Abstract

The Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) revised the school curriculum as well as the teacher education curriculum in 2013. The revised curriculum for Colleges of Education preparing teachers for Junior Secondary School was rolled out in 2016. The fundamental change was the shift from Objective Based Education to Outcomes-Based Education (OBE). The focus of the study was the Outcomes-Based Mathematics Teacher Education Syllabus (OBMTES). This study sought to assess the implementation of the OBMTES in colleges of education in southern province of Zambia. The study employed a qualitative approach and used a case study design to address the purpose of the study. The target population for the study was 24 lecturers and 120 trainee teachers from which a sample of four lecturers and 40 trainee teachers were selected purposively. Lesson observations, semi-structured interviews and document analysis were used to establish lecturers’ practices while Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) (with trainee teachers) were used to establish the trainee teachers’ views on lecturers’ practices. All data collected was analysed qualitatively by generating themes. The findings indicated that there was lack of alignment between policy and practice – lecturers’ practices were at abeyance with OBE premises and principles. The lecturers’ interactions with students was largely characterised by teacher-centred approaches and the assessments given were not focused on learning. The study recommended that sufficient time and resources should be dedicated towards building capacity among educators regarding the Outcomes Based Education curriculum change. Keywords: Outcome, curriculum implementation, lecturers’ practices, Outcomes – Based Education. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-24-08 Publication date: August 31 st 2021

Highlights

  • The Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) revised the school curriculum and the Teacher Education curriculum in 2013

  • One of the fundamental changes in the revised curriculum was the shift from Objective Based Education to Outcomes-Based Education (OBE)

  • The revised curriculum for Teacher Education was premised on the fact that if teacher educators changed their practices by designing activities that were outcomes-based, the trainee teachers would in turn design and implement similar strategies/lessons in the schools, (MESVTEE 2013)

Read more

Summary

Introduction

The Ministry of Education, Science, Vocational Training and Early Education (MESVTEE) revised the school curriculum and the Teacher Education curriculum in 2013. The revised curriculum for Teacher Education was premised on the fact that if teacher educators changed their practices by designing activities that were outcomes-based, the trainee teachers would in turn design and implement similar strategies/lessons in the schools, (MESVTEE 2013) This was important in Mathematics Education as the National Assessment Survey Reports of 1999 to 2012 consistently indicated poor performance of learners in Mathematics at all levels of Education. The implementers (Teacher Educators) adapt the curriculum to suit their feelings, opinions and college environment which might lead to deviation from the expected norm It was, not known whether the OBE premises and principles were being applied in Mathematics classrooms in order to produce Mathematics teachers who were able to teach in an outcomes-based way. The common codes were grouped into categories which led to themes identification

Planning stage
Method of teaching
Lesson execution stage
Demonstration by lecturer
25 Cr 26 T
Conclusion and recommendations
Full Text
Published version (Free)

Talk to us

Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have

Schedule a call