Reorientation of the teacher education curriculum for sustainability at David Livingstone college of education in Livingstone, Zambia.
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Date
2019
Authors
Sichaaza, Juliet Muzyamba
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Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the quality of the reorientation of the teacher education curriculum for sustainability at David Livingstone College of Education (DALICE) in Livingstone-Zambia. It was located in the Third Action Area of the Global Action Programme on Education on Sustainable Development, a follow-up to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable (2005-2014). Its specific objectives were to: examine the quality of curriculum content; assess the quality of the teaching approaches; establishing existing potential opportunities and development of a model for quality reorientation of teacher education curriculum towards sustainability at DALICE. Literature on the quality of the reorientation of teacher education for sustainability emphasized the importance of developing holistic curriculum content, use of theory, practice and field based teaching approaches, creation of spaces of learning. However, there was little information on the quality of the reorientation of teacher education for sustainability at DALICE.
A phenomenological research design with qualitative approaches was employed and participants who were purposively selected comprised: 3 officials from Teacher Education and Specialised Services (TESS) and 2 from Zambian National Commission for UNESCO. Other participants were; 4 Heads of Departments, 8 Lecturers and 20 Students from DALICE. The data was generated through semi-structured interviews, observation checklist and document review. Thematic and content techniques were used to analyze data. The results showed that efforts were made in the 2013 Zambian teacher education reform to reorient the teacher education curriculum for sustainability and keep-up with sustainability educational needs of the pre-service student teachers. However, the desired teaching professional competencies in ESD were not clearly defined in a functional way and ESD was presented in a globalized manner. It was also noted that, a holistic approach to the development of the teacher education curriculum reoriented for sustainability at all the stages was not adopted, as there was no evidence of interdisciplinary view where the social, ecological and economic dimensions of sustainability are well balanced in all the study areas and forms of the teacher education curriculum. The overall conclusion was that, the quality of the reorientation of teacher education curriculum for sustainability at DALICE was partial, as it lacked relevant knowledge and competences to adequately prepare students for sustainability teaching. To maximize the benefits of preparing the students for sustainability teaching, this study recommended the use of a holistic approach, a philosophy of ESD to the development of the teacher education curriculum with the aim, goal and vision of the college, nation and ESD in mind. A shift from disciplinary to interdisciplinary view of the teacher education curriculum where the social, ecological and economic aspects of sustainability are well balanced and clarified to the target audience in the cultural contexts was also recommended. Furthermore, a model which illustrates how the whole-institutional approach could greatly contribute to the improvement of quality agendas in the reorientation of the teacher education curriculum for sustainability was suggested in this study.
Key words: Reorientation, Education for Sustainable Development and Teacher Education
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Keywords
Sustainable development--Study and teaching--Zambia , Education--Zambia