Recruiting, preparing and developing female teachers in Sierra Leone

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Innovative models to improve recruitment and professional learning of female teachers in low income fragile contexts

Proposal

In rural Sierra Leone the number of women as part of the total teacher workforce is low in comparison to men. Many female teachers experience increased obstacles to joining and staying within the teaching profession due to socio-cultural pressures and values. Many lack methodology, pedagogy, and classroom management training and have little opportunity for professional development: In Sierra Leone more than 55% of the teacher workforce are unqualified and untrained (ref).
The GEC-GATE program in Sierra Leone, a consortium led by Plan International working with Action Aid, the Forum for African Women Educationalists, Humanity & Inclusion, and the Open University UK, is building on the experience of previous GEC programmes to attempt to address these issues through a number of initiatives including Study Groups. These allow girls additional study time and access to peer support networks. Study Groups are facilitated by Programme Volunteers (trusted teachers or community members) and supported by female Learning Assistants (young women on a pathway to the profession). Both Programme Volunteers and Learning Assistants have access to methodology, classroom management, and gender-sensitive pedagogy training to assist in their facilitation of these groups and in improvements in their classroom practice.
Learning Assistants (750) are selected by their own community to follow a pathway to the teaching profession, specially designed for young women in rural communities. The programme begins with an 18 month ‘bridging course’ during which participants undertake self-study in Maths and English, supported by local tutors and a set of highly structured interactive materials whilst concurrently support pupils and teachers in a local primary school (as a ‘learning assistant’) four days a week. Thus they provide positive female role models in communities where there are frequently no female teachers. At the end of the bridging course Learning Assistants sit the entrance exam for Teacher Training College. Those who are successful are subsequently sponsored through a distance learning initial teacher preparation programme and receive additional support from an experienced educator known as a ‘Practice Study Mentor’. Longitudinal research with the Learning Assistant) highlights the way in which the approach to programme design and implementation has supported community capacity development and begun to enhance participants’ freedom to live valued lives.
Within the debate on encouraging more females to join teaching, and supporting existing female teachers, key questions to be explored are:
• How far does engagement in Study Group activities and pedagogy/methodology training enable female educators to develop skills and capacity that support them in developing their professional lives?
• How does the involvement of Learning Assistants support or affect school culture – such as presenting gender-transformative role models, addressing issues of gender inequality, acting as positive forces against school-based violence etc?
• What are the wider community impacts of these initiatives on social practices around female participation in education?
• How might the model of gender advocacy and empowerment demonstrated through the Study Groups and Learning Assistant programme be used to inform future education development programs?

Authors

• Freda Wolfenden, The Open University, UK

• Martin Canter, Plan International