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

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

In the past 25 years, primary school enrollment has ballooned in sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries, yet many children attending school are not learning foundational skills (Bashir et al., 2018). In Malawi, for instance, recent studies report low literacy outcomes and only a small fraction of students persisting through grade 8 (Abt Associates, 2022; Brombacher, 2019; Malawi Ministry of Education, 2022). In Rwanda, there are high repetition rates and the majority of children do not reach minimum proficiency in literacy and numeracy (Abbott et al., 2015; UNESCO, 2022). In Malawi and Rwanda, low levels of learning can be traced to resources not keeping pace with enrollment, weak governance systems, misaligned language of instruction policies, and poor quality of instruction (Abbott et al., 2015; Avenstrup et al., 2004; Pearson, 2016; Taniguchi, 2015). Instructional quality is the most influential driver of student learning, especially in low-resource contexts, so teacher preparation and development is critical (Bold et al., 2017; Zuilkowski et al., 2021).

Effective pre-service teacher education (PSTE) builds up teachers’ subject-matter knowledge and pedagogical skills while developing attitudes that support quality interactions in the classroom (Bashir et al., 2018; Boyd et al., 2009; Ingvarson & Rowley, 2017; Piasta et al., 2020). Rising school enrollment in SSA increased demand for qualified teachers and pre-service institutions have struggled under the pressure (American Institutes for Research, 2011; Mulera et al., 2017). Only a fraction of teachers are qualified and even they may lack necessary competencies (Akyeampong, 2022; Bold et al., 2017). There is an urgent need to transform PSTE in many SSA countries, including Malawi and Rwanda, to ensure that all teachers are well prepared to provide high quality instruction that meets learners’ needs (Akyeampong et al., 2013; Chirwa et al., 2023; Iwakuni, 2017).

Reforming PSTE requires coordinated change across a range of stakeholders linked through complex, dynamic systems. Understanding the perspectives of people involved in PSTE on the ground is essential to create change that responds to local realities (American Institutes for Research, 2011). This panel brings together research from Malawi and Rwanda, where efforts to transform PSTE are underway. The papers explore the complexity of primary PSTE from the perspectives of teacher educators based at teacher training colleges, mentor teachers, leaders at teaching practice schools, and pre-service teachers themselves. Collectively, the studies enrich our understanding of PSTE by exploring the knowledge, practices, roles, relationships, and identity-forming experiences of differently situated actors within the complex systems.
Bringing research from Malawi and Rwanda into dialogue with one another has potential to shed new light on PSTE systems in both countries because of many similarities alongside unique features which allow for comparative analysis. Their education systems face similar challenges for primary student learning, including social inequalities, insufficient resources, language of instruction policies which create barriers for learning, and large class sizes (Asim, 2017; Bashir et al., 2018; Pearson, 2016). Additionally, students entering PSTE are less likely to be academically successful or motivated because teaching is perceived as an ‘occupation of last resort’ with low social status and poor working conditions (Kadzamira, 2003, 2006).

In addition to these conditions surrounding education, the systems of PSTE in Malawi and Rwanda share structural similarities and weaknesses. For example, in both countries, PSTE for primary teachers is relatively short in comparison to global standards and some neighboring countries in SSA (Bashir et al., 2018). The teaching practice, a crucial component of PSTE, is plagued by similar limitations: lack of a strong model for coaching and mentoring, weak communication and collaboration among college and school partners, poor support structures for collaboration, insufficient training related to coaching and mentoring, and resource scarcity (Kunje et al., 2003; Mitka, 2011; Mtika, 2008; Mwanza et al., 2015; Niyibizi et al., 2021; Takavarasha & Zimuto, 2024; Wei et al., 2022).

There are also some systemic and cultural differences that make Rwanda and Malawi’s PSTE ripe for fruitful comparison. As mentioned previously, the PSTE program is one year longer in Rwanda. Pre-service teachers in Rwanda have less academic preparation, as PSTE is an upper-secondary qualification, while it is a post-secondary qualification in Malawi (Malawi Institute of Education, 2017; Rwanda Education Board, 2020). The timing and duration of the teaching practice component is also an area of divergence, with pre-service teachers going to practice schools earlier in their training in Malawi, although the total duration is longer in Rwanda.

This panel will explore these two systems of PSTE from an array of vantage points. The first paper will focus on stakeholders at the teacher training colleges in Malawi, examining the pedagogical knowledge, skills and practices of teacher educators related to literacy instruction, an area of significant need in Malawi. The next paper broadens the focus to include stakeholders situated at the primary schools involved in the teaching practice component of PSTE in Malawi as well as pre-service teachers, exploring their perspectives on their roles and relationships with one another. The final paper shifts the focus to Rwanda and looks through the eyes of pre-service teachers to uncover how their interactions with all the participants in the teaching practice “community” shape their developing professional identity.

Together, these papers offer a prismatic view of PSTE in Malawi and Rwanda through the voices of those involved on the ground. These explorations and the discussion generated amongst them will shed light on how efforts to transform PSTE in these and similar contexts can accommodate the needs, values, and perspectives of the ground-level actors on whom they depend. The knowledge generated through these papers and the scholarly exchange of this panel will have implications for the design of contextually relevant PSTE interventions to ensure that beginning teachers in these contexts have the content knowledge, pedagogical skills, attitudes and healthy teacher identities to be motivated and capable of helping all children learn.

Sub Unit

• Teacher Education and the Teaching Profession SIG

Organizer

• Kate Schell, Florida State University

Chair

• Ana H Marty, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY

Individual Presentations

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

• Role, relationship, and experience among the stakeholders in the teaching practice in Malawi - JAI BUM KOO, Florida State University; Natalie Conti, CharChar Literacy; Brenda Aromu Wawire, Florida State University, Learning Systems Institute; Adrienne Barnes-Story, Learning Systems Institute at Florida State University

• On becoming teachers in Rwanda: Examining how the teaching practice shapes pre-service teacher identity construction through a Community of Practice lens - Kate Schell, Florida State University; Ana H Marty, FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY