coordinates the activities of the committee. The committee in consultation with the teachers comes up with areas of interest to be covered in a CPD session. Teachers from the school who are knowledgeable of the topic in question usually volunteer to facilitate the CPD session. Phiri noted that in cases where the teachers do not have the necessary skills to facilitate a discussion on topic chosen, they request the services of a resource person who is usually a teacher from a nearby school or anyone from within the surrounding community of the school. Mr. Gawanani, it is not a problem at all, when we can’t find someone to facilitate a given topic amongst ourselves. We just turn to another school and find some support from them. I can give you an example where we went to a nearby health center and contacted health officials there to help us with some health related topics that many teachers were not comfortable with. We were lucky the community nurse there was available and she agreed to come to our school to facilitate a session. You know these days through Life Skills course we are supposed to teach some topics that are more technical and would require a substantial knowledge in health issues. So, this nurse helped us a lot and teachers are now comfortable teaching these topics. Teachers had mixed reactions towards school level CPD. This was both with the ones I had in-depth interviews and those that I observed during the CPD session in these schools. Mchete, one of the teachers that I had an in depth interview noted that he enjoyed CPDs at school level because they addressed the unique needs of the school in question unlike those at zone level which he argued were mostly out of touch with the needs of some schools and the teachers attending. The relaxed nature of school based CPDs also was noted as one of the things that make them attractive. He noted: CPDs at school level, it’s just about teachers reminding one another on best practices and not being ‘preached’ at, I mean you all know that all of you are teachers there and there is nothing like I am better than you are because of my position. So folks really feel relaxed and they are at home. There is nothing like being afraid of asking the wrong question or a useless question. Come on we are colleagues and we are in this together, all we are doing is to better one another so that we can serve our students better. I know a certain way of teaching multiplication in 62
Math, for example, I need to share with my colleagues so that they could help students learn multiplication easily. That’s what CPD is all about and should be about. There were some teachers that I had conversations with who were not amused with school based CPDs. To them the major challenge was that these were too relaxed and teachers did not take the sessions seriously. They also mentioned lack of diverse ideas since it is composed of teachers from one school who usually know each other and have already been interacting thereby not sharing new ideas on how to handle issue from diverse perspectives. Banda one of the teachers in support of cluster level CPD argued; I am all about variety and diversity in a learning space. This is what cluster based CPD provides. It brings teachers from surrounding schools and this provides great opportunities for learning and interaction. I remember the last CPD I attended at a cluster level, I managed to make great connections with teachers from surrounding schools. These connections have yielded great results, we have formed a study group where we encourage one other to study for MSCE so that we can better our grades and apply for upgrading at the university. That’s the benefit of cluster level CPD, you never know who you are going to meet and such connections can be very beneficial as they have proved for me. My analysis comes from understanding both perspectives and the observations I had in school based CPDs. One key issue that struck my mind was the relaxed nature of the sessions, participants knew each other, and they were colleagues and friends as one participant noted. They were not shy to ask for clarification on issues that they did not understand and they could also jump in to contribute to the discussion with ease taking into consideration that they were not ‘strangers’. It was a safe space, and one could not be very stressed if they made mistakes as one of the participants noted. Being a relaxed structure usually facilitated by one of the teachers from the school, the relationship between the facilitator and the participants was mostly horizontal although the pedagogy could still be noticed as top down. When I asked one of the facilitators why he predominantly lectured in a session that he was in charge, his answer was that there was not enough time to have meaningful discussion. So he was basically under pressure to go through the material. For some participants who complained about the relaxed nature of school based CPDs, it could be argued that they are just used to dominant view of CPDs which is mostly about having an ‘expert’ from the ministry trying to lecture teachers on how best to improve their practice. They have been conditioned to think they are consumers of knowledge and cannot generate knowledge through meaningful conversations. This supports the narrative of teachers being ignorant and therefore always dependent on some people to provide them with 63
knowledge. This is in line with how the pre-service teacher education programs are structured reflecting colonial structures of education (Mapara, 2009), which aimed at preparing docile bodies that could not challenge authority. Another distinctive feature of school based CPDs is that they are sometimes conducted without any special funds. This makes it even more ‘convenient’ in a place like Malawi where lack of funding is always an excuse that educational officials give for not having continuous professional development programs (Ministry of Education Science and Technology, 2008). Since teachers do not have to travel to other places to attend a CPD then they could still attend even if they would not get an allowance, it would just be like going to their regular job. Cluster based CPD is another form of professional development session. This involves a few schools (in Dowa Education district it is usually 4 schools), mostly based on proximity, coming together for CPD sessions. Facilitators are usually Primary School Advisors (PEAs) and head teachers selected from the represented schools, in few instances teachers with special skills and knowledge are given opportunities to facilitate. Just like school based CPD, teachers also have mixed feelings about cluster level CPD sessions. Those who support it, normally cite the diverse views that are represented when teachers from different schools come together for CPD sessions. As one teacher noted, interacting with fellow teachers from different schools within the region can be more educational than the actual CPD sessions. On the other hand CPD sessions at this level are seen as not addressing the unique needs of the teachers represented because they come from various schools encountering different challenges, so, one size fits all solutions would not really work well. The top down approach associated with CPD sessions at this level is also a great concern for many teachers. This comes in because usually there are many teachers and facilitators who resort to lecturing to save time and attend to a larger number of participants. It is not to say that lecturing does not occur at school level CPDs, it does but when compared to cluster based CPDs it is less. This sits in well with the narrative of an ignorant teacher who comes to a cluster to be ‘given’ the knowledge by the knowledgeable other in this case the PEA. Zone based CPD is another common form of professional development. As already noted each education district is divided into zones, and a PEA coordinates these zones, Dowa has 19 educational zones. A zone usually is composed of five clusters, which translates to about 20 schools. So, when there is a CPD at zone level, teachers from all member schools come together and participate. As can be inferred this usually becomes a large group of teachers and in many cases not all teachers in a zone can meet at the same time for a CPD session. Usually some teachers are selected from individual schools for a CPD at zone level and then these 64
teachers are expected to brief the rest of the teachers in their respective school. This was what came to be seen as problematic, some teachers argued that having one teacher attend a CPD session and brief colleagues when they are back results in a lot of distorted information. Another reason why teachers usually are not happy with zone level CPDs is that those teachers who are not chosen to attend and are expected to be briefed on the proceedings by those who attended usually find it unfair to be briefed without any monetary allowance that their colleague got when they attended the CPD session. Although the monetary allowance is not that much (about $3), it is still valued among teachers in this educational district because teachers’ salaries are very low and they do not have a lot of opportunities to make extra money like other professionals. This could also be seen to tie in well with the narrative of ignorant teacher, because they are considered ignorant, they could be paid peanuts unlike other professions who are seen as ‘important’ professionals. Some teachers also complained that head teachers are not transparent enough when selecting individuals to attend zonal CPD sessions, in a lot of cases they choose teachers who are in good books with them. So, this prevents teachers who really need the knowledge from such CPDs to benefit. Facilitators at the zone level are mostly PEAs and some ‘specialists’ who could be invited from outside the zone to address some topics and this supports our narrative of the ignorant teacher as well. These CPD sessions are usually top down in nature and this causes some teachers to call this ‘preaching’ and think it is disempowering. The diversity that comes with teachers from different schools is seen as an advantage for some teachers who like to interact with ‘colleagues’ from different schools. In interacting with teachers from different schools sometimes you learn best practices ranging from school improvement, personal growth and how to work with students from diverse backgrounds. For some teachers, CPD session facilitated by someone they do not have close connection with is considered as ‘real’ learning unlike sharing ideas with colleagues working in the same school as is mostly the case with school based CPDs. This explains how much the teachers themselves have bought into the narrative of the ignorant teacher. The narrative of ignorant teacher is not limited to Malawi, in South Africa as noted by Samuel (2009) this narrative is alive and well. He argues “most of the professional development programs available to teachers in south Africa is predicated on the belief that teachers do not possess the requisite skills/competences to execute quality practice” (p.743). Insufficient Funding for CPDs. The narrative of insufficient funding for CPDs was very explicit from the conversations I had with teachers. All teachers complained about the lack of funding for CPDs as a major 65
limiting factor to having successful CPDs and also having CPDs often and this could be explained under poor organization of these CPDs. Even from the observation sessions that I attended teachers who were facilitating some of the sessions would start their sessions with a disclaimer saying ‘if we had enough funding we would have addressed all these topics in detail but since we do not then we will just tackle the major aspects of the concepts so everyone has to pay close attention’. In some small group discussions and when we had some breaks during the CPD sessions and before and after the sessions I could hear teachers saying ‘we don’t benefit enough from these programs because we rush things through because of insufficient time and resources’. Some of the topics covered in just an hour literally needed five hours to go through them in detail as sometimes the participants still showed some signs of lack of understanding of the concepts in question. This was also given as an excuse for some facilitators doing more lecturing often. This narrative of insufficient funding could as well be seen as a trope, it is presented to the teachers to make them buy into the disempowering pedagogy that the ministry of education officials have. It is a trope that justifies the top down approaches used during the CPD sessions. It could also be seen as trope in line with neoliberalism. In Malawi, CPDs need some form of funding and this money is used to buy stationery used in these sessions, snacks and refreshments for the participants and also for allowances for the participants. For CPDs based at zone and cluster level this funding becomes very important and they cannot do without it. This is mostly because teachers come from all the zone schools to one place, which is usually a TDC centrally located but still for some teachers this could be more than 10 miles. Taking into account this distance and the amount of time they spend on these CPD sessions, participants might need snacks and some refreshments and the ‘allowance’ sometimes might cover the travel expenses or part of them for participants from distant places. This explains why it is possible to have unfunded school level CPDs, all what is needed is some stationery. This is possible because it only involves teachers of a particular school having the CPD at their own school. Considering what is needed during CPD sessions, even those based at school level need funding. The funds as already noted are used to buy stationery and other resources for the CPD. In contrast, some teachers feel that when they attend a CPD they need to have an allowance (honorarium). So, when it is time for school based CPDs which are not funded they tend not to be very interested, they just attend because they are required by the school administration. It should be mentioned that some school based CPDs are funded and provide allowances and snacks for the participants. The ministry of education in the spirit of 66
