Literacy/Education Development Interview – Peace Corps Teacher Trainers, Pemba
The Schools Project
I had the opportunity to again utilize one of the great local development networks in Africa, and my alma matter, The Peace Corps, to speak with a couple of volunteers working in the local educational development sector, as teacher trainers at a local institute. Drawing from my previous research, teacher training has been a serious issue here in Mozambique, and the lack of both training and incentives for teachers at both the primary and secondary levels has had a significantly negative impact on the national school system. Therefor, it was a great opportunity to talk with two volunteers who have spent the last 16 months of their service in teacher training and teacher development. Again, due to Peace Corps privacy regulations, I will not name the volunteers for this research, but below is a transcript of our conversation.
Could you give me a quick background of your work here in Pemba?
We are teacher trainers at the Alberto J Schipende Teacher Training Intitute here in Pemba. Basically, we are working with primary school and secondary school teachers who are in a one year training program to be English teachers at government schools in Mozambique. The prospective teachers are from all over the country. The reason this is done to break down some of the tribalism issues that are going on in the country, and to increase the nationalism of the school system over the historically regionally dominated mindsets.
What are some of the current governmental initiatives to help increase the quality of teachers in the public school system?
The government is currently trying to increase the numbers of teachers in the system as there is such a shortage to go around, which has resulted in so many huge class sizes (due to the very high birth rate, as well). The teacher training program used to be 2-3 years in duration, but it has been shortened to 1 year to increase the turnover and the number of teachers being put into the system to help to compensate. However, this has created many issues with teacher quality, as such, and there have been changes again recently. These training institutes are all over the country, in all of the regional capitals, and some have shifted back to the 2 year program to create better quality teachers.
Please tell me about some of the challenges being faced both by you in your capacities, as well as by the school system in general here in Mozambique.
The younger generation of the country is trying to step up and do better with things in this country, they have shown a lot of initiative, but the system is very entrenched, very corrupt and there is very little accountability. In regards to teacher attendance, teachers can miss school for weeks on end with no consequence; there are no checks or balances. Once you have a government position, you get paid whether you are there or not. Teachers will show up on campus drunk, and there is also sexual misconduct with students that is a big problem. Culturally, sex at a young age is not taboo, and is thus permissible in the schools, though technically illegal. A girl will want to pass her class and not have money to bribe a teacher, so she uses sex. This is the reality in the schools here. Anyone is a position of power will use the position to their advantage pretty much across the board. Also, on a social level, something that we have noticed quite a lot of with our trainees is that when they see someone who is struggling or doing worse than themselves, it makes them feel better about themselves; there is a lot of egoism involved with the teachers.
At the institute, superficial measures are being taken to combat this. After the last election, there was an anti-corruption campaign, but this seems to be a superficial fix, going through the motions to look like they are doing something about corruption. As such, teachers will get in trouble for messing around with girls, but was not fired, just transferred or lightly disciplined. Two other colleagues were caught cheating with students but were not kicked out, but the students were kicked out. The culture is widely accepted and not necessary seen as a bad thing, just a what teachers do thing.
What is the background requirement to become a teacher here in Mozambique?
The required background used to be just completing the 10th grade, now it is completing 12th grade. This is for the primary schools; normally, for the secondary schools, they have to have two years of college, but if their English levels are high enough, teachers can go to the secondary level without college schooling, but this will depend on connections and the locations where the teachers are placed.
What is the biggest challenge encountered in your work? The biggest success?
The biggest challenge is the lack of a curriculum. Last year, we had to invent everything we taught. There was a curriculum, but it was extremely vague (from the National Government in Maputo). In the school, there is a serious lack of direction; the leadership has meetings, but the teacher trainers are not going to class, not showing up, not giving leadership to their students, and this is creating a vicious cycle. The biggest success has been with some of the students from last year coming back and showing their gratitude for their positions.
Have you worked at all with local-language literacy in the regional tongues? Is this addressed by the schools?
They teach Bantu (family of local languages) local language classes at the training school, but these classes are very limited. This is a big problem, because many of the kids do not speak Portuguese, and the teachers cannot communicate with them.
What can be done to improve the training of teachers here, or to build upon successes?
There needs to be consequences set and followed through on in the educational system. They need to crack down on teachers who don't show up. There needs to be consequences. A lot of the teachers are smart and capable, but they can get away with not showing up, and they do.
Have you done any work in the area of educational technology, in terms of its incorporation into teacher training?
The students here have a technology class, where they learn informatics basics, but they do not have enough computers, there is no internet, and little actual practice taking place. In terms of using the internet to increase lesson planning, this is just not a reality. To use the internet costs money which teachers are not willing to spend. Students have to make their own copies of class notes. Incorporating multimedia is a long way off. There are resources at the school, but they have not been upkept. The computers have been ruined by viruses, for instance.
What resources are currently most needed by both your organization and by the schools system in Mozambique overall?
More technology would go a long way. The internet would be extremely useful, and the printers and computers are always down, so basic technical training and support would be very beneficial to the school. Reliability with these would make a huge difference for the teachers and students at the school. At the lower levels, the thing needed most is textbooks. They are non-existant in the country for many students. In primary school the kids get them, but beyond that, they are very hard to get.
What is the ideal teacher? What qualities do they have, both inside and out of the classroom?
Teachers who care about more than just their salary, who are interested in the development of the country, and teachers who don't take advantage of their students, to understand that taking bribes and sex are wrong and destructive. General respect is seriously lacking in terms of basic relationships. People who are of a higher level in society (teachers are held in a lot of respect and become egotistical) treat others badly, in general.
