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

Mon, March 24, 2:45 to 4:00pm, Palmer House, Floor: 7th Floor, LaSalle 4

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Preservice teacher training programs are at the core of high-quality teacher preparation (Darling-Hammond, 2014). They are expected to deliver practical and evidence-based approaches to instruction and graduate teachers with the necessary skills and preparation to teach effectively. Students in preservice teacher training programs in high-income economies may train for 4 to 7 years, depending on the country (OECD, 2018). Conversely, in many low- and middle-income countries (LMIC), teacher education programs often take only 2 or 3 years to complete, with variations across programs (Zuilkowski, Sowa, Ralaingita, & Piper, n.d.). Specifically in Rwanda, the pathway to becoming a primary school teacher is a 3-year upper secondary certificate from a teacher training college (TTC), while prospective secondary teachers obtain a 4-year post-secondary degree mainly from the only public university in the country. Both types of institutions, TTCs and the public university, are commissioned to provide Rwanda with qualified teachers. However, this approach to teacher education exemplifies a divide between primary and secondary education in Rwanda; the former awarding less time to the adequate formation of high-quality teachers equipped to teach young children foundational skills, which are the building blocks of ongoing learning.

In addition to program length considerations, additional elements contribute to successful training of preservice teachers. One of these elements is related to the instruction happening in the preservice classroom. This instruction should be anchored in an active learning approach in which the preservice teacher engages with the content, as opposed to just listening to lectures (Lewin, 2004). In addition, applying instructional strategies should not be exclusive to the teaching practice experience. Instead, coursework should link content to its application by providing multiple opportunities for demonstrations and microteaching, coupled with feedback from the teacher educator and fellow preservice teachers (Darling-Hammond, 2014). For example, in a course related to literacy teaching methods, the preservice teachers could practice instructional strategies previously demonstrated by the teacher educator. Another critical element is the provision of opportunities to practice in real classroom contexts (e.g., primary, pre-primary). Qualified and experienced in-service teachers should be appointed to support and mentor the preservice teachers as they develop their capacity to handle the complex, every-day decision-making required to teach a diverse group of students, and teacher educators should visit the preservice teacher at the school more than once and provide ongoing guidance and coaching (Merç, 2015).

In this panel, we will present and discuss Rwanda’s Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) strategy to address the divide in the duration of teacher education programs in Rwanda. MINEDUC commissioned a consortium of a US research university and two Rwandan NGOs to design and pilot a teaching residency program (subsequently called residency program), representing a 4th year of training for preservice primary teachers. The program aimed to strengthen preservice teachers’ evidence-based pedagogical content and skills in literacy, math, and science, provide them with extensive teaching practice, and develop their English (Rwanda’s predominant language of instruction) and ICT skills. One hundred preservice teachers (subsequently called Teacher Residents, 53% female), selected from all TTCs and who had completed their three years of primary teacher education, participated in the program. Four TTC teacher educators were recruited to be the Resident Tutors for the program to provide technical expertise and coach Teacher Residents through teaching practice.

In the first paper, we will briefly discuss the strengths and weakness of the teacher education training program in Rwanda, specifically in literacy, and how the residency program design addressed weaknesses and leveraged opportunities to improve Teacher Residents’ pedagogical content knowledge and skills. In addition, we will present findings on the impact of the residency program on Teacher Resident’s knowledge, skills, and attitudes for literacy instruction. In the second paper, we will focus on the current teacher education training programs’ approach to math and science pedagogy for primary education and the strategies used in the residency program to provide the participating Teacher Residents with additional opportunities to build pedagogical content knowledge relevant to the delivery of the math and science primary curriculum. This paper will also present the impact of the pilot on Teacher Residents’ knowledge, skills, and attitudes for math and science literacy instruction and the contribution of coaches and continued professional development on Tutors’ pedagogical capacity and sense of ownership, which could influence the potential scale-up of the residency program.

The third panelist will present the residency program’s design to provide participating Teacher Residents with extended practice in primary schools with a supportive system to ensure their development of skills and professional agency to apply evidence-based instruction. For example, in the current system, the Teacher Residents select the host schools for teaching practice. The residency program’s design required a purposeful selection of primary schools with enough qualified teachers and competent leadership. This purposive school selection provided the stage for implementing a mentoring program with the active participation of class teachers and ongoing collaboration with the TTCs. Findings revealed that the weekly mentoring meetings with class teachers contributed to Teacher Residents' reflections on how the instructional strategies supported learners' acquisition of literacy, math, and science skills.

The panelists will discuss how ICT was interweaved throughout the program to build Teacher Residents ‘digital skills and ability to include technology in education in the context of weak internet infrastructure. In addition, the panelists will present the challenges and lessons learned from this pilot, which are necessary to consider in the conversation about adding a 4th year to the training of Teacher Residents for primary education in Rwanda. Considering the uniqueness of this type of intervention in LMIC, the findings from the pilot offer a new perspective on strengthening preservice education. The residency program pilot revealed a powerful opportunity to provide Rwanda with cohorts of highly competent beginning teachers with improved English language, ready to take charge of the primary classroom. These teachers can confidently deliver instruction using evidence-based strategies for math, science, and Kinyarwanda literacy while integrating ICT in the classroom. We will also discuss the system-based recommendations necessary to make the residency program a capstone program that will contribute significantly to Rwanda’s education.

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