Reforming K-6 teacher preparation in Burkina Faso: an analysis of the characteristics and perceptions of the inaugural cohort

• In Event: The Supply Side of Teacher Labor Markets in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Proposal

Consensus that teaching is the strongest school level determinant of student achievement (e.g., Blömeke and Olsen, 2019; Burroughs et al, 2019; Cusset, 2011; OECD, 2005, 2018; UNESCO, 2004; UNESCO Institute for Statistics [UIS], 2006) has resulted in growing interest in and concerns about the teaching profession worldwide, particularly during the past two decades. This has led to reforms of initial teacher education (ITE) in high-, middle- and low-income countries alike. In this paper, we focus on the recent reform in Burkina Faso where, as of October 2020, one must hold a high school diploma (13 years of schooling) to be admitted into initial K-6 teacher education. This is a major policy shift considering that the entry requirement had been the lower secondary diploma (10 years of schooling) since 1960, the year the country gained independence from France. We devote the first part of the paper to (i) the reform’s design process and key orientations, (ii) the new program, and (iii) the institutional changes involved. We then present and analyze the characteristics of the first cohort of prospective teachers and their perceptions of the first year of their two-year program. We gathered the data through a questionnaire that 2/3 (N=594) of the cohort completed. First, we performed simple descriptive analyses, with the objective of producing an overall portrait of the cohort. Then, we conducted cross-analyses in order to identify potential associations between different variables. Striking findings include the following:
- The cohort is male-dominated (difference of 35.4 points) whereas UIS data show a difference of 4.29 in favor of male teachers in 2020.
- 85.7% of the respondents pursued a university program, with 35.7% up to the third year.
- Respondents from the field of economics and business administration are those who had trouble the most during their first year in their ITE program, compared to those from the humanities and social sciences. On the contrary, respondents from the fields of law and political science and the humanities and social sciences are those who reported to be the most at ease with the program’s requirements.
- Only 0.5% and 1.4% of the respondents wish to be primary and pre-school teachers in 10 years, respectively.
- Male respondents (13.5%) are more likely than females (8.3%) to leave teaching.
- Respondents from the field of law and political science are the most likely to quit teaching for other development sectors in 10 years, compared to their colleagues from the humanities and social sciences.
- Finally, the respondents with the highest educational attainment are the most likely to drop out, compared to those who hold a high school diploma.
Based on these findings and others, we close the paper with recommendations to the reform designers and to the leadership of the ITE institutions, and leads for further research. The significance of this work lies in the context and scope of the reform, and in its contribution to the knowledge base on ITE in developing countries, in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa in particular.

Authors

• Martial Dembele, University of Montreal

• Adriana Morales Perlaza, Université De Montréal

• Genevieve Sirois, Université TÉLUQ