Professional support for female teachers in rural fragile contexts

• In Event: Roundtable Session (Wednesday II)
  In Refereed Round-Table Session: Innovative models to improve recruitment and professional learning of female teachers in low income fragile contexts

Proposal

Mozambique is typical of many low income contexts in sub Saharan Africa: Female teachers are reluctant to work in rural remote schools in Mozambique and the number of teachers trained doesn’t meet the demand at primary and secondary schools . In 2007, teacher reforms in Mozambique implemented opened teacher training opportunities for grade 10 completers to enrol in one-year teacher training programme with the possibility of graduating as “Basic” level teachers. As a result, an additional 8000 new teachers were recruited by the government in 2013. The introduction of a Directive which instructs teacher training institutes to adopt the 50% share of new entrants to girls and women has also had a significant impact which has resulted in an increase in the number of female teachers and managers in primary education (EGSEDH, 2016: 8). However, despite a considerable increase in the number of primary school teachers, from 16,922 in 2005 to 25,947 in 2008, the percentage of female teachers remains low: in 2008, only 37 percent of EP1 teachers and 29 percent of teachers in EP2 were women, the teacher gender gap increases as girls transition into secondary schools and at more senior levels such as school leadership. There are also significant disparities between provinces. Equally critically most teachers have not had the opportunity to participate in teacher education programmes and achieve appropriate qualifications and skills A study by the WB reveals that over 90% of the teachers in Mozambique could not score above 80% on school curriculum they were responsible for. The average score was 29%.

This presentation shares a number of examples from the region which aim to offer women teachers opportunities to improve their professional status and to progress towards education leadership. In STAR-G for example, a Save the Children programme in Mozambique , 500 teachers in 3 provinces namely Gaza, Manica, and Tete are supported to improve their professional competencies and skills, with a focus on gender-responsive pedagogy. The approach includes school-based activities that address teachers internalised and deep-rooted gender biases that adversely impact on girls’ learning.
Key questions to be explored are
How might teacher professional development influence female teacher retention in the rural remote schools?
How does female teacher professional development, particularly when focused on gender awareness, support changes in their identity and pedagogy?
What types and forms of professional development are valued by female teachers, particularly those working in more isolated rural and fragile contexts?

Author

• Emily Echessa, Save the Children