Teacher Professional Development @scale: Achieving Quality and Sustainability in Zambia

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v11i2.1547

Keywords:

teacher professional development, sustainable change, ZEST, education systems

Abstract

This paper presents a conceptual model which explains the challenges of providing high quality sustainable, teacher professional development at scale. It provides a framework to support holistic thinking at a systemic level, applicable across different systems.

It draws on sociocultural theories of learning and encourages the user to think about the knowledge and skills required by actors at different levels of the system and the structures required to support their learning. It brings together the needs of teachers, school leaders and Education Officers (at the County, District or Provincial level). The empirical evidence for this model comes from a seven-year programme of activity supporting school-based professional development in Zambia. Evaluation findings highlight the importance of the role of mid-level professionals (District and Provincial Officers) in ensuring the sustainability of gains made through development projects. This is important because the professional development needs of those supporting teachers are often neglected.

Author Biographies

Kris Stutchbury, Faculty of Education and Language StudiesOpen University, UK

Dr Kris Stutchbury is a Senior Lecturer in Teacher Education at the Open University. She has 20 years of experience as a secondary school teacher. She led the Open University Initial Teacher Education programme and now teaches in the Applied Master’s in Education. Her research focuses on pedagogic change, teacher learning, teacher education and the issues surrounding implementation. She is the Academic Director of TESSA and co-led ZEST (Zambian Education School-based Training) — a seven-year programme of activity in Zambia designed to enhance the current system of school-based continuing professional development. Kris is PI for Achieving Quality, Equity, Efficiency and Sustainability in TPD@Scale in Zambia’ — a new research project that is part of the Empowering Teachers Initiative. Email: Kris.stutchbury@open.ac.uk

Lore Gallastegi, The Open University

Dr Lore Gallastegi is a senior lecturer in Education at the Open University. She is a Staff Tutor based in Scotland with responsibility for associate lecturers in the Education Studies (Primary) degree. She represents the Open University in Education forums in Scotland and has been involved in the Scottish Government’s International Development programme for over 10 years. She worked on a research and development programme in Malawi, designed to encourage more girls into teaching and co-led ZEST. Email: lore.gallastegi@open.ac.uk

Clare Woodward, The Open University

Clare Woodward is a retired lecturer in education. After a career in English language teaching, she joined the Open University to work on a multi-million pound development project in Bangladesh, designed to improve the quality of English Language teaching — English in Action. She specialises in using video to support teacher development and used this expertise to lead the development of video resources to support ZEST. She also worked on the Open University Education Studies (Primary) degree and PGCE programmes, developing video resources for students. Email: clare.woodward@open.ac.uk

Olivier Biard, The Open University

Olivier Biard is a Programme Manager at the Open University. He brings over 20 years of experience in implementing development projects in Africa from the NGO sector. At the Open University he oversees research and development programmes, including TESSA, ZEST and OpenSTEM Africa — a programme bringing interactive digital resources that support practical science to secondary schools and universities in Ghana and Kenya. His research interest is in implementation and how it can be done effectively. Email: Olivier.Biard@open.ac.uk

John Phiri, World Vision

John Phiri is a project co-ordinator at World Vision as part of the Education Programme Team. He has eight years of experience as a teacher, a school inservice co-ordinator and then a zonal inservice co-ordinator. He was a provincial education specialist for Teaching at the right level. At World Vision, John was project co-ordinator for ZEST, organising the Endline Evaluation. He is currently project manager for ‘Achieving Quality, Equity, Efficiency and Sustainability in TPD@Scale in Zambia’ — a new research project that is part of the Empowering Teachers Initiative. His research interests include TPD, educational technology, foundational learning and international development. Email: john_phiri@wvi.org

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Published

2024-07-21

How to Cite

Stutchbury, D. K., Gallastegi, D. L., Woodward, C., Biard, M. O., & Phiri, J. (2024). Teacher Professional Development @scale: Achieving Quality and Sustainability in Zambia. Journal of Learning for Development, 11(2), 237–252. https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v11i2.1547

Issue

Vol. 11 No. 2 (2024): ISSUE 2

Section

Research Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2024 Kris Stutchbury, Lore Gallastegi, Clare Woodward, Olivier Biard, John Phiri

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Received 2024-06-13
Accepted 2024-06-30
Published 2024-07-21