Approaches in science teacher preparation: A comparative
study of England and Zimbabwe
Felix Maringe
School of Education, University of Southampton, UK
Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference,
University of Glamorgan, 14-17 September 2005
Abstract
Science education is considered a vital tool for development across the world. The
importance of well trained science teachers essential for preparing students to
function effectively in an increasingly technological and information based
environment is well documented. Despite a convergence in belief on the assumptions
of science and science teaching and learning based on notions of constructivism,
inquiry and reflective practice, sharp distinctions exist in the way science teachers are
prepared. While such distinctions may reflect national and even institutional
contextual factors, there are structural, programmatic and process elements that
appear to be eroding the commitment to the basic values in science teacher
preparation. The paper, based on evidence obtained through interviews of science
teacher educators and the analysis of curriculum documents in England and
Zimbabwe identifies threats to the key assumptions of science and science teaching
and argues for a re-examination of practice in the two countries.
Introduction
The centrality of science education to national and global development is undoubtedly
significant especially in a world that has become technological and information based.
Its role and relationship with the economic, social, democratic, cultural and personal
utilitarian capital has been well documented (Millar 1996, Driver et al. 1996, Jenkins
1997). Because school science constitutes the foundations for an efficient functioning
in a technology and information driven society, the training of quality science
teachers has been recognised as a key goal and focus in many countries’ teacher
education programmes (Wang, Coleman, Coley and Phelps 2003). Despite the
existence of a variety of perspectives on the nature of science (Ratcliffe 1998), which
shape the way people conceptualise and transmit it to others, current assumptions of
science and science teaching appear to be shifting from traditional logical positivisism
(Aduz-Bravo and Izquirdo 2002) to encompass new discourses in constructivism,
inquiry and reflective practice (Lederman 1992). However, notwithstanding this
apparent convergence of thought amongst science educators, the ways in which
science teachers are trained in different parts of the world exhibit interesting
divergences which bring to question the commitment to the acknowledged
assumptions.
This paper addresses the similarities and differences in the preparation of secondary
science teachers in England and Zimbabwe and focuses on three key questions: First,
in what specific ways are the patterns of science teacher training in the two countries
similar and different? Second, to what extent do the approaches sustain the
overarching epistemological premises of science teaching and training? Third, what
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mutual lessons for sustaining improvement in science teacher preparation can be
learnt from the two countries?
The paper explores these key questions in four main parts. It begins with a theoretical
examination of three overarching assumptions of science and assesses available
empirical evidence establishing the centrality of the notions of constructivism, inquiry
and reflective practice to science teaching and learning. In the second part, the paper
provides a broad review of the demographical contexts of the two countries creating a
basis for understanding the similarities and distinctions in approaches to science
teacher training. Part three summarises the methodological aspects highlighting the
approaches used to obtain the research data for this paper. Finally, the paper discusses
the findings and reflects upon pointers for a possible redirection of science teacher
training in the two countries.
But before this is done, it is important to indicate why a comparative study was
considered vital.
Why compare two strange bed fellows?
I share with others an underlying belief that comparative studies help to remove
parochialism from research (Thomas 1972, Rolf and Zimmermann 1992 both in
Winter 1999). The fundamental assertion of comparative study is that we can truly
comprehend ourselves only in the context of a secure knowledge of other societies
(King 1967). Equally, I have a deep rooted concern that, despite wide acceptance that
the world is becoming a global village, the bulk of comparative studies have tended to
reflect a regionalist tendency such as teacher education in the EU, (Buchberger 1996,
McPhee and Humes 1998), in the Asia Pacific countries (APEC educational reform
papers) and other OECD sponsored studies across a range of regional states. While a
regionalist approach has its advantages, not least of which is the intended cooperation in matters of economic development, there seems to be a growing
disengagement between developed and less developed countries in matters of
educational development, thus widening rather than narrowing the gap between the
two worlds. In addition, the case of the UK and Zimbabwe is sufficiently compelling
given the past relationship they shared from the colonial experience. Having lived and
worked in both countries science education systems for over two decades, the
opportunity this provides for drawing parallels and divergences as active sites for
alternative thought and action has potential for focusing attention to aspects of science
teacher preparation in need of increased action in the future.
Epistemological basis of science teaching and training
Constructivism, inquiry and reflective practice have become the dominant discourses
in science teaching and training in both the developed and less developed worlds.
Only a brief review will be provided here as these concepts are more adequately dealt
with in other places (see for example Driver et al 1996).
Overall, school science teaching and science teacher training have undergone a
significant paradigmatic shift from a positivistic approach based on the notion of the
existence of external truths and the detached nature of knowledge to a post positivistic
stance based on a new conviction that knowledge does not exist outside the
consciousness of people. Grounded in philosophical relativism (Feyerabend 1978) the
belief is that
There is no external reality independent of human consciousness--- there are
only different sets of meanings and classifications which people attach to the
world (Robson 2004:22)
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The positivistic approach to teaching and learning science emphasised the obtaining
of knowledge through objective means aimed at verification of known facts and
principles. The teacher’s role in this was primarily to provide the facts and procedures
for investigating scientific ideas. Success in learning was measured by the extent to
which obtained results reflected existing theory. A key approach to teaching and
learning was guided discovery with proof and conclusions as the most significant
learning outcomes of science teaching.
