Primary school teachers in an urban centre of northern Ghana: Conceptions of practice, classroom actions, and prospects for change.
Published: 2005
Language: eng
Number of pages: 236
Description: The Education for All Movement has reinvigorated the efforts of donors and African governments to improve the quality of basic education systems. Quality reform measures centrally include in-service teacher training, increasingly complemented by interventions targeting the "Whole School" and the community it serves. This thesis presents findings from interviews with seven teachers at a primary school in Tamale, Ghana, and from extended observations of their classroom practice. Layers of influence on teachers' conception of practice and on their teaching behaviour are explored, with a central focus on the institutional culture of the inherited colonial school model and the centralized education bureaucracy. Gaps appear between what teachers say and what they do, especially relating to the ideals of "nurturing" and "child-centeredness". The study problematizes the potential for the current paradigm of quality reform to transform teachers' classroom practice, and thus to significantly impact pupils' experience and outcomes within the formal system.
Notes: Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 44-01, page: 0051.

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Toronto, 2005.

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