Comparative Study Of Continuous Professional Development Of Teacher Educators From Three Countries In the Global South

• In Event: Improving teacher education

Proposal

Education systems in the world and particularly in the global south are evolving. Preparing good quality teachers is one of the main challenges in front of many of these countries. Several countries, even in the global south, have some component of in-service teacher education. Studies on online or blended courses report that teachers respond to online courses differently than students. Specific design features and strategies, such as orientation sessions, in-built learner support systems for technical and subject-specific challenges, and opportunities for peer interaction, must be adopted while running courses for the in-service teachers (Bragg et al., 2021).

To design effective teacher education programs, we need competent teacher educators (TEs). However, in most countries in the global south, TEs do not get capacity-building opportunities during their service. The project [masked for review] described here focused on continuous professional development (CPD) of in-service TEs from three countries, namely, Bhutan, Nigeria, and Tanzania. Having undertaken a similar project [masked for review] in the four Indian states, a deemed university in India [masked for review] served as a knowledge partner. Very few research studies have documented the professional development of TEs, and studies in this area from the global south are next to none. The present study attempts to address this gap.

The project entailed the capacity building of the TEs, especially in developing material for newly qualified science and mathematics teachers. They were expected to prepare web-based modules which included subject matter and pedagogical content knowledge.

Intervention

As a first step, the TEs underwent an online course called ‘Interactive Science Teaching.’ The course not only exposed TEs to some of the contemporary ideas in science education but also served as an exemplar of the material they were expected to develop for the teachers in their respective countries. The ‘Interactive Science Teaching’ is a blended course originally prepared for science teachers in India. It is a six weeks course, and the online component is offered on Edx based platform. It contained reading materials, videos, discussions, practice-based reflections, and a few assignments based on practice. This course was appropriated according to the needs of this project and offered completely online. The course progressed through weekly meetings that were held to introduce the units and also used as an opportunity to learn about each other’s contexts. TEs were introduced to the Community of Practice (CoP) on the Telegram messaging application. TEs were encouraged to use CoP to raise concerns, ask doubts, and discuss the course content. The platform, the online sessions, and the CoP served as tools for data collection as well.

Participants
A total of 33 TEs participated in the study; 13 from Bhutan (9M + 4F), 10 from Nigeria (5M+5F), and 10 from Tanzania (7M+3F). The age of the participants was between 34 to 60 years, with an average of 48 years. The number of years of experience ranged from 3 to 35 years, with an average of 18 years. 17 TEs held a Doctorate, and the remaining 16 TEs held a Master's degree. Eleven TEs had a biology background, another 11 had chemistry, 1 had both biology and chemistry, seven had physics, 2 had computer science, and 1 had mathematics education.
Impact
Out 33, 27 TEs filled a survey form at the end of the course. All 27 TEs responded that they found the course beneficial. 26 TEs reported that the course led to examples relevant to their practice and that the assignments were well structured; the remaining one was not sure on both these aspects. 23 TEs agreed that the feedback was prompt and effective, 4 were not sure. Fifteen TEs noted that the course was easy to complete, 5 found it difficult, and 7 were not sure. TEs were asked to grade the usefulness of the material. The responses are as follows:
Reading material- 25 TEs found it very useful, 2 found it somewhat useful.
Videos- 21 TEs found it very useful, 5 found it somewhat useful.
Discussion Forum- 14 TEs found it very useful, 11 found it somewhat useful (2 did not respond).
MCQs- 18 TEs found it very useful, 9 found it somewhat useful.
Assignment based on Practice- 21 TEs found it very useful, 6 found it somewhat useful.
Descriptive Assignment- 21 TEs found it very useful, 6 found it somewhat useful.
Online sessions- 22 TEs found it very useful, 5 found it somewhat useful.
To summarize, among the course components, the most frequently noted useful materials reported by TEs were reading material, followed by videos and assignments. Discussion forums were reported to be the least useful. The additional effort of weekly sessions was appreciated by 22 TEs.
TEs were also asked in which specific areas the course helped them to improve their knowledge. 25 TEs reported that their knowledge about the nature of science improved, and the same number of TEs reported that their understanding of the role of experimentation in science teaching deepened. 23 TEs reported that they appreciated the role of the history of science in teaching the nature of science. 19 TEs reported that their knowledge about pedagogy in general also improved.
From this feedback, we can conclude that, overall, almost all TEs benefited from the course.
Challenges
Difficulty in communication was the main challenge. This was due to three reasons: First, the limited in-person interaction due to geographically distant locations and the travel restrictions due to the covid pandemic. Hence most of the interaction was done through synchronous online sessions. However, TEs from all countries were not equally tech-savvy. Lack of proficiency in a common language (English) and differences in accents also made communication difficult.
The data is being analyzed; we presented part of it in this paper. Based on the preliminary analysis, it can be said that the TEs from varied backgrounds could benefit from an online CPD course, provided extensive support through personal interaction (in this case, online sessions) was given. In retrospect, we feel that starting with a face-to-face component and strengthening the communications links would have made a better impact.

Author

• Rafikh Rashid Shaikh, Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai