Report of the visit to Janjanbureh, Region 5 from 27th to 29th April 2005 and follow up
meetings with Mr Sonko, Region 5 RTO, in Banjul
Marion Young
BESPOR Teacher Development / Whole School Development component
Outline Schedule:
27th April
Travel to Janjanbureh
Meeting with:
Regional Director, Mr Suwareh
Regional Training Officer, Mr Sonko
VSO Education Officer, Hannah Thompson
Nick Santcross and Geraldine Terry, BESPOR
Summary discussion on Implementation of BESPOR including selection
criteria for pilot schools
Dinner with VSO and Peace Corp Volunteers: Roy, Orla, Fiona and Vicky
28th April
School Visit 1.
Kuntaur Lower Basic (Gr 1-6)
Accompanied by Roy (VSO Volunteer)
Meeting with:
Mr Sise
Deputy Head Teacher / Gr 6 teacher (PTC)
Zebba Conteh
Senior Teacher / Gr 2 teacher (PTC)
M.S.J. MBallow
Unqualified Teacher / Gr 5 teacher
Demba Drammeh
Trainee Teacher Year 2
Musa Sammeh
Newly Qualified Teacher / Gr 4 teacher (PTC)
Discussion with Roy (VSO Primary Cluster Teacher Trainer)
Meetings at Regional Office with:
Mr Sonko Regional Training Officer
Mr Younis Bellow SQAD Officer
Inspection of possible site for BESPOR Office / Accommodation
Meeting at the VSO house with Hannah Thompson VSO Education Officer
Gambia, Roy, Fiona and Orla
29th April
School Visit 2.
Jarumeh Koto Lower and Upper Basic (Gr 1-9)
Accompanied by Mr Sonko, RTO
Meeting with:
Mr Abdolou Dem
Deputy Head Teacher
B Famara Nyassi
Newly Qualified Teacher
Fatou Saine
Unqualified Teacher
Saine S Ceesay
Trainee Teacher Year 2
Return to Banjul
3rd May
Implementation Meeting at Palm Grove Hotel – Mr Sonko, RTO Region 5
Meeting with David Clamp, VSO Country Director, Erling Peterson, Nick
Santcross and Marion Young
4th May
Teacher Development Implementation Team meeting – Gambia College:
attended by Mr Senghore, Nuha Jatta, Isatou Ndou, Musa Sowe, Burama
Jammeh, Angela Laird, Wilco, George Livingstone and Marion Young
Discussion with Mr Sonko, RTO Region 5, Hannah Thompson, Nick
Santcross, Nancy Yildiz (M&E) and Marion Young – planning and
preparation for second visit
Purpose and Outcomes of the Field Visit:
The visit provided an excellent opportunity for the INSET consultant on the BESPOR Project
to familiarise with the conditions in Janjanbureh, Region 5, which has been selected as the
pilot region for the BESPOR Project. The main focus for this consultant visit was to
understand the context of the INSET needs for teachers in the region and also to discuss at
length with the RTO the current INSET provision and future needs which could be addressed
through BESPOR. The VSO volunteers who are living and working in Region 5 at present are
partners in the BESPOR implementation and the visit was timely since the VSO Education
Officer was also visiting Janjanbureh at the same time.
The initial meeting on arrival was the de-briefing meeting of the two consultants for Whole
School Development and Community Participation & Gender Mainstreaming. It provided a
good introduction for me, hearing of the issues which had emerged during the first team visit
and the ideas which had emerged from that for structuring and planning of project activities.
Unfortunately there was only time to visit two schools, both of which have VSO volunteers
working at the present time. Despite the limited time the Deputy Head Teachers, Senior
Teachers and class teachers were very informative and provided me with good insights into
their In-Service training needs. After initial discussion with the deputy head teacher and
senior teachers I requested to meet one unqualified teacher, one teacher in training and one
trained teacher in each school.