The post positivistic approach assumes that there is never a single form of reality, that
young people build their own understanding of the world and interpret it in various
ways which reflect their specific circumstances and local environmental influences.
Rather than obtaining external reality, young people are seen as active constructors of
their own forms of reality. The role of the teacher in this is that of training young
people in efficient ways of constructing knowledge (the basis of the Cognitive
Acceleration through Science Education project CASE) and understanding the
multiple social constructions of meaning and knowledge (Robson 2004). This belief
has become the justification for current science teaching methods which emphasise
the importance of understanding young peoples’ naïve ideas of scientific concepts
before teaching a new topic, the role of discussion in science teaching, and the
centrality of investigative science which builds upon pupils’ own hypotheses as a
basis for seeking and developing an understanding of new ideas. Process rather than
product is the key to teaching and learning science and this has become the basis of
the constructivism discourse in science teaching and learning.
Inquiry as a mode of thought goes beyond the assumptions of the guided discovery
approaches that were characteristic of the positivist tradition. While guided discovery
assumes a realist or logical positivist approach, with emphasis on objectivity in
methods of investigation, its role is limited to verifying existing knowledge and
arriving at established conclusions (Detrick 2004). Inquiry on the other hand ‘implies
a constructionist approach to the teaching of science’ which is open ended and
ongoing, employing procedures used by scientists, based on self generated questions
and predictions and providing explanations that are compatible with shared
experience of the physical world. Dewey has offered a succinct definition of inquiry
which highlights the need for science teaching and learning to be activity based, to be
based on personal or group belief or suppositions, to rely on repeated measurements
and to explain findings in the light of existing knowledge. He defines inquiry as:
The active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form
of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further
conclusion to which it tends (Dewey 1936:47)
In the final analysis inquiry should help learners to gather enough information to
generate theories that will make new experiences less strange and more meaningful to
them.
The discourse of the reflective practitioner, originating in the work of Schon (1983)
and developed for teacher education practice through the work of Zeichner (1983),
Calderhead (1991) and Pollard (2002), sees teaching not so much as the deployment
of skills and competences to a learning situation, but as developing a professional and
informed judgment about learning based on a valid reflection on the needs of learners
and the supporting theoretical frameworks around these aspects of practice. It is seen
as an efficient driver of standards as its basic assumption is that of improving practice
at each subsequent teaching learning encounter. From this perspective effective
science teachers are seen as those who raise standards of teaching and learning
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through a careful reflection upon experience and through acting upon that experience
to enhance its quality.
Evidence from research such as the Professional Identities Project (Moore, Edwards,
Haplin and George 2002) and the Autobiography and Reflective Practice Project
(Moore and Ash 2002) indicates that science teachers’ descriptions of good science
teaching had dense representations of the concepts of constructivism, inquiry and
reflective practice. A key aspect of this research was to identify the epistemological
orientations of current science educators in the two countries.
Dominant paradigms in science teacher training
The need for quality teachers is a key objective of teacher preparation programmes.
Debate and controversy however surround the notion of what good science teaching
is. Amidst the divergent views about what constitutes good science teaching are four
dominant paradigms, the competent craftsperson, the reflective practitioner, the
academic and the charismatic discourses. Moore (2004) provides a comprehensive
analysis of these different orientations and argues that the paradigms exist uneasily
around diametrically opposed assumptions about good teaching yet they share a lot in
common at their points of intersection. The figure below is an attempt to map the field
of forces around these key discourses of good teaching. The centre of this field
represents what could be referred to as the ideal teacher prototype, rarely achieved
because of the underlying assumptions held by trainers and trainees alike which tend
to gravitate towards the corners of the field rather than the centre.
Competent crafts person
Academic
The ideal
teacher
prototype
Charismatic
Reflective practitioner
Figure 1: Dominant paradigms in science teacher preparation
Moore (2004) argues that the competent craftsperson paradigm is the favoured
paradigm for teacher training in the UK as it lends itself well to measurement in a
standards driven environment in which teacher education quality measures are largely
externally determined and monitored. However the paradigm marks a departure from
an emphasis on teacher education traditionally favoured by universities (Alexander et
al. 1984 and Popkewitz 1987) to a focus on training which has always been favoured
in official documentation (Ball1999). Despite its dominance in the UK context, critics
often point to its key weakness in trivialising teacher preparation as an activity in
acquiring skills and competences. Hare (1993) for example derides the competence
approach thus:
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Too much attention in teacher education continues to be placed on the rule
and routine, on particular techniques which research is supposed to have
deemed effective in promoting learning. This is partly because we are afraid
to use our judgment in selecting and approving those who have desirable
intellectual, moral, and personal qualities and so we fall back on observable
and measurable behaviours; and partly because we work with an
impoverished concept of education itself which continues to be seen as nothing
more than the acquisition of information and skills (in Moore 2004:92)
The charismatic paradigm represents the other extreme view about good teaching, that
good teachers are essentially born not made. The sheer force of the teacher’s
personality is the dominant criterion for deciding what passes as good teaching. But
this over-reliance on personality at the expense of technique can be very unhelpful to
both trainers and trainees.
