Curriculum and textbook revisions
Under ANMEB curricular and textbook revisions were initiated. It is a healthy move that reforms in the curriculum have been planned and organized at the national level and the suggestions from states are sought for improvements in the state level . However, the national bodies have freedom to disregard the suggestions by the state bodies and thus the curriculum and textbooks are generally not contextualized to the local needs,(Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2004.)
Thus, the textbooks and curriculum reform programs should be decentralized � and local bodies should be helped to develop capacities to develop and modify curriculum and textbooks which are suited to local realities. This is specially true of rural areas � since most of the textbooks and curricula are developed keeping in mind the needs of middle class, urban students and overlook the contexts of rural students, who may not be familiar with the contexts mentioned in such textbooks ,(Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2004.)
Further, we can learn from the success of the P900 program, for schools in poorest areas in
Further, in subsequent paragraphs I discuss the program for improving the quality of current teachers and school administrators.
Carrera Magisterial program for improving teacher and school quality
As mentioned previously, �Carrera Magisterial program was created as part of the ANMEB in 1992. It was aimed at raising the quality of basic education through teachers� professional training, new learning presence in schools, and improving working conditions. One component of this program is the training of teachers; another is a merit payment system in which professional staff is voluntarily evaluated and rewarded with salary increases for their performance as classroom teachers, school directors-supervisors and administrators (tecnico-pedagogicas)� (Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2004.)
RESULTS of the Carrera Magisterial program
�Results show that at the national level and particularly in rural areas, enrollment in Carrera Magisterial positively impacts learning achievement�Being in the Carrera Magisterial program increases a students achievement in mathematics by 1.87 percent (3.31 percent in rural areas) .
In general, students with teachers that have more years of experience (using age as a proxy) achieve higher scores in Mathematics. It is clear that teacher experience and seniority improve student achievement growth rates, suggesting that teacher proficiency is enhanced by practical experience and training. The marginal productivity of time spent in formal education of teachers on teacher effectiveness is statistically insignificant.
But the potential of training to contribute to the improvement of teaching effectiveness appears high. The findings show: the importance of teachers� experience and practice; teacher ability to deal with children�s questions and doubts intelligently (implying the importance of teachers� subject matter knowledge), and teacher effectiveness in monitoring students' performance or difficulties and talking to students.
Female teachers increase learning achievement. Interestingly, training (measured by the number of courses taken by the teacher) has not impacted student achievement. Moreover, each one of these courses separately failed to have an impact on learning achievement. Thus, investment in primary school teachers seems most effective when targeted towards increasing practical experience and developing content-specific knowledge.
Teacher�s years of residence in the community increases student�s achievement, possibly because of the teacher�s involvement with the community. Type of post (permanent or short-term) negatively impacts learning achievement. A possible explanation is that in public schools, a temporary post has almost the same benefits as a regular or permanent post. It is extremely rare to find a case where an individual had to leave his job because his �short-term post� was not renewed or because it was not changed to a long-term post� (Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2004.)
My note: This analysis shows that the program has an inadequate system of performance appraisal and promotion for teachers. Further, taking courses during in-service training did not improve teacher performance (Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2004.)
�Pedagogical effort and teacher answers to student questions are highly correlated with greater learning achievement�. Didactic materials available to the teacher and school facilities failed to demonstrate a significant effect on learning achievement,� (Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2004.)
My note: didactic material did not show any significant effect on student learning could also be a result of poor quality of the material, and given the centralized system of curriculum design and textbook publishing, it is possible that the material is not properly targeted to students needs in different regions and school systems.
�An additional important variable to explain learning achievement in public schools was school supervision by the principal and supervisor. The frequency of supervisors� school visits has a significant and positive correlation with student learning,� (Lopez-Acevedo, Gladys, 2004.)
Thus, we can conclude that the in-service teacher training component of the Carrera Magisterial program was not sufficient in raising the teachers� pedagogical skills, however, as perceived by the school staff the supervision by principal and supervisors had a positive effect on student learning. The reasons could be discerned from the general practices of in-service teacher-training programs in Latin American countries and even OECD countries, which are highly suspect: � while there is no shortage of in-service training in many OECD countries, it is noted that much of what passes for professional development is fragmented and fleeting, is not sufficiently focused and too �top-down� to give teachers any real sense of ownership. Finally the analysis undertaken by the OECD shows relatively few resources out of the total education budget are spent on in-service training�(UNESCO, 2001).
Nonetheless, in-service teacher training is important: �although the main focus of teacher education continues to be on pre-service training, the need for in-service upgrading, updating, and renewal of knowledge, skills and capabilities in now widely acknowledged as a high priority.� (UNESCO, 2001) Thus, renewed efforts must be made to improve the in-service teacher training programs in
Pre-service teacher training
Pre-service teacher training is not a focus area of education reform in Mexico, however �limited research evidence suggests that the number of years of a teacher�s (pre-service teacher training) education is generally positively correlated with their students� performance, although there is debate about the threshold at which returns from additional teacher training declines�(UNESCO, 2001). Thus, pre-service, if properly organized can have a significant effect on student achievement.
Thus, the Mexican in-service teacher training program of Carrera Magisterial was a partial success . It did help in a marginal improvement in student achievement in both urban and rural public schools. However, the system had its flaws: such as the mechanism of promotion of teachers, ineffective didactic materials, no focus on pre-service teacher training improvements. No attempts were made to reform other factors which also affect instructional quality such as length of the teacher�s working day, division of teacher�s working time between teaching and other duties etc.!
(UNESCO,
2001.)
Learning from Rural Primary Education Program in
It was an offshoot of the P900 program in
The program had �three lines of action:
- Teacher training that seeks to overcome the isolation of the rural teacher by establishing micro-centers. These minor-centers are sites for monthly meetings for teachers from an average of seven to eight schools. The first stage of training, during the first year of the project, consists of three days of workshops.
- The design of a pedagogy that accommodates the local cultures and elaborates a strategy of multigrade schooling.
The design and production of auxiliary texts, specially created to aid teachers in rural multigrade schools. They allow for both individual and group strategies while taking into account the context of the rural environment as a starting point for further learning. All children in these schools have received auxiliary texts each year of the program,� (Garcia-Huidobro, 2000: Reimers, 2000.)
Further, we see that all the above mentioned Mexican programs had problems of weak program design and/or faulty implementation. Thus, perhaps we can learn from the process by which the P900 program of
Learning about proper implementation of an education reform program:
�The P900 schools Programme was made possible by five types of collaboration:
(1) International collaboration.
(2) National collaboration at the government level.
(3) National collaboration between government and non-government organizations.
(4) Provincial collaboration at the government level.
(5) Community collaboration.
International Level:
At this level, the most important form of collaboration is financial, which made the formulation and launching of the programme possible. Unfortunately, this collaboration was dependent on the political situation at the time rather than a regular source of support. On the other hand, the funds are readily available, enabling the programme to be initiated quickly.
National government level:
This collaboration refers to the Education Ministry at the central and regional levels, strengthening the specific functions of each. The aim of the collaboration is administrative and technical and is expressed in the training of regional supervisors by the central team and through the administrative coordinator for material distribution, communications, and lunch deliveries.
National government and non-government organizations
This collaboration has primarily technical aims and consists in sub-contracting various tasks with NGOs. This has the advantage of flexibility as well as variety in supply, without having to add personnel to the Ministry staff.
Provincial level:
The type of collaboration between supervisors and teachers, as well as that among teachers in different schools, is redefined from an isolated supervisory function to a pedagogic collaboration. This nexus is the main focus of the programme�s actions.
Community level
Through the learning workshops, new liaisons are formed between the school and the community as monitors are included as educational agents. Among the advantages of this collaboration should be mentioned the following:
- The presence of new educational styles has a demonstration effect within the school
- Teachers perceive more positively the potential capacities of members of the community
- For the monitors, this collaboration opens new horizons with respect to their job possibilities, their vocation, and their sense of identity;
- The presence of the monitors in the school facilitates better interaction between the culture of the community and that of the school,� (Flip, 1993)
Yahoo! Messenger - want a free & easy way to contact your friends online?
_______________________________________________ Assam mailing list [email protected] http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/listinfo/assam
Mailing list FAQ: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/assam/assam-faq.html To unsubscribe or change options: http://pikespeak.uccs.edu/mailman/options/assam
