Many
countries need to train large numbers of new teachers and
upgrade the skills of the existing 60 million, many of whom
are unqualified. In some sub-Saharan nations, student enrolments
are outpacing the number of teachers available and, worldwide'
teachers are facing demands to educate for democracy, HIV/AIDS
prevention and for inclusive learning. These demands are far
beyond the capacity of traditional teachers' colleges.
Distance
learning is one of the ways of strengthening teaching. How
effective is it? What technologies should be used? At what
cost? Answers to these questions can be found in Teacher Education
through Distance Learning, commissioned by UNESCO's Division
of Higher Education.
Conducted
by the International Research Foundation for Open Learning
(IRFOL), the study presents ten case studies from nine counties
- Brazil, Burkina Faso, Chile, China, India, Nigeria, Mongolia,
South Africa and the United Kingdom. Hilary Perraton, who
directed the study, identifies three key areas for planners.
He suggests that they should concentrate on getting the management
structure right, on choosing technologies that are, convenient
for learners and on finding ways to supervise teachers' changed
practice in the classroom.
The
study examines the relative strengths of the different providers
looked at: universities, a distance teachers' college, private
agencies and donor-funded projects. In Brazil, for instance,
a consortium of private-sector bodies and NGOs is teaching
teachers. In South Africa, the provider is an NGO within government-funded
schools, while in United Kingdom and India they are open universities.
In terms of technology, print continues to be the mainstay
of distance learning. The rule of thumb is to adapt the technology
to the particular audience and purpose. For reasons of economy
and population density, Burkina Faso opted for print, while
a programme in Chile to train teachers to use ICTs in their
teaching is entirely computer-based.
How
teachers apply their skills in the classroom is one yardstick
for judging effectiveness. A United Kingdom project integrated
teaching practice into the programme by appointing school-based
mentors to support and supervise trainees. There is evidence
from South Africa of changes in approach by teachers following
training. Another yardstick of effectiveness is completion
rates, although data are not always available. All told, student
motivation was generally high, but when a programme led to
a qualification the result was more tangible.
Looking
at costs, the study found that while the distance mode can
be cheaper than the conventional mode, this is not always
the case. An ICT online programme in Chile was about the same
as its face-to-face equivalent. Brazil's television-based
A-Plus programme had high development costs but, because of
its scale, had modest costs per student. The use of radio
in South Africa and Mongolia was relatively inexpensive for
learners, although production and transmission costs were
also incurred.
This
summary of case studies is aimed at senior education officers
in Education Ministries. "They are the people who are daily
called upon to make hard choices in how to expand teacher
education through distance learning. They are the ones who
have to make difficult trade-offs between access and quality,"
says Richard Halperin, Chief of UNESCO's Section for Teacher
Education. To give hard- pressed planners a quick overview
of he strengths and drawbacks of several options, summaries
present different approaches to teacher education.
Next
year, UNESCO will issue pragmatic guidelines for users on
planning, costing, managing and assessing distance learning
for teacher education, drawn from this study and from a wider
research field. In the meantime, interested users can learn
from the trial-and-error experiences of their peers in different
countries.
Contact:
R. Halperin,
Section for Teacher Education. Division of Higher Education,
UNESCO
7, place de Fontenoy, 75007 Paris
r.halperin@unesco.org
Related
links
Countdown,
UNESCO Education News, No.27, DEC. 2001.-FEB. 2002