The academic paradigm places greater emphasis on education and professional
development and sees teachers not just as classroom practitioners, but as academics in
their own right. The emergence of courses such as the MA in teaching, alongside a
growing tendency in universities to develop the PGCE around M level criteria is an
indication that good teaching is sometimes considered more closely linked to
academic criteria than it is to the development of specific competences and skills.
Finally, the reflective practitioner paradigm represents an almost universal
acknowledgement that teachers are lifelong learners who are supposed to learn both
by habit and training from every experience and encounter of teaching. Considered as
a vehicle for continuous improvement in education and teaching, the reflective
practitioner discourse has developed to encompass reflexivity (Elliot 1993, Hartley
1997, Boler 1999 and Moore 1999), which goes beyond examining the status quo for
purposes of identifying pointers for improvement to reframing experience within
competing and overlapping discourses within which practice occurs.
A key focus of this research was to identify the extent to which these competing
though overlapping discourses characterised the training environments of science
teachers in the two countries and the extent to which training providers find the right
balance within this field of forces.
Key dimensions of teacher preparation
Located within these discourses are specific dimensions of teacher preparation. There
exists a consensus view of broad requirements for teacher training which identifies
three key aspects found universally in the majority of teacher education departments.
The three elements are subject matter, professional element and practical experience
of teaching. The relative emphasis placed on these dimensions of teacher education
programmes in different environments reflects the broad epistemological orientation
of institutions, the political and specific institutional contextual factors. Not much
research has been undertaken about the relative significance of these elements
towards the development of effective teachers. However, there seem to be strong
evidence from research to support the following aspects which have teacher training
implications.
 Teachers with a strong background in the subjects they teach together with a good
linguistic and verbal ability exert a more significant impact on student
achievement (Greenwald, Hedges and Lane 1996, Ferguson and Ladd 1996, Kain
and Singleton 1996 and Whitehurst 2004). The problem is the interpretation
people give to the idea of strong subject background. Is it a first class degree in
the subject? If it is, how do we ensure the uniformity of degree classification and
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grading in different institutions? The emphasis placed on GCSE English as a prerequisite for teacher training provides a mechanism for admitting to the profession
people with minimum verbal and linguistic competence. However, how do we
know whether a C in the subject provides the required verbal and linguistic
competence to drive meaningful student achievement?
 Teachers with longer teaching experience influence student achievement more
significantly (Greenwald, Hedges and Lane 1996 and Rowan 2002). This has been
used to justify longer periods of teaching practice and school experience and is
sometimes considered as being suggestive of the greater importance attached to
this phase of training over other aspects.
 While many schools and education authorities provide incentives to teachers to
obtain masters and other advanced degrees, the bulk of available evidence shows
that there are no differential gains across classes taught by teachers with masters
or other advanced degrees in education compared to classes taught by teachers
who lack such degrees (Whitehurst 2004). In view of this, will the current practice
of offering PGCE s at masters’ level and the accumulation of university credits for
further study help to drive standards in the schools?
 Pedagogical preparation in the science and management of teaching positively
affects teaching practice and student learning
 University teaching departments are often the least technologically advanced and
a large gap often exists between what secondary students need to know about
technology and what teacher education departments are teaching (Milken Family
Foundation Study 1999)
A key element of this research was to identify the relative emphasis placed on these
three dimensions of teacher training in different institutions in the two countries.
Contextual factors of the two countries
Three key contextual aspects considered as vital for discussing the findings of this
research will be reviewed here under the following broad headings:
 Location of training of secondary science teachers
 Staffing situation in the schools
 Nature of the secondary science curriculum
Location of training of secondary science teachers
There are currently 62 providers of full time ITT for science (11+) in England (GTTR
2004). These include university school of education driven PGCE and B Ed
programmes catering for approximately 95% of science teacher training in the
country. A relatively new but fast expanding sector providing ITT for science
teachers is the School Centred ITT (SCITT) programmes which utilise groups of
participating schools as the main location of the training programme. However,
SCITT programmes are frequently accredited to specific university departments.
Greater emphasis is placed on practical experience than on theoretical learning under
SCITT programmes and there appears to be moves towards making school experience
more extensive or even exclusive in some places (Hill, 1992). A very small
percentage of science trainees opt for the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP) or the
Registered Teacher Programme (RTP) which offer employment based training as
unqualified teachers while following the training programme.
