Teacher Pedagogical Competence and Learner Achievements in Literacy in Lower Primary Grades in Uganda

• In Event: Scaling up early grade reading interventions in Uganda

Proposal

Scaling up Early Grade Reading (EGR) intervention under the Uganda Teacher and School Effectiveness Project (UTSEP), following the USAID-Uganda School Health and Reading Program (SHRP)’s implementation model, Uganda’s Ministry of Education has confirmed that the teacher factor is still the single most prominent determinant of children’s literacy achievement in public schools. Teachers’ pedagogical competence, beliefs and values significantly impact the creation of literacy learning opportunities and outcomes at the lower grades. In the development of pupils’ functional literacy skills, the teacher is solely responsible for applying or shelving the recommended and/or prescribed educational interventions. This paper illustrates the learning through a presentation of accumulated evidence of classroom observations, training-workshop evaluation tools, desk review of monitoring and support supervision reports on P.1 to P.3 teachers’ implementation practices, and in-depth interviews with 58 selected teachers in 29 districts, over a period of three years. The findings indicate that teacher adherence to the EGR methodology depended largely on teacher attitudes, beliefs and values and that support supervision is a prime enabler of teachers’ confidence and resilience building in the implementation of EGR methodology. There is also evidence that pupils’ literacy achievements are directly proportional to teachers’ commitment to teaching literacy using the methodology. The paper recommends a comprehensive study to standardize teacher pedagogy and learner literacy achievement as Uganda searches for literacy benchmarks.

Author

• Caroline Nakidde Kavuma, Kyambogo University, Uganda Teacher and School Effectiveness Project