DNS MALAWI DAPP TEACHER TRAINING PROGRAM IN MALWI Program Report for January to December 2014 Submitted to U-landshjelp fra Folk til Folk, Norge 1
PROJECTS COVERED BY THIS REPORT DNS MZIMBA DNS DOWA DNS CHILANGOMA DNS AMALIKA 2
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES The idea of the DAPP Teacher Training Program The idea of the DAPP Teacher Training program is to train primary school teachers dedicated to teach in the rural areas. Through the HPP Teacher Training Concept (DNS), the students undergo both theoretical and practical training in how to take up both the role of a teacher and a community developer in the villages where they are most needed. During the first 10 years of the existence of DAPP Teacher Training Colleges in Malawi the students have been trained in a 2 1/2 year program. In September 2013 DAPP Malawi in cooperation with HPP and ADPP Angola and Mozambique introduced an improved program with a duration of 3 years. The DAPP Teacher Training Colleges in Malawi during 2014 had 4 Teams of students under training. These were Team 2012 which concluded the Teaching Practice Period and have graduated, and Team 2013 March which sat for government examinations and are now doing one year teaching practice under the period Teaching Practice and Further Studies - both teams are following the 2 1/2 year program. Team 2013 September which was the pioneer team for the 3 year program travelled during the early 4 months of the year and concluded the year while teaching and working with primary schools and 2014 team was enrolled in September and were preparing for travelling under 2 nd period, Busing our Continent during the end of the year. Team 2012 A total of 345 students for Team 2012 in all 4 DAPP Teacher Training Colleges graduated in November after finalizing their school based teaching practice The Teaching Profession as Part of the Teacher Training. During their 11 months teaching practice, the students took full responsibilities of their classrooms where two of them were assigned one classroom. The students experienced real primary school life in rural set up where they practiced the knowledge and skills which they gained during college training. They established small school gardens with pupils and produced teaching resources from locally available materials. They learnt on how to collaborate with parents and community members, and on how to cooperate with teacher s councils. Many implemented awareness open days to sensitise communities on the need to send children to school and also as one way of combating learners dropouts and absentiseeim and this resulted in reduced absentiseeim. They also with their pupils and other teachers carried out tree planting action in collaboration of DAPP Malawi-through which more than 1 million trees were planted. Team 2013 the March Team 204 students were under this Team in the 3 colleges; Dowa, Amalika and Chilangoma. During the year, the students wrote government examinations in which all passed and later started the 11 months school based teaching practice period in the rural primary schools they were deployed. They did Period 3 We Continue Constructing our College and demonstration Teaching Practice and Further Studies. period before sitting for government examinations. During construction period the students acquired practical skills in brick laying,carpentry and tree planting. They also implemented practical work in the colleges and primary schools surrounding the college. The colleges have now new latrines, improved outdoor kitchens, outdoor benches and sporting ground resulted from the period activities. Trees have also been planted and weeded in all the colleges. 3
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES During Teaching practice and Further studies, students taught in the nearest primary schools. In smaller groups the students observed each other lessons and later discussed how the lessons were presented together with their teachers. They together analyzed their lessons and reinforced achievements while also suggested how best they could improve. Team 2013 the September Team The team had 339 student teachers in the 4 colleges. It had in the months of January to May travelled in Mozambique, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana and Tanzania using 11 busses together with their teachers and drivers. They carried Kindles (e-books) with the whole curriculum for the 4 months containing courses and studies. During travelling, they visited cities, villages, historical places and beautiful sceneries. They camped in schools and villages and made friendships with teachers, students and community members. Students used the kindles for doing their studies and courses with facilitation from their teachers. They were planning weekly tasks for studying-related to the countries and places which they were visiting. They constantly reflected whatever they were studying with the experiences and knowledge they got from their interaction with people in the areas. They experienced friendships and hospitality in many places. They also experienced the bureaucracy and corruption found in many of the visited countries especially when crossing boarders and dealing with police controls. The 4 months travel with 33 people in one bus was a perfect set up for everybody to take new personal steps in many ways. Some students were very responsible for the bus and were working hand in hand with the teacher and driver if the bus had a mechanical problem. Others were developing good interpersonal, organisational and management skills in approaching possible places to