decentralization has set a special fund for schools in what is known as School Improvement Grant (SIG) (Ministry of Education Science and Technology, 2008). This grant provides money for infrastructure development in schools and a small percentage of the money is allocated to CPDs. So schools decide when to use that money for CPDs, usually the money is enough to fund two CPDs per academic year. This is considered insufficient to provide opportunities for teachers to continue learning. Schools are assured of two CPDs per academic year funded by SIG and in order to continue providing opportunities for teachers’ growth these schools organize some more CPDs that are not funded. I had an opportunity to attend both funded and unfunded CPDs at school level. At one of the funded CPD I could tell from the energy and excitement in the room and that teachers were interested to be there (whether it was just for the sake of the allowance, nobody knows). I overhead one of the teachers saying “time for the most needed allowances”. From this statement I read that much as the allowance was just a very small amount of money (about $3), it still made a difference considering their meager salaries and the fact that they do not have other opportunities to supplement their salaries. So, generally the mood was lively when we had funded CPD sessions at school level for the teachers were assured of an allowance, snacks and refreshments during the sessions and also stationery was provided. While with unfunded CPDs which were mostly at school level, teachers brought their own note pads and writing materials and the facilitators had to source their own materials. This can be a frustrating experience, I remember one of the facilitators telling us in one of the unfunded CPDs that he could not have us complete one of the tasks in small groups and report to the whole class because we did not have chart paper and markers to conduct this task. This explains how lack of funds can frustrate and compromise CPD sessions that are meant to provide opportunities for teachers’ professional growth and thereby improving their practice. This ties in well with the narrative of poor organization of the CPDs as they lack capacity to be well instituted in many schools. Lack of Support to implement what they learn Alongside insufficient funding of CPDs narrative, it was a general concern by most of the teachers that one of the greatest challenges for effective CPDs is that there is not enough effort to follow up on what teachers have learned. Ngozo was quick to explain some of the topics they learned at zonal CPD but they were not followed up at all. He argued; How do you explain having a 3 hour CPD on ‘inclusive education’? I together with another teacher were selected to represent this school at the zone to learn how to serve students with disabilities better in our respective classrooms. As expected, it was just a lecture on different 67
strategies. Do they expect us to master these strategies? I mean we had this last year and up to now, nobody has checked up on us how we are doing. To tell you the truth, that lecture was great but if it’s not built on, nothing can change. I was also supposed to brief my colleagues on what I learned from this CPD but there are some stuff that I could not ably explain to my colleagues, if I had some support some of the strategies they made would have worked and I would be confident to implement some new strategies that I learned. Without monitoring and evaluation you cannot really tell with certainty if the goals of your CPD are met and also teachers may not feel obliged to implement what they have learned. This also meant that teachers lacked support when implementing what they had learned. I did not expect to observe monitoring and evaluation in the CPD sessions, so, the discussion in this section is based on the conversations I had with the teachers through in depth interviews. Many teachers shared their frustrations with the lack of support from the officials facilitating CPD sessions when it was time to implementing what they learned. As already noted, many of the CPD sessions are one shot and unrelated, no effort is made to either provide support to the teachers on the new developments they are supposed to implement in their respective classes and schools. With lack of support some teachers just give up if they find challenges in implementing what they learned in the CPD sessions. Change does not come easily and usually people resist it (Evans, 2010), so, with lack of support it becomes difficult to implement change. Due to lack of support compounded by the absence of monitoring and evaluation, sometimes teachers do not have the motivation to implement initiatives because they know that no one is going to check on them whether they are indeed doing what they learned in the CPD sessions. With school level CPD sessions sometimes teachers help one another as they implement some of the concepts learned during the CPD sessions. Usually the facilitators are at the same school and all teachers participate in the CPD sessions so as Ngozo noted it is easy to ask for support and clarification on issues one missed or is not able to do. One is always assured of supportive colleagues to get the necessary support needed. With cluster and zone level CPD this is not the case, usually the facilitators are not from the school where a teacher is coming from so it becomes difficult to seek support as they implement what they learned during the CPD session. Again for cluster and zone level CPDs, it is only a small number of teachers who attend and in some schools it could only be one teacher attending so when they come back they do not have the support needed to implement what they learned. In most cases they are the ones expected to ‘brief’ their colleagues on the new developments gained from the CPD sessions. 68
On the issue of monitoring and evaluating school CPD committee could help make sure they check on the progress of their CPDs and assess them if they are working and better still before anything else ensure that teachers are implementing what they learn through these CPDs. Head teachers through school CPD committees could ensure that teachers put into practice what they learn through CPDs. As for cluster and zone level CPD sessions, the PEA who is mostly the one facilitating the sessions could address this challenge by ensuring that he or she goes around the schools that were represented at the cluster or zone level CPD session to ensure that teachers have support to implement what they learned during the sessions. It is also through such visits that they could assess how best what teachers learned is working and understand from the teachers things that need to be improved. Disempowering Pedagogy This was another narrative that ran across the data both from the in depth interviews and the observations that I made. This narrative goes hand in hand with the narrative of the ignorant teacher who needs to be ‘trained’ in how best to work with students. Teachers complained of being ‘preached’ at during CPD sessions especially those conducted at zone and cluster levels. Nambewe argued; When you go to some of these CPDs especially those at zone level you are made to feel dumb. The facilitators who usually talk to you like kids expect you not to know anything. Come on, I don’t claim to be a master of all things but at least treat me with respect. I agree you are my boss but I know some stuff as well. I know what my students need. I know the context where I work. I know the unique needs of my school, of my classroom. Give me a break. Namkumba concurred with Nambewe by saying; My favorite CPD session is the one that is based at a school level because I or my colleagues will have contributed to the development of the content of what I am about to learn. This makes me comfortable that what I am going to learn is relevant to me and the environment that I work in. There is nothing more frustrating than having to travel long distances to attend a CPD that is not even relevant to our day to day lives as teachers of this school.
Disempowering pedagogy was broadened to include the lack of consultation on the curricula of the CPD sessions. Teachers, especially for cluster and zone level CPD, were just invited to a CPD session without being asked on what they need to learn in order to improve their practice. The understanding was that the facilitators knew what the teachers needed to be successful on their job. It is like they had the answers to all their professional problems. They
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were to be ‘fed’ with knowledge in what Freire (1990) would call banking education which is characterized by alienating knowledge and rote learning.
I attended CPD sessions at all levels, the zone level, cluster level and school level. From the interaction I had with teachers and from the observations I made while in these sessions I came to the conclusion that CPD sessions at zone level were the most disempowering. Facilitators during zone level CPD sessions mostly lectured and did not expect much input from the participants. The understanding was that they (facilitators) had some important knowledge that they had to impart in the participants in order for them to become successful teachers. It was predominantly top down. In some situations it was important to have lecture as a method of teaching in these CPDs because the facilitators wanted to pass on some important concepts like changes that had been made in the curriculum or any other new developments that the ministry of education wanted the teachers to know. But to have lecture as a predominant method of teaching in these CPDs becomes problematic and it is what teachers did not like. The irony was when the facilitator in one of the sessions was presenting on the importance of learner centered pedagogy and yet he was lecturing throughout the whole CPD session. To some extent this was contradictory but the facilitator justified this method arguing there was not enough time to cover all the material that was planned for this session and besides that there were just too many participants to have meaningful interaction. Unfortunately these are the same reasons that teachers give for not having learner-centered instruction in their respective schools. They argue that for a teacher with 100 students in class, it is almost impossible to have learner-centered pedagogy. Cluster level CPD sessions had a mixture of both zone level and school level characteristics. Here, teachers talked about how these sessions were also alienating just like the zone level and sometimes they did not really cater to the specific needs of the schools represented. However, being relatively smaller number of schools represented teachers were to some extent free to ask questions and contribute during the sessions. Much as the teachers were from different schools, the teachers almost knew one another because they were from nearby schools, so it was not as intimidating as sessions at zone level to use Mchete’s words. The diverse perspectives that came from teachers who work in different schools at these cluster CPDs were usually valued by many of the teachers that I interacted with. As noted by many participants, attending a CPD session at cluster level gave them opportunity to meet some other teachers from whom they learned best practices to improve their practice.
