Enhancing teachers’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes through a 4th year residency program

• In Event: Can adding a fourth year to preservice teacher education close the teacher training divide in Rwanda?

Proposal

Teacher Training Colleges (TTCs) are a secondary school option for students in Rwanda. Similar to other countries (e.g., Ethiopia, Malawi), students choose this option and graduate with a certificate to teach pre-primary and primary children. Traditionally, the course work in the program was focused on theory-based content and lack of practice using the primary teaching materials. These factors contributed to beginning teachers graduating without relevant methodology pivotal for effective instruction. Over the years, there has been a call for changes in the pre-service teacher curriculum in Rwanda (Iwakuni, 2017). In 2019, the curriculum for TTCs was revised with the mandate to transition from theoretical-based to competency-based instruction (REB, 2019). However, recent findings revealed that the delivery of the new competence-based curriculum continued to focus on theory with minimal practice and support inside and outside the TTC classroom (USAID, 2022). Specifically, in literacy instruction, there is only one course, taught in the first year of TTC training, on methods and practices for teaching children to read and write in the mother tongue.

There continues to be a call for the revision of the TTC courses to provide preservice teachers with learning experiences that cycle them from principles to practice coupled with teacher educators’ ongoing support to ensure the development of instructional competencies, knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Takavarasha & Zimuto, 2024). These deficits and challenges are shared across other LMICs, implying a continued need for preservice teachers to learn both content knowledge and pedagogical skills (Zuilkowski, Sowa, & Ranglita, 2023). In addition, integrating ICT in education at all grade levels is one of Rwanda’s goals to ensure teachers are prepared to implement digital skills in their classrooms (Darling-Hammond, 2006; Moon & Wolfenden, 2012).

During the 2023-24 school year, Rwanda piloted a residency program that added a 4th year of preservice education. The project involved a US research university and two Rwandan NGOs. The implementing team used data on year one pre-service teachers, and TTC tutors and administrators collected during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 academic years through a different project. This presentation will include how these data were critical in shaping the residency program’s design and ensuring it targeted the identified weaknesses in tutors' and preservice students’ pedagogical knowledge and skills. The residency program pilot also addressed other areas of need revealed by the data, such as classroom management, language developmental stages, and assessment to inform instruction. The presenter will discuss how the Teacher Residents used technology to complete tasks required in the instructional seminars, such as lesson planning and reflections, and for instruction in the primary classrooms. Particular attention will be paid to the course content and classroom practices specific to building the teacher residents' capacity in literacy instruction. The presentation will also include a comparison between the data on knowledge, skills, and attitudes of year one preservice teachers, and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes data collected on the Teacher Residents’ which will segue into a discussion on the growth observed and its implications for robust preservice education in Rwanda.

Authors

• Marion Fesmire, Florida State University

• Ana H Marty, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

• Kate Schell, Florida State University