In summary, the main points which emerged from the school visits were as follows:
o unqualified teachers require more practical support in classroom management and teaching
methodology in addition to familiarisation with the curriculum, strategies for classroom
organisation and lesson planning. There have been opportunities for staff to attend
workshops covering some of these subjects but teachers require help in implementing the
ideas from workshops when they return to their classrooms.
o teaching is subject centred and teachers will need training plus classroom support to
develop skills in learner centred methodologies. One source of classroom support can be
provided by the VSO volunteers but in those schools outside the sub-clusters in which
there are no VSO volunteers it will be important to develop a Teacher Support Network
approach to supportive, sharing of professional experience to move from subject and
teacher centred to learner centred teaching.
o some teachers live away from their family location causing additional hardship and
problems with accommodation. Teachers may also be relocated to another school after
only one or two years causing disruption to the teacher and to the school. Some trainee
teachers would prefer to return to the school where they worked as unqualified teachers,
especially if that location is close to their home location.
o some upgrading classes are provided for unqualified teachers to prepare for the entry
examination into Gambia College. The examination is through to be Grade 12 standard
and some of the entrants only studied to Grade 10, and completed several years ago. They
find some difficulty in reaching the entry standard. No account is taken of years of
teaching experience gained as unqualified teachers or level of competency attained. One
senior teacher made the point that some unqualified teachers demonstrate that they are
good at teaching but are unable to attain the entry level standard for Gambia College.
o training needs identified included:
- management and school administration for head teachers
- capacity building for untrained teachers. Topics suggested: lesson planning,
how to explain to children to help them understand the concepts, teaching
methods, corporal punishment alternatives and classroom discipline,
- suggestions for improvisation of materials / low cost resources
o the school radio broadcasts for core subjects were very good but are no longer broadcast.
A community development initiative in agriculture sector uses video programmes for
training which are very effective.
o in-service training has been provided by Action Aid (PTA training) and some UNICEF
activities have taken place or are planned to take place. The details of the UNICEF
training programme were not obtained.
o there is already a level of informal support between teachers within each school we visited
– sharing ideas and problems especially with senior teachers providing support to the
unqualified and newly qualified teachers.
o trainee teachers have been given some consideration by the head teacher in not being
overloaded with teaching. There has been a delay in them receiving the course materials
for Year 3 TT. The mentors are supportive – problems and ideas can be taken back to the
college and shared in face-to-face sessions.
o Trainee teachers learned how to give end of topic assessment to check children’s
understanding.
o trainee teachers have learned some ideas for use of low cost resources in the classroom.
o teachers suggested that it would help if there was some basic equipment for each grade
level eg. a globe or maps. It may be possible to set up mini-resource centres within each
sub-cluster.
Discussion with the Regional Training Officer was very helpful both in providing the
background information regarding the situation of in-service training in Region 5 and in
planning for the implementation of the Teacher Support Network and Continuing Professional
Development component of the BESPOR project. The indication is that the regional, cluster
and school training team mechanism would be strengthened through capacity building. In
addition there is scope to improve the training reporting, monitoring and evaluation processes
of training. The system of logging and recording details of training workshops which the RTO
has already put in place could usefully be developed to start building the basis of a database in
preparation for future EMIS developments. This system can be introduced at school, cluster
and regional level using a simple standardised format.
It is clear from discussion with the Regional Training Officer and with other stakeholders that
the BESPOR project needs to align and coordinate its project activities with the FTI
initiatives. This applies particularly to in-service teacher training in which we need to ensure
there is no duplication or gaps. Where there is an issue of in-service delivery the BESPOR
project at the regional level could link directly with the FTI.
The SQAD Regional Officer mentioned two important factors to be considered in monitoring
of in-service training programmes – relevance of the training and incentives including
promotion opportunity. The SPAS system was originally intended to appraise teachers for
promotion. The issue of lack of mobility to make school observations was also raised in
relation to teacher appraisal. There is a component in the BESPOR project which supports the
development of the regional EMIS system. It is hoped that the teacher in-service training data
can be included in the EMIS system at a later stage as a powerful tool for teacher profiling
and monitoring of training needs and impact.
In discussion with the VSO volunteers and the VSO Education Officer the need for mentor
training was raised. This may be followed up as part of the teacher development component
of BESPOR and can be supported by the VSO volunteers through delivery of practical
training sessions for mentors. We also discussed ways in which the VSO volunteers can
monitor their own work and ideas included maintaining a log of key issues and how these
were addressed, a school / classroom observation guide and monitoring mechanisms as a
follow-up to workshops.
The concepts of Teacher Support Network and Continuing Professional Development are to
be included as part of the Whole School Development component of BESPOR. These
concepts are not clearly understood at this stage and some clarification and working
understanding within the schools and among the trainers will be an important early stage of
the project activities. An essential element of the Teacher Support Network and Continuing
Professional Development processes is the bottom up approach to teacher training in which
the teachers and school communities identify for themselves the core areas of skills and
knowledge they wish to develop and the Teacher Support Network assists in this process
through participatory methodologies. This will be a new challenge for teachers and trainers.
Marion Young
5th May 2005