Researching teacher education: new perspectives on practice, performance and policy: multi-site teacher education research project (MUSTER)

The author conducts an extensive empirical study of different aspects of primary teacher education as it is practised in Ghana, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa (reported on in a separate document) and Trinidad and Tobago. It offers scenarios for the future of primary teacher education and offers strategies for improvement.

Strategies for the future:

• more strategic use could be made of untrained teachers supported by orientation programmes and school-based apprenticeship-like relationships (on-the-job training) as a pathway to initial qualification
• initial training could be organised in a more modularised way to allow training to be acquired as and when needed
• a staircase of training linked to posts of responsibility and rewards offers the opportunity to embed the training process more firmly in the school and the learning needs of its pupils. So also might the modularisation of the training curriculum
• teacher educators at all levels, whether school or college-based, need to have induction and continuing professional development
• colleges could then move away from being monotechnic institutions focused purely on residential long course qualifications, towards becoming dynamically integrated nodes of innovation, professional development activity, and advisory support