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I attended a couple of cluster level CPDs, and just as what most of my participants said, it was not very different from the zone level CPD in terms of the organization and these CPD sessions were always funded because teachers had to travel from different schools. The people in charge of facilitating these sessions were mostly lecturing very similar to what I observed during the zone level CPDs. However, I could see some informal interactions amongst the participants indicating that they knew each other. Although the informal conversations were not as detailed as in school based CPDs, I could still observe that participants were comfortable with each other and they were also willing to ask questions and share their experiences in a very similar way as was the case with school level CPDs. When it comes to power dynamics, where ministry of education officials ‘impose’ CPD programs on the teachers one teacher, Zelesi, argued that; These officials do all this because they know that we do not have a voice. Like seriously this does not make any sense to expect someone who does not really understand our situation here to just tell us how to do things. Some of these methodologies are very theoretical they cannot work in real context. I have 120 students in my class and most of them come to school on an empty stomach. How in the world would you expect me to facilitate discussion and get the grades up? It is something that they cannot even achieve themselves, it is unrealistic and out right punitive. These teachers recognize the oppression that the ministry of education subjects them to and they are able to speak up against it in their circles. So, there is an element of resisting forces of domination that they are subjected to. The question could be how successful this resistance is, this question is going to be addressed later in the chapter. The Need for Umunthu in CPD Another important narrative that ran across the conversations I had with teachers and the observations I made in the CPD sessions at all levels was the teachers’ perpetual referencing of the concept of umunthu in CPDs. Teachers argued that their experiences with CPDs could be much better if the programs embraced the attributes of umunthu. The concept of umunthu that many teachers alluded to has elements of postcolonialism in it. Teachers when describing their experiences with CPD programs argued that these programs did not embrace an important element of umunthu. To them umunthu entails respect for people’s diverse experiences and ideas. It means treating everyone with respect and not imposing ideas on some people with the aim of silencing them. If CPD programs are framed in an umunthu perspective then the curricula and the method of delivery would reflect issues of community building and respect for diverse views. You would expect teachers to be consulted to get their input on the curricula 71
for the CPD programs. Even the teaching would be one that centers on relations and helping people better themselves while working to advance the goals of the organizations. You do not want just to use people to achieve your goals without working to better them in their respective personalities. It becomes even harder to address some personal growth for the teachers if they are not consulted in curricula development and organization of the CPD programs. It is also interesting to note that besides being a philosophical orientation that most teachers and Malawians in general identify with, umunthu, has some tropes that are part of it and make the narrative even richer. Umunthu itself is an ideograph, almost anyone in Malawi who hears the word umunthu, thinks of issues of being ‘human’ and how to treat or work with other people as humans who require respect and dignity. Teachers also talked about the need for umunthu and this was reflected in the umunthu adage “Munthu umakhala munthu chifukwa cha amzako”, which loosely translates to “we become human because of other people”. However, this ideograph should also be troubled, it is mostly romanticized as if there is a shared understanding of what it means to be human. In some situations, it has been used to justify oppression and other forms of injustices to people or groups of individuals who are considered not to fit into the ‘shared’ definition of being human. In the case of umunthu and CPD, teachers explained the missing link between how they learn and the imagery of umunthu, which to them is a very important aspect to learning and they would want CPDs to embrace this concept. Another way that postcolonial theory was talked about amongst teachers in Malawi was through the resistance against English only instruction for students in grades 1 through 4 who used to have instruction in native language and learned English just as a regular subject. The time of my research coincided with the time of the transition from native language instruction in grades 1 through 4 to English only instruction. Many teachers had problems with the new change in language policy. Mawandiwe argued; Why should we celebrate making 5 steps backwards? I mean we are basically saying our languages do not matter and the language of the white man is superior. I thought we are over it unfortunately we are not. What is the message we are giving to these students? That their languages are useless? Should we be surprised if they choose not to learn their languages and eventually look down upon their heritage? These to me are questions, comments and concerns that reflect elements of power relations that are central to postcolonial discourse. The need to reclaim one’s sense of identity by challenging the oppressive forces is also evident. Teachers talked about using native languages in the early grades of elementary school to show the students the importance of their heritage. One teacher,
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Chilindeni, was so direct in explaining why she did not support the English only instruction in early grades of elementary school argued; To be honest with you, it’s not the benefits of having instruction in native language that the so called professionals present that make me resist English only instruction, it is actually the feeling that my language is being attacked and that means my personality and the very being of me is under attack. Some teachers were able to identify the social class element embedded in the English only instruction in early grades of elementary school. Banda noted that the whole push for English only instruction is to keep students in the rural areas into a disadvantaged position. It is not a secret that people in the rural areas do not have access to this language of instruction (Sharra, 2014). They do not have the same access to newspapers, television and in some cases even radios to be exposed to this language. Who speaks English in their homes in the rural areas? While kids from middle class families and in urban centers at least they are exposed to this language at a tender age and it becomes very easy for them to use it as a language of instruction. This explains why most private elementary schools use English only instruction from grades 1 even in pre-school. It is also common to have students who attend private schools who are proficient in spoken English at a young age and this as noted by Sharra (2014) is confused with being ‘smart’. The very idea that teachers were not consulted in transitioning to English only instruction in early grades of elementary school made some teachers to resist it and make some connections with domination that the officers at the ministry of education are known for. Namkumba argued; The change of language policy is something that affects us teachers directly. Think about it, we are the ones to implement this language policy, we are the teachers, and yet we were not even consulted. That speaks volumes of our position in this system, our word does not count. This reflects the concept of postcolonial theory where some groups that are alienated in some ways are trying to speak back and challenge their alienation. Although the teachers are not directly confronting the education officials who are supposedly taking the role of the ‘colonizers’ oppressing them, they are at least cognizant of their alienation and are able to talk about it among themselves with the aim of trying to empower themselves. The question of whether their actions are having an impact towards their liberation is a different story altogether, but one thing that stands out is being cognizant of your oppression is the right step in the struggle towards liberation. How Resistance Looks like among Teachers? 73
Some teachers were also able to share some of the ways they have resisted ‘unrealistic’ demands from the ministry of education and were able to foresee a similar situation with the language policy. Banda said; Although they think I am powerless, I can control what goes on in my classroom with my students. Tell me, will they be in my classroom every day, watch me teach? I mean, they can say whatever, they want but at the end of the day it is me and my students. All I do is in the best interest of my students dignity first and their academic excellence. This statement pretty much exemplifies forms of resistance that would be seen to be in line with postcolonial discourse. Individuals taking bold steps to reclaim their dignity. And when it comes to language policy many teachers argued that they would at least code mix and code switch whenever necessary to ensure that students understand the concepts being taught. Mvano said; “it does not even make any sense to start ‘teaching’ someone in a language they have never heard of. It might not even be called teaching. So we will indeed subvert this so called law for the sake of our students”. Some important elements of postcolonialism that are the struggle for cultural autonomy are well evidenced in the way teachers are resisting the English only instruction. The very idea of saying attacking one’s language is attacking their personality clearly exemplifies this. However, another important characteristic of postcolonialism also shown by the teachers in Malawi is the concept of hybridity. Teachers understand the importance of English language as a communication facility. That is why they support the teaching of English as a subject in elementary school from first grade but they are not just comfortable to make it a medium of instruction before fifth grade. They are not naïve to completely argue against English language, all they are saying is they need to prepare the students with some English language skills before transitioning to English only instruction. This would provide opportunities for the students to have proficiency in both a native language of their choice and English and this is important for their success in a diverse world they are prepared for. We cannot force them to return to pre- colonial days where people just learned their native language or push a colonial propelled type of education which privileges English as a medium of instruction from grade one. There is need to balance these two concepts and develop an education system that prepares the students for the outside world but at the same time help them understand and cherish their culture through such things as learning their mother tongue and other native languages of their interest. Neocolonialism in CPD Programs Neocolonialism is the practice of using capitalism, cultural imperialism and other forms of hegemony to influence a country or a people instead of military or direct political control 74
(Sartre, 2001). Since neocolonialism comes in different forms, linguistic domination, seen in many African countries, could be considered a manifestation of the same. The linguistic policy requires the medium of instruction to be changed from native languages in the early grades of elementary school was labeled neocolonial by some teachers. Mchete said “izi ndiye zachitsamunda” loosely translating to “we are returning to the colonial times”. The understanding is that we are done with the colonial times where we had to celebrate a foreign culture and look down upon our various traditions including language, now instead of being proud of our culture we are dismissing it and looking down upon it. Neocolonial linguistic policies are not unique to Malawi, as bwa Mwesigire (2014) writes, a lot of African countries have linguistic policies that punish students for speaking their native languages in schools. bwa Mwesigire (2014) says; In various schools in Uganda, and some other parts of Africa, children as young as five are punished for speaking African languages, indigenous languages and mother tongues at school. The modes of punishment differ. The most common one in Uganda is wearing a dirty sack until you meet someone else speaking their mother tongue and then you pass the sack on to them. In some schools, there are specific pupils and students tasked with compiling lists of fellow pupils and students speaking mother tongues. (p 2) This is similar to what happens in some schools in Malawi, apart from enforcing English only as a medium of instruction, students are told not to speak indigenous languages while on school premises. Students who do not comply with these rules are ridiculed, made fun of and punished. This has also been seen as one of the reasons that some students especially those from rural areas and low-income families dropout of school (World Bank, 2010). They are expected to have conversations in a language that is foreign to them, a language they do not use in their day to day life at home. Having grown up in the rural area and attended elementary school in the rural areas I know how difficult it is to have ‘access’ to English language, where most of the families do not have own television or have access to newspapers. The only way to practice this language would be through listening to the radio and not every household has access to this. It would indeed be very challenging for a child growing up in such an environment to be taken to class and be taught all the courses in English (a language he or she does not have any background knowledge in). The English only language policy on school campuses is a school policy not necessarily a ministry of education one. There are some schools that do not require students to speak English only while others punish students who do not speak English. However, the English only medium of instruction is a government directive, which means that all schools have to 75
implement it. This could be seen as an example of the neocolonial policies that the government is pushing in the education sector with the misguided understanding that it is good for the students. The movement follows the understanding that English is an important language for global communication and students have to learn it to be considered ‘educated’ and besides that most of the books used in schools are written by the same ‘colonizers’. Much as English is an important language for students in Malawi to learn, it is the way that it is being pushed on the students through English only instruction that could plainly be seen as ‘colonizing’. It is invading the heritage and cultural pride that students at this young and tender age need to have. It is the constant reminders that their native languages are inferior that can be devastating to students’ sense of self-esteem. The Absent Discourse Conversations I had with teachers and the observations I made revealed an interesting narrative which I call ‘lack of discourse’ on some important topics and concepts, which in this study is being referred to as the ‘absent discourse’. Absent discourse is also linked to the narrative of disempowering pedagogy because teachers are not asked or given an opportunity to decide things that matter in their CPDs. Teachers noted that there was absence of conversation related to diversity and multicultural education in the CPD programs that they have been involved in and some argued these are stories they need to have. This is in spite of the diverse student population that Malawian public schools represent. Students in Malawian public schools are very diverse in terms of ethnic groups, religion, socioeconomic status, gender, ability and disability, and sexuality. However, as noted in the conversations I had with teachers, these issues are not really addressed in CPD sessions apart from grossing over issues of students’ with disabilities that are generally discussed from a deficit stand point. Addressing disability as a problem that needs to be ‘solved’, therefore expecting students with disabilities to fit in the school environment, which is not really welcoming for them. I observed this during a CPD session and it was not about disability issues but it happened that there was a teacher in the session with sight problems. There was no effort to really address some of the challenges that he faced because of his problems with sight. The facilitators kept on writing on the board without taking into account their colleague who could not see what was written. When time came to have small group discussions I joined the group that had the teacher with sight problem. In this group we had great conversations and he actively participated in the discussion. So, as could be seen from this example, there are not enough resources to help students with special education needs.
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Gender related issues are rarely discussed during CPD sessions and I did not have a chance to observe a CPD session that had a topic related to gender issues. In cases where there is a discussion on gender issues it mostly addresses how to develop methodology that works when teaching female students and also making school environment conducive for female students. Effort has been made to try to change the curriculum from being sexist and therefore alienating to the female students. One teacher noted that CPDs should have more time allocated to issues of gender inequalities in the curriculum and how teachers can help address them. There have been situations where teachers have had CPD sessions on gender issues but most of the time it has been initiated by the nonprofit organizations interested in gender issues. One such organization as noted by Phiri is Forum for African Women Educationists in Malawi (FAWEMA), this organization has different programs aimed at improving the education of female students. One example is a program aimed at curbing abuse of female students. In CPD sessions like these they address challenges that female students are facing and how teachers can work to advocate for the female students instead of perpetuating the oppression that female students are subjected to. In line with absent discourse is the missing of issues related to socioeconomic class, specifically how it affects students’ performance. Most of the times students from low socioeconomic families are labeled as not being interested in school because sometimes they do not have family members who can ably help them with homework as students from middle class families. A lot of people from low socioeconomic backgrounds live in the rural areas and they also happen not to have had enough formal education to be in positions of helping their children with some homework. However, in some cases these parents or guardians help their children or wards with some schoolwork like in art and even volunteering in these schools. All this is not really acknowledged as family involvement in their children’s education. Being supportive in a child’s education is narrowly defined to activities that the middle class families do in their children’s schools. It becomes easier for middle-income families to participate in the school celebrated ways of family involvement like helping their children with academic homework. They can do this because most of them have had the privilege of formal education so they are knowledgeable on the academics that their children are engaged in. They can do this also because they have the privilege of time to work with their children unlike the low socioeconomic status people who always have to struggle for their basic needs to survive. Although they do try to create time to be involved in their children’s education their efforts often go unnoticed.