Zimbabwe, with a relatively smaller population of 15million compared to 60 million
in the UK, ITT for science is offered through the Graduate Certificate/Diploma in
Education (Grad CE/Grad DE) available in two universities and through a concurrent
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Bachelor of Science Education (BSc Ed) offered in one university. However, the
majority of secondary science teachers are trained in five colleges of education under
the supervision of the Department of Teacher Education (DTE) of the University of
Zimbabwe (UZ). These teachers earn a pre-graduate Diploma in Education and many
of them top up this qualification with a B Ed (Science) or BSc Ed offered in some of
the universities after a few years of qualified teaching experience. The college trained
teachers are specifically prepared to teach lower secondary classes but many find
themselves teaching school leaving O-level classes even in their first year post
qualification (Mtetwa and Thompson (2000) due to the serious shortage of science
teachers in the country.
Staffing situation in schools
In England, staffing situation in the sciences is significantly better than that in
Zimbabwe in many respects. Successive HMI reports in the UK have noted that in the
majority of schools (approximately 95%), most science teachers have a good
command of their subjects as measured by graduate qualifications and specialist
training. The majority have Honours Degree qualifications in a range of science
subjects with PGCE and QTS while a small minority are still training through the
GTP or RTP routes. Two major staffing problems have been identified in the science
area in the UK. The first has been a persistent failure to recruit and retain adequately
trained science graduates for largely though not exclusively deprived areas of the
country. The second has been the problem of specialisation in training and the nature
of the National Curriculum. Specialist Biology teachers for example are expected to
teach physics and chemistry elements at Key stage 3 and sometimes Key stage 4 in
the Programme of Study of the Science National Curriculum.
In Zimbabwe, the majority of schools have pre-graduate trained science teachers and
as noted earlier, most of these teachers quickly find themselves teaching school
leaving examination classes for which they received no prior training. Coupled with
the fact that many schools are in the rural areas, where facilities are either poor or non
existent, science teaching in many places takes place in deprived learning
environments incapable of supporting inquiry and constructivism which training
generally tends to promote. Teachers with Grad CE or B Sc (Ed) tend to teach in Alevel schools in recognition of their substantial subject competence, specialisation and
training.
Nature of the secondary school curriculum
The secondary school science curriculum in England is an aspect of the National
Curriculum Framework which divides secondary schooling into two phases, Key
Stages 3 and 4. Key stage 3 covers the first three years of secondary learning Years 79 culminating in national tests. Key stage 4 covers Years 10-11 marking the end of
compulsory education. Post 16 learning in England, like A-levels in Zimbabwe is an
aspect of non compulsory education.
Science at Key Stages 3 and 4 is based on a spiral curriculum framework with
learning organised around four themes of Scientific Inquiry, Life processes and living
things, Materials and their properties and Physical processes. Each of these themes is
progressively tackled through the five years of compulsory secondary schooling.
Assessment of science is through both continuous assessments of course work and
final national tests at key stage 3 and GCSE examinations at key stage 4.
In Zimbabwe, science is also based on a national syllabus framework, from which
teachers are expected to draw a six term scheme of work covering topics for the
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Zimbabwe Junior Certificate (ZJC). The subsequent two years of secondary schooling
are a preparation for the General Certificate in Education (GCE) examined locally
through the Zimbabwe Schools Examination Council (ZimSEC). A minority of pupils
especially in the few existing private schools continue to use overseas examining
boards such as Cambridge.
It can therefore be said that the two systems operate in widely different contexts as
reflected in the location of training, the staffing situation in schools and the nature of
the school curriculum. These differences could be attributed to the developmental
status of the two countries including the state of their national economies. It will be
interesting to see how these contextual factors exert an influence on the approaches to
science teacher preparation currently obtaining in the two countries.
Methodological considerations of the research
Aims and objectives of the research
The purpose behind conducting this research was to draw comparisons in approaches
to secondary school science teacher training in England and Zimbabwe with the hope
of identifying both general and specific lessons for future development in the two
countries. In the context of this overall aim, three specific objectives related to the
research questions identified earlier were formulated.
 To identify similarities and differences in approaches to science teacher
preparation in the two countries within a generic model of teacher development
that begins from recruitment to continued professional development
 To examine the extent to which current approaches in the two countries continue
to serve the underlying assumptions of science teaching and learning
 To identify both general and specific challenges in science teacher preparation
needing attention in the two countries and make concrete proposals for addressing
them
Research instrumentation and development
An interview schedule was developed which had six categories of questions. Each
category concluded with a question aimed at identifying any challenges within that
aspect of the study.
The first category sought the personal assumptions of interviewees about science and
science teaching, the assumptions behind the broad formatting of training
programmes and the kinds of science teachers they were hoping to produce through
their programmes.
In the second group of questions, focus was on the entry profiles of trainees, their
qualifications, recruitment process and its validity and how the recruitment data was
utilised for training purposes.