visit or stay overnight, explaining about the purpose of the travel and make sure that the place was left in good order afterwards. Others again were handling the budget for food, learning to work with exchange rates, adapting to other types of food and learning to create consensus in a diverse group about which food to buy and prepare. The size of the bus group gave every member a place and important roles to play. Students develop self confidence and esteem due to the various roles they played. They returned mid May. The team then did the 3 rd Period Hitting the Hearts. They summarized their experiences and prepared information to share with other people through drama, poem, report, pictures, PowerPoint presentation and videos. They arranged and visited many places including local communities, schools, workplaces where they made presentations about their travelling experiences. This enable students to learn on how to prepare various forms of presentations and share to different types of audience. The year ended while the students were in the period of doing teaching practice in the primary schools around their colleges. The period started by students observing the qualified teachers teaching and also assisting them with classroom management. They later started teaching and observing and held discussions together with their teachers where they commented on the success of the lessons and how they could be improved which enable the students to reflect the good standards of lesson presentation. During this period students learnt on how to handle learners and manage classroom, they also acquired practical management of teaching and learning resources. 4
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES Team 2014 Team The team was enrolled in September after attending three interviews also referred as preparatory meetings. They had both written examinations and practical action in the first meeting which gave them the experience on the nature of the training programme. The successful candidates were again called for the second and third meetings where they read and discussed about the 3 year programme periods and activities. The team started the training in September with the period 1 Crossing over Rubicon through which they learnt more about the demands for the programme, and also countries to be travelled. They also learnt about the various challenges which people face in the communities including the factors affecting child education. They also went and lived with people in the household surrounding the college so that they should get familiarized with rural set up. During this period, the students acquired interpersonal and communication skills on how they could approach the community. The year ended when they were planning for travelling-securing tents, learning basic language culture for the travelling The Teacher Training College as a centre for education and development. The colleges continue to work in close cooperation with the local community as well as with educational institutions in the areas. This is done as part of the training of the students as well as by the management of the colleges when planning programs and activities. Saturday Pedagogical Sessions and People s Exams. Both the 2 1/2 Year Program and the new 3 Year Program have incorporated activities for the students through out the program working together with schools and teachers as well as community members around the colleges. In Saturday Pedagogical Sessions the students have prepared presentations and discussions about important topics such as How do we keep girls in school?, School Gardens and Nutrition and others. They have invited teachers and Primary Education Advisors to sessions where they have discussed these topics and learned more from each other. The educational periods in the colleges are often concluded with written and/or oral exams. Another way of getting feed back is the People s Exams. Here all the students prepare presentations and exhibitions concluding on the topics which they have learned. They invite people ho have relevant experience and connection to the topics to form a panel who will evaluate how much the students have understood. This also gives a good cooperation with the local schools and communities and broadens the understanding of pedagogy and teaching. 5
PROGRAM ACTIVITIES Partnership with Teaching Practice Schools. During the first half of 2014 the already existing cooperation between the colleges and the Teach Preschool teacher training program The colleges maintain the cooperation with community based pre schools in the local communities. This year a total of 83 preschools are in operation. The teachers are trained in regular training days. Some times these take place at the colleges other trainings are carried out locally in the schools. The program is running on very low cost resources and mainly carried out by the Development Instructors and local volunteers. The Ministry of Education has for some years hinted that Early Childhood Learning will be compulsory, so there is potential in maintaining these programs and gaining the experience. Training community members in Sewing, Knitting, Adult Literacy and Environmental Sustainability This activity is now an integrated part of the training program in all colleges. Once a week the students are responsible for training the community members in the above mentioned skills. This has 2 purposes to let the communities benefit from the human resources and knowledge found at the colleges and to let the students train themselves in working with and teaching community members before they start their work as teachers. African Library Project Another part of the Teacher Training College as a Center for Education in the community is the establishment of small libraries in the schools surrounding the colleges. DAPP has since 2008 cooperated with an American organization, African Library Project, which collects and donates gently used children s books and ships them to Malawi. The teachers responsible for these small libraries come for trainings at colleges and the Development Instructors among other activities also visit these libraries and help to keep them active and inviting. Graduated Teachers Network The Graduated Teachers Network has now existed in almost 2 years. 