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Religion is another concept that is usually ignored in CPD sessions although as noted by many teachers that I interacted with this affects students and teachers greatly. Students from minority religions (these religions other than Christianity) are made to feel that their regions do not matter and therefore not really respected or honored in schools. A case in point is Islam, which seems not to be recognized in many public schools, students are supposed to be in class on Friday afternoon (from noon to 1:00 PM), which is the time for Islamic prayers in Malawi. The hegemonic understanding is that Friday is a working day as such schools would not be expected to suspend or reschedule classes to accommodate Muslim students. The curriculum is another bigger aspect that reveals some levels of intolerance by privileging the Christian faith at the expense of other minority religions. Although the curriculum has a course on religious studies one can easily notice that it is framed from a Christian perspective thereby celebrating the Christian faith at the expense of other religions. This can be noted in the amount of coverage that the Christian region is given thereby turning the whole course into “Bible Studies”. There is even a course at high school level called Bible Knowledge which teaches students stories about the Bible, and yet there is not even one course on any of the other minority religions represented by students in these schools. This is a clear message to students who identify with the minority religions that their religions do not matter or are devalued. Being a Teacher in a Postcolonial Space One of the issues that kept coming up in my interaction with teachers was what it really means to be a teacher in a postcolonial space like Malawi. It is an interesting conversation because the teachers that I interacted with like most of their colleagues have not studied or worked in different education systems other than in this postcolonial space. So, the interaction I had with them concerning their experiences with professional development programs were framed from the understanding of what it means to be a teacher in this kind of space where traces of colonialism are still lingering and now ideas that would be considered neocolonial are prevalent. These are spaces where native languages are looked down upon and European languages are celebrated on the understanding that they provide the cultural capital to navigate the global economy. It is where some top-down approaches in administration and instruction are prevalent just as it were during the colonial times when the colonizers established these institutions. These are spaces where colonial narratives of the ‘ignorant native’ have been changed into the ignorant teacher narrative with fellow natives championing the domination. They have become commonsensical such that questioning them is not a common thing among the majority of the teachers.
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Interacting with some teachers about their experiences with CPD programs that they have attended provided them an opportunity to locate the whole education institution in Malawi in the context of postcolonialism. I must point out here that many teachers much as they understood that the current Malawian education system was established by the British and was inherited wholesale after the country got political independence in 1964 they were not able to identify some of the impact that colonialism still has in the system and specifically on issues of CPD and how they experience it. For those who made connections easily they did not use the term ‘postcolonial’ in their conversations as noted in the preceding section on ‘Need for umunthu in CPDs’. It was noted that the whole CPD program is structured from a deficit model, where it is assumed teachers lack knowledge (the narrative of an ‘ignorant teacher’) and therefore need to be ‘fed’ with information to become good teachers. The assumption is that ministry of education officials have the knowledge and they can pour it into the teachers. This is well noted in the zone level CPD sessions usually facilitated by the PEA where lecturing is common. To some extent the ministry of education officials have a good cause to position themselves as having knowledge to deliver it to the teachers. In cases where some of the teachers are unqualified the ministry finds itself in a fix position to help them with some skills that they need to be teachers. The narrative of CPDs being impractical and a waste of time was evident from the conversations I had with the teachers and from the observations that I made. This was an interesting narrative considering the narrative of an ‘ignorant teacher’ which justified the important place of CPDs to teachers work and ‘professional growth’. This is an example of narratives not being binaries but rather having multiplicity of meanings and open to multiple interpretations. Many argued that CPDs in general are important but their experiences have been with ineffective CPDs that did not work. Chilindeni noted that; To tell you the truth, Mr. Gawanani, I think CPDs are inherently important for us teachers. Just like our friends in the hospitals keep learning to stay up date with the changes in their profession, teachers need the same. However, the CPDs I have experienced at this school, remember I have taught here for 12 years, have been a waste of time. The CPDs I have had were out of touch with what I need or my students need. We have come to associate CPDs with torture and baseless demands which should not be the case. You can’t blame us for that when all we have experienced is one failed CPD session after another. Considering that there were three levels of CPDs; school level, cluster level and zone level. Some teachers were able to pin point the types of CPDs that were the most impractical. Most teachers who complained of CPDs being ineffective referenced to zone level CPDs, 79
which did not consider the individual needs of teachers and schools represented. School level CPDs were seen as effective and they were the list to be considered a waste of time. This was mainly because the curricular for CPDs at school level were developed by the teachers themselves. The only concern that was challenging was when they did not have the expertise on some topics they wanted to learn. In some situations they could address this by hiring resource persons when they had the capacity to. This was mostly limited to teachers from other schools or people from the surrounding communities who could be in a position to facilitate what they want. How CPD looks like with years in teaching? One of the things I tried to consider as I was interacting with teachers through in-depth interviews was to get an understanding how their experiences have been with the passing of time since they have been teaching. It was interesting to find out that at different points in the career for teachers who have been in the system long enough, their experiences have been different. Ngozo, who has been a teacher for over ten years argued that when he just started he had a good experience with professional development programs because that time they were happening often as compared to now. This was mostly attributed to a nongovernmental organization working in the local area where he was teaching. The organization known as Concern Universal was working with some selected school zones in Dowa education district trying to help teachers promote early grade literacy. So, Ngozo recounts stories of being part of the planning team for the professional development his school had with support from Concern Universal. He narrates; The greatest thing with Concern Universal CPD sessions was that we planned with them. I mean literally talking things through together and deciding what would work for our respective contexts. Concern would just bring us a resource person who is knowledgeable in the area of early grade literacy and we planned with this person what to do with our students. I mean what else would you ask for? It was an unreal moment, and as we always say ‘zokoma sizichedwa kutha’ (good things don’t last long), the organization moved out of our area and here we are back to square one. So, during these years professional development was good and something that teachers wanted to identify with but as the organization moved out of the area, they did not have the support they needed to have meaningful CPDs. It could be understood from the experience of Ngozo that teachers’ experiences with CPDs has not been constant, it has varied based on the government policies of the day and also the community support that a given school enjoys.
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Namkumba recounts his experience when he just joined teaching more than 12 years ago. He argues; During the first few years of my teaching, CPDs were mostly done at zone level. We really did not have cluster or school level CPDs. And by the way, we only had few zones in this district so we had to walk a lot to go to a zone for a CPD session. We were going there basically to told what to do, we most of the time did not even know the topics for the CPD of a given session until we get there and be told what we were to ‘learn’, something that the officials from the district education office had prepared. So, as can be noted it seems things are getting better in terms of how Namkumba is experiencing CPDs but not to what he would have wanted. And for beginning teachers who have just been in the profession for two years, their take is different. They see it as a continuation of instructor centered pedagogy that their pre-service education had been associated with. Ms. Zelesi, argues; What bothers me most is the hypocrisy that is there in the CPD sessions. Consider this Mr. Gawanani, you attend a CPD session on child-centered pedagogy and this is all through lectures. You are being lectured for 6 hours and they expect you to implement their strategy? Their excuse is always they do not have enough time to cover the CPD material. So, who has time to cover their syllabus in a child-centered pedagogy if they cannot demonstrate it to us? It’s just contradictory in my mind and don’t believe a bit of what they say. For me I want someone to show me and not just talk about it. Talk is cheap, everyone can talk about stuff. I really don’t get it. How female teachers experience CPDs? Teachers’ experiences with CPD programs also varied with gender. Female teachers that I had conversations with did had similar experiences but different from their male colleagues. They did not speak favorably about zone level CPDs. Their major concern was distance they had to travel to attend these CPDs. Ms. Nambewe argues: For people like me, zone level CPDs are not a thing that I look forward to. I always dread those sessions, I don’t like travelling all that distance to the zone and sit down to listen to lectures that we could have right here at our school. We don’t get paid that much, and I know you know this Mr. Gawanani, so, some of these activities are just stretching us. Even the allowance we get at the zone level CPD is not enough to get a good lunch and cover the transportation cost to this place. I feel for my colleagues who have young children, it is so difficult to find someone to take care of your child when you travel to places like these and you can’t leave your kid for such a long period. You understand where I am coming from? It is 81
really hard for us as women. They expect us to dig deep into our pockets to attend these sessions? That’s just so unfair and I can’t support that. Female teachers also suggested that to some extent they feel alienated when it comes to facilitating CPD sessions at school level or cluster level. As already noted, school level CPDs are mostly initiated by the teachers themselves and they mostly choose facilitators amongst themselves unless they have no one to do it or have some funding to hire a resource person from outside the school. Two of the female teachers I had in-depth conversations with noted that since women are usually underrepresented in Malawian schools, they also feel alienated as they are seldom given the opportunity to facilitate. However, this was seen differently by all the male teachers I talked to who said that all teachers were given the opportunity to facilitate and in a lot of cases teachers volunteered to do this. The male teachers argued that as long as one has the skills needed to facilitate, it did not matter whether one is male or female, and even the number of years one has served as a teacher. Beginning teachers were also asked or some volunteered to facilitate. I observed a CPD session at one of the schools where one of the facilitators was a student teacher. Upon having conversations with the CPD coordinator for the school I was told that they allow anyone who has knowledge and is willing to share to facilitate these sessions. Banda noted; You know what? The good thing with our school we respect each other. We make these student teachers feel at home and know they are part of our family. These guys are fresh from college, do you know when I was in college? Before you were even born Mr. Gawanani. So, you know how old some of us are. And some of the subjects we are supposed to teach now were not there in college during our time and these guys their pre-service program covers those issues so they are in a better position to teach us. And you even saw for yourself how knowledgeable that young man is on Expressive Arts. We surely have learned a lot and that’s what we need as a school. How teachers experience CPD based on the grade level they teach? Teachers in Malawian primary schools are grouped or identified by the grade level they teach although these identifications are not permanent. The pre-service training they get is a generic one which just prepares them to teach any grade in primary school. Having conversations with teachers gave me a different perspective on how they experience CPDs based on the grade they teach. Phiri, for example, argued that; My experience with CPDs is generally mixed, it basically depends on the grade level I am teaching that year. One thing I should tell you is that there is a focus on early grade numeracy and literacy. That means teachers who teach standards 1 up to 4 have higher chances of 82
attending zonal CPDs. If you are like me this year teaching standard 8, forget, I tell you forget about zone level CPD or cluster level CPD. What you can only get is the unfunded school level CPD, which all the teachers attend. Phiri’s sentiments were shared by a number of other teachers who argued that both the ministry of education and nongovernmental organizations focus their attention on teachers teaching in the early grades of the primary section (1 to 4). This is in line with the work that MTPDS funded by USAID is doing to boost numeracy and literacy in the early grades. The idea is to promote literacy and numeracy amongst students in their early years of school life. This comes from research that shows that students in Malawian schools have very poor reading skills with some going to grade six without knowing how to read and write (UNESCO, 2014). Mvano conquering with Phiri argued that; If you are a teacher who enjoys zone level CPDs then you better negotiate to teach in the infant section (standards 1 and 2) because that’s where CPDs on reading and writing are focused. It is through teaching these classes that you can dream of having CPD sessions more often. Connecting My Research with Literature
Some of the narratives that teachers talk about like ignorant teacher, disempowering pedagogy resonate with what is in the literature of professional development across the world. Some scholars like Fullan (1997) when outlining reasons for failure of some professional development programs cite lack of teacher involvement in the planning and implementation of CPD programs. This can be connected to what the research participants I interacted with said about their experiences with CPD programs they have been involved in. In his discussion about the concept of banking education, Freire, talks about the need to involve learners in the planning of their learning. Teachers do not want to be on the receiving end during professional development sessions. Teachers want to be actively engaged in the process of planning for the CPD curricula and the implementation even the evaluation of such a program. So disempowering pedagogy surfaces again, teachers do not want the top down approach in the CPD sessions. They want to be involved and take active roles in their learning and not relegated to passive roles. Teachers want to be recognized as agents who can generate legitimate knowledge, instead of being relegated to passive consumers of knowledge from a knowledgeable other.