The third category of questions dealt with structural and process issues of training in
terms of the training phases, the role of mentoring, adequacy of resources and the role
of supervision and assessment of students.
Quality control, monitoring and certification issues formed the core of the fourth
category of questions. The questions covered aspects of the key competences to be
developed in teachers, how quality was monitored across the programmes and the role
of students in this quality control.
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The fifth category of questions dealt with post qualification training and career
prospects of trainees and focused very specifically on the role of training providers in
the professional development of teachers
The last category of questions was aimed at determining the overall orientation to
training offered by the institutions and availed an opportunity for interviewees to offer
their own suggestions for improving the preparation of science teachers.
The interview schedule was tried with one participant each in England and Zimbabwe
and changes to question phrasing and content were made in response to suggestions
given by these trial data sets.
Data collection and analysis
The research utilised individual and telephone interviews as the main data gathering
method. A total of 22 institution based interviews were conducted in both countries.
Sixteen of these were from England while the remaining six were from Zimbabwe.
The England based interviews included two SCITT providers and 14 university based
education departments randomly selected from across the country. Interviews in
Zimbabwe were with 3 university based education departments and three pre-graduate
Diploma in Education offering colleges. Where available, PGCE and other training
documents were downloaded from the internet for scrutiny to provide a basis for
triangulating information. Data were collected over a six months period between July
and November 2004.
Interviews were tape recorded with permission of interviewees and were designed to
last about 45 minutes. The recordings were later transcribed for analysis purposes.
Data were largely analysed qualitatively in the majority of cases with verbatim
comments being used to illustrate certain issues as they emerged. Simple descriptive
statistics were also used to determine frequencies of data responses to some questions.
Interviewees were assured of anonymity in the handling and treatment of data.
Findings, discussion, conclusions and reflections
The three key questions around which the research was designed will now be
addressed specifically. Ideas for further research and consideration by ITT providers
and the academic community will be given at the end. Before this is done, it is
important to outline the limitations of the research so as to provide the parameters
within which the tentative conclusions have been developed.
Limitations of the research
The research was based largely on telephone (and a few face to face) interviews and
document analysis. A possible limitation is the extent to which the views expressed by
single individuals in institutions adequately represents the overall view of colleagues
within the same institutions. Another limitation is the sampling method used for
identifying participants in the research. Perhaps a multiple factor random sampling
technique could have been more appropriate given that providers tend to belong in
tiered university environments particularly in England. Given these limitations, the
evidence produced through this research has to be interpreted cautiously and can not
be over generalised to the entire population of ITT providers in England and
Zimbabwe.
Addressing the key questions of the research
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The research was framed around three key questions and what follows is a discussion
of the findings related to these broad questions.
Similarities and differences in the patterns of science teacher preparation
The discussion will be developed around the five major aspects which signposted the
evidence base of this research.
Overarching assumptions of science and science teaching
Overall, the findings suggest that ITT providers of science teacher preparation in both
countries share a common vision of the key assumptions of science and science
teaching. The discourses were framed around the notions of constructivism, inquiry
and reflective practice and confirmed what current literature suggests about the nature
of science and science education (Calderhead 1989, Pollard and Trigs 1997, Ratcliffe
1998, Osborne 1998 Reiss 1998 and Nicholls 2000). The findings equally suggest that
the notion of reflective practice is more widely shared by trainers in both countries
than are the ideas of constructivism and inquiry. However, England based providers
appear to have a greater commitment to inquiry and constructivism as these ideas
constitute a key aspect of the science programme of study at key stage 3 and 4. A
minority of Zimbabwean providers made either direct or indirect reference to the idea
of constructivism in their discourses.
Equally, models of an effective science teacher in both countries were framed around
the ideas of the reflective teacher paradigm but tended to emphasise the notion of
standards in England while in Zimbabwe, views of effective science teachers are more
diffuse although a utilitarian model of effectiveness based on impact on the lives of
learners was fairly prevalent. This distinction has a bearing on the fact that teacher
education in England is more highly centrally controlled through government
departments and the teacher training agency with a core of public standards every
teacher must exhibit as a precondition to the award of QTS. The models equally
reflect a greater preoccupation with the competent crafts-person paradigm (Moore
2004) in England while the training discourses in Zimbabwe suggest a greater
inclination towards the academic training paradigm.
The pre-entry profiles of trainees
The entry requirements into ITT science in both countries are broadly similar. There
are two key routes to ITT science training, the post graduate and the undergraduate
routes. Post graduate routes lead to a broadly similar qualification, the PGCE and
QTS in England and the Grad CE/DE and BSc Ed in Zimbabwe. Undergraduate
routes generally lead to the B Ed in England and the Dip Ed in Zimbabwe. For a
relatively small country, Zimbabwe has a more diversified science teacher preparation
terrain than England. This probably reflects again the difference in the control of
teacher education in the two countries.
