RESPECT OUR TEACHERS: EVERYONE HAS A ROLE TO PLAY IN RURAL EDUCATION QUALITY

This week, the country was appalled by yet another act of humiliation to the teaching profession. The Nakaseke district council after the release of the Primary Leaving Examinations results that showed poor performance in many government aided schools passed a resolution to hold competency exams for teachers in select primary schools to prove their level of knowledge of subject content.?This?was implemented by the District Chairperson Mr.Ignatius Koomu.?These teachers were reportedly ‘tricked’ to come for a meeting at Nakaseke Technical Institute, only for them to be made to sit the exam! The way the whole process was run is devoid of the respect and professionalism that is expected towards professionals. The absurdity of the whole arrangement cannot be overemphasized. The same district in 2017 for the same reasons made Head teachers for ‘underperforming schools’ sit exams and demoted some Head teachers to deputy head teachers and classroom teachers because their schools had performed poorly in Primary Leaving Examinations. The absurdity of the decision aside, it is important to ask whether this decision was taken in consultation with the technical team at the district education office. The thinking by the district political leadership is that the teachers are the problem, and hence, the only way to fix the problem of poor performance is to ensure the teachers know the content of the subjects they teach, and hence be able to teach the learners better.

First and foremost, there is no evidence to show that knowledge of a subject necessarily determines the ability of a teacher to teach better, otherwise, all first class graduates would be teachers in their respective fields. Teaching is more than just content masterly. It is how a teacher relates with a learner, the pedagogy-how a teacher delivers content, how a teacher assesses learning during and after a lesson (formative and summative assessment). Just because someone knows subject content doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be good at delivery, relations and assessment of(and for)?learning. My point is the best teacher in that district organised exam for teachers could as well be the worst teacher at delivery of content. The best way to deliver the point home to use the metaphor of a football coach. The best football players are not necessarily the best football coaches. Teaching is a skill that is different from content knowledge.

Secondly, is the issue of teaching as a profession. If Doctors and nurses in the same district were having many deaths due to COVID-19, would the district trick them into doing a test to confirm their competence as medical professionals? Did the district reflect on the impact of this exam on these teachers and their intrinsic motivation once they return to their respective schools? Thirdly, has the district done an impact evaluation to confirm that their decision to demote head teachers to deputy head teachers and classroom teachers in 2017 has made them better professionals, and their schools are performing better as a result? Does a head teacher who is demoted to a classroom teacher become a better teacher? Given that the lower the classroom, the more foundational the learning, if a teacher has failed to teach older pupils in Primary Seven, do they become better teachers for lower classes whose learners are younger and require more person-to-person attention between the teacher and learner? Is the skillset of a Primary Seven teacher the same as a Primary Three teacher and therefore is the hope to get better learning outcomes by the more foundational levels, by demoting a teacher for upper primary to take on the lower classes? All these questions are meant to be a reflection points for the local governments as they manage and improve the education sector in their district.

To improve the learning outcomes for local governments especially in the rural areas, I would propose the following areas to be thought through:

a) Teacher and head teacher motivation:?This includes doing a thorough analysis specifically on the motivation levels of head teachers and teachers. Having a teacher in the school or even classroom doesn’t necessarily mean they are teaching, and even worse, may not necessarily translate to children learning. What is the capacity of the teacher’s and head teacher’s autonomy, mastery and purpose to innovate and ensure learning is happening in the lesson, not just delivering content? Does the teacher have the autonomy to change the lesson delivery if he/she realises there are challenges with the learning, or is he or she required to deliver the lesson plan as is?Does the teacher teach for learning or does he/she teach for teaching’s sake?

b) Teaching and learning aids & school infrastructure:?The teacher may have great knowledge of their subject, but they maynot have access to teaching aids. These support the process of teaching and learning. Whereas it is an expectation that teachers will use the locally available materials, sometimes some teaching aids like maps,blackboard rulers etc require procurement. I may have great knowledge of Social Studies, but not have a map of Uganda as a teaching aid, or have markers and manilla paper to draw it. It doesn’t mean I don’t know my subject.