Lack of support to implement what they have learned through CPDs is another narrative that teachers in this study alluded to, this is talked about in the literature as a challenge for CPD programs. Fullan (1997) talks about this as one of the reasons why CPD programs do not 83
produce intended results. Evans (2010) argues that reform programs that produce great results are those that set a side support mechanisms for teachers when they undergo such exercises. So, considering that many CPD programs that are set aside for teachers have some form of reform embedded in them, or are indeed outright reforms in themselves, then it makes much sense for such programs to have strategies to help teachers understand and cope with the changes. Reforms become complicated and even frustrating when there is no support to help going through or implementing the changes (Evans, 2010). This was highlighted by the participants in the study especially for zone level CPDs where those who attend are supposed to brief their colleagues and usually there are no support mechanisms for such exercises. This also connects with Fullan’s argument which recognizes teachers as agents and objects of school reform.
Following lack of support is the absent of evaluation of the CPD programs that teachers are involved in. Much as they are one shot workshops and with no follow up, they also lack the most important aspect of successful programs which is evaluation (Guyskey, 2000). This was referred to a lot by the research participants who argued that some of the CPDs they have attended have not improved because they are never evaluated and this makes the facilitators not know the weaknesses and challenges thereby repeating similar mistakes in future programs. Without evaluations you cannot improve the program (Guyskey, 2000).
Concepts Unique to this Study
Need for School based CPD, need for umunthu themed CPDs, deconstructing neocolonial and neoliberal ideologies in CPDs, improve teachers’ welfare during CPDs and bringing in the absent discourse, these are some concepts or themes that were prevalent in the study and I think they are unique to these participants. There was a talk on the need for school based CPDs, this comes from the nature of CPDs these teachers get which are on three levels as already noted in chapter two. Cluster, zone and school level CPDs, and considering how much influence teachers have on school level CPD and how they influence its curricula plus organization, many of them push for this type of CPD and argue that this would attend to their needs in a more effective manner than the other types of CPDs.
Teachers also want to have CPD programs that are themed in umunthu. This entails bringing in some ideas that are not normally talked about in the current CPD programs. Umunthu being a concept that encourages community building and humanness would entail having CPDs that encourage such characteristics. And as already noted school reform and
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effective CPDs are products of functional learning communities which is a concept that umunthu promotes. Having umunthu themed CPDs would also mean engaging teachers actively in planning and implementation of CPD. It would require valuing ideas and contributions of all the teachers taking part in the CPD because this would be what it means to have an umunthu themed CPD where all participants are recognized as ‘anthu’ that is human beings who have equal value. This would in a way address concerns of the much dreaded top down and disempowering pedagogy which were bashed by some teachers as blatant ‘preaching’, where participants contributions were not much sought and not really appreciated. Having umunthu themed CPDs also includes bringing in the curricula issues of social justice that are not really talked about in Malawian schools. Issues of ableism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance, ethnocentrism and other forms of injustices are addressed and teachers share notes on how to handle them. It would also require teachers being active and speaking up against different forms of injustices that affect them in the profession. There are some teachers who are marginalized based on different identities that they have and this affect how these teachers work with students and in some ways impact student achievement.
Teachers also argued for CPD programs that deconstructed neocolonial ideologies. This was mostly referenced because of the change in language policy that was being pushed requiring changing the language of instruction in early grades of primary school from local languages to English. For some teachers this was retrogressive and meant celebrating the colonial ways of doing things which would be referred to as neocolonial. As was put by some participants, changing the medium of instruction to English only in all primary school classes meant looking down upon Malawian local languages and it meant indirectly teaching the students that their languages do not matter.
Teacher welfare is another important concept that came up on a number occasions in the interaction with the participants in this research. Teacher welfare was talked about when complaining about some working conditions in general. It is no secret that the pay for Malawian teachers especially primary school teachers is very low. When it comes to CPD and teacher welfare, teachers who were forced to sit on the floor during CPDs because their school did not have sits was just one example of how sad the situation is. For zone level CPD where teachers from different schools are supposed to travel to one central place, TDC, for a CPD then sometimes the ‘allowance’ they get is not enough to cover transportation cost and lunch. In order to have effective CPD sessions then, some of the problems that directly affect how teachers work should be addressed. How do we expect teachers to learn in uncomfortable 85
environments like where they sit on the floor? How do we expect teachers to concentrate during zone level CPD sessions when they have to walk long distances to attend?
Connecting Observations with Interviews
As a phenomenological study the primary method of collecting data was through in- depth interviews with the participants I had already identified. In the spirit of triangulation I conducted observations in the CPD sessions that these teachers were involved in. I had the opportunity to observe all the three levels of CPD sessions, school, cluster and zone levels. What I observed helped me to reflect on the interviews I had and the interview also helped me to conduct better observations by having some specific things to look for that were in line with the concept of professional development. Some of what I observed was in conflict with what my participants said but I was not very bothered by this. I was not on mission to prove something but to learn from the participants what their experience with CPD has been. But for the majority of the time what my participants said was in line with what I observed. Below is an excerpt from my field notes:
I was introduced by the CPD coordinator at Mazawu Primary School CPD session. And I noticed the mood was just different from the zone level CPD that I had attended in the morning at a TDC of which this school belonged to. Teachers at this CPD session knew each other by name and the mood was very jovial. One of the facilitators took to the stage to facilitate a Mathematics session and in trying to get our attention she used what she called ‘claps’. She had different types of ‘claps’ and all the participants were very excited to take part. I did not know the different forms of claps she had. I knew a clap is one way of applauding someone for the good job done, but here they had been re-appropriated to be used in acknowledging good job that a person had done but also getting attention of the members to something important. One clap that attracted my attention was the “Mandela” clap, the trick here is to have a gesture that Nelson Mandela used often and because Mandela is recognized as hero then it serves as an applause to a person. The Mandela clap is used to draw attention of participants to an important task, Mandela being a respected personality deserves great respect hence the use of this clap to draw attention. Another facilitator used what he called the “Obama” clap, the concept is the same, Obama is a respected personality among many Malawians and the Obama clap therefore is a sign of respect and it is used to signal and draw attention to an important task. To me these two incidences just cement what the research participants were talking about in the in-depth interviews on the casual and friendly environment that characterize school
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based CPDs. I really felt left out when facilitators asked us to do these claps. Much as I know the important place Mandela and Obama have among Malawians, I could not makes sense what these claps meant apart from applauding someone. And yet there was nobody to be applauded here. When we had a small break during the CPD session I asked one of teachers sitting next to me about what the claps meant and she was glad to explain to me and I was just wowed and I looked forward to another clap which as expected came when the facilitator wanted to get our attention in order to get back to business.
Conclusion In summary, this chapter has discussed tropes and narratives that are used in the teaching profession in Malawi and specifically in the area of professional development. The discussion of narratives and tropes used by Malawian teachers has provided a great insight as regards how they experience professional development. The use of narratives and tropes comes in as appropriate considering the theory guiding this research of postcolonialism. This theory is embedded in tropes, narratives and ideographs to ensure that elements of colonial domination are unmasked and troubled. The use of narratives and tropes is also part of Malawian culture, to get to the root of issues a lot of Malawians use images, metaphors, irony and other figurative language. Conversations are most of the times enriched by the use of figurative language and since I tried to make the conversations with my research participants as ‘natural’ as possible, tropes and narratives emerged. Instead of classifying the data by themes, I decided to analyze and present the data in the form of narratives and tropes. This has helped to flash out the nuanced experiences that different teachers have with professional development programs, which would otherwise be missed if I did not use the narratives and tropes. The chapter also has discussed how female teachers experience professional development based on their gender. It has been discussed that their experiences are slightly different from their male colleagues. When it comes to CPD sessions that are conducted outside of the school premises and teachers are supposed to travel long distances to attend most female teachers say they are not conducive for them. It becomes complicated when these teachers have young children, which would require someone to babysit them and considering the small honorarium they get it becomes so impractical and frustrating for them. This chapter has also considered how teachers teaching early grades (grades 1 through 4) experience professional development in comparison to those teaching upper grades (grades 5 through 8). It is interesting to notice the differences in their experiences as is explained by these two different groups of teachers based on the opportunities that are available to them. For
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teachers who teach upper grades, CPD is a thing they do not have often. They share stories of how frustrated they are when they can go a whole academic year without a zone level CPD that could help them on how to become better educators and yet their colleagues, those teaching early grades, are attending CPD sessions almost every month.