Post graduate entry requirements in both countries emphasise a first degree in a
science or science related field. Entrants in Zimbabwe are not required to have an
honours degree as is the case in England but should have a science degree with at
least two of the science subjects represented in the degree study programme. Due to
the highly diversified nature of degree programmes in England, many entrants are
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being admitted in ITT science without traditional science degrees as long as it can be
shown that a good proportion of the study was spent on a relevant science area. Some
universities in England require the degree to have been passed at 2.1 or better while
others allow students with a 2.2 and occasionally with a 3rd class pass. The research
also found evidence of dissatisfaction with this emphasis on academic qualifications
as the key criteria for entry into training and concerns were widely expressed about
the comparability of degree classifications in different universities.
Undergraduate entry requirements stipulate that a minimum five GCSE s (UK), GCE
(Zim) and two A-levels in relevant subjects are pre-requisites. Sometimes A-levels
are indicated as providing only an added advantage to the applicants. In Zimbabwe a
unique concurrent BSc Ed degree is offered as an undergraduate programme in one
university and requires entrants to have at least 2 relevant A-level subjects. A uniform
feature across all providers in the two countries is the requirement for GCSE English
and mathematics at grade C or better in accordance with a widely held assumption
that good science teaching requires a basic mastery of language/linguistic and
mathematical competence (Greenwald, Hedges and Lane 1996).
The personal interview has now become a part of the entitlement for entrants to ITT
in England whereas in Zimbabwe, individual interviews are generally used in
undergraduate college based ITT provisions. University providers of ITT in
Zimbabwe rely solely on academic qualifications, an issue which many interviewees
considered contentious as evidence appears to indicate a weak relationship between
high academic qualifications and teaching competence (Whitehurst 2004). Equally
there appears to be widespread disgruntlement with the reliability of interviews and
especially the written tests which are noted for their lack of content validity.
A common issue in both countries was an acknowledged inadequate use of interview
data in the training of teachers. Perhaps this may relate to the ways in which the data
is captured and stored which do not lend themselves to easy and ready use in other
aspects of training. What ever it is, this represents a missed opportunity for
developing learning profiles and individualising the learning programmes of trainees.
Structural and Programme elements
In both countries, three distinct but interrelated dimensions characterise the teacher
preparation programmes. There is a curriculum subject element, whose emphasis
varies from a content driven approach in undergraduate provisions to an integrated
content and methodology approach in most post graduate provision. The broad
assumption that post graduate entrants to ITT in science possess sufficient content is
increasingly becoming contestable given the diverse nature of science degree
programmes particularly in England. A second element is professional studies, which
basically provides grounding in broad professional themes, often aligned to key
standards in official TTA documentation in England. In Zimbabwe, such professional
studies focus closely on broad educational disciplines in psychology, sociology and
philosophy alongside separate methodological or pedagogical courses in the teaching
of specific subjects. A clear distinction between England and Zimbabwe is the relative
attention given to theoretical foundations of education. In England, the abandonment
of theory of education in ITT seems to be based on an erroneous assumption which
says ‘as long as they have the competences, the theory will take care of itself’
(McPhee and Humes 1998:174). This has also been noted as being out of step with
other EU countries where theory of education continues to be a significant aspect. In
addition, it may have a negative impact on the broader skill requirements, the
transferability of labour and in cross national comparisons of achievement where
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England appears to be trailing in a Europe that is rapidly becoming integrated. A third
component is the school experience or TP which is generally organised in a
developmental way in England, with opportunities for reflection built into the two
school experience format. The SCITT organisation of TP which involves three school
placements probably provides the best opportunities for trainees to reflect and
measure their won performance in a developmental way. In Zimbabwe TP is largely a
full time experience for trainees as relief teachers with little supervision both
internally by the school and externally by the colleges.
While programme tutors exhibited an awareness of the critical assumptions of science
and science teaching, programme documents inspected had little or no evidence that
constructivism and inquiry were being given space on the teaching and training of
science teachers. If these are seen as key elements of science, one would assume that
they would feature prominently as teaching units in their own right in the preparation
programmes for science teachers.
A significant aspect of science teacher preparation should be a focus in preparing
science teachers to become active researchers (McPhee and Humes 1998). In the
discourses of respondents and in their documentation in the two countries, there is no
specific focus on this issue. Science teacher preparation programmes thus continue to
train teachers through a competent practitioner model with little or nothing being done
to develop science teachers with a research capacity.
Process elements of science teacher preparation
Mentoring is increasingly becoming a core feature in the preparation of science
teachers in both countries. In Zimbabwe, its effectiveness is seriously compromised
by the poor state of staffing in schools which necessitates the use of trainees as ‘relief
teachers’. In England, it is hampered by inadequacies in the preparation of the
mentors and the absence of hierarchical structures within schools which recognise the
important role they play.
