Examining teacher educators’ content and pedagogical content knowledge of literacy: Evidence from Malawi

• In Event: Pre-Service teacher education through the prism: Highlighting grassroots perspectives from Malawi and Rwanda

Proposal

Evidence-based teaching practices that build competence in the component skills of reading are essential for successful reading and writing for learners living in low-resource contexts (National Reading Panel, 2000). Quality teaching is attributed to the teacher's level of content and pedagogical content knowledge on language and literacy components (Coe et al., 2014; Joshi et al., 2009; Piasta et al., 2020). Many sub-Saharan African pre-service teacher education programs struggle to adequately prepare student teachers to teach foundational skills literacy (Akyeampong et al., 2013; Falconer-Stout et al., 2015; Kim et al., 2016). This is attributed to the heavy focus on theoretical content, curriculum gaps in content and pedagogical content knowledge, and limited practicum experience, among others (Akyeampong et al., 2013; Akyeampong, 2022; Barnes et al., 2018, 2019; Bunyi et al., 2011; Wawire, 2021). There is a dearth of evidence on levels of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and self-efficacy among teacher educators from low-income contexts and how this influences the way they train student teachers. The present study examines teacher educators’ level of content and pedagogical knowledge of foundational literacy and the associations with self-efficacy, characteristics and continuing professional development (CPD). The specific research questions are:
1. What is the level of content and pedagogical content knowledge of the component skills of reading of teacher educators in Malawi?
2. What are the relationships between the teacher-educator characteristics, professional development training, and the level of content knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge, and self-efficacy in teaching literacy?
3. How do teacher educators' content and pedagogical content knowledge for early grade literacy influence how they train student teachers in early grade literacy?

The study utilizes the baseline data from the Strengthening Teacher Education and Practice (STEP) Activity in Malawi. The STEP activity seeks to strengthen literacy instruction in primary pre-service teacher education programs, operationalize the CPD framework and support MoE in developing a system for new teacher induction. This study utilized data from the baseline situation analysis conducted in 2022. Participants were 82 teacher educators from 10 teacher training colleges who completed surveys to gauge their self-efficacy, content, and pedagogical content knowledge and participated in focus group discussions. We utilized a mixed methods data analytic approach (descriptive, regression and thematic analysis). The findings revealed that the teacher educators’ level of content and pedagogical content knowledge was lower than ideal, but they had high self-efficacy about their ability to teach foundational literacy. There was a positive correlation between content and pedagogical content knowledge.

Examining the relationships between teacher-educator characteristics, self-efficacy, and professional development with content and pedagogy revealed that CPD had a significant relationship with self-efficacy. This is an indication that attending CPD increases self-confidence. Lastly, the teachers’ educators’ knowledge that informs how they prepare student teachers to teach foundational literacy is shaped by the TTC curriculum, their primary teaching experiences, and the policies and guidelines they implement. Gaps in the curriculum and external constraints hinder them from effective training delivery. Our presentation highlights important pedagogical implications for teacher training in Malawi and similar low-income contexts.

Authors

• Brenda Aromu Wawire, Florida State University, Learning Systems Institute

• Fanny Tasiye Nkunika, School to School International

• Mark Manyau, STEP Activity - Florida State University

• Adrienne Barnes-Story, Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University