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Chapter 6: Summary, Discussion and Recommendations Introduction This chapter gives a summary of the study and how data were collected, analyzed and problematized. It does this by reflecting on the purpose of the study and discusses the major findings in relation to teacher professional development in Malawi, which are presented in the form of narratives and tropes. This dissertation investigated the experiences of teachers in Malawian primary schools with professional development programs. The goal was to get a deeper understanding of the nature and meaning of lived experiences of teachers participating in professional development programs. I wanted to gain new understanding of what motivates teachers to participate in these programs and the challenges they encounter in the process. This came from the understanding that teacher professional development is very important in improving education quality. If we are serious about improving education quality then we need to invest in the education of our teachers; making sure that teachers continue learning and have opportunities for professional growth. The structure of the chapter is as follows; it begins with a summary of the study followed by research findings, which is followed by a brief discussion of the findings. A concluding statement winds up this study on the experiences of Malawian teachers with professional development programs and finally recommendations to guide policy for the Ministry of Education in Malawi is provided together with some suggestions for further studies. Summary of the Study This dissertation study used a qualitative research approach and was guided by the principles of phenomenology as discussed by Moustaks (1994), Creswell (2003), and van Manen (1990). The guiding question in this study offered an opportunity to explore the lived experiences of teachers with professional development programs. As well noted by Van Manen (2014) “A phenomenological question may arise any time we have a certain experience that brings us to pause and reflect” (p. 31). Such an experience for me as discussed in chapter one was my interaction with primary school teachers in Malawi before I started graduate school. I was interested to learn how teachers continued to learn while on the job, and as I started exploring different research traditions, I narrowed down my focus to how teachers experience professional development programs. This was a phenomenological study, therefore, I identified 10 primary school teachers in Malawi specifically Dowa education district who had experienced some form of professional development programs in their career as teachers. As already explained, phenomenology privileges lived experiences of the participants and there is nowhere else to get such experiences than from the people who actually 89
lived them. In the spirit of triangulation and trying to establish the validity of this study, I conducted observation in the CPD sessions that my research participants participated during the data collection period. This provided me with good experience as regards what really goes on when teachers are having CPD sessions. I was able to observe school level, cluster level and zone level CPDs. This opportunity shaped the interviews that I had with the teachers. I used these observations to inform my interactions and conversations with the teachers and the interviews I had also shaped critical issues that I observed in these sessions. The study has a postcolonial theory as its theoretical framework, this is very important for this study and has helped me and will help the readers to understand education in Malawi and in this case teacher education in postcolonial spaces. It has also worked well with phenomenological study in that both tend to empower research participants to have a voice on issues that affect them. With postcolonial theory, marginalized people are empowered to speak up against forces of injustices. And phenomenology as already noted is a methodology that does not alienate research participants, it centers on learning from their experiences and this requires participants being active agents in the research process. Following data collection, I took time to analyze the data; but as is always the case with qualitative research the process was not clearly divorced from the data collection exercise. Guided by the postcolonial theory, I categorized the data following cultural narratives and tropes that are prevalent in teacher education in Malawi. So, instead of having major themes as is mostly the case with qualitative studies, these narratives and tropes proved to be very rich in helping me explain the experiences of Malawian teachers. Tropes and cultural narratives provide rich information in the experiences of teachers with CPD programs. Some of the concepts that are captured in using the tropes and cultural narratives would not have been well explained if data were just analyzed in the ‘traditional’ way of following major themes. In Malawi, like in many African countries south of the Sahara, tropes enrich conversations and sometimes provide a way to explain complex topics (Fortes, 2014), which could be contradictory at times. In the data section, I explained some cultural narratives and tropes that teachers used to explain their experiences with professional development programs. One of the cultural narratives that most teachers alluded to was the ignorant teacher narrative. As presented in chapter five, teachers are seen as lacking knowledge and are expected to be fed with knowledge. As with any other cultural narratives, not all teachers I interacted with interpreted this narrative in the same way. There were some who were supportive of this narrative, they had bought into the narrative that they require to be fed with knowledge from the so called ‘experts’, who are usually senior education officials. It was interesting that there were some 90
teachers who were resisting the ignorant teacher narrative although they do acknowledge how institutionalized the narrative is. They argued for professional development that empowers teachers and make them active agents of teacher development and school reform. CPD programs at school level were often mentioned as an alternative, calling for more funding of such programs. These are programs, which are initiated, planned and implemented by the teachers. They only seek outside support through resource persons when the school does not have teachers who are very familiar with the topic in question. The narrative of the ignorant teacher ties in well with the disempowering pedagogy narrative where teachers argue that the approach in the CPD programs especially those at cluster and zone levels are framed from a deficit model. These narratives go hand in hand, if senior education officials believe teachers are deficient and do not have important knowledge then this justifies the top down pedagogies that they employ in CPDs and are administered at both cluster and zone levels. The narrative of absent discourse is also very prominent as presented in chapter five. It is about issues that are key to school reform and teacher professional growth but are not presented or discussed. Together with the research participants for this study we discussed why some of the topics considered important for education reform are not included in CPD curricular. It was interesting to learn from some participants who admittedly argued that they never considered this as absent discourse until the time we started these conversations and were willing to explore the plausible causes for this. Among the most common reason for the absent discourse was a question of control and the need to maintain the status quo. Adding issues of social justice that teachers considered very important for their professional growth would empower teachers to question injustices they face in the profession. They would be able to raise questions like why some schools are better resourced than others, and better still why many children are denied the right to education. It is also interesting that some teachers noted that bringing the absent discourse to the table would make teachers more reflective on how they relate with students. Issues of multicultural education and understanding students’ diversity in order to establish democratic and inclusive spaces in public schools would be made easier. The narrative of need for umunthu or lack thereof can be connected to the absent discourse. With umunthu as explained in chapter five, there is a call for indigenous forms of knowledge that are relevant and important to Malawi. It calls for the deconstruction of all forms of injustices and this goes along social justice and multicultural ideas of trying to establish democratic and inclusive public schools where all students feel welcomed irrespective of the differences that they bring to the table. It also entails that all teachers are respected and they work to establish harmonious relationships with their colleagues, which is good for students’ learning. 91
There was a shared sense of distrust in the CPDs in general and this could be connected to the idea of poor organization of CPDs. As discussed in chapter five, some teachers bemoaned the lack of organization of some CPDs especially those conducted at cluster and zone level. This cemented the view that CPDs especially those organized by the top education officials do not work and that was the reason some teachers suggested increasing funding to school based CPDs where teachers have control and the programs are usually relevant to the schools in question. Researcher’s Reflection on the Research Experience Based on a recommendation from Moustakas (1994), I provide a reflection of my research experience. Moustakas (1994) advises researchers to include a reflection “that speaks to the essence of the study and its inspirations to you in terms of the value of the knowledge and future directions of your professional-personal life” (p. 184). This research process has been an exciting and challenging project; I entered the research site with excitement and some nervousness. I was excited to meet the research participants whom I had already established communication over the phone while I was still in the USA. It was the feeling of trying to have conversations with people who had already trusted me to learn from them about their experiences with professional development programs. This was something great and I was very appreciative; these were people that I had not met in my life, but were willing to share their stories with me just after talking to them over the phone. The anxiety was on how I was going to establish rapport so as to have great conversations with these teachers. In this phenomenological study the main method of collecting data was through in-depth interviews and establishing conversation-like interviews that generate enough information was not easy. I was not very sure if I would be able to do that although I had a ‘pilot’ in-depth interviews on a similar topic with some teachers the year before. Anxiety also came from thinking about how to work with the bureaucracy at the ministry of education, Dowa district education office, zone level and in the respective schools where the teachers worked. I was supposed to get clearance from all these offices before having interviews with the teachers. Although I had already established communication with some officials at the ministry of education, they had not yet given me an official go ahead. They indicated that I needed to go talk to them in person and then they would write me an official letter that I would take to the district education office of my choice. Although there was some green light, I was still not sure how it was all going to play out. As for the officials at the district education office, zone level and head teachers I had not established any communication. I was just banking my hopes on the letter that I was to get from the ministry of education. 92
My assumption was that the authorization letter from the ministry of education would make all the other officials not to be too suspicious of my intentions. It ended up that I was wrong to assume that a letter from the ministry of education would make officials at the zone level and district level less suspicious. In fact they were very suspicious especially the PEAs at the zones. When I contacted some of the PEAs to conduct my study in their zones they asked me if I had been ‘cleared’ by the ministry of education and upon explaining to them that I had already been at the ministry of education and showed them the clearance letter from the ministry of education they became suspicious. Their major suspicion was that they thought I had been sent by the ministry of education to evaluate CPDs in their zones. This was almost the same suspicion that head teachers had when I told them that I wanted to interact with teachers to learn how they had experienced professional development. For the PEAs and head teachers, asking for permission to conduct observations during CPD sessions at zone, cluster and school level was also taken with some suspicion. I had to take time to explain my position clearly and clear all the doubts that I never thought would there. It was interesting that all PEAs and head teachers that I contacted allowed me to interview teachers and observe CPDs in their zones and schools respectively despite the suspicion they had initially. I also observed some ‘growth’ in how I presented my research study to the PEAs and head teachers when asking for permission to conduct my interviews and observations. I was able to explain the study to them easily and very clearly I think and this enabled some of the PEAs and head teachers that I contacted later not to have a lot of suspicion and grant me permission for interviews and observations easily. I also observed how my interviewing skills improved as the process of interviews continued. As already pointed out in chapter three, I had two sets of interviews with all the participants and I could notice becoming comfortable with the interview process. The reflections I had over each interview made me to get better on the following interview. After every interview I reflected on the highs and lows of the process and asked myself what I could have done better. It is this process that made me improve my interviewing skills; making each interview very conversational and smooth. Data analysis process was another exercise that I have learned some valuable lessons. As Moustakas (1994) noted valuable lessons are obtained in the actual research process than just studying about phenomenology. I came to this process with some knowledge about how data are analyzed in the phenomenology research tradition. However, upon reflecting on the data I had and the conversations I had with the teachers plus the theoretical framework that I was using in this study I had to rework and trouble some of the knowledge I initially had. I 93