There is an increasing shift in England towards the use of formative assessment as a
key strategy for monitoring and supervising students in the various aspects of their
courses. In Zimbabwe, summative assessment through formally administered tests,
particularly in the more theoretical aspects, dominate the assessment and supervision
elements of science teacher preparation. The potential for shifting towards a more
personalised teacher preparation paradigm appears to be greater in England than it is
in Zimbabwe.
While course integration is seen as an important aspect in both countries, there are
concerns , for example in Zimbabwe, that trainees still view the theoretical aspects as
being divorced from the more practical elements. The SCITT model in England
appears to have generated the most positive comments on course integration from
trainees.
Mechanisms for quality monitoring and assurance are well developed in both
countries, with a common emphasis on the use of external examiners and moderators.
As a response to the growing marketisation of higher education, benchmarking has
become a central feature of the quality mechanisms in England aimed at enhancing
the competitiveness of provision in an increasingly competitive environment.
Zimbabwean institutions have not begun to utilise the opportunities delivered through
benchmarking as a formal requirement for quality monitoring and assurance despite
the growing competition among ITT providers. The continued use of inspection in a
higher education environment in England continues to generate tension and anxiety
amongst providers. Because the focus of inspection is largely on elements designed to
12
deliver QTS, there is a sense in which this is reinforcing the separation of theory and
practice in the preparation of science teachers. The use of trainees as sources of
evidence for quality monitoring and assurance was noticeably absent in the discourses
of respondents and this could reflect the low status of a customer perspective in the
preparation of science teachers.
Involvement of providers in the CPD of teachers is almost non existent at a formal
level in both countries. The production line in ITT has a visible end and yet training
teachers is supposed to be a lifelong business for lifelong learning. The transition to
QTS in England is considered as being too abrupt and rapid while that in Zimbabwe
suffers from weaknesses in supervision and tends to be determined largely on time
served rather than on the quality of service provided.
Threats to constructivism, inquiry and reflective discourses in science teacher
preparation
Despite the prevalence of the three big ideas in the minds and discourses of current
science teacher trainers in both countries, this research has identified aspects which
threaten the sustainability of these principles. The key threats appear to occur at three
levels of structure, process and quality monitoring.
Structural programmatic threats
Despite the widespread convergence on the key assumptions of science and science
teaching amongst providers of ITT in England and Zimbabwe, programme
implementation on the ground does not appear to allocate time and space to a
theoretical exploration of these broad ideas. Without this theoretical understanding in
trainees, there is a sense in which science teachers are being prepared along Carr’s
(1992) idea of teachers as implementers of other people’s bright ideas and not as
autonomous professionals. The prevalence of Moore’s (2004) technical competence
approach especially in England, is a direct affront to the ideals of constructivism and
inquiry which place great emphasis on the changing and dynamic nature of
knowledge that require an ongoing and open ended problem solving approach as
opposed to a concentration upon acquisition and closure which forms the basis of the
discredited logical positivistic approaches Aduriz-Bravo and Izquienrdo (2002).
The abandonment of Theory, particularly of the educational disciplines in ITT
programmes in the UK, in favour of a skills focused training equally contributes to
what some commentators have described as a sterile teacher preparation programme
(Carr 1992). Equally, McPhee and Hume (1998) see this as seriously compromising
the reflective teacher agenda and argue that:
It is not possible for a teacher to reflect upon her or his practice unless she or
he has a base from which to make such reflection and that calls for a
consideration and an internalisation of theoretical concerns covering
fundamental issues to do with the psychological, sociological and
philosophical justification for educational practice. Without this base,
evaluation and reflection are sterile. Prospectuses for improvement without a
genuine reflective element lay themselves open to the charge of
deprofessionalising and deskilling teachers (McPhee and Hume 1998:168).
In a similar vein, but arguing more pointedly for a philosophy of science in science
education, Driver, Leach, Millar and Scott (1996) have observed that, among the
meta-sciences, philosophy of science is recognised as the key contribution to the
13
transformation of science education and must constitute a central focus in science
teacher preparation programmes.
However, an over-emphasis on theoretical preparation, with an inadequately
supervised practical element as is the case in Zimbabwe, can only serve to produce
teachers with a strong academic orientation who may be ill equipped to serve the
varying needs of individual pupils in schools. Such teachers tend to operate more
efficiently in a positivistic science learning environment, driven to a large extent by
content acquisition motives, which do not adequately serve the constructivist and
inquiry modes.
The structures for school experience in England which allow trainees to have
experience in at least two schools in an attempt to develop a rounded appreciation of
diversity in educational environments allows for a practical development of reflective
practice. Given the widespread emphasis on individual training plans and targets in
the next school based on experience in the first one, students have an opportunity, not
only to experience an integrated training, but also to embark on identified
improvement in their growing professional training. Such structures do not exist in the
Zimbabwean context, where trainees generally spend the entire duration of their TP in
one school under a generally weak supervision framework. Apart from the
theoretically deficient model of teacher preparation which exists in England,
identified as a serious obstacle to the development of reflective practice, other
operational difficulties such as the quality of mentoring and uncertainties in compiling
evidence for summative judgements act as threats in the preparation of quality science
teachers.