c) Parental and community engagement: Given that most of the schools are rural, by implication, most of the learners are day scholars. What is the quality and quantity of the parents and community in the children’s learning? How does the parental engagement in children’s learning in urban areas (which are performing better in the summative assessments) compare with the parental engagement in rural districts? A teacher may be effective in class, but a learner will not perform if they are staying in a home with domestic violence,?gender based violence?or not having a supportive environment for learning back at home. Do the parents in Nakaseke attend parents’ meetings? Do they follow up on their children’s learning with teachers?

d) School feeding: Very related to the above is the issue of school feeding. Many schools in rural areas have challenges with school feeding. If the learners don’t have food, how are they expected to learn? I may be a subject expert, but if Iam teaching a hungry,?sleeping class, how will they learn or perform well in exams? Did the district do a study on school feeding?

e) School oversight committee’s capacity: All government aided schools have school oversight committees, ie, the School Management Committees, Board of Governors and Parents Teachers Associations. What is the capacity of these committees in Nakaseke? How effective are they in their role of supporting teaching and learning and school leadership support supervising? What is the level of education of the chairpersons and members of these committees? How often do they visit these schools?

f) Pedagogy and language of instruction:?This is an enabler of teaching and learning, especially for rural schools. Are the teachers in these schools using a learner centred ?or teacher centred?instruction? Are learners?in lower primary being taught in their mother tongues for easy learning or do they teach in English to a child who has come from homes where the language of communication is exclusively Luganda? Do the teachers teach for learners to learn or to complete the syllabus?

g) Policy:?The ministry passed an automatic promotion policy in UPE schools. This by implication means that all learners must move to the next class irrespective of their performance in their current class. So what should a head teacher or teacher do for a learner that is scoring grade 4 or grade U in P6? Expel them from school?

h) School support supervision:?School support supervision is another missing brick in the issue of teaching and learning. How many times do the School Inspectors?and District Education Officers?visit these schools for support supervision??What is the level of facilitation for these support inspectors from the district??What about the foundation bodies, School Management Committees, Parents Teachers Associations, the Local Council members and even the parents body??How often do they visit the school and how often do they actually meet up with teachers to find out what is going well and what isnt and they fix it in real time??Do these schools have a support supervision system to ensure improvements in teaching and learning, or do they all wait for the PLE, UCE, UACE exams and then be reactive to the summative assessment results?

i) Continuous Professional Development:?Teachers, like any other profession are expected to have continuous professional development. Has the district political leadership asked whether a needs assessment has been done to find out about the gaps in teacher effectiveness in the district? Has the district invested in the provision of CPD trainings to its teachers to address these gaps?

In summary therefore, it is very important to?note that there are many reasons why a teacher may be a master of their subject content, but not necessarily be an effective teacher. It is very important that we note that teachers and head teachers are not the problem in teaching and learning. As a matter of fact, they know the problem?(because they are closer to the ground), and they are more often than not the solution. They are the ground soldiers, and clearly understand the terrain better than the commanders at the district offices. It is very important that the local government in implementing their role of education supervision work with the ground soldiers to analyse the challenges in the battlefield, and come up with solutions to better improve the outcomes in the field. Let’s stop politicising education. Making political decisions without technical guidance from the respective technical wing is counter productive-ON THE CHILDREN. Let’s constructively work with them, not against them. They are the solution, not the problem.

Girish Menon Mark Butcher Jenny Willmott Jane Nantayi Sebuyungo Donarm Ninsiima USAID Enabel Mastercard Foundation Teach For All Catholic Relief Services East Africa Philanthropy Network-EAPN African Philanthropy Network Makerere University Educate! Brenda Otika Kyambogo University UNICEF Uganda UNESCO World Vision Plan International Save the Children International Education Development Trust Education Cannot Wait (ECW) World Economic Forum