Get ready for the mass of acronyms!
My role appears to change on a daily basis but I was employed by VSO (www.vso.org.uk) as an MRA - methodology and resources advisor. In short, I mentor and train teacher-trainers in the use of LCM (Learner centred methods) and how to make and use teaching resources out of locally-resourced-materials. I am based in the TRC (Teaching Resource Centre) and it is my role to ensure that it is an established centre for learning not only for the student teachers but also the tutors (teacher-trainers). This means that it has to be fully stocked and managed and that the TRC curriculum is taught.
It sounds easy enough but getting tutors (who have often taught for MANY years - some more than me) to move from what they know as 'teaching', (and have themselves been taught using these methods) to something apparently completely and radically different is NOT easy. The system here has been very much 'chalk and talk' - teachers lecture, they write on the chalkboard - learners copy; teachers recite 'facts' - learners repeat/chant back…it's what we know as rote-learning, it's all rather prescribed and spoon-fed. So the idea is that I move teaching from TLM (teacher led methods) to LCM.
Here are some of the barriers:
The language of instruction is English and often the tutor's English is barely any better than their students. It's not their fault - English was only introduced as the medium to teach in in 2009 and it was a change that happened overnight. One day the students were being taught in Kinyarwanda and French, the next everything was in English. People are BRIGHT here, there is so much potential but because they are being taught in English, learning is severely hindered.
Practical exercises/experiments do not often take place because resources/equipment just aren't available - they are too costly. Imagine learning to paint without having paints? Or even teaching how to paint when you've never painted before? Yes, that's happening here. All lessons are theoretical. There aren't enough books for EVERY learner to use, there aren't enough computers (we have 8 - supposedly…but they don't always work at once - for 800 students!?!), Internet connectivity is bad and electricity supplies are unreliable. So my role isn't as simple as putting together an interactive flip chart - as much as I loathed the interactive whiteboard, boy do I miss it now! I cannot go out and buy a mass of resources - even if I'm ABLE that's just not sustainable in the long run, I can't just whack out the plastic every time there is a need for something. (It doesn't give out the right message nor is it good for my pocket either…)
I do sometimes feel like a bit of a fraud. I'm training and supporting teachers who are TRAINED and EXPERIENCED - who am I to try to change practice? Tutors tell me that they enjoy my model lessons and feel inspired by them but find it difficult to do it themselves. I've observed tutors trying to BE me in their lessons - and that's NOT what I want. There's a fear of thinking and stepping outside of the box; guidelines restrict, they are not considered to be lines that guide but rather a frame to work within and never to venture out of. Things/concepts that I considered to be common practice/sense in the teaching world are evidently not here, they're just foreign - a bit like me.
Today I observed another volunteer give a workshop. He started with this phrase, 'Teaching as you know it is not teaching, teachers today are not teachers but are facilitators of learning.' I wasn't particularly keen on this phrase but maybe there is some truth in it. Maybe that's simply what my role is - a facilitator of learning. My (or VSO's) way is NOT the be-it-and-end-all, I do not know best, I am not always right (even if I like to think I am!)…but my experience tells me that something has to change here and it starts with an attitude, the desire to change. I'm thankful that most of the tutors I work with can see the need to change practice and are willing to be advised by me, for those who cannot - well, I let them be.
No comments:
Post a Comment