made a decision to analyze data by organizing them through cultural narrative and tropes to reflect how it was really talked about in the field by my research participants. This enabled me to get the essence of teachers’ experience with professional development programs. As I reflect on this research process I have great respect for the teachers that I worked with in this study. They are dedicated practitioners many of whom work under very challenging circumstances. For example, I went for a CPD session at a school where the whole school did not have even a single desk. We literally had to sit on the floor to have CPD session. Although teachers explained to me that this was not comfortable, which I totally understood, they were not too distracted by it. They went on to have an engaged CPD session where teachers were actively participating. Although the teachers do not get paid much, they are still dedicated to their work and are asking for more opportunities for their professional growth so that they could work better with students. Recommendations for the Ministry of Education In this section, I provide some recommendations to the ministry of education in Malawi, which is in charge of teacher education through the department of teacher education and development. I understand the bureaucracy that is in the Malawi education system, but this does not stop me from making suggestions on how to improve professional development programs having learnt much from the conversations I had with teachers. Teacher professional development is key to school reform and teacher quality (Fullan, 1997 &Uchechi, 2011). Malawi is struggling to improve the quality of education in the country as evidenced from many studies that show that students complete a primary school education course without acquiring meaningful competencies in numeracy and literacy (World Bank, 2010), therefore, Malawi needs to step up in the process of improving teacher quality. Spearman (2009) noted that for teachers to be effective in their job they need to keep up with the new methods, theories and discourses in their respective disciplines. This was noted in almost all the interviews I had with the research participants and the observations I made. As well noted by Fullan (1997) teachers are the ones who implement education reforms as such they need to be part of the reform process as active agents and this could be done through teacher professional development programs. Teachers argued that to ensure effective teacher professional development, they need to take active roles in planning for it. This is similar to the observation that Hargreaves (1995) noted that teachers often resist or reject forms of professional development if they seem to be imposed on them without considering their needs. Teachers want to take control of their professional development. In an effort to take control of teacher professional development, research participants suggested strategies to make professional development work effectively. 94
Among the suggestions that were made the following stood out. Taking into account all this, I therefore recommend the following: Teacher Induction Teacher induction is important in the field of teacher professional development (Fullan, 1997) and yet it is often neglected in Malawi. Many teachers claimed that they were not supported in their first years of teaching when they joined the profession. This could be a very frustrating experience considering the hard conditions that Malawian teachers operate in. Having worked as a teacher in Malawian schools, I remember the anxiety and frustration I had as a beginning teacher. There was no organized mechanism to support me; I had to go an extra mile to ask colleagues who were friendly for support on some issues. Emphasizing the importance of induction for beginning teachers Donder (2011: 63) asks “Who is better placed to teach novice teachers, than those with the best skills in the same school with the same students?” This calls for a well-managed system to help beginning teachers with some skills that they may need in their new work environments. The teachers I interviewed want the ministry of education or better still school head teachers to have well organized means of mentoring beginning teachers to make them feel welcome and adjust to the new environment which is usually different from the college environment that they are coming from. The ministry of education is now implementing some form of induction by recruiting secondary school leavers to join the profession with no training and promising to train them on the job through distance learning. I would like to see this form of induction to be more organized and extended to all teachers joining the profession. Teacher Professional Learning Community There seem to be a very good relationship between professional learning communities and professional development. Efforts at making teachers engage in professional development without changing the school culture will always prove futile (Fullan, 1997). Donder (2011) also argues that professional development that centers on collaboration and is situated as part of the professional learning community is what schools need because it will most likely be successful. In Malawian schools this is more relevant, there is need to cultivate a culture of collaboration and willingness to learn if schools are going to make some improvements. Teachers when emphasizing the importance of a learning community argued that with the idea of learning community teachers could be doing collaborative research in their schools or classrooms to find out which pedagogical strategies are working for their students for example, and in such exercises they would be able to improve their teaching strategies. 95
I have worked in Malawian schools and I really do understand the importance of changing the culture to encourage collaboration that is a characteristic of a learning community. There is a culture of competition; teachers want to outperform one another and this makes collaboration almost impossible to achieve. Teachers do not have a lot of opportunities to share ideas and learn from one another. So, ideas of a learning community deconstruct the individuality mindset among teachers thereby growing professionally as a community, which works to improve students’ achievement in the long run. The ministry of education could help in establishing learning communities in schools by not promoting some neoliberal policies like merit pay that encourage unnecessary tension amongst teachers. Concepts like umunthu, as explained in chapter five, could promote community building and professional learning communities could easily be implemented. There is also need to increase funding for school based CPDs so that teachers have more time to work together and grow their professional community. Making Teacher Professional Development Context Specific Johnston, Monk and Hodges (2000) argue that it is always important to take into account the type of environment where teachers are working when making recommendations for professional development. There are some pedagogical strategies that no matter how successful they might have been in some contexts they might not work in the same way in other contexts. In this regard they give caution to Southern African educators to avoid just adopting some pedagogical strategies from Western or Northern States. This also applies to the way teacher professional development is conducted in Malawi which is mostly top down because of the centralized nature of the education system. Teachers want to have a say and take control of their professional development. In the process of taking control, teachers can make adjustments for skills that fit into the context that they work in. For example, some teachers especially those teaching in rural schools that do not have a lot of teaching and learning resources said they would appreciate workshops on how to make teaching and learning resources from locally available resources to facilitate effective students’ learning. This would not be very much appreciated by teachers who teach in urban schools that are relatively well resourced. This then requires the ministry of education to take into account the specific needs of schools when initiating CPDs. A better way to do this would be to increase funding for school based CPDs so that teachers who know the specific needs of their schools can initiate, plan and implement the CPDs. Enough money should be made available to these schools so that when they require expertise from a resource person they should be able to afford it. 96
Clinical Supervision as a Form of Teacher Professional Development One form of teacher professional development is through teacher supervision. Teachers have generally had a bad experience with supervision because of the way it has traditionally been conducted. For the most part supervision has been aimed at finding faults. Cogan (1995) argues that “disseminating and implementing new practices and improving the teacher’s performance constitute precisely the domain of clinical supervision” (p. 2). In Malawi there is no well-organized form of teacher supervision in public schools. When it happens in some schools it takes the form of ‘fault finding’ as some of the research participants argued. Teachers want to have well-coordinated forms of teacher supervision where teachers can learn through a process of critical feedback that is aimed at improving their skills unlike having supervisions that are always judgmental. The key concept in clinical supervision is colleagueship (Cogan, 1995) and sadly it is not always available in ‘traditional’ form of supervision. Teachers want to learn from someone they can trust and someone who respects them (Cogan, 1995). As teachers get involved in clinical supervision exercises their teaching skills become better and in turn they help their students’ learning effectively. PEAs in Malawian schools are in charge of supervising teachers in their respective educational zones. But as noted by many teachers most PEAs do not do this and when they do it is mostly going for teachers they do not like. PEAs also face a challenge of lack of funding to enable them supervise teachers effectively. The ministry of education could improve this by providing funding to the PEA offices to enable them do their work effectively. PEAs should also be oriented on clinical supervision and how to help teachers whom they supervise. Head teachers being in charge of school level administration are also supposed to be empowered to conduct clinical supervision. Having an orientation for head teachers on clinical supervision and implementation of professional development activities could address this concern. Teacher Welfare during CPDs For the CPDs conducted at cluster and zone level which require teachers travelling from their duty stations to attend, there has been a growing concern that teachers’ welfare is not taken into account. Selemeni-Meke (2013) conducted a study that revealed that the allowance that teachers get is not sufficient to cover transportation and lunch. In this study, research participants who sometimes had to use their ‘savings’ to go and participate in a CPD session at zone level also expressed this concern. This is demoralizing taking into account the meager salaries that teachers get. For school level CPDs teachers need support to conduct successful CPDs, incidences of teachers sitting on floor during CPDs are not conducive to learning. This is not an isolated phenomenon as Kadzamira (2006) argues that teachers especially in the rural 97
areas work in deplorable conditions like lacking desks and in dilapidated buildings. The ministry has to work on making sure that teachers have safe and comfortable working places. Part of teacher welfare at school level involves the ministry increasing the amount of money they allocate for CPDs. One CPD per academic year is not enough; teachers need more opportunities for CPDs so that they can improve their practice and grow as professionals. In summing up recommendations to the ministry of education in Malawi for better CPDs, I will use some insight from Lindstrom and Speck. Lindstrom and Speck (2004) provide characteristics of what high-quality professional development looks like as follows: (1) Focuses on learning and sustaining improved student learning; (2) nurtures collegiality and collaboration among teachers, other staff, and principal; (3) develops shared leadership, resources, and inside/outside support; (4) deepens teachers’ content knowledge and teaching practices; (5) centers on the adult learner through job-embedded work, options, and learning styles and (6) requires ongoing inquiry, practice, and reflection to inform practice. It can be noticed that I have not employed all ideas that Lindstrom and Speck suggest for what they call high-quality professional development. Some of their suggestions are in line with neoliberal ideas which are inconsistent with postcolonial theory and I think would not work in Malawi education system. I do not however, suggest that all neoliberal reforms have been bad, there have been some that have worked to improve the quality of education in some ways. But reforms that have suggested scripted lessons and teacher-proof curricula have not yielded great results. The suggested ideas from Lindstrom and Speck are what is lacking in the current CPDs in Malawian primary schools. It would be great if the ministry of education would get a leaf from this insight, re-appropriate some of the ideas and initiate the negative attributes that teachers talk about as part of their experiences with CPDs would be taken into account. Concluding remarks As I conclude this chapter and the dissertation in general, I would like to acknowledge that this study project has been an eye-opener and a challenge at the same time. I have studied experiences of Malawian primary school teachers’ experiences with professional development programs. Through this study, I have come to understand that the current professional development programs in Malawian schools are not working as expected. Teachers shared with me their experiences of programs that are just a waste of time and resources in some cases. CPDs at zone level, which did not take into account the unique needs of individual schools were cited as time wasters. There was also a consensus on the need to empower teachers and schools to be in charge of CPDs, this came in as a critique of pedagogy used in the CPDs that 98
they have been involved in. Teachers argued that being in charge of CPDs involves being actively involved in deciding the curricular and taking control of the pedagogy used. This study has helped me have an understanding of teachers’ experiences with professional development; this knowledge has in turn helped me to understand why the current forms of CPDs are considered a waste of time and resources. There is an important connection between teacher development and student achievement (Villegas-Reimers, 2003), it is not surprising therefore to see the current state of low student achievement in Malawian schools where many students complete the primary school course without developing meaningful numeracy and literacy skills (Selemani-Meke, 2013). As this study has shown, there is need to think differently about teacher development in Malawi to ensure that it achieves its intended function which is to improve students’ achievement, make teachers grow professionally and work towards school reform among others. There is need to challenge some neoliberal policies that have dominated the discourse in teacher education in Malawi, which makes progressive ideas of how to conduct teacher development and other school reform ideas almost unthinkable. The concept of umunthu which is already part of Malawian episteme should be discussed among teachers and teacher educators and suggest how to use it to counter the discourse of neoliberalism which is dominating education policy in Malawi. Recommendations for Future Research In the future, I would recommend a similar study to be conducted in other educational districts in Malawi. This study as already noted in chapter three was conducted in Dowa educational district which is just one among more than twenty education districts in the country. This district is also predominantly rural with few schools in small towns. A study that would involve teachers from urban schools and learn how they experience professional development would be very useful. Such an understanding would be helpful in determining how best to improve teacher professional development programs and thereby improving student achievement and education quality in general. Research should also be undertaken to explore how Malawian secondary school teachers in both urban and rural schools experience professional development. This would help flush out some mysteries in secondary school teacher development in Malawi because it is an area that has not been studied that much. There is not enough information on these teachers as regards their involvement in professional development and what models they use and more so how the teachers experience such programs. I consider this study to be a stepping-stone to my research agenda in teacher education, postcolonial theory and critical education. I plan to continue exploring and 99
examining relevant issues that affect education in Malawi with the aim of trying to improve student achievement, improve the quality of lives for teachers and improve the education system in general. Studies like these, if taken into account by the policy makers could help turn around the education system in Malawi thereby contributing positively to student achievement.
