Department of Curriculum Studies

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Browsing Department of Curriculum Studies by Author "Abdella, Ali Suleman"

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    Lesson study as a support strategy for teacher development : a case study of middle school science teachers in Eritrea
    (Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2015-12) Abdella, Ali Suleman; Reddy, C. P. S.; Carl, A. E.; Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Education. Dept. of Curriculum Studies.
    ENGLISH ABSTRACT: Against the background of education reforms, this study was conducted to determine what can be learnt from using lesson study as professional development strategy in Eritrea. The core problem discussed in the study is that the instigators of successive education reforms in Eritrea expected teachers to shift their teaching from more teacher focused to student-centred approaches with little or no support provided to them. This implies that teachers in Eritrean need effective and sustainable support systems that enable them to implement the reform initiatives. In this study, the researcher uses lesson study as a strategy that could provide teacher development experiences to teachers in Eritrea that are different from the traditional one-shot varieties such as workshops, short-term orientations and training of trainer programmes which are often normally provided by the official programmes. Lesson study is a well-established classroom-based activity in which teachers systematically examine their teaching by collaboratively planning, teaching, observing, revising and re-teaching lessons. Several successes with lesson study have been reported in research in Japan, where it has been used extensively, as well as elsewhere. However, no study on teacher professional development has been conducted using lesson study as a strategy within the Eritrean context. This study is an interpretive qualitative case study that explores the effects of lesson study on science teachers’ learning and classroom practice in selected middle schools of Eritrea. It involved twenty one participants – fifteen science teachers, three school directors and three pedagogic heads for a duration of one year. Data were generated through questionnaires, semi-structured focus group interviews, observations, documents for generating research lesson events, video-recordings and photographs. The findings show that participation in lesson study cycles that were extended over a period of time was effective in enhancing the learning of teachers and changing the way they teach science in their classrooms resulting in enhanced students confidence, participation and learning. Evidence reported in this study also indicates that lesson study made a contribution to minimising teacher isolation by bringing teachers together to collaborate and share professional ideas and experiences. Moreover, the findings show the existence of a direct relationship between teachers’ interest in teacher development initiatives and the interest that the school leadership shows in such initiatives and in the extent of support they provide to the participating teachers. Though participants reported receiving benefits from lesson study, they were constrained by a lack of time, curriculum overload, large class-size, teachers’ poor living conditions, lack of suitable space, shortage of resources, students’ poor English proficiency, newness of the process and students’ negligence. This study has also contributed to extending the body of knowledge on lesson study. Finally, it is hoped that the findings of this study may be used as a guiding framework for future teacher development initiatives in the education sector or other professional development programmes in Eritrea.