52 teacher graduated from the colleges are voluntarily meeting monthly to share plans and ideas all with the intension of improving their teaching and increase their influence in their schools. At the same time a smaller group is working full time with producing teaching materials and education plans for each class and for each subject all through the school cycle. Through monitoring visits to some of the teachers and schools in the program it has been clear to see some of the effects. The teachers are using the materials and their teaching is more active and involving. They use a method in which the pupils are working in trios to solve tasks. They have an overview of which tasks to solve and work with another trio to consolidate what they have learned. Generally the learners in these classes are active and used to working together as opposed to the traditional teaching where many learners in the class room have to wait for one learner to answer. During the past 4 months another 44 graduated teachers joined the network of teacher making it a otal of 96. 6
IMPACT OF THE DNS PROGRAM The Understanding of Child Friendly Schools in the Primary Schools. The DNS Teacher Training Colleges have direct impact in the 58 primary schools which they use as teaching practice schools. These schools all have a more child friendly appearance: Toilets and hand washing facilities are in better shape and kept clean, flowers and trees have been planted and are taken care of, the student teachers class rooms are full of interesting posters and drawings as well as teaching materials made of locally available resources. The student teachers often take the lead in creating better cooperation with parents and other community members. This lifts the standards of the entire primary school and many of the other teachers follow suit. Apart from this direct impact other neighboring schools also get inspired. DAPP Malawi is furthermore at the moment operating 2 projects in which the teachers councils in a total of 100 primary schools are mobilized around creating Child Friendly schools. The project leaders in these projects are DAPP graduated teachers who have been entrusted to make the impact of the DNS pedagogy being felt even more. Cooperation with other Teacher Training Colleges The DAPP teacher Training Colleges continue having cooperation with and impact on other teacher training colleges in Malawi. Principals participate in Principals Forum which is a 3 day meeting twice a year organized by Department of Teacher Education in the Ministry of Education (DTED). Dowa DNS has regular sports events with both Emmanuel TTC, another private TTC, and Lilongwe TTC which is a government college. DNS Amalika has formed a friendship with Machinga TTC, a government TTC. A group of teachers and students visited them for a full day to see and hear about how the students are taking responsibilities, organized in groups and implementing garden farming. Some of the pedagogical ideas which other teacher training colleges comment on and want to learn from are that the students have and take responsibilities, that they are organized in smaller groups and that they work actively with community members in the rural communities. Also the physical improvements in the teaching practice schools make an impression. The Network of Graduated Teachers The 52 teacher in the Network of Graduated Teachers also have a tangible impact in their schools. All of them have created cooperation with other teachers in their schools. These teachers are also using the teaching materials and participating in the activities which the DNS graduated teachers initiate. 7
PROGRAM RESULTS Description Planned for 2014 Achieved January December Variance Student teachers under training 1186 1190 +4 Students graduating 352 345-7 Community members trained in various skills 2300 3445 +1145 Pedagogical Workshops in operation 10 10 0 Preschools in operation 75 83 +8 Open Days and events in primary school sector held Hectares of land under cultivation for food production Pupils directly reached by students in teaching practice ( pupils taught by a student teacher) Primary schools hosting students in teaching practice School Gardens established in Teaching Practice Schools 16 24 +8 20 21 +1 27680 27891 +211 62 54-8 103 92-11 8
PROGRAM IN PICTURES Pre-school pupils learning about the different plant Student teachers digging rubbish pit for the Maternity Ward at Dzaleka Health Center during the period Hitting the Hearts 9
PROGRAM IN PICTURES One of the exhibition where students show their activities. Open day on International Day of Girl Child. 10
PROGRAM IN PICTURES This is one of the performances from learners during an open day that our students organized during hitting the hearts period. Team 2013 students together with core group teacher preparing the bus for the 4 months travel. 11
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