Another structural challenge, especially in England, which is related to programme
control, is the parallel award system of PGCE and QTS. On the one hand, it
entrenches the separation of theory and practice, with universities having greater
concern with theory while school practice and learning provides for the practical
implementation of educational ideas. On the other hand, because the award of QTS is
broadly seen as coming too abruptly, there is a sense in which this acts as a deterrent
to training providers to become more involved in the CPD of NQT s. Interest of
training providers in the CPD of NQT s could be sustained if the award of QTS is
delayed for at least one year.
Threats at the process levels of training
Difficulties experienced by ITT providers regarding the issue of mentoring in schools
are likely to pose significant threat to the production of quality science teachers in
both countries. The magnitude of the problem is likely to be greater in Zimbabwe
where trainees operate in what has been termed an extended deficit model, with
trainees occupying fulltime teaching positions as relief teachers with little or no
support and supervision of more experienced teachers.
The dominance of a summative assessment model in Zimbabwe does not add much
value to the ongoing professional development of trainee science teachers. The
prospects for developing a personalised training model, whose basis lie in the
constructivist paradigm are seriously undermined in such an environment. Equally in
England, the growing attention given to formative assessment, has to be matched with
an equally robust strengthening of the validity and reliability of procedures aimed at
making summative judgements about trainees.
Threats in quality monitoring and assurance
14
A lot of progress has been achieved in both countries regarding programme
compliance issues for both accreditation and certification purposes. In England
however, the dominance of an inspection model in an educational environment which
is broadly liberal appears to be eating away at the core values of the higher education
enterprise. The perceived them and us relationship often leaves providers with a sour
taste in the mouth and appears to do little to promote an independent inquiry model
that science educators believe is at the heart of science teacher preparation.
Some concluding reflections
Comparative studies should avoid the temptation to judge nations as provision can
only but broadly reflect specific economic, political and social conditions of those
countries. However, despite the weaknesses in the evidence base cited earlier, there is
sufficient data from this study to make critical observations as pointers for improving
science teacher preparation in both countries. If science teacher preparation has to
improve, given the central role science teachers play in training future scientists, thus
contributing to the overall development of nations, then, perhaps the following should
not escape our attention as trainers and science education researchers.
1. The need to research issues that inform the debate on the balance between the
tripartite elements of teacher preparation. Practice in this aspect should be
informed by a need to attain balance and not by prejudices about what is and what
is not important.
2. With the growing diversification of university science curricula, research should
be conducted which re-establishes the subject content requirements of entrants to
ITT and programme formats that have the greatest effects on teaching practice and
student achievement. Similarly, providers need to re-examine a widely held
assumption that any science graduate possesses the key subject content required
for science teaching and develop more authentic ways of compensating for any
content deficiencies.
3. The mentoring role in science teacher preparation requires strengthening,
particularly in an environment where training is becoming more decentralised to
the schools. Research needs to be undertaken which establishes key mentoring
skills and competences, ways of identifying mentors and strengthening the
capacity of local environments for an efficient execution of the mentoring role and
ways in which school structures could be changed to acknowledge the mentoring
role as a critical and status deserving function of the school.
4. With the personalised teacher development agenda gathering momentum, we need
to research ways in which formative assessment strategies can be made more valid
and reliable as basis for informing sound judgement and decisions about trainee
progress and further learning needs.
5. Similarly, research will be needed which seeks to investigate the current role
trainees have in the quality monitoring and assurance processes and the extent to
which a customer perspective could inform issues in this dimension of teacher
preparation
6. Research also needs to be conducted which establishes the critical metasciences
required for grounding science teacher preparation as a basis for informing
programme requirements. The current downgrading of theory, or indeed it’s over
emphasis at the expense of other aspects, has a potential to deskill and
deprofessionalise newly trained teachers. Science teachers who have no research
training are likely to be misfits in the world of science educators.
15
7.
In order to stimulate interest of ITT providers in the CPD of NQT s in science, it
may be prudent to re-examine the timing of the award of QTS. Current practice
appears to engender the overall feeling among providers that they ‘don’t know
them’ as soon as they complete their studies.
8. Because it is not always possible to effect changes in one area of ITT, a more
encompassing research with a broader remit needs to be carried out across the
teaching subjects to identify aspects of current practice in need of re-assessment.
9. There is need to research aspects which can contribute to better recruitment
procedures for entrants in science ITT. Academic qualifications on their own are
not a reliable measure for identifying prospective recruits into science ITT.
Ignoring these issues will not contribute to the improvement of our science teachers
and as one of the greatest educators of all time, John Dewey has said, a nation’s worth
is judged by the quality of its teachers.
Correspondence: Dr Felix Maringe, School of Education, University of
Southampton, SO 17 1BJ. Email: fm2@soton.ac.uk Telephone: 02380593387
16
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