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Appendix 1: Authorization Letter109 from Ministry of Education
Appendix 2: Participant Consent Form
Experiences of Malawian Primary School Teachers with Continuous Professional Development Programs.
I. My name is Precious Muni-Wathu Gawanani. I am a doctoral student in the Leadership, Curriculum and Culture program at Miami University, Oxford, Ohio. For my dissertation study, I am interested in exploring Malawian primary school teachers’ experience with professional development programs, the meaning they make of their experience and possibly how it affects their teaching. I am interested in this study because I would like to understand how the meaning that you attach to these experiences affect your work and students’ learning in particular.
II. In order to gather information for this study I am using a phenomenological methodology comprising a series of two in-depth interviews. The interviews will take place between May 25 and August 15, 2014. Each interview will last for about 90 minutes, 2 – 3 days apart. In interview 1, I will ask you to describe in as much detail as possible, your experience as a teacher with CPD programs; and in interview 2, I will ask you about the meaning you make of your experience with the CPD programs.
III. I will audio-tape and later transcribe the interviews by myself. Transcripts will be done verbatim as your words will be extensively used in this study. However, your name, the school you teach, and any other details that might disclose your identity will not be used in any written material and oral presentations in which I may use material from your interviews. Instead, pseudonyms will be used for all names and places in order to protect your identity.
IV. Your participation is entirely voluntary and you are free to refuse participation or discontinue at any time without penalty or prejudice. In addition, at your request I will send you copies of the tapes or later the transcripts.
V. I will use the material from the interviews for purposes of my dissertation, professional presentations, and journal reports and articles. By agreeing to this consent form, you are giving me permission to use your words extensively in my dissertation and other professional publications.
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VI. You have been furnished with two copies of this informed consent, both of which should be signed if you are willing to participate. One copy should be retained for your records, and the other should be returned to me. Your signature below indicates that you have read and understood the information provided above, that you willingly agree to participate, and that you may withdraw your consent at any time.
If you have any questions about the research, or your participation in it, you can reach me at:
Tel: +1513-461-3848 (US); +265-999-944-300 (Malawi) Email: [email protected]
You can also contact my dissertation advisor on:
Email: [email protected]
I, ______have read the information in this consent form and agree to be interviewed under the conditions stated above.
Participant’s Signature: ______Date: ______
Researcher’s Signature: ______Date: ______
Precious Muni-Wathu Gawanani
Doctoral Candidate
Miami University
Department of Educational Leadership
Oxford, Ohio, 45056, USA
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Appendix 3: Acknowledgements to Cooperating Partners
NATIONAL EDUCATION SECTOR PLAN
2008 – 2017
A STATEMENT
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
MALAWI
JUNE 2008
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
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The National Education Sector Plan (NESP) - A Statement is the main output of the Ministry of Education Science and Technology and its Cooperating Partners (DfID CIDA, GTZ, JICA, UNICEF, USAID, WFP, UNESCO, World Bank and others). The NESP supports the Government of Malawi’s commitment to the realization of the Malawi Growth Development Strategy (MGDS), and international protocols arising from Education For All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The NESP is expected to fit within the overall national development strategy, namely MGDS.
The production of this Plan has been made possible through consultations with a number of bodies including the civil society and stakeholders in education (CSCQBE, DAPP. FAWEMA, LEG, PRISAM, TUM etc). We wish also to acknowledge the contributions of the following Ministries of Women and Child Development, Youth Development and Sports, Finance and Economic Planning and Development and parastatals, such as Malawi National Commission for UNESCO and MANEB. Such consultations were largely in the form of working group membership lead by respective directorates and/or linked institutions of the MoEST and facilitated by cooperating partners active in the education sector. The assistance of other eminent persons who were consulted is also acknowledged. The Director of Education Planning of MoEST, Dr. Augustine F. Kamlongera and the Policy and Planning personnel in the same directorate (Ms. Thoko Banda, Ms. G. Milner, Mr. C. Maleta and Asma Zubairi), guided the development of this Statement. The same Directorate of Education Planning will continue taking a leading role in realizing the Operational Plan. To all who contributed to the realization of this Statement, the MoEST wishes to thank them and encourage them to continue with such a good spirit wherever and whenever duty calls.
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Appendix 4: Training Module on Literacy
CONTINUOUS PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FOR TEACHERS
Teaching Chichewa and English:
Participant Guide
Literacy Module 1
Malawi Institute of Education 114
Name:
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Continuous Professional Development of Teachers: Standards 1-4
Literacy - Module 1 Teaching Chichewa and English
DAY 1 Schedule ...... vii DAY 2 Schedule ...... viii 105
Day 1 - Welcome and Introductions ...... 1 Establishing Norms ...... 2 Overview of CPD ...... 3 Introducing the Participant Manual ...... 4 FOUNDATION - Good Teaching ...... 5 MUTU 1 - Kuphunzitsa kuyamba kulemba ...... 8 MUTU 2 - Kuphunzitsa kuwerenga ndi kulemba malembo a liwu ...... 11 UNIT 1 - Creating a print-rich environment in the classroom and school ...... 14 UNIT 2 - Teaching oral English skills ...... 19 Review of Day 1 ...... 25 Assigning school-based activities ...... 26
Day 2 - Welcome back and review ...... 27 Reviewing good teaching practices ...... 28 MUTU 3 - Kuphunzitsa mawu a phatikizo limodzi lopanda liwu ndi la liwu ...... 29 MUTU 4 - Kuphunzitsa kuyamba kuwerenga ndi kulemba chiganizo ...... 32 UNIT 3 - Pre-reading activities: Teaching Letters of the English Alphabet ...... 36 UNIT 4 - Teaching reading in English ...... 41 Reviewing and closing the session ...... 46
Chichewa Activities ...... 47 English Activities ...... 53 Resources ...... 63 English Literacy Scope and Sequence ...... 69
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Appendix 5: Letter from the EDL Department
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Source: Maphill.com
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Appendix 8 The Power of Rapport
I woke up to check mail today as I normally do, I was surprised to get an email from one of my research participants that I had interacted with through interview and CPD observation. The email was about the interview we had a couple of weeks ago. In this email she was bringing additional information including examples of some of the questions that we discussed when we had the interview. I never imagined a research participant would take their time to write back some more detailed information concerning an interview we had almost two weeks ago. I was humbled and I began to think about the importance of establishing good relationships with the research participant. I had already told all research participants that I would send them the transcribed interviews for them to review and make comments but I had not really thought of establishing long lasting relationships.
The email that I received also asked me about suggestions on how she could be managing her classroom considering the inclusive policy that is being implemented. She wrote “Sorry this is not related to what we discussed last time when we talked but I wanted to get some assistance how best I can work with students with special needs considering that they have a lot of challenges. My class is big it has 60 students and I don’t have any special needs teacher who comes to my classroom”. This made me to read around the topic on “Inclusive Education”, I have managed to find some journal articles on inclusive education in the Sub-Saharan Africa and a few others specifically on Malawi. I hope the articles will help her understand issues surrounding inclusive education.
This email also made me to seriously think about the issue of researcher paying back to the participants and the community that they are researching on (Cresswel, 2012). Instead of being someone who goes into the community to ‘steal’ knowledge for my personal use, I think this kind of interaction with participants helps to improve the research site in some ways—making it a better place.
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Appendix 9
Interview Protocol
Interview 1: Experience with CPD Programs (70 to 90 Minutes)
Tell me with much detail your experience with the CPD programs that you have been involved in
i. How long have you been a teacher in Malawian public schools and what do you teach? ii. Tell me about the pre-service teacher preparation program that you were involved in and the qualification that you have. iii. How often do you attend CPD sessions per month/academic year? iv. Tell me how it is like for you to attend CPD workshops. v. Explain the CPD curricula of the programs you have attended and how they are delivered. vi. Tell me how you feel every time you attend a CPD workshop?
Interview 2: Meaning of CPD (70 to 90 Minutes)
Tell me with a lot of detail the meaning of CPD programs to you
i. What is the role of CPD in teaching? ii. What does it mean for you to attend a CPD program? iii. What meaning do you make of the CPD programs that you have attended? iv. Talk about your views about a successful CPD program. v. How would you change the curricula and delivery of CPD programs that you have attended? vi. How do the CPD programs help you address the educational injustices in Malawian public schools? vii. Explain the connection between the CPD curricula you have attended and school reform?
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Appendix 10: Demographics
RESEARCH PARTICIPANT DEMOGRAPHICS Name of Participant Gender Number of Years Location of School Served Mchete Male 12 Rural Phiri Male More than 10 Rural Nambewe Female 8 Rural Ngozo Male More than 10 Rural Zelesi Female 15 Rural Mawandiwe Female 3 Rural Chilindeni Female More than 10 Rural Namkumba Male 5 Rural Banda Male 8 Rural Mvano Female 3 Rural
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